10sacer
New Member
Ohhh... let me see on this. First off - A Rastek is definitely not a Vutek. If you think of Vutek as the Lexus of the wide format world - then the Rastek is the Scion line. Not that they don't have a place in the market - but there really is not much of a comparison to be made.
On to CET - I have unit number 001 - so I am a fairly new adopter to technology. Before I go on - I used to work for DuPont in the Cromaprint 22UV days - and we used to tell people all the time that a company as big as DuPont was going to be in this industry for the long term - 3 years later they were gone, so don't give a lot of credence to the buying principle of who you think will be around - in this day and age - you never know. Did anyone think Gandi would fold? Did anyone see Gerber imploding? You buy a machine based on a 2-3 year ROI and make your money and pay it off and get the next best thing that comes along regardless of the manufacturer. There is a reason there are so many different makes and models of UV printers - there is a diversity of print providers in the industry and everyone can't afford a $900K Durst or a $500K Vutek. There is a place for the $80K machines - but it depends on your current and projected workflow, your image quality needs, your turnaround times and your budget. I bought mine based on the ease of operation and the superior image quality to anything that was around here at the time. I am surrounded by guys that bought bigger,faster printers to do wholesale work - so anything of substantial size - i send it out. Its the best of all worlds - I can do high quality with fast turnaround here and I can do production runs by sending elsewhere.
OK - back to CET. I bought mine in July of last year and it has performed flawlessly since. I only run in 720x720 or 720x1440 due to my customer's needs. Only time I ever print in a faster mode is for cheap coroplast signs - and I don't do those that often as everyone gives them away down here.
Support is more personal than anyone elses. I have cell numbers of the two main guys so I can call direct and ask a question and get a quick answer. Try doing that at Vutek, HP or Durst with any regularity. There are alot of HP's in my area and every single one of the owner's/operators despises HP's service and response times. How pissed would you be if your $400K TurboJet was down for a week with no plan of action?
Image quality is fantastic with the Konica 512 heads. White ink actually is white and lays down a nice even layer with no banding.
Speed is what it is and you know that going in - so if you need 20 4x8 boards an hour - then that is your gating item and there are machines that can do it - but probably not for $80K.
The newer models are much faster than mine and the quality is similar. They are using different heads in the newer ones.
As far as it being "Chinese" - who gives a crap. 3/4 of everything that you own is made there. Would that prevent you from buying Chinese? If so - take back every computer you own, and your cell phone, and your iPod, most of your clothes, etc. As long as the people selling the machines and distributing them stand behind the product - thats all you need and CET has been more than fair and generous when I have done stupid crap to break my unit. They had an issue with the UV bulbs and sent me two replacements at no cost. They didn't have to do that.
Paul - if you have specific questions - send me a PM and I will give you my honest answers.
Sean
On to CET - I have unit number 001 - so I am a fairly new adopter to technology. Before I go on - I used to work for DuPont in the Cromaprint 22UV days - and we used to tell people all the time that a company as big as DuPont was going to be in this industry for the long term - 3 years later they were gone, so don't give a lot of credence to the buying principle of who you think will be around - in this day and age - you never know. Did anyone think Gandi would fold? Did anyone see Gerber imploding? You buy a machine based on a 2-3 year ROI and make your money and pay it off and get the next best thing that comes along regardless of the manufacturer. There is a reason there are so many different makes and models of UV printers - there is a diversity of print providers in the industry and everyone can't afford a $900K Durst or a $500K Vutek. There is a place for the $80K machines - but it depends on your current and projected workflow, your image quality needs, your turnaround times and your budget. I bought mine based on the ease of operation and the superior image quality to anything that was around here at the time. I am surrounded by guys that bought bigger,faster printers to do wholesale work - so anything of substantial size - i send it out. Its the best of all worlds - I can do high quality with fast turnaround here and I can do production runs by sending elsewhere.
OK - back to CET. I bought mine in July of last year and it has performed flawlessly since. I only run in 720x720 or 720x1440 due to my customer's needs. Only time I ever print in a faster mode is for cheap coroplast signs - and I don't do those that often as everyone gives them away down here.
Support is more personal than anyone elses. I have cell numbers of the two main guys so I can call direct and ask a question and get a quick answer. Try doing that at Vutek, HP or Durst with any regularity. There are alot of HP's in my area and every single one of the owner's/operators despises HP's service and response times. How pissed would you be if your $400K TurboJet was down for a week with no plan of action?
Image quality is fantastic with the Konica 512 heads. White ink actually is white and lays down a nice even layer with no banding.
Speed is what it is and you know that going in - so if you need 20 4x8 boards an hour - then that is your gating item and there are machines that can do it - but probably not for $80K.
The newer models are much faster than mine and the quality is similar. They are using different heads in the newer ones.
As far as it being "Chinese" - who gives a crap. 3/4 of everything that you own is made there. Would that prevent you from buying Chinese? If so - take back every computer you own, and your cell phone, and your iPod, most of your clothes, etc. As long as the people selling the machines and distributing them stand behind the product - thats all you need and CET has been more than fair and generous when I have done stupid crap to break my unit. They had an issue with the UV bulbs and sent me two replacements at no cost. They didn't have to do that.
Paul - if you have specific questions - send me a PM and I will give you my honest answers.
Sean
