We went from 2 HP800's to two HP570's. The difference is pretty astounding. While the 570's aren't with out their own issues they are pretty awesome machines. The profiling and color consistency are pretty great and I haven't had any issues with yet. To me it seems like the machines are set up so that once you dial them in to what you want, you could have a less experienced person operate them and not have any issues allowing you to focus on other things.
The ability to print and laminate directly afterwards has increased our turn around time greatly, often finishing the job the same day including some vehicle graphics. We are also able to print onto more different types of material as well to, HIP, and DG reflective used to require multiple steps such as printing onto clear, laminating it and than applying to to the HIP or DG. Now were are able to print directly onto HIP and DG reducing our cost and time.
The new GEN3 inks are also pretty awesome. Scratch resistance which I can verify, and according to HP they have about a one year outdoor un-laminated lifespan which is great if your doing temp signage.
The quality of the prints is also great. Colors are vibrant and with the dual head optimizer the drops don't migrate so the images stay sharp and clear.
Some of the con's might be that when printing the condenser fan is a little loud but nothing horrible. It does put of some heat and if your in the room with the printer and don't have proper ventilation is can get a little warm. When you begin printing it does waste a little more material than I would like (about 10-18 inches) but there are ways around this by attaching a leader to the front of the material.
One of the biggest suggestions I can give you is that you will need to run some material through the printer and set up you own profiles. It's pretty easy and while it does take some material and time it's worth it. Heat is the key, the material should be pretty flat running through the heater. The number of passes doesn't determine the amount of ink it lays down onto the material it determines the speed of the machine.
many people that go form solvent to latex have issues because they are still treating it as the same thing... it's not. So you might need to adjust you workflow a little to accommodate.
As far as printer build, again I have the 570 and it's a beast of a machine. While yes many of the parts and pieces are plastic, it's not flimsy and delicate, most of the pieces on all my solvent printers were also plastic (roland, mimaki, hp).
One thing to make sure you do is look at the site prep guidelines. They go over the power requirements and set up. Get a good electrician to set up this up for you.
As far as the disposables go it's something to think about it but it's not a cost prohibitive issue.
Over all I really glad that we made the switch and am very happy with the machine. I think that the biggest issue that you will have is dealing with the rip. I'm currently using Flexi and while it's 'fine' I have no doubt that there is probably something better out there.
Reach out to BigfishDM he's got deals all the time.
