cut vinyl vs. digital print

[greenonionzz]

When it comes to longevity, who wins ?

From flex faces to lexan faces, first surface application, printed graphics are laminated, cut vinyl is cast....

GO!

 

[J Hill Designs]

I'd put my money on cut cast

 

[Bigdawg]

Cast Vinyl in my opinion will always win over a print that is subject to fading. But you can't get those fancy photoshop effects on cut vinyl that all the "designers" create as logos now-a-days. So by default we were doing a lot of printed instead of cut vinyl. But that wouldn't always be my personal choice... just tired of pleading with the customers to take the bevel effect off their logo so I can cut it in vinyl...

 

[greenonionzz]

There is alot more edge area that flags on a cut vinyl job, a print will flag only on outer edge which hopefully is covered by some kinda retainer....

Be cool to see a side by side time elapse video showing wear and tear..

We have a large flex face to do and I was debating that a flex face printed inside and outside would last just as long as a cut vinyl job...I figured it would be a wash....

 

[Bigdawg]

What are the colors? That makes a difference in fading too... we do the inside/outside print with good results, but it really depends on how long they expect the sign to last.

 

[greenonionzz]

Colors are dark coral bkgrnd w tan letters....This is a sign we never wanna go address issues with, its in a precarious spot....Youre saying cut vinyl then?

 

[Banners Signs Etc.]

Id say cut vinyl would always win for longevity, if only color match longevity

 

[Bigdawg]

Yeah - I'm saying cut vinyl... sorry... depending on how much sun it's getting the print will fade over the vinyl actually failing... that's where the cast vinyl will outlast it color-wise.

 

[splizaat]

Is this a serious question?? Are you a customer?

 

[Dave Drane]

Good post! How could anyone compare microns of solid pigment versus ink. I know a lot of people who have bought printers say that it saves on buying rolls of different colors whereas a printer only requires the one roll of white. A few years back I did a back sprayed acryllic lightbox for a customer which faces east/west and both faces look exactly the same today as against another business got skins done at the same time and they are al;ready on their 3rd. I know it would have been much cheaper but it must now be quickly catching up. The problem is that the "newbies" can't understand that a sign is a vastly different advertising mrdium as against a business card or a flyer. Because a computer can do "special effects" doesn't mean to say that every last one has to be used.
I will take a photo of the sign that I have to pass every day that I compared to earlier to demonstrate what I mean. Thank youy for posing a good question and I also look forward to the response to this post. As for your original question I would say that cut vinyl would win every time over a print, and by the way I quite often require a print to be done and I use a print broker for the job.

 

[Dave Drane]

bummer! Nobody wants to copmpare. I guess the print jockeys win this one.

 

[Custom_Grafx]

Agree. Cast cut vinyl or mask/spray will last you the longest.