Flexi and HPL25500 ??? Any Better Now?

[Suz]

Hey Guys and Gals,

I'm still dinking around with Software. Had so many problems with machine we have worked through and are still working through that I really didn't want to throw thousands at software until my machine was running like it should. So, getting ready to do something now. I want Onyx, but I don't want the price! Flexi is reasonable, but too many problems it seems. However, I'm told that the Flexi folks have made some updates and patches that fix some previous issues. Can anybody out there say they are truly happy with this combo now?
Is it worth the purchase now?

Any advice Pro-wraps? What did you do with your Flexi? Sell it? Is it for sale?

Thanks for any input anybody has on the new updates for Flexi and how it works with the LP25500.

 

[ProWraps]

it is what it is. its my expereince in this industry that EVERY piece of software, EVERY piece of machinery, and EVERY combo of the both suck in some way or another.

they all have their quirks, there is no silver magic bullet.

the best you can do is jump into something and learn fast and make it work. ours so far seems to serve us well. lots of learning, but again, thats going to be with anything.

 

[tomence]

You should've bought your RIP at the same time when you bought your printer. I was offered Caldera V9 or Onyx Thrive i believe was for $1650 with a purchase of the HP L26500.

 

[tomence]

I had a chance to play with the new L26500 and Onyx X10 for a day, and to my liking i was not impressed at all, that's why i went solvent again. First of all there is a big learning curve comparing to solvent, slow printing on vinyl i thought i could output more than 120 sqf an hour but this is not possible. The best i did without having drying issues was around 80sqf an hour maybe less on Oracal. There is graininess in the prints using any profile. The only plus on this printer is that you can laminate right away but if your prints are not dry good luck.

 

[ColoPrinthead]

You should've bought your RIP at the same time when you bought your printer. I was offered Caldera V9 or Onyx Thrive i believe was for $1650 with a purchase of the HP L26500.

How do you like Caldera? How does it compare to other RIPs you may have tried?

 

[tomence]

I have not tried Caldera, only Onyx. But there was a guy there that had Caldera and he was happy using it, also he said he tried Onyx too and he could not say which one is better. So i guess both rips are good. Also having this printer it's not about the RIP but the printer itself is the problem, if you don't how to set it up you will have trouble using any RIP.

 

[tattoo.dan]

I am getting along just fine with Flexi 10 and the same printer. Sometimes it is a pain in the a@@, but like pro wraps said I think that will come with about any combo. I know flexi is not the best rip out there, but it is what I had and works for me!

 

[Suz]

Thanks Prowraps! I think you are right, just do something! I've been making money with it here and there, but there are times when it is down too, not running. So, not being made of money, it has been a Super Huge investment. But it is starting to look like it will pay off. Some months it pays the rent, some months it is just another bill. But that will change, thanks for the encouragement!

Tomence, I did not buy the software with the machine because I didn't know anything about the Software firsthand yet. I'm glad I didn't. I can still get it for the same price I'd have gotten it for when I bought my machine, so not a worry there. I just want to make an investment in the right one now.

Coloprinthead, not sure, but I think maybe you were addressing me? About the Caldera... We have a new Computer we bought just to load the Caldera and I thought it would be the one. But then hubby (my Computer Tech) did not like having to clean out the entire Windows operating system because that is what he knows. He did it though, put the Caldera on, then we seemed to have weird communication problems with the Caldera people. Perhaps it was bad timing, but it was confusing and so was the fact that we couldn't use the internet and didn't know the operating system when we put Caldera on the new computer. So, there the poor computer sits, waiting for the "right" software. My speedbump: Hubby ain't havi'n it! Done deal. Moving forward... Or backward? Haha! Anyhow, it will eventually pay to keep my Computer Tech happpy! If he's not on board it's a lot harder to do what I do.

 

[tomence]

You will be fine with Onyx too. I liked Onyx it outputed some nice colors using the canned profiles from Oracal's website. Either RIP will do good for you.

 

[HulkSmash]

caldera is like 900.

at least mines was, i have grand rip.

 

[Suz]

Hey Colorado, yes, I remember that you really like Caldera. It looks so simple, I really wanted to go with it... But then again, hubby ain't havi'n any of it! Darndit! Oh, and what a deal it is at that price!

 

[Suz]

Tomence, Yes, Onyx does produce beautiful colors. We agree with that. The price tag though... Geesh! As they say, you get what you pay for. Well, most of the time!

 

[ColoPrinthead]

I had no idea Caldera had it's own OS, sounds like a pain. I've been wanting to check it out since 2006. I like Onyx over VersaWorks and Colorburst even though it still has its problems.

 

[Bly]

I had a chance to play with the new L26500 and Onyx X10 for a day, and to my liking i was not impressed at all, that's why i went solvent again. First of all there is a big learning curve comparing to solvent, slow printing on vinyl i thought i could output more than 120 sqf an hour but this is not possible. The best i did without having drying issues was around 80sqf an hour maybe less on Oracal. There is graininess in the prints using any profile. The only plus on this printer is that you can laminate right away but if your prints are not dry good luck.

If there was graininess it was a profile setup problem.
Too few passes will cause that.
The output from ours is as good as our Roland six ink soljets.

 

[GB2]

Suz, if you weren't sure about what RIP to go with when you bought the machine, you should've taken the Flexi and it should have come with the printer for free. Now you'll have to buy it if you want it. I use the Flexi RIP and it functions just fine for me and I'm sure it would work fine for you. Any RIP will have a learning curve and take some getting used to but for your purposes the Flexi should be perfect for you and the lowest cost option. The other RIPs that you mention are good if you have multiple machines, are creating your own profiles or intend to get into bigger printing in the future. I'm not sure how you've even been able to do anything with the printer so far if you didn't have a proper RIP. So are you saying that you do have a copy of Caldera but just can't figure out how to use it? If I'm not mistaken, the Caldera is only a Linux based program so you have to have Linux as your operating system. I've heard a lot of people say they like the Caldera but you need a dedicated RIP computer and really have to have a need for such a thing if you ask me. I'd be happy to help you with some tips on working with the Flexi if you should decide to do that.

 

[dypinc]

Hey Colorado, yes, I remember that you really like Caldera. It looks so simple, I really wanted to go with it... But then again, hubby ain't havi'n any of it! Darndit! Oh, and what a deal it is at that price!

Looks like the RIP is not the problem.

Upgrade the hubby!

 

[dypinc]

I run the L25500 with the Colorgate and the Fiery XF here. I really like the color controls, light link controls of the ColorGate rip.

Since I also run a digital press I am just plain spoiled by Fiery RIP server and client setup. For example the Fiery XF RIP server running on Win7 box is setting in another room on a lower level with the L25500, but from my Mac workstation here in the office I have setup 8 jobs in the last hour to run tomorrow morning with the client. I have added trim marks and grommets for the banners and nested sign jobs for continuos printing. Tomorrow when I fire up the L25500 I can just send these jobs from the a client running on the RIP box.

I always consider the RIP to be like any other tool in the business. And, yes you usually get what you pay for. Bad tools leading to a lot of trial and error when not creating you own color setup, to ruined jobs can get costly pretty fast, easily blowing the money into the trash can that instead could have been invested in the right tools. Not to mention doing more jobs with less time wasted being unproductive.

 

[tomence]

The output from ours is as good as our Roland six ink soljets.

Maybe, if you are only printing vector files, but printing raster images there is no way that HP prints better than any Roland or Mimaki. I have compared lot of raster images printed on HP to any Roland or Mimaki and in every single one of them especially in the light colors there was more graininess than from the other two, and i have samples from trade shows, open houses etc so you would think that at the trade show they would have profiled their printers before showing it to the public.

 

[ProWraps]

sorry. but your wrong. i have tens of miles of media through my hp's. both raster and vector. no graininess. and im not a fanboy. i hate em as much as i hated my mutohs. digital printers are moody bitches. all of them. ive had 8 so far. but no graininess on my hps. nor my mutohs for that matter.

keep in mind, im speaking from a qualified operator utilizing proper running and maintained equipment with calibrated software. any break in that chain and the results are meaningless and of course, will vary.

 

[tomence]

I am not wrong at what i have right now in front of my eyes. And the graininess that i talk about is not the one that you can spot on from a feet away, is the one that needs to be looked at very close or with the help of a magnifying loupe.
Also not everyone that buys a printer is a qualified printer operator with a knowledge of custom profiling their printers or software.