Flexi Price!

[rydods]

Hi Everyone. I've been using a cracked version of Flexi 8.5 for the better part of 6 years now. Yes, I know...I know I'm a jerk. Anyway I've recently thought of making the switch to version 10 or 11 when it comes out and I'd like to do this the right way and purchase it but the price is crazy expensive!! WHY? and don't give me the line of "bull" about it being a justifiable price in any way shape or form. I'm sure I'll make the money back but that's not the point. Photoshop is the greatest design software on the market and not even close to 3-4 thousand in price. I can get photoshop and illustrator for less than a thousand.

 

[SignBurst PCs]

But neither is a RIP and Cut software. Flexi Designer (design only, no RIP) is around a thousand (less if you buy it from us).

In my opinion, Flexi does not have a steep learning curve like the Adobe software and is setup better for sign design and layouts. Not to mention, you go straight from design to RIP or cut seamlessly.

Please don't get me wrong, I am an Adobe fan as well and Flexi, but you cannot compare them directly without including RIP and Cut software on the Adobe side.

I am not the software police, but never like to hear about cracked software (especially software stolen from a Merchant Member of this forum). Would you come here and tell us all that you are driving a $3000 stolen car because you didn't think that the car was worth $3000? Give one of us Merchant Members that sell Flexi a call and I am sure that we can help you out with the cost. Not everyone needs Flexi Pro.

 

[Brandon708]

I bought a used version of Flexi sign pro 7.5 for a great price then upgraded that to 10. I saved thousands doing that.

you should contact Bobby from CS Sign Supply

 

[jayhawksigns]

One reason could be simple economics. There are not as many Flexi users as there are Photoshop users, easier to spread the development costs around that way.

Also, neither PS or AI will output directly to a large format printer on their own. Look at some of the versions of Flexi that do not output to either a plotter or cutter and the pricing comes down quite a bit.

There are plenty of options out there if you want to just use PS, AI or even CorelDraw if Flexi is too expensive for you. The pricing is what the market will bear, if you don't like it either get the entire industry to demand lower pricing or just keep doing what you have been doing and steal the software.

Been a Scanvec customer since the CasMate days, don't like thinking about how much I have spent in upgrades, but I know that it has been more then paid for over the years.

 

[d fleming]

Ah, the old casmate days. I do believe cadlink is offering a nice sale on their print/cut software right now.

 

[Conor Knoxx]

yep, it has a lot to do with "volume" - much like the sign business, lol.
Just price other "specialty" software, and you'll see the same or worse... Autocad comes to mind... Point of Sale (restaurant) software, medical/dental software....
Plus, you've made a living on a "demo" for 6 years - and you intend earn money with it in coming years.... time to buy it. There's many versions though, depending on what you need to do (eg: I have a "rip and cut" version that does all I need, and was about $1200 cheaper than the "Pro" version)

 

[CanuckSigns]

if you think the software is what you need to make your business successful, than buy it.

if you find it overpriced, look into other software, pretty simple.

You can buy a legit copy of CorelDraw for less than $500, and it's an amazing piece of software, it will do everything you need it to, but you have to figure if it's worth the time to learn the software, or pay the thousands of dollars to buy the software you already know.

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

Although I'm not a Flexi Fan... It is what I learned on as an entry into this industry. Flexi is easy to grasp for many people that know little to nothing about printing and has a lot of advanced features for the initiated. The entire SAi family works together so you can design, print, cut, rout, etc. all from the same family of programs which for many is a blessing since there is less of a learning curve and a lot easier management.

Flexi is more than worth the price and any comparable RIP software is going to be similar in price.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

Just price other "specialty" software, and you'll see the same or worse... Autocad comes to mind... Point of Sale (restaurant) software, medical/dental software....

Every time I see a post about how insane professional specialty software goes for and I just think, I would hate to hear what they would think on what the full price is for one software that I use. Especially when they are complaining about this price point of software.

 

[chrisphilipps]

It has everything to do with the volume of software sold. Adobe sells millions of copies each year, SAi sells thousands, it is that simple. Every business has a cost, our software that runs our accounting, inventory, purchasing and invoicing cost us over $40,000 but it was needed for us to grow.

If you want a quote on Flexi or want to find out what version is best for your work flow give me a call. Just because you are currently using the Pro version doesn't mean that you actually require all the features in it.

 

[rydods]

Thanks everyone. Yeah, the thing I love is how seamlessly everything works in flexi from rip to print. Not to mention after using if for years it's second nature. I have corel 5 as well and versaworks for my roland and it's a nightmare saving/exporting and importing. Versaworks is 1000 alone and I don't even use it! I just want a fast seamless workflow. As far as Cracking goes, I have more problems with these versions and obviously...NO HELP when something goes haywire. I just wanted to be honest and I do realize, I need things to write off so paying is the way to go.

 

[CanuckSigns]

Thanks everyone. Yeah, the thing I love is how seamlessly everything works in flexi from rip to print. Not to mention after using if for years it's second nature. I have corel 5 as well and versaworks for my roland and it's a nightmare saving/exporting and importing. Versaworks is 1000 alone and I don't even use it! I just want a fast seamless workflow. As far as Cracking goes, I have more problems with these versions and obviously...NO HELP when something goes haywire. I just wanted to be honest and I do realize, I need things to write off so paying is the way to go.

Give them a call when something goes wrong, I'm sure after they take down your information, they would love to help.....

 

[SignBurst PCs]

Thanks everyone. Yeah, the thing I love is how seamlessly everything works in flexi from rip to print. Not to mention after using if for years it's second nature. I have corel 5 as well and versaworks for my roland and it's a nightmare saving/exporting and importing. Versaworks is 1000 alone and I don't even use it! I just want a fast seamless workflow. As far as Cracking goes, I have more problems with these versions and obviously...NO HELP when something goes haywire. I just wanted to be honest and I do realize, I need things to write off so paying is the way to go.

I like the thinking here. I am aware that there are quite a few folks out there using cracked versions of software for one reason or another. I would guess that most are really good people and would never consider stealing a anything else in their lives. I would even guess that most don't consider using cracked software theft, but it really is. I am always happy to see one of our customers purchase legit software after using cracked software in the past. I am always willing to help them out, the best that I can, with the cost in order to get them moving in the right direction.

 

[James Burke]

Kudos on going about it the legal way. I'm sure people download viruses, etc...when they get cracked versions. That frustration alone could be potentially more costly than the initial investment of legit software.

You've been given a lot of very good advice.

Seamless operation will pay for itself many times over and will allow you to remain competetive....and sleep better at night.


JB

 

[OlsonSigns601]

If you're designing in Illustrator or Corel Draw, I don't see the reason to buy FlexiPro when a basic Rip package will do.

Back in the our early days of vinyl cutting we used a program called CoCut and it had Corel Draw Plugins that allowed us to rip directly from Corel Draw. It was really simple and easy to use. Its also a heck of a lot cheaper than Flexi.

Before we spend $1000 to upgrade Flexi, we're going to give the 30 day trial they offer a chance.