Flexi Rants

[Todd Jelle]

OK, Ive been in the sign business for 20 years, started doing thing the old way ( push'n da brush)
So for flexi. used since v6.9. & before that scanvec & inspire, if anyone remembers that software.
Im using 8.1 & refuse to upgrade everything in the shop. Call me old fashioned but why buy something that wants to keep sucking your profits dry.
So I really likes the old versions. I see so many bugs in the software that never gets addressed in newer versions.
I see issues posted here & on other forums, I can relate to all the time.
The Flexi sales guys have personaly told me to upgrade & life will be better. HAH! Done that & still saw problems.
Anyway I came here to ask how others really feel who have been suckered into this for as long as I have.
So if anyone has used flexi & has a program they can suggest , please let me know.
I'm about ready to jump ship.

 

[HulkSmash]

flexi is dumpster status.

/thread

 

[ProWraps]

we used it for years. it has its quarks. what it came down to for us was the mix of flexi and our latex machines we just couldnt get the color right. specifially the blues. they were always purple. im sure its a great all around design proggy for a sign shop as its got a heavy emphasis on design. we never used that functionality since we did all of our design in adobe and just used it as a rip. we were up to 10.6 i belive when we switched over to caldera.

i can tell you flexi made us a lot of money so no complaints there.

 

[GAC05]

I love to rant about Flexi!
But... it is what it is.
This was posted by another member here in a similar "Flexi Blows" thread & is dead on:

"Flexi gets the job done, but it does not like you, and never will, treat it like a cantankerous mule and you will be fine. Good Luck"


wayne k
guam usa

 

[Snydo]

Thanks for the quote bump wayne. I meant every word. I would say to the OP, in my shop we upgraded my workstation to a SignBurst PC(merchant member on signs101) and Flexi 10 became hugely more stable. It still crashes on occasion, but its generally when I have way to many files open or a jacked up file. Also, our designers do as much as possible with the Adobe products before I pull them into Flexi and set up for printing/plotting.
I have printed and plotted many thousands of rolls of vinyl in the last decade and every one of them was processed using Flexi, and the few times I've dealt with support it the last several years it has been outstanding. When you get right down to it, as a business -you either need Flexi or you don't. Best of luck.

 

[Techman]

a higher end graphics card will stop most of those flexi and most other software crashes

 

[visual800]

I have been using Flexi since 99 and I cant live without it, I know it in and out (for the most part). Flexi designs it and Ilustrator makes it presentable. The only time my flexi crashed was when my computer had an update, thats when I cut computer updates OFF!

 

[SightLine]

Has always worked great for us too. I do think one thing that helps Flexi a good bit is solid true business class hardware. On a $299 home user HP, yeah I'd expect it to run like garbage, then again a computer like that does in general. I can say this, so far the most stable solid version they have ever made is 8.6v2. It just works and is certified for 64 bit Windows 7. I can honestly say I cannot recall a single crash with 8.6v2 other than one minor annoyance related to using a Summa cutter with it - if you poll the cutter for the media width Production Manager will just instantly close so we just enter the media width manually for the cutter.

We still run 8.6v2 daily but we do have the newest "cloud" version 11 too which I just have not had time to transition us over to yet. Like some of the others here though, we do not do design work in Flexi other than a plain text layout. We design in Adobe and just directly open ai and/or psd files which Flexi generally opens perfectly fine.

 

[ddarlak]

I've been using flexi since 1995 and can count on one hand how many crashes I've suffered. Get a better computer and keep it clean and you'll have a much better experience.

 

[Gene@mpls]

User since 1997- it has provided a nice IRA, paid off my 2 buildings in 10 years and I love it. It is up
to you to make it work for you. I have btw worked with Gerber, Adobe and the others on the way. Flexi rocks.

 

[rjssigns]

Flexi does not play well with certain anti-virus, spyware or adware blockers. We were having intermittent issues until we started shutting them off. Ta-da. We now use Advanced System Care which is an all in one deal. Inexpensive too. It was recommended and installed by our new computer tech who happens to be a former(retired) IBM systems engineer.

 

[CrabbyOldGuy]

Been using Flexi since early 1994. Used Sign-Tronic before that. Used 5.8 for years and had very little problems with it. Clean looking and accurate. Finally upgraded to 7.5 after Amiable bought them out. Never the same program. Looked sketchy and pixelated. Got used to it and now when I need to present something to a customer, I just send it through Illustrator and it looks fine. Still use it everyday and would really miss it if I did not have access. All in what you get used to. Yes it has a mind of its own but I contend you just have to learn how to lie to the computer to get it to do what you want.

 

[PRS Bryan]

I've been using flexi since 1995 and can count on one hand how many crashes I've suffered. Get a better computer and keep it clean and you'll have a much better experience.

I think this is the key with most programs.

I have always built my own computers and make sure they are well beyond minimum specs. My current rig has I7 3.5 GHz quad core processor and 32 gigs of ram.

I have only used Flexi for 2 years but I don't believe it has ever crashed on me.

 

[LittleSnakey]

You have one of the most stable versions 8.1
I still have one file that can only be opened in 8.1 any of the newer versions won't open it.
We have upgraded to the latest cloud version but still use 8.6 I only wish 8.1 would run the roland vp

OK, Ive been in the sign business for 20 years, started doing thing the old way ( push'n da brush)
So for flexi. used since v6.9. & before that scanvec & inspire, if anyone remembers that software.
Im using 8.1 & refuse to upgrade everything in the shop. Call me old fashioned but why buy something that wants to keep sucking your profits dry.
So I really likes the old versions. I see so many bugs in the software that never gets addressed in newer versions.
I see issues posted here & on other forums, I can relate to all the time.
The Flexi sales guys have personaly told me to upgrade & life will be better. HAH! Done that & still saw problems.
Anyway I came here to ask how others really feel who have been suckered into this for as long as I have.
So if anyone has used flexi & has a program they can suggest , please let me know.
I'm about ready to jump ship.