Flexi subscription opinions needed

[gabagoo]

I have a new Mimaki printer coming this morning. I need the transition to be fairly smooth to the new machine ( although I know that can never happen lol) .

I currently use Signlab for my day to day sign work. I set just about everything up in Signlab and then export as an eps to the print computer which has been running Flexi Photo Print for the last 12 years. With the new printer I need to also purchase a newer computer capable of running Rasterlink and a newer version of Flexi.

If I upgrade my current Photo Print it would cost about $1500.00. If I buy a full working package of Flexi it is about $3000.00... But I see you can subscribe to a full package for $50 a month ( Canadian). I like the idea of the subscription as I am pretty sure within 5 years I will be ready to call it quits.

Wanted opinions on this subscription software for those that have it...does it work well? issues I should be on the lookout for?

 

[ikarasu]

It's good because it's free upgrades, where as the $3000 one is not.

I used it for a year - I didn't like Flexi though, so I went purchased Onyx mid year and my Flexi sub went to waste. (the $50 a month requires a 1 year commitment)

You get 10 free vehicle templates / fonts / cliparts a month with it... That was a nice included bonus.

If you like Flexi, the $50 a month is a no brainer. It beats paying $3000, then in 3-4 years you buy a new printer that Flexi requires the latest version for.. and you have to buy the upgrade for $1500. I hate subscription software, but Flexi does it right. We still do their CNC software... Which is $100 a month.

 

[HecklnDecalr]

We have Flexi on 6 PC's. the design version on 4 and production manager version on 2. Everything works well with talking to each other but having 6 subs a month adds up even if the design versions are a bit cheaper. The other issue is we had problems with Flexi on BOTH of the production machines and after a few days of Flexi support trying to fix the problem the first time it happened, they just told us it was our problem and that we should just roll back the update to an earlier version. After the second time and they told us the same thing, I complained about paying full subscription price for a program that I can't get updates on.....they didn't care lol. All in all I think it's worth it, especially if its just 1 or 2 PC's, but just know that customer service is a bit lacking.

 

[Solventinkjet]

Flexi Photo Print and the Current Subscription will be very similar. They are essentially the same program but the subscription is just the newer version.

 

[Z SIGNS]

Never been a big fan of Flexi or subscriptions.I always thought why spend all that money on Flexi.Corel and rasterlink work fine for me. Corel is not expensive and your new printer will probably come with rasterlink.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

Never been a big fan of Flexi or subscriptions.I always thought why spend all that money on Flexi.Corel and rasterlink work fine for me. Corel is not expensive and your new printer will probably come with rasterlink.

Corel may be going over to subscription only at the beginning of next year though. So keep that in mind. Which I find ironic given that Corel was shouting from the rooftops when Adobe went full bore on subscription, how they still had a perpetual license option.

Normally, I'm vigorously against subscriptions, but if the OP is going to be getting out in 5 yrs, it's far cheaper then getting the perpetual license of Flexi for that time. That's if going to Flexi is a for sure thing.

 

[Andy D]

I must be missing something, if you setup in Siglab and rip from Rasterlink, why would you need Flexi?
My favorite setup though (for Mimaki) was CorelDraw to Rasterlink for printing, and CorelDraw to Finecut for plotting.

 

[Andy D]

Corel may be going over to subscription only at the beginning of next year though. So keep that in mind. Which I find ironic given that Corel was shouting from the rooftops when Adobe went full bore on subscription, how they still had a perpetual license option.

Normally, I'm vigorously against subscriptions, but if the OP is going to be getting out in 5 yrs, it's far cheaper then getting the perpetual license of Flexi for that time. That's if going to Flexi is a for sure thing.

I still use Corel 16 and I have no problems, I would buy a (an?) used version of Coreldraw.

 

[iPrintStuff]

+1 for just output to rasterlink and use that as the rip. It’s clunky and takes about 3 steps more for jobs than it should, but it comes with the machine and free(in theory) is always nice

 

[WildWestDesigns]

I still use Corel 16 and I have no problems, I would buy a (an?) used version of Coreldraw.

Is that X6 on Win 10 or other version? If on Win 10 was Win 10 done via an update on a previous older version of Win or fresh install?

Reason why I asked (and part of the problem with using legacy software) is that X7 is the earliest version (and it has to have a specific update) that is supported on Win 10. Now that is officially supported. Doesn't mean that an older version won't install through some way or another. Go too far back in legacy, have to either VM or keep an older computer around, but installing on the latest and greatest isn't always possible. Now, having said that, I do have a portable program from Win 98 days (before SE) and it still runs on Win 10 (which has it's own scary implications).

 

[Andy D]

Is that X6 on Win 10 or other version? If on Win 10 was Win 10 done via an update on a previous older version of Win or fresh install?

Yes, Corel 16 on a fresh install of Windows 10 (not a updated version). I don't remember having any issues except the command bar (File, Edit, View, etc.) wasn't visible, but I set up my own command bar in "customize" and it works exactly the same.

 

[Andy D]

+1 for just output to rasterlink and use that as the rip. It’s clunky and takes about 3 steps more for jobs than it should, but it comes with the machine and free(in theory) is always nice

I always liked RasterLink, IMHO it is ten times better than Versaworks. If I remember right,
the only thing I didn't like is, to do a contour cut it had to be an EPS file, and I'm not a fan of them.

 

[HulkSmash]

imagine paying 3k for a garbage software like flexi.

 

[GAC05]

imagine paying 3k for a garbage software like flexi.

It was pretty good when it was called Casmate.

 

[The ADA Guy]

You cant use Rasterlink and have reliable colors. You will need to run something like Onyx or Caldera with the printer. Keep that in mind before you do anything.

 

[gabagoo]

I must be missing something, if you setup in Siglab and rip from Rasterlink, why would you need Flexi?
My favorite setup though (for Mimaki) was CorelDraw to Rasterlink for printing, and CorelDraw to Finecut for plotting.

My Signlab is really only for cutting only and has no print functions... When I purchased our first Mimaki it came with photo print and the dealer was not a Signlab dealer. The transition was fairly simple so I would like to stick with what I know so the changeover to a new printer, new computer and new software is a little less stressful at this point.... besides, I find that Flexi handles eps, ai and pdf files much better than Signlab... Actually every time I try to import a tiff file into Signlab the whole program just shuts down...so that is an issue too.

 

[signage]

When you went and looked at and tested the printer, you didn't take your own file to print and ask them you run it?

 

[gabagoo]

When you went and looked at and tested the printer, you didn't take your own file to print and ask them you run it?

Yes I took a file...a pantone chart and then compared it with my current chart. Print is nicer

 

[signage]

Did you print it or did they? I feel that when you went you should have operated the machine yourself so that you know what it would take, this should have given you an idea about software manipulation/operation/outputting.