Gerber FX Vs. Edge II

[MCV]

I am new to thermal printing but love the idea of spot color printing especially on clear. With that said I am looking to get the most bang for my buck I am looking to get either a new FX or used edge II. Besides a greater price, what is the advantage in getting an FX over an Edge II. Print quality? more ribbons available? Faster? I have made up my mind to go with a Gerber over a Summa but want to justify spending the extra coin.

One more thing to throw in there if I am looking to cut some thick material lets say Convex. Are the lower end Gerber plotters OK or should I look at the envision?

 

[Fred Weiss]

As an Edge owner since 1998, I would go with a used Edge II providing the price and condition was appropriate. But that's because I have a ton of supplies already that would still be usable and because I am willing to accept the risk of the Edge II becoming unserviceable since it is no longer manufactured.

The Edge FX comes with dealer and factory guarantees and support. Are you in a position to forgo that? The Edge FX has a few new bells and whistles but really does not exceed the Edge II in terms of what comes out of it. Are those small improvements enough to justify the extra costs? The Edge FX was specifically designed to reduce or eliminate the use of third party aftermarket supplies that are widely available for all previous Edge models and can effectively cut your consumables cost in half. Those savings can easily eclipse your entire cost of either machine very quickly. Do you find enough benefit in an Edge FX to do without those savings?

 

[MCV]

Fred, thank you for the insight. Are you saying the FX consumables for the most part will be more expensive than supplies for the edge II. Also what are your thoughts on a plotter is it worth stepping up to the envision series over the GSX? Are you using the Omega software? Can you use Flexisign with any sucess for printing/cutting? Again thanks for the feedback.

 

[Fred Weiss]

Fred, thank you for the insight. Are you saying the FX consumables for the most part will be more expensive than supplies for the edge II. Also what are your thoughts on a plotter is it worth stepping up to the envision series over the GSX? Are you using the Omega software? Can you use Flexisign with any sucess for printing/cutting? Again thanks for the feedback.

What I was saying and then checked and modified is that the aftermarket from third party companies for foils was less developed than is available for the older Edge models. In looking at what Advantage offers, it appears to me that the adapter cassette they offer is the primary solution and that all the Duracoat/Apex foils are available for the FX that are also available for the older Edge models. I have not researched what, if anything, Zeronine has done with their foil line.

So in summary, it isn't as much of a problem as I posted initially.

We have an Envision 375 plotter and have very little complaint about it. Being a very fast swivel knife, it sometimes goes a little nuts trying to cut a small ®. But it's a top quality, highly productive cutter. The GS series is a lot slower but some models offer a switchover between swivel and tangential cutting which might be of benefit in some situations with thicker materials.

I have two seats of Omega 3.0 and one of Flexi Pro 8.6. I use Flexi for vector creation and editing and for some designs and layouts. I use Omega for basic stups and for setup and production of all Edge printed work. The reason is simple. Omega was designed from the ground up to handle Edge setups and production. With Flexi its an added on feature. Flexi will do it but the logic of their production is 180 degrees out from Gerber's approach so that I don't use Flexi for Edge work by choice and to avoid confusing myself. You will find if you are new to this that the user base using Flexi with an Edge is minuscule, so if you go out looking for help to figure out how to do this or that, it will be a lot easier if you're using Omega.

 

[Tony Teveris]

The FX and the Edge II print the same, use the same head and use the same printing logic. The FX uses a Ethernet connection whereas the Edge II uses a parallel port connection and must be an ECP port type. These are harder and harder to come by though people have found them. Fred is correct on the other issues.

 

[MCV]

Thank you for the information. Does anyone have any closeup pictures of the output from either the edge II or FX. I see pictures on the net but nothing closeup. I have tried to contact a couple suppliers for samples but no luck as of yet. Thanks again.

 

[MCV]

Couple other things I forgot to add. How does the output quality compare to inkjets? How about small letters crisp or does it get a little blurry like some inkjets I have seen?

 

[omgsideburns]

The sharpness of SPOT colors is as good as it gets, especially when set on high resolution.
The process color leaves something to be desired, but definitely does the job.

No camera or I would show you some examples.

 

[Fred Weiss]

Thermal printing is accomplished by the equivalent of dot matrix impact printing coupled with heat at about 300 DPI. Inkjet printing is accomplished by creating tiny droplets of ink and spraying them onto the substrate. By comparison, the results of inkjet will almost always be of a finer detail. therefore, the inkjet wins that comparison.

With type, we start to see noticeable loss of quality at type sizes of 8 points or smaller on our 300 DPI Edge. Some improvement is evident by printing at 300 x 600 on an Edge II or Edge FX, so detail retention is good to around 5 or 6 point type (depending on the letter style).

If printing the finest detail is your main concern, opt for an inkjet.

 

[MCV]

What about small detail with spot color printing? I know process printing you will loose some quality because of the way the ink is applied. I have had some experience with an old Roland PC60 and spot color printing even very small was pretty impressive (minus the banding of course).

 

[Fred Weiss]

The benefit of spot colors is that they give you unrivaled solids with no need for color management. I do not think they do significantly better at holding detail than does a percentage halftone at a high LPI setting. What you cannot change is the fact that a heated impact printer will never equal the fine detail possible from a tiny droplet.

You should pick the technology that best suits your primary goals and then outsource when you need the other until you can justify having both in-house.

 

[MCV]

Fred, very well put. I understand your point regarding the spot colors. Right now and moving forward I plan on doing small decals/labels, logos/numbers for local sports teams, and various other items all on the smaller size. With that being said I see a major benefits in printing on clear, printing white, and printing spot colors as opposed to all process. Hopefully I am on the right track I have tried to research all the printing technologies to determine what will fit my needs best and this is where it has led me. As of right now I have no plans on doing any wraps, banners, or large signage and like you said if something comes up I will outsource until I can justify moving in that direction.