trakers
New Member
Wow, thanks for all the excellent responses.
To Geary in particular I sure didn't mean to sound negative or defensive. Sorry for the misunderstanding.
To TrustedImages in particular you said “Personally, I have a Graphtec. Not to knock the VE brand at all. But I chose to go name brand. I did not however on the software.”
Am I to take that as that the VE is *not* exactly the same hardware as the Graphtec? I am intrigued why a signwarehouse employee would not buy the house label if it were indeed the same exact hardware.
I would love to see a post from JBarraxSW with a definitive answer on the hardware.
Anyway to elaborate a bit.
First the pluses.
- I thank all of you fellas for steering me clear of the cheap Chinese cutters. When I started I had a top-of-the-mind budget of $1,000. I quickly found that was not realistic.
- Casually talking to other business acquaintances I have 3 jobs lined up already and my cutter isn't even ordered yet. Certainly these are what would be *very* simple jobs to you guys (single color on glass) but I am excited about them none the less. It seems I will have the only cutter within 25 miles and I hail from a Midwest town where people almost always buy local if they can.
- The salesman I have worked with at Signwarehouse has been good to me thus far. He has followed up with E-mails and phone calls and seems very knowledgeable.
Now the negatives (or better put the reasons I am apprehensive and am seeking opinions/past experiences)
- Signwarehouse is a long ways away from me. If worst came to worst I can't drive to take care of things in person. Again, Midwesterner that like face to face transactions.
- A vast majority of the limited posts I could find out and about on the web about signwarehouse were people moaning and groaning.
- I found this on their site.
http://www.signwarehouse.com/support/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=14
Now I can see charging full price for a "lost" key, something that was 100% my fault, but $150 for a defective key that was sent back to them. That just seems,,,, excessive.
- Our local distributor was poo-poo'ing them big time. It is my belief that it was basically a dog and pony show to induce FUD, but still was disheartening..
Some other thoughts I had:
I like to get value, probably like you fellas do also. If I can purchase an private label version of the CE5000 and truly get the exact same machine less the ARMS system and OEM cutting software *and* save $500 doing it, to me that is value. I pumped on Graphtec fairly aggressively on the phone but could not get verification if the Vinyl Express cutter was indeed the exact same hardware. She told me "They have different cut speeds and downforce". Yet the specs I found read the same. I have a feeling she just didn't know.
I've read posts that say yes exactly the same and I've read posts that say no they are not. So who do I believe? Wish I knew a service tech that could give an authoritive answer. Most salesmen will tell you what they think you want to hear to close the deal.
While the Vinyl Express unit intrigues me, will I take a $500 hit at resale time as compared to a Graphtec? I dunno.
If I need service after the warranty is gone does signwarehouse treat you fairly or do they try to gouge? I dunno.
Everyone tells me a good brand name cutter will last for years and years. If signwarehouse is no more, will Graphtec fix my cutter if it breaks? I dunno.
Some people tell me I worry about those type of things too much, but $2500 is a lot of money here in Hicksville, USA.
When I started this adventure, things were simpler as the cheap Chinese cutter I was looking at was, well, cheap. So if I screwed up the monetary loss would have been much less.
All that said, remember back to when you first started in the business. Remember the thrill? Hell I purchased my first sheets of Alumacorr recently and that may have been the highlight of my week. That stuff is cool.
I'm ordering Monday morning so I have 2 days to decide. Sounds like I'll be OK be it Vinyl Express or genuine Graphtec.
And, hey, if you made it all the way down here, congratulations and thanks for bearing with a worry-wort.
To Geary in particular I sure didn't mean to sound negative or defensive. Sorry for the misunderstanding.
To TrustedImages in particular you said “Personally, I have a Graphtec. Not to knock the VE brand at all. But I chose to go name brand. I did not however on the software.”
Am I to take that as that the VE is *not* exactly the same hardware as the Graphtec? I am intrigued why a signwarehouse employee would not buy the house label if it were indeed the same exact hardware.
I would love to see a post from JBarraxSW with a definitive answer on the hardware.
Anyway to elaborate a bit.
First the pluses.
- I thank all of you fellas for steering me clear of the cheap Chinese cutters. When I started I had a top-of-the-mind budget of $1,000. I quickly found that was not realistic.
- Casually talking to other business acquaintances I have 3 jobs lined up already and my cutter isn't even ordered yet. Certainly these are what would be *very* simple jobs to you guys (single color on glass) but I am excited about them none the less. It seems I will have the only cutter within 25 miles and I hail from a Midwest town where people almost always buy local if they can.
- The salesman I have worked with at Signwarehouse has been good to me thus far. He has followed up with E-mails and phone calls and seems very knowledgeable.
Now the negatives (or better put the reasons I am apprehensive and am seeking opinions/past experiences)
- Signwarehouse is a long ways away from me. If worst came to worst I can't drive to take care of things in person. Again, Midwesterner that like face to face transactions.
- A vast majority of the limited posts I could find out and about on the web about signwarehouse were people moaning and groaning.
- I found this on their site.
http://www.signwarehouse.com/support/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=14
Now I can see charging full price for a "lost" key, something that was 100% my fault, but $150 for a defective key that was sent back to them. That just seems,,,, excessive.
- Our local distributor was poo-poo'ing them big time. It is my belief that it was basically a dog and pony show to induce FUD, but still was disheartening..
Some other thoughts I had:
I like to get value, probably like you fellas do also. If I can purchase an private label version of the CE5000 and truly get the exact same machine less the ARMS system and OEM cutting software *and* save $500 doing it, to me that is value. I pumped on Graphtec fairly aggressively on the phone but could not get verification if the Vinyl Express cutter was indeed the exact same hardware. She told me "They have different cut speeds and downforce". Yet the specs I found read the same. I have a feeling she just didn't know.
I've read posts that say yes exactly the same and I've read posts that say no they are not. So who do I believe? Wish I knew a service tech that could give an authoritive answer. Most salesmen will tell you what they think you want to hear to close the deal.
While the Vinyl Express unit intrigues me, will I take a $500 hit at resale time as compared to a Graphtec? I dunno.
If I need service after the warranty is gone does signwarehouse treat you fairly or do they try to gouge? I dunno.
Everyone tells me a good brand name cutter will last for years and years. If signwarehouse is no more, will Graphtec fix my cutter if it breaks? I dunno.
Some people tell me I worry about those type of things too much, but $2500 is a lot of money here in Hicksville, USA.
When I started this adventure, things were simpler as the cheap Chinese cutter I was looking at was, well, cheap. So if I screwed up the monetary loss would have been much less.
All that said, remember back to when you first started in the business. Remember the thrill? Hell I purchased my first sheets of Alumacorr recently and that may have been the highlight of my week. That stuff is cool.
I'm ordering Monday morning so I have 2 days to decide. Sounds like I'll be OK be it Vinyl Express or genuine Graphtec.
And, hey, if you made it all the way down here, congratulations and thanks for bearing with a worry-wort.
