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Help choosing next RIP -- Wasatch or Onyx??

J

jawdavis

New Member
I have to make a decision by the end of this week as to what RIP software we will be running our new HP L25500 on when we move to a new location. We already have a Roland XC-540 Print/Cut and I've only been using Versaworks to this point. I have done a lot of reading on these forums and elsewhere about which is faster, has better color, cutting features, etc. Of course, there is no real answer, but I'm looking for just a little more input before I pull the trigger.

I will be running the 2 printers, a 60" cutter, and probably adding a smaller used printer for miscellaneous tasks later this summer.

At this point, I am leaning towards Wasatch SoftRIP because it appears to be a little more stable and user-friendly. I haven't really gotten my hands on it but they offer a 60-day money back guarantee.

On the other hand, my distributor is pushing Onyx Production House at me really hard. I have played with it just a little bit, and seems a little... convoluted...? I would like to be able to teach some of the non-technical people in the office a few things here and there so I will be able to take some vacation sometime... Seems that SoftRIP might be easier for the newbie to understand...

Any and all thoughts are appreciated.
 
Dice

Dice

New Member
If you push Wasatch they will give you a Demo Download. Onyx will also give you a 30 day trial for $100 which gives you the DVD and Dongle. $100 will be discounted from your purchase price.

Get both of these and make your decision.

Onyx is generally for higher volume shops. It is pretty confusing at first but once you get the hang of it, it's pretty easy.

If you profile your materials go with Onyx, I don't believe Wasatch has the ability to profile.

I recommend Onyx over Wasatch, but it really depends on how big of a shop you are.
 
Dice

Dice

New Member
I should say that the demo of Wasatch has a water mark so you can't use it in production. Just allows you to play with it.

The 30 day of Onyx is full version with the dongle, so you can try it out in a production environment to see if it works for you.

Also Onyx development is moving along, they plan on a bunch of upgrades in the next year. Wasatch is stagnant development wise has been for the past two years.
 
S

SE SignSupply

New Member
If your going with the new Latex ink I would also check to see which software has more profiles avaliable for download, Unless of course you're going to be making your own.

Also, welcome from just around the corner. What shop do you work with? Let me know if we can help you out with Roland consumables or support!

Ryan
 
eye4clr

eye4clr

New Member
If you do your own profiling, definitely Onyx. Wasatch is do-able, but much it's a very messy process.

Wasatch drives more printers for the $ and in many ways is easier to use.

I'd break out in a rash if i had to use Wasatch day to day because of the color management "features". But that's just me and i'm a dork.
 
N

nate

New Member
Caldera

Give Caldera a shot. www.caldera.eu It's well written, easy to use and very fast. It runs on Linux (or the Mac) but don't let that scare you. Once you get it down it's a slick piece of software.

We've also run Onyx (moved to Caldera from Onyx 7.3.2-- it was a great, we just liked Caldera a lot more) and Wasatch (gave up at 6.1-- spent a lot of time with it and still not convinced it was worth the money).
 
JR Digital

JR Digital

New Member
I have both wasatch and onyx and I would recommend you get wasatch. Its just more stable and way faster. Onyx is just has all the bells and whistles.
 
Letterbox Mike

Letterbox Mike

New Member
My vote is for Onyx. We've never had an issue with stability since v.6, it seems lightning fast to me, and gives you alot of control over alot of things. Alot of people seem to complain about Cut Server but it's actually extraordinarily reliable and accurate for us, the print-contour cut operation is seamless and smooth with almost no hicups ever.

We just upgraded to the latest build of Onyx and so far speed seems a bit faster and a couple minor hicups seem to have been fixed. I'm really looking forward to their X10 version when it's released this year.

And if you're not building your own profiles (like us), in our experience good quality profiles are easy to come by.
 
H

Hanzo

New Member
Merritt Graphics said:
CALDERA hands down... It is more than a rip it can be integrated into an entire production workflow.

ONYX is good but Caldera is the RIP to have...
Click to expand...

Caldera hands down for color management and Linux, but I'm sure money and ease of use is an issue here. Wasatch with cutting option does the job. Onyx Production House is a good choice too (costs more also), but Wasatch is my choice.

eye4clr said:
If you do your own profiling, definitely Onyx. Wasatch is do-able, but much it's a very messy process.
Click to expand...

Messy? I've done profiling with both and Onyx is a bit more tedious. Both deliver, but I prefer Wasatch.
 
marcsitkin

marcsitkin

New Member
We are a currently running the HP Latex with Wasatch successfully. I can't speak about Onyx or Caldera.

Wasatch does NOT have profiling. You will need another program for that.

We have had the Wasatch for 15 years, upgrading every other year or when we needed to add a new printer. A nice feature of the full version is that it can drive 4 printers (and we have) without any additional fees involved.

The tech support is very good, but you MUST have a support contract to use it. There is no per incident service.

The canned profiles and default settings will get you started for many Latex materials. The profiles tend to be a little heavy on the inks, so you may want to experiment once you get settled in.

I'm in South Florida, and even with AC, the humidity can affect drying, so you may have to tweak temp. setting a bit as well.

It would be good with whatever RIP you purchase to have a supportive dealer, preferably local, who can help you get it up and running.
 
Bly

Bly

New Member
I've used Onyx for years with the profiling option.
It does pretty much anything you might need.
If needs be you can set it up with presets so your staff don't have to mess with anything unless they need to.
Re Cutserver I've found it doesn't like jobs over 2m or so with our Summa cutter unless that has been fixed lately. I stopped wasting prints trying to cut more than that.
 
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