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Help me Decide an Upgrade: Roland VF2-640 or Epson 80600 Printer only?

OzarkDigital

OzarkDigital

New Member
Now that Roland has released and just begun shipping their new SG3 Series 64" printers (and will be on full display at the upcoming SignExpo in Atlanta) in three weeks, I wonder if Epson is going to counterattack with a new, say, S-70600 and an S-90600 series to keep Roland at bay? Any rumors? Any insight? Any Gossip? Any Poop?:)

SG3 Roland Video (Japanese engineers with English subtitles)

SG3/VG3 Sales Video Fluff Piece (pretty video, no substance) :cool:
 
S

SignMeUpGraphics

Super Active Member
If Roland keep producing machines of the same quality as the last 5 years, I'd be quite happy holding on to our 80600 which still trounces anything they've released :roflmao:

I'd expect a S90600 to be nearby though... the S80600 have been out for 6 years now. Covid threw a spanner in the works for nearly all new development so there are delays on new machinery across the board.
 
G

Gary1

New Member
OzarkDigital said:
We've been running an XR-640 (printer/cutter) for 7 years. Solid printer. Runs about 4-5 hours a day, but often we're waiting to print until after the cutting is done!
Avg. $2.5K/year in preventative maintenance/heads/caps, etc.
Our Roland dealer and servicing engineer are in their late 60's and we are worried about them retiring/getting ill and we losing their tech support (we're quite remote and not near any major metro area.)

We're busy enough to upgrade to a dedicated printer plus a new stand alone cutter but we need to DOUBLE our print speed and get a MUCH wider gamut!

My buddies RAVE about their Epson 80600 for the gamut with inks of: C.M.Y.K.Lm.Lc.Lk.Or.R

But we know the Roland/Versaworks extremely well,

We're keen on the new Roland VF2-640, which offers inks as: C.M.Y.K.Lm.Lc.Lk.Or.Grn

My dilemma:
--- The Roland VF2-640 is quite new. Are the bugs all worked out?
--- What about all the horror rumors we hear about the VG/VF Series TruVis printers???
--- The Epson 80600 is at least 7 years old (engineered 7 years ago and went on sale 5 years ago.)
--- The Epson 80600 will likely be replaced with a new model announced at the October PrintingUnited show in Vegas 2022.
--- Should we wait until October to see what Epson and Roland show at PrintingUnited?
--- The Epson is approx $5K more than the Roland. Is it worth it that difference?
--- We'll be getting a Summa plotter/cutter so the workflow between printer & cutter is a big unknown for us (print/cut)

Thanks in advance for your thoughts and insights!
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I only have experience with Mimaki. But I’d say go Epson and separate print and cut if you want production. Say you have 100,000 labels to cut. Which set up would do it faster? After you’ve printed the first batch, you’ll be printing and cutting at the same time. My first machine was print and cut, CJV. After using this for a few years, I saw how much time was wasted. When I ordered my second printer, I ordered a separate cutter. Now this makes more sense. And a stand alone cutter blows the doors off a cutter that’s built into a printer.
 
OzarkDigital

OzarkDigital

New Member
Saw the Epson Resin printers in Atlanta in April at the ISA Sign Show ... cool but not for $7K more than the 80600!!!
I think I'll wait for the new 80700 or the 90600 (just guessing at the new model numbers) when I go to the Vegas PrintingUnited show and spend LOTS of time in the Epson booth drooooling over their printers! LOL!
 
I

ikarasu

Active Member
OzarkDigital said:
Saw the Epson Resin printers in Atlanta in April at the ISA Sign Show ... cool but not for $7K more than the 80600!!!
I think I'll wait for the new 80700 or the 90600 (just guessing at the new model numbers) when I go to the Vegas PrintingUnited show and spend LOTS of time in the Epson booth drooooling over their printers! LOL!
Click to expand...
It shouldn't be 7k more. I just paid $22k cad for the 5070 and a set of 1 liter ink. The 80600 was not than that, so it should be cheaper.

That said... It's such with the tried and tested 80600, the resin is nice, but I'm not sure if want it as my only production machine until it gets more use out in the wild.

Hell... I ordered new ink at 50% because I knew itd be be scarce .. a month later and I still don't have the ink! It's probably better in USA, but still. Never daily drive a new generation printer unless you're ready to deal with the hiccups
 
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