HP FB500: Anyone Have one

[BPSAFF]

I just retuned from ATL after spending the day at the HP Display facility. I am considering the purchase of the HP FB500. Is there anyone here that has the HP FB500? If so, what is your take on it. Pros and Cons? Anything info from an owners strand point on this printer will help.

If you are thinking of buying a piece of their equipment, I highly recommend spending a day there before you make your decision. It is a very impressive operation and very informative with a knowledgeable staff and with most all their equipment operational and easy for you to view and ask any question you have.

Thanks, Brian

 

[Molenbeek]

We have one in stock ready to ship! Great printers!!

let me know how I can help!

Matt

www.advantagesignsupply.com
877-237-4464

 

[Hzone15]

While I don't own the FB500, I do own the FB950 and have demo'd the FB500 at the Alpharetta demo facility.

My take is the FB500 seems to have a higher quality image, similar heads as the 950, but slightly modified.

The print mode names have changed which I believe makes it a little easier to operate.

The White ink looks solid very opaque.

Looks like a winner, and I heard back ordered for 6 to 8 weeks.

H

 

[ForgeInc]

We have an FB700 (same as 500, only bigger), and are overall very happy with it. Print quality is outstanding, though it's not the speediest machine and is slower than other machines we've used before breaking out on our own (vuteks, Durst). A few things to watch out for though...if you are printing white on clear plastics, be sure and turn the lamps up and be careful of using premask over the ink after it's printed, it scratches easily. We aren't happy with Onyx10 as our rip at all, I would seriously considering using caldera instead. We can't get gradients to print without banding for the life of us, and no one at HP, Onyx, or our reseller can seem to figure out the problem.

Also, we couldn't buy from Matt (long story) but I would recommend calling him. He gave us great pricing and from what I've heard they can be a few weeks out so in-stock is a good thing...feel free to shout with any more questions.

 

[njohnston]

Can anyone tell me how many 4'x8' per hour the FB500 can print?

Indoor quality, or at least "sellable" quality. I know some of these flatbeds can actually put out a decent print in the faster production modes.

and i'm not looking for the speed number in the brochure. I have that. I want to know what I can expect in the real world. BPH... Boards Per Hour

 

[particleman]

Outdoor sign mode is what we run in 95% of the time. Works perfect for corrugated, you can even do some things in express really, it is still useable on some things. I think you are looking at 9 bph on outdoor mode.

In short, it is a great machine! We're happy with it, lot of machines out there for the same or more $$ that don't have near the features or ease of use.

 

[Tom_Designjet]

I would stay away from FB500.

1) it uses binary printheads instead of grayscale - meaning you get poor quality with fine text or gradients (especially using CMYK+W). Forget all this 1200 dpi marketing buzz. In reality what you get is 2006 quality for 2011 price.

2) it's relatively slow

3) it wastes a lot of ink when cleaning. and i mean a lot.

4) ink tends to cure poorly (tacky surface). however that's quite common for "flexible" UV-inks.

5) its black inks are poor and do not cure well, resulting in a haze or halo around black fine text or edges.

6) All other printers of similar class (Agfa, Oce, Fuji, and new Durst Omega) offer better quality with considerably smaller operating costs.

The only real advantage of FB500 is OMAS (precise media movement) but
it doesn't help at all when you have old-generation printheads and poor ink chemistry&management.

 

[Hzone15]

Wow lots of techy rips on the FB500, weird they have an average of an 8 week lead time.

Two questions for you.

1. Which product do you specifically recommend
2. When did HP incorporate the OMAS into the FB product line. I am pretty sure that is the Latex you are thinking about.

 

[Mspec]

You are correct, the FB series printers do not make use of the designjet OMAS sensors, however the media belt movement is managed by a very sophisticated magnetic encoder system. It is very precise, not affected by belt debris, and with no moving parts or optical sensor to get dirty, is not likely to fail for a very long time.