HP L-310 vs L-360 for small start-up sign/print business....

[coastguy111]

Looking for help/advice concerning the purchase of a printer.. I am starting a small sign/print business with an emphasis on B2B business Wraps. My understanding is that Latex is the best overall option for what I will be doing. I originally was planning on going with a HP L-360 $17,000(demo model) and purchasing Onyx Rip software.
I am now thinking that maybe the HP L-310 for $12,995 brand new, might be the better choice for me. It includes the rip software saving me $2,000+.

I already am good regarding a laminator and cutter. Starting out as the owner/operator, I plan on keeping the design, print, Lam. in house and outsourcing the Full Wraps. That way I can have more time marketing and getting new customers to "fill the pipeline".

Advice, opinions, etc. would be greatly appreciated regarding the Printer dilemma.

 

[schwarzmuller]

I think the bigger the printer, the better.
310=54"
330-360-370=64"
A 360 can do double sided, which you do not need for this application.
A 330 is more appropriate, it has a take up reel as well, a 310 doesn't.

I would go for the 330.
sorry for giving you a third option

 

[greysquirrel]

The 360 is great. Are you only focusing on wraps? The 360 will allow you to create custom profiles, print double sided banners and print on porous media with the ink collector inserted. The 330, 310 and 110 are stripped down versions only by feature not quality. They all use the same heads and ink.
big differences between the 310 and the 360 are that the 310 is 54" not 64"; no profiling however you still download hp profiles directly to the printer. TUR is optional I believe, no double sided and no ink collector. The spindles are 1" instead of 3" aluminum.
Honestly, being a startup, if you are considering the 310...look at the 110. It's $9500 and comes with a rip. TUR optional. Ink cost per sq' in production mode on 300 series is about $.22-$.24 sq' where the 110 will be $.05/sq' more...

 

[Hotspur]

I am now thinking that maybe the HP L-310 for $12,995 brand new, might be the better choice for me. It includes the rip software saving me $2,000+.

There's no rip saving here - the bundled rip software has to be upgraded straight away if you want to use your cutter and the cost will be similar to buying Onyx in the first place.
As Onyx is the superior rip and will help you when you expand your business with more kit, you might as well bite the bullet and order it when you purchase the printer.

Regarding printer choice if you can afford the 360 that would be the better choice - I have sold many hundreds of this series of Latex and 9 out of 10 of them are 360s so i guess most print shops go with this one for a variety of reasons.
My demo kit isn't used much compared to production machines and is always maintained well so a demo printer is always a good choice if you can find one - this would be my choice although I would suggest you take care with shipping - most carriers are used to shipping boxes and every time I move a pre-built printer they manage to damage it somehow so take this into consideration.

 

[FrankW]

There's no rip saving here - the bundled rip software has to be upgraded straight away if you want to use your cutter and the cost will be similar to buying Onyx in the first place.

Upgrading the FlexiPRINT HP Edition to the premium version is not the same price as buying Onyx in the first place. Perhaps only if you consider RIPCenter, but this version is really poor on features (not comparable to FlexiPRINT Premium Edition). The upgrade is a few hundred Dollars only.

And, if you have an other software solution, like Winplot for Summa, or FlexiSIGN with the Cutting Marker-Option, you do not need the upgrade even if you want to do contour cutting.