HP Latex 110 - Australia Launch

[printndisplay]

Can anyone advise when HP Latex 110 will launch in Australia?

What is the general first cut opinion about the 110 machine?
Is it the same ink used in 300 series latex printers?
What is the response of market about 110?
How about print quality? is this machine good for Canvas prints?

 

[P Wagner]

The HP Latex 110 was recently launched in the North American market, and it has been shipping for around 60 days at this point. It is intended for lower volume print environments, SOHO users, and other lighter-duty scenarios, versus the other models in the Latex 300 lineup. The Latex 110 cartridges hold less ink (400 ml) than the other machines (775ml). The inks are the same as the rest of the 300 series, aside from capacity of the cartridge. As such, the image quality on the Latex 110 is equivalent to the other models, and media compatibility is equivalent to the other models.

In my opinion, HP Latex machines are an outstanding choice for outstanding Image Quality across a very wide variety of outdoor and indoor print medias. They have very low requirement for user-attended maintenance, the inks are water-based, and the latest models offer some of the higher throughput in the category. There are very good reasons why the adaption of HP Latex has been accelerating over the past several years.

 

[Suz]

Castek,
Quick question that I could find out on my own, but I'm curious about the HP 110 and you
seem to know many answers regarding HP, so I will ask you instead...
Does it come with a Software program to run it, or do you need to buy or rent that separate?
-Thanks!

 

[Robert Gruner]

Suz,

It comes with very basic SAI RIP. User can upgrade to Flexi Pro for $1,995.00

 

[P Wagner]

+1

Thanks Bob. Other RIP options include Onyx, Caldera, Wasatch, etc.

Paul

 

[Suz]

Thanks Robert! So, is that basic RIP enough to run the machine, or would just about everybody decide they needed
one of the Software programs most of us are using with the HP Latex machines? I'm weird, I use Shiraz. So not like most!

 

[Robert Gruner]

Suz,

HP cut a deal with SAI to include their Basic RIP with the L110, L310, and L330. If you want to have color management control, you must upgrade through SAI to their PRO package for $1995

I know Onyx and Cadlink have drivers for L110

 

[Suz]

Robert, again, Thank you! Interesting information.

 

[140K]

Thanks Robert! So, is that basic RIP enough to run the machine, or would just about everybody decide they needed
one of the Software programs most of us are using with the HP Latex machines? I'm weird, I use Shiraz. So not like most!

EDIT - I was wrong, the ink price isn't double as stated below. It's .17/ml compared to .24/ml -- so just over 40% more expensive. - the point is still the same, but at least it's not double! - Thanks to BIG EASY DOES IT for pointing that out.

I own a new HP Latex 110 and the RIP that comes with the printer (Flexi Basic) works fine for printing. You can't use it for cutting, but it does a nice job of printing, nesting jobs, and works with a wide variety of file types directly. The RIP communicates well with the printer.

The 110 works great, but the ink really is about double the price. That's frustrating. Not as much because it's SOOOOO much money, but because you feel like you're being robbed. If they can sell the ink to the 310 owner at X price and make a profit, why should the 110 owner pay 2X? The dealer didn't really clarify this to me. That said, the printer is a couple grand less expensive than the 310, so that will pay for the ink difference for a little while. But once that has passed, I'll just be paying more than I needed to.

Truth be told, I probably would have done the 110 in any case because I wanted to set it up myself rather than wait for professional install. I can be impatient that way. I will say that I quickly realized that there is a reason these are usually installed by professionals.

The only real difference between the RIP with the 110 and the 310 is a simple "default to wizard" setting that I find pretty much useless. I never use the wizard and I don't know why anyone would. It doesn't take long to learn how to use the RIP the right way.

 

[BIG EASY DOES IT]

I own a new HP Latex 110 and the RIP that comes with the printer (Flexi Basic) works fine for printing. You can't use it for cutting, but it does a nice job of printing, nesting jobs, and works with a wide variety of file types directly. The RIP communicates well with the printer.

The 110 works great, but the ink really is about double the price. That's frustrating. Not as much because it's SOOOOO much money, but because you feel like you're being robbed. If they can sell the ink to the 310 owner at X price and make a profit, why should the 110 owner pay 2X? The dealer didn't really clarify this to me. That said, the printer is a couple grand less expensive than the 310, so that will pay for the ink difference for a little while. But once that has passed, I'll just be paying more than I needed to.

Truth be told, I probably would have done the 110 in any case because I wanted to set it up myself rather than wait for professional install. I can be impatient that way. I will say that I quickly realized that there is a reason these are usually installed by professionals.

The only real difference between the RIP with the 110 and the 310 is a simple "default to wizard" setting that I find pretty much useless. I never use the wizard and I don't know why anyone would. It doesn't take long to learn how to use the RIP the right way.

.

If you pay more then $99 for 110 ink cartridges you are paying too much.

Ink for 360- .17 ml
Ink for 110 .24 cents a mil

40% increase. Not even close to 2x expensive. But you paid a a quarter the price for the printer. Sounds like a pretty good deal. There are always aftermarket inks.

 

[140K]

.

If you pay more then $99 for 110 ink cartridges you are paying too much.

Ink for 360- .17 ml
Ink for 110 .24 cents a mil

40% increase. Not even close to 2x expensive. But you paid a a quarter the price for the printer. Sounds like a pretty good deal. There are always aftermarket inks.

I hope that's true! I'm going to stop everything and look right now. That would be great news. For some reason I had in my mind that the inks were roughly $100 per cartridge for both the 110 and the 310. The 110 being 400ml and the 310 being 800ml (roughly).

If I'm wrong I should probably update that previous answer so nobody reads that and believes it!

 

[140K]

.

If you pay more then $99 for 110 ink cartridges you are paying too much.

Ink for 360- .17 ml
Ink for 110 .24 cents a mil

40% increase. Not even close to 2x expensive. But you paid a a quarter the price for the printer. Sounds like a pretty good deal. There are always aftermarket inks.

You're right about the ink prices. I need to fix that in my previous answer. Thanks for pointing it out.

The printer price wasn't all that different though. The net difference was roughly $10K vs. $12K so about $2K difference between the 110 and the 310 (there were specials on both). But the 310 price included almost double the ink, so the actual difference was only about $1400.00 net, but $2000.00 cash at purchase. (ink would last almost twice as long before needing to be replenished)

----- Aftermarket Inks -----

Is that really an option? I figured the printer would immediately recognize a non OEM cartridge and throw an error. Or if not that, void the warranty. Is this not the case?

 

[BIG EASY DOES IT]

You're right about the ink prices. I need to fix that in my previous answer. Thanks for pointing it out.

The printer price wasn't all that different though. The net difference was roughly $10K vs. $12K so about $2K difference between the 110 and the 310 (there were specials on both). But the 310 price included almost double the ink, so the actual difference was only about $1400.00 net, but $2000.00 cash at purchase. (ink would last almost twice as long before needing to be replenished)

----- Aftermarket Inks -----

Is that really an option? I figured the printer would immediately recognize a non OEM cartridge and throw an error. Or if not that, void the warranty. Is this not the case?

Yea my price difference was between the 110 and 360 on the printer price. Look over some old posts on warranty issue. Basically HP would have to say the ink is what caused the need for repair which would void warranty. They are not allowed to deny warranty solely based on which inks you use. Plenty of companies make chips that still read in the printers. They will not warranty printheads though since the ink flows through them.

Plus the warranty is only for 6 months then your out of warranty anyways so it doesn't matter at all what inks you use.

 

[140K]

Plus the warranty is only for 6 months then your out of warranty anyways so it doesn't matter at all what inks you use.

It's actually a one year warranty if you complete the online training... which I've done about half of... and is kind of a joke because of course you start printing as soon as you get the thing set-up and by the time you get to the training you already figured it all out.

 

[Suz]

It's actually a one year warranty if you complete the online training... which I've done about half of... and is kind of a joke because of course you start printing as soon as you get the thing set-up and by the time you get to the training you already figured it all out.

Hello 140K!

Thank you for sharing your experience with this printer. Actually, you did okay! I have the L25500, as mentioned. Paid an extra $1500.00 (I think it was) for a local HP Tech to install my machine and train me, be there for the first couple weeks or whatever. Well... the "Tech" installed my machine incorrectly, setting it up for the smaller 41" model, or whatever size the smaller unit was at that time. When he invited me to sit at the computer after installing software, I did notice that he had it set for a smaller unit and told him that didn't look right to me. He told me it was right, then rushed off to some other appointment he had. Never saw him again. I reinstalled the software myself, with the help of Tim (Thanks Tim) that wonderful Canadian! Thank God, Tim had the same machine and was so nice.

Okay, then shortly after getting my machine running, the Company who sold me the machine (local, ha!) went out of business. Their "Technicians" who were also Owners of the business I bought from, moved on to work for another Company selling the same machines and materials, of which I should mention the name of, but won't. Have had lots of problems on my rocky road. Spent lots of money. Had issues with the machine of all kinds. Thankfully there was also help through my warranty that came with machine. HP has been good to replace some things that were faulty on machine. Absolutely no training. Pretty much been at the mercy of whoever could help, Signs 101 friends here have been such a help. Thank you all! I would have quit without you. I am so Thankful for all of you.

Anyhow, 140K, you did O-K!! Good luck with your machine. Appreciate your post.

 

[140K]

... Actually, you did okay! I have the L25500, as mentioned. Paid an extra $1500.00 (I think it was) for a local HP Tech to install my machine and train me, be there for the first couple weeks or whatever. Well...

I'm glad things did come together for you in the end on all that. It's certainly frustrating to put out the investment these machines take (and I'm thinking yours was more than mine by a fair margin) only to have problems getting it all working.

The company I purchased from included set-up for the 300 series and up at no charge, but you had to wait a few weeks. I took on the installation of the 110 myself and now that I know how to do it, I guess I'd do it again. In HINDSIGHT it wasn't that hard. But in the moment... that was pretty stressful. I was afraid I was going to break something very expensive and (I'm showing my total lack of prior large format experience)... the thing was HUGE! I went to pick it up from FedEx because they didn't have a lift gate truck on the scheduled date. I showed up with my full-size pickup truck and the box was gigantic. It stuck out of the back of my truck by a few feet and was about five feet tall by maybe 3 feet wide. I was so freaked out that it was going to tip over on the way home, but of course it didn't given the one million straps I put around it.

Getting it out of the truck... OMG.

For anyone looking to do this - You can get a couple/three/four guys on the end of the box sticking out of the truck and lower that end down. It looks like it will come off the pallet, but it won't. The pallet actually has solid wood cleats that lock into the actual box and packaging. You could probably stand the pallet up almost on end and the box wouldn't slide off the top. We didn't know this so we first tried to slide the box off of the pallet. When that didn't work (we thought due to sheer weight) we put tons of wasted effort into keeping the box from sliding off the pallet while we lowered one end.

The next mistake we made was assuming that "site preparation guide" was an honest document. It says you need a huge wide door to get the printer through (like 38")... that's not true. That is allowing for a person on each side I suppose. But believing that we just assumed that we had to get the printer into the printer room before assembling the stand. No... we didn't. We could have assembled out in the shop and just rolled it through the door. THAT would have been much easier than manhandling the printer through the door with three guys.

After that the actual assembly wasn't too bad, but you do have to watch the videos and hit pause/rewind a ton. They erred on the side of too-short with the videos. They could have been more detailed, with more zooming in on actual parts and the way parts go together.

But after all of it, the printer worked great. I covered my desk with the test print vinyl. I do all my office work on the first print the printer ever did. I'm hoping it brings good luck.

I just need to start selling. Haven't really gotten far with that yet. I'm thinking I just need to cold-call business owners in the right markets. HVAC contractors sure seem to like wraps!

 

[140K]

Complete Online Training Within One Month!

It's actually a one year warranty if you complete the online training... which I've done about half of... and is kind of a joke because of course you start printing as soon as you get the thing set-up and by the time you get to the training you already figured it all out.

So I just finished my online training... and AT THE END of the training a note pops up that says you should complete the training within one month to get the extended warranty! I can certainly think of a better time to have told me that! Like on a huge sticker placed on top of the printer or at least at the START of the training.

I kind of doubt that HP is going to reject my warranty extension on this point, but we'll see.

But for anyone else who buys a Latex 110, make sure you do the online training immediately. It's totally simple and won't take long at all.

I'll update below when I hear back from HP on this issue.