HP Latex - need help taking a decision / your advice & experience would be highlly appreaciated

[LiviuMircea]

Hello, this is my first message here so I will introduce myself in this tread shortly before taking to the point. My name is Liviu Georgescu, I am an event photographer which is planning to take his business a little step forward. I decided to go make a small firm the coming year which mainlly focuses on making layflat photobooks and also canvas printing. I am planning in doing besides online selling also alot of kindergarden photos and main products are small fotobooks and canvas. I workend in the past o a very small scale, had an aquaneous printer Canon IPF 675 wich broke down after 5 years and now a simple Canon TC-20. I use compatible pigment ink, even if color calibrated with an i1 Studio, still colours are a little dull and also I waste alot of time, after printing in coating the canvas with some varnish. Therefore I decided initially to go with solvent hence I was very attracted to an Epson 30600 series, it is sold in my country refurbished with arround 4000 US + VAT with some warranty and the guys that sells them it's outstanding and known for his great support as a tehnician. Main issues hich stopped me were the fact that they require alot of space and they cannot fit on a 75 cm normal door, they are very wide. Also in the beggining I will have very low volumes and maintaining a solvent printer just for a few canvases it simplly does not worth it. What I miss though is great color accuracy and also resolution. Now, for some reason this year on the second hand market here in my country alot of Latex printers from Germany are sold, most of them declared in very good working conditions with arround 30 000 square meters printed with as low as 2000-2500 usd. Also some models a little bit more expensive but with under 4000 square meters printed. In the past I was very close in buying such a printer but got scared hence I red on the forums some peoples got lemons and I am in no position when it comes paying a certified tech to repair it due to high costs compared with the value of aquistion. When it comes to color, I also saw some people complaining on reds for example, some being happy so I understand that some work must be put in profiling, but if some manage to get decent results I should also. As some peoples commented, canvas is forgiving so on the dot level it's resolutution should be enough. Also the HP's are narrower so I can fiot them on a normal door not to say the maintainance as far as I know is not as demanding as a solvent printer and also not forced to print on a daily basis. Besides canvas I plan on doing signs or different prints also colant for cars so for me the first printer will be learning technology and amterials down the road, to have a starting point.
Now I am very close on buying aLatex 360 with 30 000 sqm printed which the vendor sent me some watsap pictures and filming working. I do not have the posibility to check it myself nor the knoledge to know what to look for. Also if I go to HP server to check history if I see any small/normal error I might panic and not buy it. So I plan on making the purchase on trus. The nozzle check is perfect and the printer is used dailly for printing samples. Now I ask your opinion, what would you think about this printer and also do I make a correct decision in buying thios model? I have also a option to buy a Latex 115 with under 2000 of sqm printed, but I am affraid not to get a what you guys call a lemon, I trust a little more a printer with some milleage hence I do not plan on making thousnds of square meters, my only purpose now is have a good canvas printer and also learning the technology for geting future jobs and maybe a back-up printer hence they are so cheap.
I looked for threads in the past on google, find also alot of information here, this is why decided to amke an account and ask for more specifics.
Thanks for in adance for your time and advice!

 

[dypinc]

Stay away from the Latex. You will not get the photo quality you are looking for.

 

[ikarasu]

Don't most photo shops use like HP designjets ? Or other aqueous inks.

Wide format, including solvent won't get near as good at photo prints as a aqueous printer would.

They're smaller as well, so should be better suited for you.

 

[mvariety]

Our first large format was an HP Latex 335 64" (print and cut) still churning 3 years later with daily jobs including canvas. A Latex 360 model comes with an ink collector accessory which is great for printing fabrics and can do dual-sided printing. If you plan on doing mostly canvas and single-sided signage, I'd say go with the 115. We have an Epson Aqueous 36" for photo-quality prints but doesn't take on canvas. The Latex works great for canvas prints IMO but I have no comparison with a solvent-based printer. I'm sure there are much more qualified printers who can advise you much better. I learn a lot from this forum!

 

[richsweeney]

I would stay with the cannon. The 360 a 6 color is really for the commercial space, not retail. I would think you would want at least a 12 color printer. See this link on youtube for the cannons
youtube.com/@cheo1949

 

[MNT_Printhead]

People love the latex machines, as someone who runs them to death and over capacity I hate them mostly. Prints not coming out the correct size is a constant issue that can be fixed, but takes up time, when the your have the last two rolls of media needed to to a wall wrap job and not a single panel reaches the length intended on a time schedule they will kill you. I run the wheels off og my 360 and 365, these are not production machines for large scale manufacturers. They will work for small Fast Sign shops just fine, aside from the poor print quality. I will say that the inks do seem to hols up well. One plus side is the double sided printing capability and that will mean I will keep one in the line up while I look forward to going solvent with a Roland as soon as my 365 dies (my 360 if about 4 years older and still kicking ass)