Is Mimaki Better Than Roland?

[player]

I am wondering. They do a nice sales job in this video. I would be looking at 55" or 64".

Can Roland Versaworks do cut first then print? I like the way the Mimaki can detect crop marks on each decal then cut. Seems way better than Roland. Are the built in Mimaki cutters any good? The Roland printers I have owned the cutters are not great. Does Mimaki come with a rip? How are Mimaki printer for repair? Will I be able to work on it myself like I can my Roland?

Any insights into Mimaki vs Roland would be appreciated.

 

[player]

What about these Mimaki Plus print/cutters?

 

[iPrintStuff]

Never owned a Roland but the mimaki CJV30 we have has been a true workhorse. Since we got a Colorado we just use it for HTV but it’s done over 200,000sqft and is only on its second head. Had very little maintenance done other than a service once a year. So I’d assume the newer model is better.

As far as the cutter goes, it was as accurate as we needed it to be, as long as the sheet wasn’t impeded going through the machine it kept probably within 1mm but our max sheet size was usually 40”. It’s just not as quick. The summa S class we have now is easily 3x faster with better accuracy (can go even faster but we’re happy with that speed:quality ratio).

From what I’ve seen, mimaki techs also always seem to be Roland techs too so I’m assuming there aren’t many huge differences between the two.

 

[player]

From what I have read and personally experienced Roland quality is worse as the new models come out.

 

[Alan Foster]

i have had experience of rolands and mimakis, early models though, and JV3' s beat rolands every time, especially in reliability in my eyes,

 

[ewded]

Rolands were good back in the days, they are just sh*t nowadays since they want to cut corners wherever they can to save a buck.
I worked with roland mimaki and epson, I would choose epson all day long. Print AND cut seems a good value - but it's really not. Epson+Mimaki CG-160 FXII is the best combo I reckon. Mimaki CJV 150 was good as well, just not that fast and I hated the RIP

 

[Andy D]

I have used both and there are several things I like more about Mimaki than Roland:
- The contour cutting.
- The rip program.
- Mimaki will use up one ink cartridge and then switch to the other, for some dumb reason Roland pulls from both.
- Mimaki has sliding tabs that hold down the media edge.
- The take-up on my Roland sucks.
- You have to remove pinch wheels for smaller rolls of media on a Roland.

 

[Gino]

Yes, you can cut first and then go back and print on a Roland.

To me, these questions..... and answers are always based upon emotion. It's almost always a personal preference.

Had Rolands since 1995 and they have served us well. New ones, well, everyone makes lemons and ya tend to hear about problems more than clean sailing. People concentrate and report on the bad things. Just make sure whatever your purchase is, you can go back and sock someone in the mouth if things start to go wrong. Then, switch out with no money lose.

 

[netsol]

I have used both and there are several things I like more about Mimaki than Roland:
- The contour cutting.
- The rip program.
- Mimaki will use up one ink cartridge and then switch to the other, for some dumb reason Roland pulls from both.
- Mimaki has sliding tabs that hold down the media edge.
- The take-up on my Roland sucks.
- You have to remove pinch wheels for smaller rolls of media on a Roland.

andy

i have always wondered why it never occurred to roland to pull from one cartridge at a time. it's time for us to learn from the cell phone people. since rolwnd's new firmware locks us out of setup, lets start a "JAILBREAK YOUR ROLAND" movement

we will need a programmer or two, perhaps an ex-roland tech? i can think of several other mods i would make if i were steering the ship.

(don't mind me, it's mostly cabin fever, many of my character flaws exhibit themselves during a lockdown)

 

[rjssigns]

I can tell you this. When replacing my Roland I was set to buy a Mimaki. Dealer sells Mimaki and Mutoh. He said I'b be happier with the Mutoh. After running both he was right. IMO Mimaki control panel and Rasterlink are overly complex and not intuitive.

When I run both rigs back to back there is a marked difference in ease of operation with the Mutoh. YMMV.

Mimaki has some other weirdness I don't care for but maybe it's just me.

No longer a fan of print/cut rigs like I was in the past. My Roland was print cut and it worked fine on short runs. Then I got a Summa and took cutting away from the Roland. Wow! Spot on cuts and no worrying about the Roland eating the job. Load the job and walk away. Done.

 

[Notarealsignguy]

Our cjv150 is about 3 years old, really no problems. It replaced an SP300v. Tracking is better on the mimaki but Im not sure thats a fair comparison considering the Roland was well worn when replaced.
I thought that rasterlink was pretty close to the same as versaworks. Dial it in and you're all set.
Cutting is fine. Use sheetcut, make sure its straight when you print it and then when you reload line it back up straight with the platen.
I like print cut, you can always add a second plotter if needed. The only thing I don't like is swapping media in order to cut.

 

[JetPress]

We use Mimaki here but at one point we got a Mutoh when our first Mimaki printer broke down. I think we were sold a dud because right out of the box we had many unsolved issues. Tech couldn't fix it and it was a major head ache. I would like to think they are not all like this but it was a pretty bad experience and we immediately went back to Mimaki afterwards. I started with Rasterlink but we switched over to Flexi and it has made things so much easier.

 

[rjssigns]

Mimaki in the lab at school runs full rolls or banner, intermediate, wrap vinyl and reflective regularly with no issues. Other than having to use Rasterlink there have been no issues. It has white ink too which runs well and hasn't caused any problems.

 

[Krissy Louderback]

I replaced my Roland with a Mimaki. The Mimaki is MUCH better at contour cutting. I have had it for over 3 years with no issues.

 

[MikePro]

trolling these forums for years, and I've seen more praises from mimaki users and more headaches from roland users.
however, somehow roland's presence is greater on this continent so consumables/service&parts may be more readily accessible.

 

[Ahmed Samy Nagada]

Roland, Mutoh & Mimaki, you simply can't go wrong with any. I'm using Mutoh 1624 + Summa cutter

 

[McDonald Signs]

I bought a Roland SC540 new in 2004. Been running it 5 days a week since 2004. I've had to replace a few pumps, heads a couple times, Service Trip about every 3 to 4 yrs and some other small maintenance
but it has been a really good printer. Well pleased with it.

 

[Zach Starr]

I think its all on preference and where you are located. Honestly Roland has been very bad with their new printers, it seems like the product is not there yet. I would recommend getting a graphtec cutter if cutting a critical part of your business, and buy a print only machine.. mimaki, stratojet, epson are all good options.

 

[Pewter0000]

We've only used Roland, but I know a lot of folks who are happy with their Mimaki.
Yes you can cut then print with Roland, though I've never found the use for that.

 

[netsol]

all told, we have 12 rolands, if i include all the engraving & milling equipment (just settng up that part of the shop now)

i like the rolands, except when i use one strictly as a vinyl cutter.
they seem WAY too jerky, the handling seems really rough.

i prefer the gerber plotters, (what's not to like about perforated vinyl and a pin feed plotter?)
other than the 15" limitation, you can plot a 100' job & come right back to the beginning.
we use a 24" gerber tempo 600 (a graphtec by any other name) & it is perfectly fine,
but i wince when i watch the rolands cut. they seem much better suited to print &'cut/contour cut.

my experience is limited to older equipment. nothing newer than a sc545-ex