We are in the midst of making a purchase decision and probably have similar needs and preferences. Trying to decide this week and already had narrowed the field until we got news today that the only Mimaki dealer in our half of a huge state does not recommend their products and has expressed strong recommendations even in this thread for ONLY buying latex. Now multiple posters here have diametrically opposed opinions on latex and HP, so how does somebody like us decide?
Our expected volume of printing is expected to go up due to growth and the retirement of our now obsolete flatbed printer. We thought about doing a lamp/ink conversion on our flatbed now that gerber has washed its hands of the equipment, but it doesn't seem like its money well spent. That being said, we're never so crushed or doing last minute jobs that our workflow is impacted by print/cut jobs going back on the Roland we have for cutting. I'm assuming the uptick in speed ANY printer will have over a 10 year old Roland is substantial?
We have a 48" plotter with OPOS which really can only cut to 46.50", so in many cases our print/cut jobs often extend out to the edges of our 52.50" print area on the Roland. Frequently losing 4-6" of print/cut capacity seems like a substantial loss of capacity and waste spread over many years.
As far as your concern about the cost of latex heads for an HP, they are dirt cheap compared to other solvent brands and changed out as simply as pulling out an ink cartridge and plugging in a new one. I know that entire mindset feels foreign to many of us and I'm doing my best to not let my past experience or bias influence me, but so far it's been really difficult to ignore the much more frequent consumables cost of latex from an environmental standpoint. I'm sure the inks are more earth friendly than solvent, but we are wrestling with other issues as well.
Roland appears to be moving towards a place where owners can't do ANY maintenance or even minor repairs themselves even after the warranty expires and will be expected to wait until a certified Roland tech arrives to save the day. Even for just a wiper or damper change. With our "local" reseller of several brands being over a 2 hour drive away, we want to heed so many folk's advice on that point, but their track record on reliability even just as a sign supply vendor has been spotty. They admit they have had staffing issues, but I'm not sure if that extends to the Roland service tech department.
Compounding these decisions is the similar pricing for equivalently featured machines. If one jumped out as a huge advantage in features, cost, ease of use and productivity, it would be much easier to choose.
Good luck on your choice. I hope it is easier to arrive at than ours has been.
