Mimaki JV 3 or Muto Falcon Outdoor 60"

[huso]

Hello,

i get an offer for two printer for my Car Wraping Shop. Im not sure which one i should take. I want to use the printer for banner and Car wrapping.

Both printers are old used models in mint condition.

One is a Mimaki JV 3 the other is a Mutoh Falcon outdoor 60" ( Mutoh Rockhopper 2 )

Im not sure if the quality of the printers is up to date... Because we just start that business i dont want invest a lot of money in a brand new printer. So im trying to reduce the risk with buying a used machine.

Any one here have experience with these machines? Which one should i take? Which machine makes less problems and is build more solid?

Best wishes and thanks,
Huso

 

[Letterbox Mike]

I have extensive experience with both. Don't even consider the Mutoh, get the JV3 and don't look back. The JV3 is a much more production-oriented machine than the Falcon, it's heavier duty and is built to run all day. It's also about 4 times as fast. The Falcon is considerably older technology, it's a design that's been around for alot of years, and it's dated. They still print beautifully, but that's not saying much. The JV3, while "old" by today's standards, is still much newer and more advanced.

Don't forget to invest in a good RIP too, without a quality program to run the printer, it's just a big paperweight. I recommend biting the bullet and getting Onyx, it runs our JV3 flawlessly and it's a very capable RIP you can grow into. Don't buy for your current needs, always plan ahead. If you get a RIP that will just get you by right now, that may very well hinder your company's growth if you're not able to use your printer to it's fullest potential.

 

[artbot]

i have a jv3 160sp and to me it looks like a machine, if maintained properly would last forever. as far as the rip, i'm sure insignia is right about the perfect rip. but the jv3 should come with rasterlink, it gets a bad rap by most. but if on a budget and investing as you go, i'd work with it to start. below is a thread discussing it's less known capabilities.

http://www.signs101.com/forums/showthread.php?t=66844&highlight=rasterlinkers

 

[huso]

Thanks for your comments!

Which printer would you choose : JV-3 or Hp 8000s?

Best wishes,
Huso

 

[artbot]

also, one thing to consider., there are bazillions of jv3's out there, and there will be a lot of small die hard shops that will be hard pressed to upgrade if the jv3 is still doing the job. i predict that heads and parts will be available in the aftermarket, plus a huge experienced user base for in house repair will make these printers the "poor man's printer of choice". for example you can still get dx2 heads for practically free. why? because there are so many old epsons and rolands still being kept alive, it is still profitable to supply parts.

i don't know if this will apply to the early hp's.

 

[Letterbox Mike]

+1

if you're a do it yourselfer get the JV3. They're pretty easy to work on and there is an abundance of parts available and there will be for a long time. I don't have alot of experience with the HP printer, but I do know they print well, are about the same speed as the JV3, but use more proprietary components that are more expensive, difficult to find and difficult to work on.

Our JV3 is going on 5 years old, has had the living daylights worked out of it and it keeps plugging along without a single problem. It's a real work horse. You won't be sorry going this route.

 

[huso]

Thanks! Ok, now the whole thing is more cleare for me!

Is the Printhead of the Mimaki-jv 3 "s" and "sp" the same? Are your sure the Printhead is the epson DX2? And whats a reasonabel price for that printhead?

I have a offer for a mimaki-JV3 "S" and "SP" are there big differences?

Best wishes,
Huso

 

[Letterbox Mike]

The S is a three head machine, it's the slightly older version of the SP which has 4 heads, one for each color. The SP is considerably faster than the S. There were some other minor tweaks and changes but for the most part that's the main difference.

The JV3 uses the DX4 head. You can get them for around $600 or so if you look hard enough. Direct from Mimaki they're alot more than that though.