Need your opinion!!!!

[MGraphics]

Hi All,

Myself and my VP are doing a presentation to Corporate about flatbeds. They have short listed these 3 printers as ones they would think about purchasing. Can you give me your opinion on them, If you own one good/bad, parts cost, down time, maintenance.. etc. I have tried several times to get them to fly us to a sign show but never gets approved. I have listed by most expensive to least... I am think HP would be the best but let me know.

1. Agfa Jeti 1224 UV HDC
2. Fuji Acuity HS
3. HP FB700 no roll but with extra beds and white. (planning on getting the 280 with this option)

Thanks everyone for your input.

Ryan
:signs101:

 

[MGraphics]

bump

 

[danno]

We have a FB700 due in on 12/09. Went to a HP seminar in Alpharetta, GA. The demo went well. A lot of options can be done with that machine. Ours is coming in the white and the roll option.

 

[MGraphics]

Thanks Pat,

Yeah we have gone through some of the consumables and I know there are people on here that run the HP and was hoping to get there input as that seems to be the most attractive deal out of the 3

Ryan

 

[Montrealer]

The best flatbed ever its the Fuji Onset S20, all previous models u named before are just slow machine that take forever to print. The S20 can print a 60x120 sheet in 20 pass in 54 seconds...All automatic!!

The Jeti the resolution is not that good, solvant ink beurk...its a machine for the billboard....Acuity advance the web option (roll to roll) dosent work very well and on flatbed mode its too slow...take 12 min per sheets....

HP FBwhatever, those machine make alot noise, and i hate HP because the customer services are real ghosts...good luck to reach them...

You have probably a small business?

 

[HulkSmash]

100% HP 700. No need with the extended tables at all.

 

[Mr. Sign Pro]

100% HP 700. No need with the extended tables at all.

I second this vote. We have a FB500 (basically the same machine but smaller and slower) and the printer just works, day in and day out. The printer is built really well and performs just as good. I'm amazed each day I run the printer at how well it works and how little maintenance it requires. Mine came with roll to roll and extended tables and I use both on a regular basis. I don't think I would have purchased either option if I bought new but they definitely come in handy. I can't speak to the white but I hear it's not the most efficient machine for switching to white. I hear it is costly as well. My only complaint is how often it cleans. Frequent cleanings result in excellent, fresh heads but the cleaning is a little excessive.

 

[player]

How much are the machines selling for?

 

[Asuma01]

100k - 130k depending on options.

 

[MGraphics]

Thanks all,

Yes I am just a one man shop right now but in our proposal we are adding 1 or 2 more bodies. I think The HP is the bang for the buck. I am curious does anyone have a video of a FB700 printing a 4x8 sheet? In my presentation I want to run a vid of the Fb700 printing a sheet while I mount vinyl to boards. I have lots of videos but none of a full sheet start to finish. Any help would be awesome!! Can anyone comment of the support? are they really ghosts?? We would be having ours services through Proveer... We had an older HP and when we needed service or help Proveer was on it.

Thanks!!!
Ryan

 

[the graphics co]

Thanks all,

Yes I am just a one man shop right now but in our proposal we are adding 1 or 2 more bodies. I think The HP is the bang for the buck. I am curious does anyone have a video of a FB700 printing a 4x8 sheet? In my presentation I want to run a vid of the Fb700 printing a sheet while I mount vinyl to boards. I have lots of videos but none of a full sheet start to finish. Any help would be awesome!! Can anyone comment of the support? are they really ghosts?? We would be having ours services through Proveer... We had an older HP and when we needed service or help Proveer was on it.

Thanks!!!
Ryan

If your intention is to show it is faster to print to a board than apply vinyl, you are going be done applying much sooner (I hope) than any of those machines can print a full sheet. That isn't an apples to apples comparison, you need to account for the time it takes to print the sheet you are applying to the board.

 

[HulkSmash]

We can print a 4x8 in under 4 minutes on our flatbed in production mode. Higher quality modes are a bit slower, but still much faster then printing and mounting. We print 90 percent on production mode.

on our l2550 it takes 20 minutes to print a 4x8 on 8 pass, and then laminate takes another 4 minutes, and then to mount took another 5 minutes. It's a no brainer for a higher production shop.

 

[MGraphics]

Thanks Colorado,

How many HP products do you run? I run a Roland VS 640 and it takes 45 mins on standard mode to run a 4 x 8.. You wouldn't happen to have footage of your machine running do you?

Thanks,
Ryan

We can print a 4x8 in under 4 minutes on our flatbed in production mode. Higher quality modes are a bit slower, but still much faster then printing and mounting. We print 90 percent on production mode.

on our l2550 it takes 20 minutes to print a 4x8 on 8 pass, and then laminate takes another 4 minutes, and then to mount took another 5 minutes. It's a no brainer for a higher production shop.