Allow me to quote from the esteemed and knowledgeable FrankW:
"I have worked several years (and still do that work) as a technician for roland printers, and now work for more than 3 years for a HP Latex dealer. I think I could comment the marketing Roland does.
Print heads
In Switzerland, the cost of ink and consumables (heads and maintenance cartridge) per ml for the HP is lower than for the Roland Eco-Sol-Max ink only (and both the original Mutoh- and the Mimaki-Ink are more expensive than the Roland Ink in Switzerland). And the HP don't suck ink just for cleaning the nozzles. Conclusion: don't be confused about changing the heads more often than on a Roland, calculate everything ... it could be that you will be surprised. I'm shure the situation is not different in the US.
Even changing the heads or the equivalent of Wiper, Capping, Ink Pump and so on can be easily replaced by the customer in minutes. You will never have a Roland up and running again around twenty minutes after a head is broken, even if you have one on stock ... this will work with the HP only.
With the new roland models, you will not pay only a few hundred bucks for print heads, they will charge much more (including ink dampers which should be replaced with the head). And there are 8 ink channels on one head. So if the black nozzles run into problems (the black nozzles are usually the first nozzles with problems), you need to replace the whole head. Because of this you will sometimes run into situations that the permanent piezo head will not print as accurate as new, but you will not replace it because of the costs. We know that because it happens that people are asking us for doing transluzent jobs, or jobs with monochrome surfaces, and after they saw the results very often they order their latex printer within a few weeks instead of spending tausands of swiss francs for replacing a head for a JV33, Mutoh Valuejet or VersaCamm Pro.
Software
Comparing VersaWorks with Onyx is an affrontery. VersaWorks is easy to use, but of really poor functionality. And that is true too when comparing VersaWorks with the FlexiPRINT HP Edition or other RIP's. And the FlexiPRINT will not cost $ 4'000.
And not to forget: the media profiles for the HP Latex 300-Series are universal, can be used with every RIP. There are nearly 500 downloadable directly to the printer, most of them created by professionals in HP's certification agencies. And it is easy to relinearize them and so solve a lot of problems filling the Signs101-Board (grey balance, gradients and much more) easily. With the Latex 360, you could create a complete media profile including ICC from scratch in the printer ... just with interpreting an ink limit swatch and pressing two further buttons (one for automatic linearising and one for automatic ICC swatch printing, reading and profile calculating). With VersaWorks, you can't even get an integrated ICC-Profiler, even if you have a spectrophotometer.
No further request on bulletin boards "Do have someone a profile for me"? Wouldn't that be nice?
Cutter
Comparing the integrated contour cutting system of a Roland Printer with a 7'000 bucks contour cutter is a affrontery too.
The Roland Contour Cutting system is the same since around 15 years, it is slow and of poor functionality. Buying for example a Summa (which for my opinion is the best contour cutting roll plotter on the market) wo allows batch processing (OPOS Barcode), have an enhanced punching system and have a lot of help to optimize cutting accuracy (more than 4 Markers, OPOS Panelling and so on) is much more value for the money.
Models
Comparing a VS or RF640 with a Latex 360 is a joke, but not a good one. The maximum speed of a RF640 is around 18 square meter (High Speed Mode): that speed is less than the regular speed of a Latex 360 producing good quality prints on banner, vinyl and paper (6-Pass), and similar to regular indoor quality printing mode (8 Pass). For being fair, with the VersaCamm Pro or VersaExpress, Roland should have to compare them with a 330, not a 360 ... for comparing a 360, use the Soljet XF640 ... a machine for a list price of $ 29'995, but still less functionality.
Other issues
The scratch resistance of the prints are much higher, with the 360 regularly no feed adjust is neccessary/no feed banding appears (OMAS), the printer prints mesh without liner or fabrics where the ink could drench thanks to the ink collector (360 only), the printer (360 only) can print double-sided easily, the ink don't smell during printing, the motorized unroll-axis will handle rolls constantly independent from the weight, and at last but not least for doing remote control through an app, in opposite to the roland app, with the Latex mobile app you do not need to be in the same network.
Sorry, Roland
I still feel sorry when Rolands arrive for trade-in after replacing them with a Latex-Printer (some of them I've sold myself some years ago). When the XR-640 was released, I have seen the countdown on the website and was happy that something new will arrive ... and was really disappointed that it was another soljet only. I'm aware of that HP have a lot more ressources to develop real innovations than companies like Roland, Mutoh or Mimaki ... but blaming the innovations, doing unfair comparisons and so on will not guide to success.
Two weeks ago I've got in contact with a very loyal roland user for years just because he asks for a software update, he had a look on an XR-640 ... this week we have installed a Latex 360. When the people, if roland user or not, enter our showroom we will catch them most of the time ... sometimes printing samples only will guide to a buy. I keep my fingers crossed that roland will have printers in the near future which will make selling Latex 360 against them not as easy as it is currently ... just for old times sake."
I'm putting my order in today and paying for it Tomorrow. Finally buying my own printer.. (I work for a company and do all the wide format printing). This machine seems like the best option for Small operations / starting businesses...cant beat the price, and with Latex... you dont need to run a print everyday or risk the heads getting clogged. You cant go wrong, especially at this price - Btw... it's $9950 WITH ink. Which makes it even cheaper than American prices once you factor in the exchange rate. The ink alone is around 1K for a set.