Please tell me about the HP 335 and 365

[Andy D]

The Business owner want to replace our eco Solvent Roland with latex and wants me to find out more about the HP 335 and 365. From the people that run them, are you happy with them?
On the 365, is the spectrometer any good? It doesn't replace an eye-one does it?
We will likely get the summa plotter with it, the have a barcode reader built it, is that any good?

Thanks for any info.

 

[balstestrat]

So the differences between 335 and 365

• Spectro which is nice addition but it can't do everything that external one does. Like transparents, backlit, fabric, non-white material etc. What it can do is basic profiles very very easily.
• 365 is a tiny bit faster, just has an additional heater.
• 365 has a better spindles for material rolls.
• 365 can do fabrics and stuff that let's ink through with the ink collector.
• 365 has a bigger screen but it doesn't really make big difference in daily use.
• 335 probably comes with Flexi RIP but 365 doesn't so add the RIP to the Cost as well.

I would buy 365 if the price difference isn't too much. You should be able to snatch one at ~$15000.

And the Summas a work horse. Just stay away from MX graphics and thiccc stuff I guess (from the other threads). There's new models coming soon so think about that.

 

[Andrea_neon]

We have an 335 and love how easy it is to use. Everything you need to do, change, etc, shows in the screen and has step by step tutorials of how to do everything. We print a lot of vynil, we don't usually print fabrics so 335 works great for us. Flexi RIP works well but I've never tried another RIP so don't have anything to compare with.

 

[mpn]

We went with the 335. It was our first Latex as we have Roland and Epson too. The 335 is great. The things that will take getting used to is the lag time on short run stuff compared to the Roland. It takes time to heat up, cancel jobs etc. Not really downsides but it is slower doing things like that. Long runs are great and it tracks straighter than any printer we have. Take up system is top notch compared to the others. It self cleans, has a maintenance cartridge and head replacements are a breeze, which we like. We use mostly generic profiles and some vinyl manufacturer canned profiles. Color is nice and reds come out okay. We've run ours for close to 3.5 years now. If you have any 335 specific questions let me know.

 

[Pauly]

wouldn't rely on the onboard spectro. would rather have a separate one. onboard one would be limited what you can do with it.

 

[Chriswagner92]

We went with the 335 since April of 2018 coming from an sp540v, and the difference in production speed was astronomical. The thing is so easy to maintain, not that it needs much. I think the heads we have in there now are like a year old and still firing perfectly. My only gripe is how much waste it produces compared to the 540. It needs about a foot leading otherwise it catches on the heater and crashes, whereas the 540 was pretty much right where you want it. Definitely get the takeup option if it doesn't come standard.

 

[Andy D]

My only gripe is how much waste it produces compared to the 540. It needs about a foot leading otherwise it catches on the heater and crashes

I had used a different model HP Latex & it was the same way until I changed the heat settings & found the sweet spot of the lowest temp that cured the ink.
On that other HP, I couldn't pause a print without losing what I had already printed... is the 335 the same? Also, I couldn't print vinyl unless it was on a roll, same?

 

[balstestrat]

I had used a different model HP Latex & it was the same way until I changed the heat settings & found the sweet spot of the lowest temp that cured the ink.
On that other HP, I couldn't pause a print without losing what I had already printed... is the 335 the same? Also, I couldn't print vinyl unless it was on a roll, same?

The heat settings doesn't have much to do with the need for extra margin at the front because it happens before the curing. It's the material that makes the difference. Some crash easily and some you can print from zero lead.
Only way to "pause" is to open the window and then it will pause and continue after but you risk having a defect and there's like a 5min time limit.
You can print sheets but there is limitations to that. You need an extra 3-feet at the end so the ink cures properly.

 

[Commando]

We have a 360 and 365.
I hate them both. And HP/Grimco tech support is virtually non existent. They(HP) charge 50 bucks just to speak to someone!
The color isnt consistent. It prints short lengthwise. One of them leaks optimizer and HP came by, scratched their heads and left.
Also, if you change out vinyl a lot, you are going to get a lot of waste.
Look into Epson, is my advice.

 

[Commando]

The color isnt consistent. It prints short lengthwise

This also seems to be a very typical problem with these printers and they dont seem to care. Probably because when they grabbed 3Ms hand, they took over the traffic market.

 

[balstestrat]

We have a 360 and 365.
I hate them both. And HP/Grimco tech support is virtually non existent. They(HP) charge 50 bucks just to speak to someone!
The color isnt consistent. It prints short lengthwise. One of them leaks optimizer and HP came by, scratched their heads and left.
Also, if you change out vinyl a lot, you are going to get a lot of waste.
Look into Epson, is my advice.

Is it leaking from the carriage? There's a pretty easy and "cheap" fix for that...
Most likely need to just replace the FI tower.

 

[Ldireprophil]

3 years with 365. It’s a workhorse. Inks and occasional printheads, otherwise solid as a rock.

 

[tudouqiezi]

So the differences between 335 and 365

• Spectro which is nice addition but it can't do everything that external one does. Like transparents, backlit, fabric, non-white material etc. What it can do is basic profiles very very easily.
• 365 is a tiny bit faster, just has an additional heater.
• 365 has a better spindles for material rolls.
• 365 can do fabrics and stuff that let's ink through with the ink collector.
• 365 has a bigger screen but it doesn't really make big difference in daily use.
• 335 probably comes with Flexi RIP but 365 doesn't so add the RIP to the Cost as well.

I would buy 365 if the price difference isn't too much. You should be able to snatch one at ~$15000.

And the Summas a work horse. Just stay away from MX graphics and thiccc stuff I guess (from the other threads). There's new models coming soon so think about that.

Sounds good, any news that Summa will update the S2 series?
I'm thinking of replacing my FC8600 with an FC9000 and if SUMMA updates the S2 I can think about it.

 

[balstestrat]

Sounds good, any news that Summa will update the S2 series?
I'm thinking of replacing my FC8600 with an FC9000 and if SUMMA updates the S2 I can think about it.

No, I think you will have to go with the FC9000...

 

[signheremd]

Sounds good, any news that Summa will update the S2 series?
I'm thinking of replacing my FC8600 with an FC9000 and if SUMMA updates the S2 I can think about it.

We have a Graphtec FC9000-160 and love it - just a typical Graphtec workhorse. Price was so much better than the Summa too - though Summa makes a really nice unit, so you can't much go wrong with either choice.

 

[Commando]

Is it leaking from the carriage? There's a pretty easy and "cheap" fix for that...
Most likely need to just replace the FI tower.

The tech said he couldnt figure out where it was coming from. There is optimizer all over. Up top, on the bottom. Rollers. Lol its a big mess.

 

[balstestrat]

The tech said he couldnt figure out where it was coming from. There is optimizer all over. Up top, on the bottom. Rollers. Lol its a big mess.

I bet it's the FI tower then. It's just a tube from there to the cartridge so there's not a lot of possibilities.