printer should have come with a warning label

[kylebrk]

So bigfish has told me that anyone can sell me consumables for my machine. Yet I had a second vendor tell me that I can only get ink and cleaning stuff from the vendor that sold the machine to me. So what is the answer?

Also, these cleaning kits are gonna kill me. I've owned the machine for a month and have already changed a head and getting ready for my second cleaning kit.

I wouldn't consider myself a high volume shop but this is ridiculous. Their selling point is that each cartridge is double the 440 of normal printers but they dont tell you that you burn through it faster.

How much do you guys print and how much of the consumables do you use?

Don't get me wrong, the printer itself is amazing. The quality is out of this world. We just printed a wrap today with a majority of black and the black is unbelievable. It looks like black cut vinyl. I love it. Just all the details surrounding the printer that make me want to shoot myself.

 

[P Wagner]

So bigfish has told me that anyone can sell me consumables for my machine. Yet I had a second vendor tell me that I can only get ink and cleaning stuff from the vendor that sold the machine to me. So what is the answer?

Also, these cleaning kits are gonna kill me. I've owned the machine for a month and have already changed a head and getting ready for my second cleaning kit.

I wouldn't consider myself a high volume shop but this is ridiculous. Their selling point is that each cartridge is double the 440 of normal printers but they dont tell you that you burn through it faster.

How much do you guys print and how much of the consumables do you use?

Don't get me wrong, the printer itself is amazing. The quality is out of this world. We just printed a wrap today with a majority of black and the black is unbelievable. It looks like black cut vinyl. I love it. Just all the details surrounding the printer that make me want to shoot myself.

Which model of printer do you have? L26 has a glossier and denser black than L25, which should reduce the ink consumption, if you have a media profile built to do so.

Bigfish is correct.

On average, the latex ink consumption will be between 1 - 1.25ml per sft of print. It is easy to check consumption of ink and other consumables via the information accessed through your EWS.

You can also decrease the frequency of cleanings to get more life out of your cleaning cartridges. This is done via the control panel on the printer.

 

[Typestries]

Turn off the wipe with each pass. Main kit will last Muuuuuch longer. HP defaults it to on, no surprise there.

 

[kylebrk]

You guys rock.

So if bigfish is right, why are they refusing to sell me stuff?

 

[P Wagner]

You guys rock.

So if bigfish is right, why are they refusing to sell me stuff?

I can't for the life of me understand why any legitimate reseller would refuse to sell consumables to a user of the equipment. Quite the contrary in fact.


Unless you are covered under an HP "Big Deal', (such as a franchise or chain operation), you are free to purchase from whomever you choose. Even franchise operations can buy from anyone, though they might not obtain the same price benefits that the Big Deal price schedule affords them.

 

[ProWraps]

i was told from an undisclosed source that quote:

hp is going to only let the vendor that sold you the printer sell you the consumables. carts will be going up to $150/each.


i wont disclose the source, and i have no idea if this is true. supposedly this was to combat the inks being sold so cheap as HP's model is to make money on the inks/consumables.

regardless, the ink/consumable cost is so low, who really cares?

 

[ProWraps]

oh on a side note, i read on here that LC, LM were the most unused carts as they just "filled in the gaps".....

WRONG! over 100k sq/ft through both of ours, and we go through lc/lm two to one vs. the other carts.

on our 4 color mutohs, for obvious reasons we went through yellow more than any other. not on these printers.

 

[Desert_Signs]

i was told from an undisclosed source that quote:

hp is going to only let the vendor that sold you the printer sell you the consumables. carts will be going up to $150/each.


i wont disclose the source, and i have no idea if this is true. supposedly this was to combat the inks being sold so cheap as HP's model is to make money on the inks/consumables.

regardless, the ink/consumable cost is so low, who really cares?

If this happens, I know my next printer won't be an HP.

 

[ProWraps]

eh... mine still will be. i understand where they are coming from. $150 a cart is still cheap. the printers are amazing. they are rediculously smart and they have served us well.

we have had 5 mutohs before the HPs. our last mutoh ATE itself and ruined its dx5 head because it was a dumb printer. a $2k fix.

if the ink costs jump to what i was told, which they havent yet, ill take it all day. $150 for 775ml of ink is cheap.

look at the bigger picture. the HP platform is simply amazing. NOBODY, not any company in the mix has the technology, NOR the background such as HP. their model is sound, and their quality vs. price is the best.

look, im with everyone here. i want to make money. and i do. for the quality vs. the money, HP has come into the market and they are a major player.

 

[jasonx]

You go through your initial maintenance kit quicker because its used during the setup of the printer.

Ink costs at $150 per cart? We pay more then that and our dollar is stronger against the green back has been for most part of a year.

HP ink costs are down versus our solvent machines. They use less ink and the cost of the ink is cheaper.

 

[ProWraps]

You go through your initial maintenance kit quicker because its used during the setup of the printer.

Ink costs at $150 per cart? We pay more then that and our dollar is stronger against the green back has been for most part of a year.

HP ink costs are down versus our solvent machines. They use less ink and the cost of the ink is cheaper.

AMEN. :U Rock:

 

[jasonx]

AMEN. :U Rock:

We'll rocking when we can replicate the success from your wrap business in our wrap department L26500 on its way.

Keep updating your twitter its the only thing I check out on twitter.

 

[P Wagner]

i was told from an undisclosed source that quote:

hp is going to only let the vendor that sold you the printer sell you the consumables. carts will be going up to $150/each.


i wont disclose the source, and i have no idea if this is true. supposedly this was to combat the inks being sold so cheap as HP's model is to make money on the inks/consumables.

regardless, the ink/consumable cost is so low, who really cares?

HP is absolutely not looking to force their installed base of latex ink printers (or any other printer) to purchase consumables from any single source, including the distributor of the printer itself. They are looking to keep margin levels intact for their various go-to-market programs.

 

[ProWraps]

HP is absolutely not looking to force their installed base of latex ink printers (or any other printer) to purchase consumables from any single source, including the distributor of the printer itself. They are looking to keep margin levels intact for their various go-to-market programs.

nothing but support from me. they make a great product.

the L series is slow in what it does, but it is amazing.

even if they do push to make us buy from our supported dealer/s, im all for it. as long as they continue support for the product im happy.

my only fear is that they stop support for the product and it becomes a legacy product. i figure we have 3 good years.

i recycle printers about 1.5 years so if they continue it out, im happy.

im 3 to 4 months out from the two i purchased and i have already recouped my costs. then again, im not your typical shop.

 

[HulkSmash]

So bigfish has told me that anyone can sell me consumables for my machine. Yet I had a second vendor tell me that I can only get ink and cleaning stuff from the vendor that sold the machine to me. So what is the answer?

Also, these cleaning kits are gonna kill me. I've owned the machine for a month and have already changed a head and getting ready for my second cleaning kit.

I wouldn't consider myself a high volume shop but this is ridiculous. Their selling point is that each cartridge is double the 440 of normal printers but they dont tell you that you burn through it faster.

How much do you guys print and how much of the consumables do you use?

Don't get me wrong, the printer itself is amazing. The quality is out of this world. We just printed a wrap today with a majority of black and the black is unbelievable. It looks like black cut vinyl. I love it. Just all the details surrounding the printer that make me want to shoot myself.

Ive been through 6 cleaning cartridges, and a whole set of heads, except for 1 LM.

I buy inks from 3 different vendors.. no one is telling me where to buy my ink. Period. I pay 120 for ink also. I was paying 95 a couple weeks ago.. but prices changed.

If one supplier goes up, i stop buying form them.. they eventually come back down, and make less profit.

If you're buying 1 cartridge a month, don't expect to get those prices though.

 

[Desert_Signs]

eh... mine still will be. i understand where they are coming from. $150 a cart is still cheap. the printers are amazing. they are rediculously smart and they have served us well.

we have had 5 mutohs before the HPs. our last mutoh ATE itself and ruined its dx5 head because it was a dumb printer. a $2k fix.

if the ink costs jump to what i was told, which they havent yet, ill take it all day. $150 for 775ml of ink is cheap.

look at the bigger picture. the HP platform is simply amazing. NOBODY, not any company in the mix has the technology, NOR the background such as HP. their model is sound, and their quality vs. price is the best.

look, im with everyone here. i want to make money. and i do. for the quality vs. the money, HP has come into the market and they are a major player.

It's not the price, it's the principle of the thing. Limiting where I can buy ink has the potential to cause real headaches. What if my reseller runs out of a color? What if my reseller has to ship my ink and it takes a few days to get to me? My stock on hand would have to be huge. I've gone through 7 carts since Friday, and it was for a job I didn't know I was printing until Friday afternoon. If I didn't have a local supplier (I do) I would have had to turn down an $8000 job.

I understand HP wants to make their money on ink and that's fine. The easier (and more customer friendly) method would be to just raise the cost to resellers. Let me buy it where I want. I pay a little more locally because I can get it today, even if I order it at 3pm. I can save $15 a cart buying it from a place that has to ship it, but like I said earlier, it's not about the money, it's about the service.

I freaking LOVE my L25500. We've been running ours for almost 4 years and I don't have any complaints. It just works. I'd recommend it to anyone, but I would most certainly be looking at other options if they went out of their way to make my job harder.

 

[signswi]

oh on a side note, i read on here that LC, LM were the most unused carts as they just "filled in the gaps".....

WRONG! over 100k sq/ft through both of ours, and we go through lc/lm two to one vs. the other carts.

on our 4 color mutohs, for obvious reasons we went through yellow more than any other. not on these printers.

lc/lm and y take much more ink to achieve saturation than c,m,k. We keep the ink levels open and have betting matches to see which will hit zero, like we're at the track or something. Y usually wins from an even start but Lc is a close second. Of course, it completely depends on what you print and one of our biggest clients uses tons of orange and blue.

 

[ProWraps]

yeah we go through LC a ton. seems like my supplier is always out too. which is a pita.

 

[ProColorGraphics]

I just ordered some ink today and got the upset at the increased pricing. It is still cheaper than the Roland I had.

I have printed out about 15k square feet on mine and just installed the 3rd print head cleaning kit. I have ordered ink from 3+ different places too.

 

[jayhawksigns]

I just ordered some ink today and got the upset at the increased pricing.

Same here.

Got our dealer we got the printer from to lock in our pricing for the time being, but I also got a great deal on some inks today. Never hurts to check around on pricing.