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Suggestions Roland BN20 and Mimaki CJV150-75 Same Price. Which Would You Buy?

Roland BN20 or Mimaki CJV150-75 (both at the same price)

  • Roland BN20

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Mimaki CJV150-75

    Votes: 10 100.0%
  • Total voters
    10
  • Poll closed .
F

flik

New Member
Hi. This forum has been such a great help to me, and I'm excited to move forward. Hope I can have your help in my next milestone.

I've been in the sticker/label business for almost 2 years, and mostly outsource all my print and cut. Bought a silhouette cameo when I first started, and quickly realised that time is an essence, and just (slow) cutting won't work for me. I would like to expand my business to include vinyl decals. I will be doing this on my own, and hopefully be able to afford help in a year.

So, I am in the market to buy a print and cut machine. Was convinced that Roland BN20 fits into my budget and need, but saw Mimaki CJV150-75 and was offered the same price. Deal seems too good to resist, but from what I read/researches, Roland makes good quality machine and offers good support, except that BN20 speed really test my patience. So, I would like to know what you Rolanders think?
 
Gino

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Can you consider going any larger ?? Perhaps a 30" Roland will serve you better. Remember, all this stuff needs to be laminated, so get that into your budget as well.
 
TomK

TomK

New Member
CJV150, no questions asked.

I'm thinking about adding one to our shop as well, to augment our HP Latex. The Latex just isn't that good on stuff that needs to be printed out in fine resolution and is looked at from 1 or 2 feet. It makes a great sign printer, but due to the large static dot size of (I think) 12 pl/picoliters, it makes gradients and light colors grainy for anything being looked at close up, and one of our products is indoor notebook stickers which get looked at from within a foot or so and written on.

I've never used a solvent printer, only the latex, but I'm being told the variable dot size of 4 pl and up on the Mimaki and Epson SureColor's will work for us. I've considered adding a photo quality aqueous printer to our lineup but I haven't been able to find acceptable media, and anything I find that comes close to being usable is 1.5 to 2x the cost of solvent/latex media.

Don't get me wrong, I love our Latex, but 1.5 years in so far and have not been able to get the quality where it needs to be, and even HP said I'm trying to use it for something it isn't meant for - high quality close up prints.
 
F

flik

New Member
Gino said:
Can you consider going any larger ?? Perhaps a 30" Roland will serve you better. Remember, all this stuff needs to be laminated, so get that into your budget as well.
Click to expand...

Roland sales been telling me that most his customers would return for a trade-in with the BN20 in less than a year.
But with all considerations, we will be starting small ;) and hopefully upgrade to a bigger machine soon!
 
B

bannertime

Active Member
flik said:
Hmm... and my next question is - Why don't you like Mimaki? This is important to me :)
Click to expand...

Nothing important really. In our opinon why Mimaki lost to HP in The Great Latex Wars was Mimaki's attitude and the print heads. I much prefer the consumable print head. Also Mimaki supposedly told Grimco that they could only sell Mimaki Latex and not both HP and Mimaki, so Grimco dropped Mimaki. If I got another printer for doing indoor and hand held type products, I'd probably get a Mutoh or Mimaki.
 
J

Jburns

New Member
So you should watch some videos of the Roland Printer BN-20 - you can you tube them. It is very very slow, when compared to other printers
 
F

flik

New Member
Jburns said:
So you should watch some videos of the Roland Printer BN-20 - you can you tube them. It is very very slow, when compared to other printers
Click to expand...

Went and saw the machine in action, although not an equivalent comparison but it's slower than my ancient canon bubblejet. I was shock, it was a huge let down. But I have read positive reviews and support in forums for BN20 despite its shortcoming (on speed), this made me wonder what is making up for it.
 
Gino

Gino

Premium Subscriber
jsmoritz2000 said:
For "stickers and labels", I wouldn't be so sure about that. Laminating or not laminating could depend on how his product is being used. Just sayin'.
Click to expand...

Could very well be the case. I got the impression he was upgrading and gonna start doing decals and such for outdoor applications in which case, it would be a good idea to laminate. Only the OP knows his actual intentions.
 
ironchef

ironchef

New Member
TomK said:
CJV150, no questions asked.

I'm thinking about adding one to our shop as well, to augment our HP Latex. The Latex just isn't that good on stuff that needs to be printed out in fine resolution and is looked at from 1 or 2 feet. It makes a great sign printer, but due to the large static dot size of (I think) 12 pl/picoliters, it makes gradients and light colors grainy for anything being looked at close up, and one of our products is indoor notebook stickers which get looked at from within a foot or so and written on.

I've never used a solvent printer, only the latex, but I'm being told the variable dot size of 4 pl and up on the Mimaki and Epson SureColor's will work for us. I've considered adding a photo quality aqueous printer to our lineup but I haven't been able to find acceptable media, and anything I find that comes close to being usable is 1.5 to 2x the cost of solvent/latex media.

Don't get me wrong, I love our Latex, but 1.5 years in so far and have not been able to get the quality where it needs to be, and even HP said I'm trying to use it for something it isn't meant for - high quality close up prints.
Click to expand...
Which latex do you have?

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 
particleman

particleman

New Member
For the same price this is a complete no brainer. Get The Mimaki. The Mimaki is a nice machine. A good friend of mine has one. You will be horribly limited with the bn20 because of the speed.
 
TomK

TomK

New Member
ironchef said:
I hope the 570 doesn't have that issue, fudge
Click to expand...
I suspect it will have the same issue. Checking online, it looks like the 5xx line still has a static ink droplet size of 12 picoliters. I notice it with the lighter colors and gradients, which are grainy when you look at them close up.

A few other people on here have had the same problem.

When I print signs and more solid colors, never a problem!
 
F

flik

New Member
Gino said:
Could very well be the case. I got the impression he was upgrading and gonna start doing decals and such for outdoor applications in which case, it would be a good idea to laminate. Only the OP knows his actual intentions.
Click to expand...

Yes, I want to start doing outdoor. I do need a lamination machine, and I've seen smaller ones at a fair.
I would think those would do.
I know I am limiting the work I'll be able to take up with smaller machines, but this is all I can afford at the moment.
As long as it is able to expand my product portfolio to include the items that I see potential in - vehicle stickers/decals being one of those.
Any comments would be greatly appreciated because I'm new at this and would be grateful for any opportunity to learn. :)
 
F

flik

New Member
particleman said:
For the same price this is a complete no brainer. Get The Mimaki. The Mimaki is a nice machine. A good friend of mine has one. You will be horribly limited with the bn20 because of the speed.
Click to expand...

Thank you for your input! :)
This really helps.
 
F

flik

New Member
Thank you guys!
I have decided to go with the Mimaki.
I'm beyond excited with this next phase of my business.
I'm finally able to print and cut myself! :) :)
 
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