After all that, I think it all boils down to personal preference. What you feel comfortable using. What you learn to use and how you use it. They all have their ups and downs and we all learn to work around them with our own machines. Your aimed target market is what might determine what you want to put in your shop, more than some poll taken where everyone gives their opinions based upon personal and sometimes emotional opinions. Just like any other track records out there from pharmaceutical to political polls, they're all tainted with what information they put in..... or not. The days of some piece of equipment coming to the foreground and being considered number one by the industry are long gone, just like clothing or hair fads.
Ya know, when Gerber plotters and software came on the market, there was no one else on the block, let alone the universe for years, so they were King. Everyone expected Gerber to stay on top and with good advertising and participation, they did, but other companies passed them by. They did make a tank out of their sprocket fed cutters, but most of the rest of their stuff, was just mediocre. While we expected a lot from them, they are now mostly in the dust. New kids on the block and lots of them have taken over, but like so many things.... we are all the guinea pigs paying for this stuff, passing back reports and they remain quite, slowly giving us what we need. Then, when they have it perfected...... they come up with something else and the game starts all over again as a new generation of piggies come to market.
Sometimes, ya just hafta take the plunge and just do it and make the best of it, as there really is no right or wrong. So, do your research on what kinda prints you'll be needing, and get the appropriate machine for you and your customers, not what some body doing just wraps has or someone doing airport backlits is using. Heck, for that matter, farm out to different wholesalers and see what machines do the best work.
