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Vanguard VK300D vs Canon Océ Arizona 2260 XT flatbeds.

Tom Dalton

New Member
Does anyone have experience with both the Vanguard VK300D flatbeds and the Canon Océ Arizona 2260 XT?

I like the idea of the LED lamps on the Vanguard. Looks like the Arizona 2260XT lamps need replaced every year. Then again, I like the fact that the Arizona did not get spun out by people working with CET-Handtop printers. So, maybe less Chinese parts and more of a R&D budget over at Canon?

-Tom
 

Bly

New Member
Oce are bringing out LED flatbeds now if the lamp life is an issue.
The mercury vapour lamps in our 660 are rated at 500 hours but we typically get far more.
 

alevit53

New Member
We have the Vanguard 4x8 flatbed for two years now and have been very happy with it. Good print quality, the ability to add more heads if business really takes off and the LED lamps sold us over the Oce. As with all these printers, daily maintenance is the key to success.
 

jeffdpia

Digital Print Orchestrator
Personally I like the LED curing heads, consistent UV output, long lifespan with the ability to use temperature sensitive substrates. More important is that the Oce I believe is running ToshibaTec heads while the Vanguard is running the Kyocera head. The Kyocera head is almost twice as long as the Toshiba head resulting in more coverage per pass. I'm not an owner of either (yet) but I do know what you should look at if you are comparing models from various manufacturers. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.
 

FireSprint.com

Trade Only Screen & Digital Sign Printing
Troy and his team have some pretty incredible equipment down in San Antonio. You should have a look. Vanguard is also a pretty incredible machine. We did an incredible amount of machine testing in 2018. You will love either the Digitech or the Vanguard.

If you demo them, pay attention to the purge and wipe times on all the machines. Go to lunch and come back. Can you run a print, or do you need to purge? It adds up in lost ink and time.

Not to mention that the Vanguard or the Digitech are probably lower cost than the Oce of the same caliber.

When you get overloaded and need a little help, we would love your overrun work!
 

MelloImagingTechnologies

Many years in the Production Business
The new printers from these 2 use the new Kyocera heads which are huge and have over 2500 4 picoliter jets in each head! They are also high speed firing heads which allow the very fast carriage speeds.
For more info or any questions you ca reach me at. 631-520-3074
 

BigfishDM

Merchant Member
I can get the Oce for pretty much the exact smae price as the Vanguard. Now which one do you like?

The guys at Vanguard will be much better to deal with than any OCE piece of equipment! They may appear to be the same price but OCE is notorious for ripping people off on the service contracts. If you have to replace lamps every year that is another factor to look at on that Arizona.
 

BigfishDM

Merchant Member
The guys at Vanguard will be much better to deal with than any OCE piece of equipment! They may appear to be the same price but OCE is notorious for ripping people off on the service contracts. If you have to replace lamps every year that is another factor to look at on that Arizona.

Sorry it was put into the quote by mistake.
 

ABA Visibility Products

Premium Subscriber
Does anyone have experience with both the Vanguard VK300D flatbeds and the Canon Océ Arizona 2260 XT?

I like the idea of the LED lamps on the Vanguard. Looks like the Arizona 2260XT lamps need replaced every year. Then again, I like the fact that the Arizona did not get spun out by people working with CET-Handtop printers. So, maybe less Chinese parts and more of a R&D budget over at Canon?

-Tom
With vanguard you get a friend in the printing business. You're not just a number. All Dave cares about is getting you a good printer at a reasonable price. He's not beholden to stockholders and all they do are printers.
 
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johnnysigns

New Member
I'm involved in a family business that just went through the exact same situation and they bought the Vanguard. I have not operated a Fuji/Oce so I can't say this with 100% confidence, but there seems to be far greater control over banding and the smoothing effects you have access to on the Vanguard Vs the Fuji/Oce. I mention that because in all the test pieces and demo prints we saw or received from the Fuji/Oce's there was so much banding. The best answer we were given was to simply print slower. I'm sure there are Fuji/Oce operators and owners that would disagree, but that's what we saw in the test prints we got our hands on on most of the faster modes. The Vanguard hasn't been without it's hiccups, but we just ran nearly 100,000 sqft through the press and it didn't let us down in the incredibly tight timing we had for the job. A lot of that printing was run 23hrs a day, 7 days a week. Finding an inkset that works for our needs has been the biggest part of our issue with the Vanguard. I don't expect most people will have the flexibility requirements we do for the inkset our customers rely on. In time I think we'll get it all resolved. They've been helpful and upfront every step of the way.
 

Troy Lesher

Merchant Member
I'm involved in a family business that just went through the exact same situation and they bought the Vanguard. I have not operated a Fuji/Oce so I can't say this with 100% confidence, but there seems to be far greater control over banding and the smoothing effects you have access to on the Vanguard Vs the Fuji/Oce. I mention that because in all the test pieces and demo prints we saw or received from the Fuji/Oce's there was so much banding. The best answer we were given was to simply print slower. I'm sure there are Fuji/Oce operators and owners that would disagree, but that's what we saw in the test prints we got our hands on on most of the faster modes. The Vanguard hasn't been without it's hiccups, but we just ran nearly 100,000 sqft through the press and it didn't let us down in the incredibly tight timing we had for the job. A lot of that printing was run 23hrs a day, 7 days a week. Finding an inkset that works for our needs has been the biggest part of our issue with the Vanguard. I don't expect most people will have the flexibility requirements we do for the inkset our customers rely on. In time I think we'll get it all resolved. They've been helpful and upfront every step of the way.
What sort of challenges are you having with the inks??
 

johnnysigns

New Member
The stock ink was great, but it didn't bend well. We've run another ink that bends well, but it's not quite curing all the way.
 

FireSprint.com

Trade Only Screen & Digital Sign Printing
I have been to all of their showrooms. The Vanguard (and the Digitech) machines are amazing. I have said it before, have them run a test print for you in the morning after startup, then distract them for a few hours and then run something off the idle press. Blew me away the (lack of) maintenance required on these printers.

They are also both smaller companies, which can have its disadvantages, but I think the advantages outweigh them.
 
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