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
Before one goes crazy over LED UV systems, consider this:
· Look at any article comparing UV LED’s to traditional arc lamps. You will encounter a comparison of “lamp” lifetime. The discussion frequently turns to LED’s lasting 20,000 hours, never have any issues and are the best thing next to sliced bread.
· Anyone who has installed LED lighting in their home can attest that that figure is very optimistic. Traditional arc lamps last 500 to 1000 hours. They are relatively easy and inexpensive to replace. After spending $150.00 to $200.00, the system is back to 100% UV output.
· LED arrays pose a trickier problem. Systems are fabricated using matrices of hundreds, perhaps thousands of individual sources wired together. Each matrix might live a long and productive life, or die a premature death from some cooling issue, electrical spike or malfunction. One cannot replace just a single matrix; the entire array must be replaced. Imagine your cooing fan filter clogging or fan actually failing; this could ruin the LED system and not covered under warranty.
· Compare to spending $200.00 and 20 minutes of your time to restore system to full UV output with a conventional arc lamp.
· You need an ironclad LED replacement performance warranty. If the OEM truly believes LED system will last 20,000 to 30,000 hours, why not provide a 10 to 15 year non-prorated guarantee?
· Finally, when comparing LED to conventional UV printers consider ability to find “second source” UV inks. It is easy to switch to conventional UV inks from multiple sources. This is not the case with LED inks
