Hi Free,
Not personally. However, I've had a fair amount of experience with my former employer, and now SignWarehouse, with folks upgrading to Summa (former employer) or Graphtec (current employer is the #1 Graphtec dealer) when the Mimaki cutter they got with their printer didn't quite meet their needs.
The feeling that I think most will express here is that Graphtec and Summa are the two top-of-the-line cutters. The rub is that Summas, which are made in Belgium, have suffered from the Euro-Dollar exchange rate. So Summas are pretty spendy, making Graphtec a lot more cutter for the dollar. For reliable contour cutting and die-cutting (Flex-cut on Summa, Perf-Cut on Graphtec), Summa with OPOS X or Graphtec with ARMS is the way to go. Vinyl cutting is pretty forgiving ... since a cut letter that's off by a mm or two goes unnoticed. Contour-cutting really needs to be spot on ... even tiny errors are noticeable. So I'd think in terms of quality when choosing a contour-cutter.
To match your 64-inch JV3, you'll want to consider these product, in my opinion:
Summa S Class D160: $8999 at
www.summastore.com
Graphtec FC8000-160: $6000-$6200 from us or any number of other Graphtec dealers
Something else to consider is whether you'll really ever need to contour-cut full-width prints. You probably won't, since label jobs are often best in narrower widths. Both Summa and Graphtec can track 36-inch more accurately than 64-inch, especially on longer runs. And large contour-cut graphics, like a giant football for example, tend to be faster and easier to hand-trim.
So you might do just great with a narrower cutter, such as 48-inch. That's plenty for all your contour and die-cutting and great for all cut-vinyl, which is still a big part of the business.
Going down a size can save about a grand on either a Summa or Graphtec.
Best Regards,
Jim
