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Dragon Pro Cutters
Anyone ever heard of a Dragon Pro cutter? Found on eBay by my dad. I suggested a Graphtec, but he’s saying these are around £2800 cheaper.
I know it’s the age old "you gets what you pays for" but I need to be sure I’m giving my dad the best information for and against both machines.
Anyone have any experience with these machines?
Regards
Adam
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7 Replies
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Anyone at all? I’m getting a bit of pressure from my Dad now!
To think he was never interested in my vinyl cutter except for when I was making him stuff. Now he wants us to get a bigger one.
Adam
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I have admitted on this forum that I purchased a cheapo chinese import on ebay to get me started with the intention of upgrading to a graphtec if and when I got established/up to speed.
Almost exactly 2 years on and I still have the thing. It is not as fast, sleek looking or technologically superior as a graphtec but it cuts lines and curves when I ask it to, to a depth that doesn’t cut through the backing paper and to an offset I am happy with, isn’t too noisy and only cost me a quarter of what a grahtec would have done. I have cut standard, banner, matt and holographic vinyl with no problems whatsoever. I wouldn’t seriously advise someone with no experience of cutters to buy this but because I had 12 years experience with cutters before I went self employed, I was able to set it up and tweak it to my requirements quite easily, and I was confident I could muddle through if anything went t*ts up, which it hasn’t (yet)
Some have suggested I have been v. lucky it has performed so well but the dumb machine cuts to x and y coordinates adequately, receiving info from my flexisign software, which is what all cutters of all prices/quality basically do.
I can only assume this machine – Dragonpro – is a foreign import with a plate stuck on saying Dragonpro because it comes with the rather poor Artcut software as mine did. I threw this in the bin as it was pretty, pretty poor.
Go for it. I am seriously considering buying 2 more cheap foreign imports when this one dies instead of a graphtec as I will have backup/spares etc to hand if anything goes wrong and also the ability to run 2 machines at once, one from the dinosaur pc and one from the laptop and I still would have money to spare for sweets.
Hope this helps.
ps you can always re sell it on ebay if you are not happy with it.
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Hi Adam
Ive been using a vector x / refine plotter for a few months, again these
are lower end of the market machines. it came with art-cut which is poor!! but with any other good software the plotter runs great. i use Corel drawl 12 for design and winpcsign to cut.. works nice
It cuts fine for the money i paid. I have used expensive plotters but some
were utter crap at times, poor tracking even when set up right.
Many of the big boys in the plotter industry like to give these so called cheaper plotters a good kick i expect from time to time.
I had a few tiny problems at first but its working fine, it not as quick as the expensive models i agree but it cuts nice curves and runs smooth.
Like Gareth said in his post they need playing with sometimes to get the best, but once that is done there work horses.
All depends on how much u want to spend. i didnt want to pay out £2000 for one at the moment.
I have not heard of the one you mentioned but you might be able to get some info on the net, many plotters in this range are re-branded…
have another look on ebay, lots of offers there, the sellers are helpfull to most of the time…Ring JOHN CROWE ON : 07973 361722 he is helpful and sells REFINE plotters on ebay and there nice machines..sure he can give some advise.cheers
Ade -
Hi again Adam
Just had a look on ebay at that dragon plotter, it looks abit like mine, same control display for sure..could just be a rebrand, give the number a ring, plus try the guy i mentioned he might know.Ade
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Hi Adam
Not sure what you went for but I would always say Graphtec, they are a friendly bunch of people to deal with, help you out when you need it and the plotters are second to none. Only last week I cut 2.5mm text on mine and it weeded pretty easily. I have had mine for 12 years and it has had nothing go wrong, it cuts about 12metres of vinyl a day 6 days a week on average. Also the resale value is pretty good on them. Its all personal choice but I always think if you invets in your machinery it will always pay you back. Please post what you went for in the end 🙂
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this debate will no doubt continue, but it does bring back memories from the 60’s when honda started to compete with triumph, bsa etc.
Everyone harked the same arguments "cheap, but if it breaksdown" etc.
Where are Bsa, Triumph, Norton, Royal enfield today?
Same goes for cars, and for emerging economies,Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, and now China/India
food for thought
Peter
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Good point peter 🙂 some of the old British engineering never cut it against the sleeker more efficient Just in Time methodology’s of the Asian markets. As for cars I have always had Vauxhalls but decided to buy a Honda, wow what a difference 🙂 But I do have a Vauxhall van that’s unbeatable on fuel economy. Guess my point is, good engineering can come from wherever, its just sourcing it that’s difficult.
I guess its not so much the price,but the engineering my Graphtec was made in Japan. The Chinese import ones just seem so flimsy when you touch them.
Merry Christmas
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