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HP or Roland Printer – Pros & Cons please?
Hello all
I think after a year or so of hibernation I’m thinking of getting back into sign making and have a bit of a dilemma. For 11 years I’d been used to Rolands – doing all my own servicing, changing print heads etc and got quite good at it and knew them really well however during this time I saw the print quality of the HP 26500 and was blown away at how smooth the tones and graduation was. I’m aware it has the added expense of electric due to the heating side (how bad is this ?) but was wondering if anyone has had other experiences good or bad that they might be able to share. I know I’d need a third party rip as I’ve only been used to Versaworks which is an added expense. What would be the cheapest/best value for money cutter that would work along side it as I have no experience of separate cutting (other than using the registration marks on the Rolands)
Any advice really appreciated
Cheers
Lee
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8 Replies
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I can’t comment on the HP26500, however I can tell how impressed I am with the HP310.
I’ve owned the printer for around 2 years now and its been faultless.
Being able to laminate or contour cut immediately after printing is a great advantage to our work flow, especially if you notice a mistake last minute and you don’t have time for curing solvent prints.
Not really noticed any dramatic electricity bills since owning the HP.
We purchased Onyx with the HP as that’s what we have for the Mutoh but it does come with a free RIPOwned Roland previously and then went to Mutoh which was an improvement in print quality, but had to carful when increasing print speeds as banding would appear.
Only had banding on the HP a couple of occasions and that was due to print head failure, which is a simple replacement.The only issue I have with the HP is that its CMYKLcLm, I wish they would bring out a version with orange and white ink.
I had a sample print for the Mimaki Latex printer, which gave amazing orange colours with orange ink option but on the darker colours I could see a slight banding even on 12 pass.Another option you may want to consider is a solvent to UV conversion, never been a fan myself but might be worth looking at.
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I spent a year (or ten) trying to decide whether or not to buy / justify a printer, it was not a decision taken lightly as for the first time in my business career I would need to part finance something rather than just go and buy it!
I looked at all the usual roland / mutoh / Mimaki printers and mulled them over for a long time, then I was offered and HP Latex, went to look at a few machines and then weighed up the pro’s and cons…I obought the Latex printer (L26500), I did so for the following reasons..
Front loading – if space is a premium then this alone is a big plus.
Instantly dry prints – again, a space issue storing prints while outgassing. Being able to laminate / contour cut right away is a big plus.
maintenance – the machine does most of it’s own, the whole ‘maintenance pack’ is replaceable by the user for about £90 iirc.
Ink costs – about £90 for 775ml carts. Doesn’t seem to use a lot of ink and if it’s as economical as my old Z2100 printers then I’ll be very happy.
Head costs – 6 heads (I think), all user changeable in minutes and around £70 each. as opposed to an engineer and over a grand for most solvent heads.
Media – almost everything goes through it ok but, stick to the higher end materials rather than just going cheap.
Power consumption – we have a stupid coin meter in this unit so I am very aware of what we use, on average I was using about £4 a day (more if the heat press or heating is on). with the addition of the HP it makes no odds if I don’t print and leave it on standby to just do it’s maintenance, monday I printed about 25m of various materials and the machine was ‘on’ the whole day, it cost me £3 extra, not much when you consider the profits on 25m of media!
I have been offered various prices for maintenance contracts, I have also spoken to a lot of latex users and have accepted that most of this printers ‘failures’ are user replacable and other faults few and far between, I’ll take the chance of not spending £3k a year on a contract.
The reasons I didn’t buy solvent –
outgassing times / storage of the prints.
Inks that aren’t ‘always’ dry to the touch with heavy coverage.
All are rear loading which takes up my valuable floor space.
The cost of maintenance and the general lack of user replacable parts.The onboard cutting was the thing that really was pulling me to go solvent but, ultimately I see no reason to go P&C on the same machine now, I can be printing one thing and cutting another, if I’d bought a P&C machine I can envisage that I still would’ve had to buy a new larger cutter anyway.
The Pro’s of the latex worked better for me than solvent.
Hugh
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Hi Guys
Many thank for really thorough and comprehensive replies – much appreciated for taking the time. I do remember seeing a media sample from William Smith printed by the L26500 and it blew me away.
The biggest advantage I can now see is not having the prints hanging around long. Laying them to gas out attracting dust is a pain at the best of times. Bit worried about going over to a completely new system – an Onyx rip as I’ve never used one before. I did Wasatch for a while but then changed to versa works when it came free with the printer.
What would be the best value (used) cutter to go with it ?
Once again, cheers for your invaluable help
Best
Lee
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I’ve only just started using Onyx 11, the first rip I’ve used really, once you get the basics it’s fairly easy to pick up.
Cutter, Summa – though used D140r / 160r don’t come up for sale often, I just paid around £4k (show price) for a new D140 from Image Perfect (I think!), there are always deals to be had if you look around though.
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Hi Hugh. I’ve used Wasatch a long time ago for about a year before going over to Versaworks. Have looked on youtube and Onyx doesn’t look so bad !
Are you using an HP latex at the moment ? I’m in need of some printing this week (doubtful I’ll be able to organise a printer in time for me to run them off) if you want to give me a price. Would be interesting to see how it compares to the prints I’ve just had done off a new Roland. Likely around 10m @ 1300mm gloss laminated, apped and trimmed to size.
Can you ping me a contact number/email please if you can
All the best
Lee -
Hi Lee,
yes, using the latex now, love it!I’m out of the office for most of today but will be in tomorrow.. 01323 833683
thanks,
Hugh -
Thanks for this thread…Hugh…helpful comments thank you.
Who sells these babies? -
quote Cheryl Smith:Thanks for this thread…Hugh…helpful comments thank you.
Who sells these babies?No problem… You’re more than welcome to pop over and have a look over it if you wish.
Perfect Colours – among others, sell them. I dealt with Darren Summers (I think) who Rob Lambie put me in touch with, he did a very good deal on my new Summa D140 cutter.
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