Gerber Edge – opinions please?

[Phill Fenton]

I would say buy a Cadet. It’s a "no Brainer" actually – The Gerber is past it now – go for new technology. 😀

[Phil Craddock]

Thanks for the comment Phil.Just that I have a big issue with quality and I have had some work done on an Edge and I’m very impressed with the quality. I know its thermal but when we had some decals printed on a Cadet Plus they had to be printed at 1400dpi to stop any banding – which saturated the colour a bit.???? oh decisions ?????

[Phill Fenton]

The cadet is perfectly capable of producing photo quality images with a resolution /speed and running cost far better than the Gerber. Sounds like you’ve been shown prints from a Knackered machine. It’s still a "no brainer" as far as I’m concerned. I can’t think of any good reason to buy a Gerber Edge before a solvent or eco solvent inkjet these days.

[Phil Craddock]

Again, many thanks Phill.Just want to be sure that when I sign the cheque I’ve got the best I can get to do the job.We are getting into an area of business that the quality of print is priority due to the prestige of the job, without screen printing everything !Ummmm…goes away to think a little more.:)

[Andrew Boyle]

as Phil said if your options are edge or cadet…….cadet.

No Brainer….time as well as quality [%tints, cmyk etc]

[Nick Minall]

Thermal printing still has its place I think, why would Gerber and Summa keep making new models if it was obsolete?

I know they can not print photo quality but you can get good results, they are very good at spot colours, and no smell, no drying time and last up to 5 years with no lamination.

Nick

[Dave Bruce]

Yer Phil how am I going to print the 800 names for the memorial board in Gold with a Cadet?

Dave

[Phill Fenton]

You’re right Dave – the thermal transfer machines are capable of printing gold and silver which inkjets can’t so this is one advantage they have. One way around this is to print the background colour onto a gold or silver coloured vinyl leaving the vinyl colour (gold or silver) showing through where the lettering is.

But Phil seems more concerned about picture quality than anything else so I wouldn’t have thought the Gerber was up to the task in the same way as an inkjet.

I’m not trying to "Rubbish" the Gerber. If I was an existing user I’m sure there is plenty of life yet left in these machines. But I wouldn’t buy a new one now given the choice when there are now much better options available.

[Matt Boyd]

hi, i looked into buying a cadet/roland 300 etc for well over 6 months and decided to go for an edge fx in the end. the quality is superb when using spot colours. ok its not the best at photo quality stuff, far from it, its passable though, don’t get me wrong! but for smallish sticker runs, labels etc etc its very good indeed. yes you can use gold and silver, chrome, mirror effect etc and you don’t need to laminate for upto 5 yrs i think it is (apart from the mirror/chrome which has an outside life of 6 months according to the manufacturer! although i’ve had chrome effect on my m’bike for nigh on 3 yrs now and it still looks good) its swings and roundabouts at the end of the day i’m afraid. i went with the edge because of the quality, but thats just me!

[George Zerbino]

I’ve recently bought an Edge FX to add to my ageing old Edge I.

Sure, the photos don’t always print brilliantly, and the printing width can be annoying, but they can do all the things that inkjets can’t.
Solid spot colours (with spectratone = lot’s of them), white, metallics, mirror finish, reverse print onto clear, double sided printing, easily print onto cling film, lexan, security label stock, reflective, etc.

Themal printing is very versatile, no smell, no inks splattered everywhere, durable, and so on.

There are pros and cons to both thermal and solvent printing, but having both systems I can choose what is the best for the job. It very much depends on what your market is.

[Dennis Van Der Lingen]

saying that the gerber edge is outdated is not fair.
it has a place in this industry just as inkjet does

it’s just the sort of work you need to do.

the edge can do things an inkjet can’t: spot, mettalic. print and cut an entire roll in one go

inkjet have a more signish caractere, you know: banners, vinyl, vehicle livery, high resolution, photo quality

it just depends on what you will be doing with it mostly:
labels: edge
more signish things: inkjet

using an inkjet for labels or an edge for photo printing will in both cases lead to poorer results than if you use them in the way they are intended to.

ps: we have both (2 thermals and 2 inkjets) been in the trade for 2 years and the first thing we had was an edge

[Peter Normington]

quote Phill:

You’re right Dave – the thermal transfer machines are capable of printing gold and silver which inkjets can’t so this is one advantage they have. One way around this is to print the background colour onto a gold or silver coloured vinyl leaving the vinyl colour (gold or silver) showing through where the lettering is.

But Phil seems more concerned about picture quality than anything else so I wouldn’t have thought the Gerber was up to the task in the same way as an inkjet.

I’m not trying to “Rubbish” the Gerber. If I was an existing user I’m sure there is plenty of life yet left in these machines. But I wouldn’t buy a new one now given the choice when there are now much better options available.

Phil, can the cadet print onto chrome or mirror gold, as opposed to gold or silver colour? there is a difference, just curious to know if you or others have done it?

Peter

[Dennis Van Der Lingen]

also working late Peter?

i’m still waiting for the print to finish, while posting here a bit

just had some fruitcake calling me an enquery for a quote. it’s 00:15 h here in Belgium. putting up a lot of all nighter’s lately, better stop before people start thinking i’m starting a 24/7 stickershop 😀

[Peter Normington]

No Dennis we never work late, been there done that,
if it cant be done in normal hours, it aint getting done 😀
Peter

[Phill Fenton]

I haven’t tried it on mirror vinyls Peter but it works well on Oracle 751 Gold and silver (providing you print slowly at high quality). These have a good gloss these days now that they’re cast vinyls – the result I would say is better than printing silver foil on the colorcam (another thermal transfer printer) – though I couldn’t comment on how it compares to the Edge printing silver or gold.

I still stand by what I said earlier. Given the choice to buy a Gerber Edge or a solvent Inkjet I would go for the Inkjet due to it’s lower running costs, higher speed, ability to print and cut in one and better resolution. The ability to print gold and silver was always for me a much under used feature of thermal transfer which can be got around in any case. The Cadet is also very good at printing labels. It doesn’t need to print spot colours as it is perfectly capable of printing highly durable vibrant colours by CMYK.

I hope not to have offended Gerber users as I am sure these are perfectly good machines still. It’s just that a Solvent inkjet is a much better machine these days 😛 😛 😉

Dennis – Maybe if you bought an Inkjet you wouldn’t have to work so late waiting for your old Gerber to finish printing 😛 😉

[Andrew Boyle]

I run the edge and an inkjet and use them both….

I would rather be without the edge if I had too chose even if the inkjet was printing a similar size to the edge…. 😀

[Peter Normington]

I have no doubt that injet is the way to go, but a lot depends on the type of work you do most, My gerbil sits in the corner and dosnt complain if its not used for days, or weeks, then it wakes up and does a couple of grands worth of stickers, it dosnt take up a lot of room either, its also cheaper to buy than a cadet, and can print onto a wider range of material, I think.

So as an addition to a sign shop, rather than an all round machine, it is still a viable piece of kit. The original question posed by Phil Craddock, may well be answered by a gerber.

Peter

[Dennis Van Der Lingen]

how did you know it whas the edge i was waiting for?

you know the price thing not entirely correct.
if you buy in bulk you can get cheap running costs.
at the moment our edge is running approx: 2,5 euro per m² with 1 color
i guess it’s 1 pound per square yard or something (not to familiar with the empirial system or the pound sterling)

about working late:
i’m in buisness for 2 years now and i came straight from school.
mabey i’m to ambitious but i want (and need) to make as much money in the smallest time space.
mabey the fact that i’ve bought a t-jet2 3days ago has something to do with it. :lol1:

[Chris Dowd]

quote Phill:

Dennis – Maybe if you bought an Inkjet you wouldn’t have to work so late waiting for your old Gerber to finish printing 😛 😉

Hey Phill, Dennis has said already that he has 2 inkjets and 2 thermals! 😀 😀 😀

We run an inkjet and an edge, the edge has it’s advantages, saying that we could go weeks without turning it on since the inkjet.

Then again, the plotter is similar, almost all of our banners and boards are produced on the injet, primarily to save time.

[Phill Fenton]

quote Chris Dowd:

Hey Phill, Dennis has said already that he has 2 inkjets and 2 thermals! 😀 😀 😀

Of course I knew that Chris – But since when did I let the true facts get in the way of a good put down 😳 😳

[Phill Fenton]

quote Peter Normington:

I have no doubt that injet is the way to go, but a lot depends on the type of work you do most, My gerbil sits in the corner and dosnt complain

What’s your Gerbil called Peter?

I used to have a Hamster called Snodgrass 😕

[Peter Normington]

Its called PHIL the Philathrapist 😉
Peter

[Dennis Van Der Lingen]

end of print…

tomorow morning 7:00 bright and early the edge will be printing again.

🙁 …..dear god please help me, i’m never going to be out of bed in time.

[George Zerbino]

Forgot to mention:

With the Edge, you print, then you cut, then you apply… immediately – try that with an inkjet.
Perfect for those spur of the moment graphics (football anyone?)

[Dennis Van Der Lingen]

with an inkjet it’s also possible,
just don’t laminate.
it won’t last very long (when using eco inks)
but usualy something that has to be done in 2 sec from start to finish isn’t ment to be long lasting

[Darryl Seager]

My ten pen’noth

The new gerber fx NEEDS the foils from Sapndex…

.. no aftermarket manufacturers are suppyling anything ATM

I have 99% of my foils from the lovely folks at Print One… i would also buy my white vinyl (380 sprocketted) from there since they introduced it, buty sadly demand seems to be better than the supply !!!

darryl

[George Zerbino]

Darryl,

Ring them up, you’ll be pleasantly surprised 😉

Later,

[Darryl Seager]

quote geoz:

Darryl,

Ring them up, you’ll be pleasantly surprised 😉

Later,

ring who Geoz??

darryl

[George Zerbino]

Darryl,

Call PrintOne, I’ve received the instruction sheet to dismantle the FX leftover foil core to take the new refills from them. I haven’t ordered them yet, but will do so next week.

Regards,

GeoZ (George)

[Darryl Seager]

geoz,

Nice One! I did’nt think Dave would hang about long!!!

I haven’t got an FX, but i know of someone that has 😉

I’ll stick with the Edge 2 for the time being..

Darryl

[Chris Lambe]

I have both edge and inkjet machines and they both have their place i think every sign shop needs an edge it’s such a versatile machine and can do a hell of a lot of jobs inkjets can’t, our edge runs nearly non stop and has really never given me any bother, what a machine we would be lost without it, but inkjets have their place too so if your main objective is photographic work then an inkjet is the best option 😉

[Checkers]

Hiya Phil,
There’s room for both technologies in most shops, but judging by what you describe, the Edge may be a better purchase.
Although the print costs may be higher, it is generally a lower maintenance machine to operate. Also, if you’re already stocking 15" punched vinyl material, you won’t have to invest much more ££ for inventory.
Another thing to consider it to try ordering a roll of media and laminate for a wide format inkjet printer for a 200£ job 🙄

Checkers
a.k.a. Brian Born
Harrisburg, PA USA