Recommended upgrade for my printer

[Chris Wool]

Hi Warren pleased you are moving forward.
i have just got a VS540 so far pleased as punch with it quality wise bit slow though compared to my sc540 pro 2 but because i am running the 2 not a problem.
as you are used to print and cut i think you will be lost with out it, i would.

the vs is cmyk lm lc white met which will slow it down so the 2x cmyk will be a lot quicker and well worth a look. also like the RS and the XC

[Adam Zeit]

Chris,

I’m considering to take the VS640 to replace my MIMAKI CJV30-160.
From some reading and asking some Roland owners (different machines) in Israel I’ve got the idea that the print quality is bit grainy and might be less than the CJV30’s. Is it true? Also, what resolution do you use more? Is the 540×720 4 pass fast?

Thanks,

Adam

Warren,

I use the MIMAKI CJV30-160, and it is a nice machine as long as you use cartridges and not BULK ink as I did (I’m replacing it for the VS640). It is less fast that the Roland CUT&Print Solution since it has to "change the pressure of the wheels" each time you go from print to cut and vice versa. If you could spare the cut, and use the KONA, a same model of JV33 is rather good.

[Chris Wool]

adam i did not buy the vs for speed so can’t comment much on that.

i do think that the quantities of print you have mentioned you are looking at the wrong type of machine i thought that the RS640 was the lower end of the higher producing machines. quality suffers with speed on all the machines i have looked at.
depends where your quality limit is.

[Warren Beard]

I’m looking between;

Roland VS-540-i 54’’ P&C Machine

and

Mimaki CJV30-130 54’’ P&C Machine

any body got any comments on either of these and if a reasonable step up from the SP540i?

cheers

Warren

[David Rowland]

hmm print and cut….

ok, very close to ordering the latex, great deals on at the moment with best print quality out there.

I have tested both the roland VS and the Mimaki JV33 (cjv with knife) and I have to say, Roland was removed from the list early on due to pathetic speed but it has the latest Epson head inside it but as a one man band Warren, I would keep it on the list especially as support with Roland is good. The Dual CMYK version of the roland printer is well worth looking at instead of the metalic cmykltlc one, the colour range of the max inks is surprisingly good.

The CJV / JV33 is a workhorse, tried and tested by many… great machine but it uses the last generation print head.

[Warren Beard]

Thanks Dave, that’s very interesting. Not going for metallics as have no demand for it, just want a faster printer really and if the quality is better than bonus.

I was thinking Latex but have heard a few bad stories and thought it can be the next upgrade maybe after this one, will still look in to it though but can’t afford to keep the current one as a back up so if there are problems with the Latex printer I’ll be in deep you know what so that’s my concern.

cheers

Warren

[Martin Pearson]

I don’t have a printer Warren so difficult for me to comment but I was at a roadshow last week where they had the Roland machines side by side and the guy I spoke to was actually a service engineer rather than a salesman. While speaking to him he commented that for general use then the VP would be his choice of machine rather than the VS. He thought that the print quality on the VP was almost as good as the VS even though it is a lower resolution printer and most people wouldn’t be able to see the difference. He said that unless you were doing a lot of fine art type photography work or had a need for the metalics then the VS didn’t justify the extra cost.

[Chris Wool]

warren

my VS540 is growing on me but is kept as the second machine. it is painfully slow with the white and metallic but in standard 720×720 6 colour mode its fair enough and the quality is better than the older head systems.
but i am used to the speed of my pro11 which is a lot faster than the sp.

from a long term maintenance view i prefer the idea of separate heads only time will tell on that one.

have not seen the output but would expect the 2x cmyk version to be good.

would like to ring the neck of the bloke that redesigned the media holders

just to add i did consider the latex but this is my 4th roland printer and had a few niggles along the way but roland have all ways looked after me well.

[Kevin Flowers]

[quote="Chris Wool"]warren

my VS540 is growing on me but is kept as the second machine. it is painfully slow with the white and metallic but in standard 720×720 6 colour mode its fair enough and the quality is better than the older head systems.
quote]

Chris
that surprises me i found the Pro 2 to be better head speed for head spead.
I ran the same file same profiles (high Speed) quality on the Pro2 acceptable VS not acceptable & nearly 10 mins longer to print.

Kev

[Chris Wool]

perhaps i didn’t explain my self very well as usual.

as the pro2 is still on colour rip its a job to work out head passes, i said the speed was fair enough not meaning its faster.
if i had to do a 8×4 print it would go straight on the pro2 no hesitation it will probably do it in half the time at 8 pass 720×720. a banner would be 4 pass
think the vs is 16 pass at standard 720×720.

if you said i had to get rid of one i would die as i love them both equally and sharing the jobs between them

[Gert du Preez]

Hi, Warren,

If you are going to keep the SP, just get a print only machine, and reserve the SP for P&C jobs.

We also started out with an SP, and about 8 months later added a RS640. Much cheaper than comparable P&C machines, and 90% of our output is not P&C anyways. Even the SP spends most of its working life printing only.

The RS is 50% faster on HQ than the SP is on standard, and on PVC and the likes you still have great quality at 10 square metres per hour.

Touch wood, we’ve never had a machine breakdown, but if it does happen, there is the benifit of having a backup machine. (This is bound to happen soon, as the SP is nearing the 3000hr mark….)

If space is an issue, and you want to run just 1 printer, get the VS with dual CMYK.