VS 640 Vs. RF 640 – advice needed, please?

[David Hammond]

We recently upgraded our RS640, and looked at the RF 640.

The RF has a single print head, where the RS has 4. I prefer separate heads as if one goes you only replace the one.

There was very little difference between speed and quality. It was just a newer machine.

We too cut separately so don’t need print and cut, so didn’t look at those.

I was surprised when we ended up buying a Seiko as my old man was sold on the build quality and the print quality is excellent… the 3 years parts and labour warranty was a winner too.

[Chris.Martin]

Hi James,

Exciting decision to make, and with the offers on at the moment it’s definitely a good time to be looking. Have you had a Roland printer before or is this a new venture?

There’s a few things to consider, and ultimately it’s all down to the work you need to be able to produce.
Will you need to print high quality? One of the biggest differentiators between the two are the colour options, the VSi offers a wider selection; up to 8 colours inc white as an option, whereas the RF is a 4 colour setup (CMYK).

The white could be a consideration if you were considering window graphics at all?

What is it you were going to print for your customers?

– Chris.

[Steff Davison]

I have a VSi, if you are a looking at volume production then go for a separate print cut solution. I am producing about 4.5 meters an hour (with a 2x CMYK set up) of the type of print and cut work I do. Your production will be much slower in a 6/8 ink configuration. But as previously stated it depends on the work you have for it.

Also look at the tolerances given by Roland on the VSi’s cutting accuracy over say 1 meter compared to 2 m, if you are cutting intricate shapes then again I think a separate cutting machine is the better option.

Steff

[Michael Kalisperas]

Personally I would opt for the XR640 great deals on now it’s print and cut and you have the added option of using your cutter for more cutting work. It’s two dx7 heads they are beasts and the quality and speed is amazing. Also consider that not all materials and inks can allow the print speeds exaggerated by the manufacturer so don’t just go for speed. As a general rule in my experience the two head option is better because it allows for speed without going to fast on scan and feed movement. Mind you I believe the xr640 is the fastest print cut by Roland anyway. You have the option of white ink rarely used metallic rarely used but the fact the machine with even a 6 colour set up can be extremely fast with high quality because of the light black and light colour options makes this ideal for most applications except printing winning lottery tickets 😉

I have this machine your welcome to test anytime

[Michael Kalisperas]

Also important!! Choose based on your ink set up and needs also 😉 I am back on Roland eco sol max 2 inks. I was running Colorific lightbar had some issues for several months with different media and lightbar and I decided to revert back. The team were very helpful but sadly in my case in the end I had to move on because of the differing array of media I use profiling was an issue for my machine. I believe in many other machines like the VS Colorific have a vast array of profiles but I just couldn’t thang on any longer. They have been very helpful as a company I don’t regret trying the light at out and it did indeed work amazingly well for certain media. In tempted in the future to buy a lightbar machine that has full profiling from the box. I can’t fault the team as I can see they have a great product but for my case I couldn’t wait any longer.

[James Boden]

Thanks for your replys David, Chris, Steff & Michael.

Michael the RX640 would be my first choice but this is out of my price range at the moment!

Decided to go with a VS 640/540 with Rolands Trade and Treat offer and as the business grows i’ll upgrade to a faster machine.

Cheers again. 😀

[Michael Kalisperas]

Still a very good choice.