And here comes HP

[Fred Weiss]

HP OFFERS LOW-SOLVENT OUTDOOR PRINTERS

Hewlett-Packard (http://www.hp.com/), Palo Alto, Calif., introduces the Designjet 9000s large-format digital printer. Developed through a partnership with Seiko I Infotech (http://www.seiko-i.com/), the 64"-wide printer uses a six-color (CMYK, Lc,Lm) low-solvent ink system (HP 780 and HP 790 print cartridges), includes three heating systems and ships with an Onyx Graphics (http://www.onyxgfx.com/) SignEZ v.2 RIP. An automatic take-up reel comes standard. The Designjet 9000s prints up to 176 square feet per hour at 720 x 720 dpi and has six printheads.

[Derf]

I have a friend from Japan who just told me about this some time ago, he said basically they are Seiko Printers just with an HP sticker on it. However I'm sure they may have had Seiko Make some changes.

But he said they are great printers and that I should get one for my next printer.

[eye4clr]

These are great printers. I'm currently training HP's international sales and marketing people and the printers are very strong. Because the printheads are staggered, the ink goes down in almost exactly the same order in bidirectional. This allows full speed printing and be far less likely to band. The image quality is on par with an HP5500. They are charging a ton of $ for the air scurbber and inks. But there are alternatives.