About to buy the HP 700w

[sinclairgraphics1]

Went to the Print United show last week and finally got to see these new HP Latex machines running and get the details on them.They only had the 800w(white ink) but I'm going with the 700w as I don't need the bigger ink capacity.
From what I have seen on this forum, it's a mixed bag on these machines. We do have a need to print white and I have run HP latex printers in my shop for the last 11 years and have been happy with them. What do you like or not like about these machines? Anything we should be aware of before purchasing one?

 

[CC-CMYK]

We’ve run two hp latex printers for the last 7 years. We’ve been having color issues from panel to panel and have done everything.. the tiling mode, tile flipping, Omas calibration, color calibration, messing with the heat and optimizer. Asking around the booths at lexjet, grimco, and even HP they all alluded to the same issues and worse for the 700 and 800. The HP tech at the hp booth said we would be better to get another 365 then one of the new ones. Grimco and Lexjet said the most service calls are on the HP printers and if we wanted to go with another latex we should try the Epson R. A lot of people on this site seems to not like the me HPs too. We discovered the thermal heads are the biggest issue. The heat causes color shifts in long print runs. I really had high hopes for the 700/800 printers. After attending the convention we are now going to try the Epson S80600. It’s been out for years and it seems to be a favorite on all of these threads. We’ll keep our 365 for banners, double sided printing and anything that isn’t color critical and used the Epson for our wall wraps.

 

[ikarasu]

The day we bought our 700 the tech installing it told us we would hate it.

It's their new machine that was rushed out, full of bugs and not built as good as the old ones.


I wouldn't buy another 700 , but id easily buy another 560... Or 360... But not a 700. Everytime the printer wakes up, it sucks the media back in and throws an error saying it ran out of media ..then you.need to reboot for 10 mins. Every-single-time the other operator forgets to push a bit more media out or remove the roll.

There are ways around it. But it's just the glitchyness.... The 700 feels like a rushed, unpolished machine. I love latex, and I hope their next model redeems them. But I'd never recommend the 700 to anyone.

Unless you absolutely need white ink, or need traffic certification from 3m.

 

[parrott]

Just bought a Colorado 1650. Can’t wait to get away from latex and HP. They are consistently inconsistent…Color, service, quality, etc.

Don’t know if I will like Canon (as a company) any better, but don’t know how they could be any worse than HP. The 1650 looks very impressive and have heard great reviews.

 

[Splash0321]

Bought a 700w in February but it’s my first printer ever. After getting past the initial learning curve I though I was getting somewhere but I’ve been dealing with color inconsistencies like someone else mentioned. It was offline for 3 weeks and would not boot up because 4 of the ink lines imploded (exaggeration) and about 500 mL of ink ended up covering some circuit boards and frying them. Took a few weeks to get it sorted and fixed. The only plus I have to say is that all of my printheads are firing perfectly, even whites. Once the printer was running they had the printer do a printhead cleaning and all is back to normal. Not bad for sitting for 3 weeks. This leak was a known issue and HP is in the process of replacing lines/connections on all previously sold 700s. Unfortunately they didn’t get to me fast enough.

I’m not sure I would have gone with any other printer. I didn’t look into the epson printers.

I have more complaints that I won’t talk about because they are all likely user error and am self teaching.

 

[greysquirrel]

Just bought a Colorado 1650. Can’t wait to get away from latex and HP. They are consistently inconsistent…Color, service, quality, etc.

Don’t know if I will like Canon (as a company) any better, but don’t know how they could be any worse than HP. The 1650 looks very impressive and have heard great reviews.

You are going to hate canon

 

[greysquirrel]

Just bought a Colorado 1650. Can’t wait to get away from latex and HP. They are consistently inconsistent…Color, service, quality, etc.

Don’t know if I will like Canon (as a company) any better, but don’t know how they could be any worse than HP. The 1650 looks very impressive and have heard great reviews.

You are

 

[greysquirrel]

If you are looking for color consistency and panel to panel line up the Epson sure color is the way to go. The s40 is the best bang for the buck. I love HP. The iq is better on 300 series than the 700-800. There are a lot of people working through issues with their printers. HP will fix them but you could need to except use patience.

 

[CMYKprnt]

Went to the Print United show last week and finally got to see these new HP Latex machines running and get the details on them.They only had the 800w(white ink) but I'm going with the 700w as I don't need the bigger ink capacity.
From what I have seen on this forum, it's a mixed bag on these machines. We do have a need to print white and I have run HP latex printers in my shop for the last 11 years and have been happy with them. What do you like or not like about these machines? Anything we should be aware of before purchasing one?

The main difference between the HP's and the Epson's are color consistency. Epson uses Piezo Print heads which is incredibly accurate years later. You can print the same file a year later and be confident it is going to be an exact match. Both Eco-Solvent and Resin (Latex) printers from Epson have these heads. If you have been using HP for the past 11 years and don't need color consistency then go ahead and you obviously like them. The other difference that I get complaints about with our HP's are control panel slow, time to start printing long, and the delay in waiting to remove the print. Our team will go to Epson every time, if there is a choice.

 

[ikarasu]

To be fair the Epson Resin takes just as long to start a print as the Latex does. And while the control panel is more responsive... I find it more glitchy. Run out of ink during a cleaning? I put new ink in and it just gets stuck on please put more ink in... only way to fix it was to reboot the machine. Theres been a few times when I cancel a print too, and the epson just keeps on acting like the print is there...when its not. not sure if thats an onyx or an epson issue though! Small glitches I can live with.

The Resin has been very consistant in panel lengths though. I havent had to do many reprints, but I havent noticed a color shift either. Personally I'd get the resin over the solvent

 

[balstestrat]

Everytime the printer wakes up, it sucks the media back in and throws an error saying it ran out of media ..then you.need to reboot for 10 mins. Every-single-time the other operator forgets to push a bit more media out or remove the roll.

Really you still see that? Should have been fixed a long time ago, haven't heard from anyone that they would still have this problem.

 

[ikarasu]

Really you still see that? Should have been fixed a long time ago, haven't heard from anyone that they would still have this problem.

I saw it just today! I dont run the printer much as I changed positions... I only play with it when I'm bored. I just checked... and it looks like the other operator only did an update via the firmware menu, so while the printer says its up to date, its on 26.22. Just downloaded 33.22... I'm remoting in, so I cant play with it to see what issues it fixed... but ill play with it tomorrow.

Interestingly I see this in the 22 patch notes:

New print mode setting: one meter stabilization plot to improve tiling performance.

Have you tried this mode at all? My biggest gripe about the printer is the tiling. Our 560 was spot on, and this one is so far off... we do a lot of extruded signs, and on a 15 FT sign it ends up being half an inch off almost. on a 4 FT by 4 FT (Theyre printed in 12" sections" The 2 pieces on top are fine, 2 on bottom.. but where it joins ends up being 1/8 off. It's traffic...and seeing in a vehicle going 80 MPH, so it doesnt really matter... but it kills my OCD when we cant align a simple white border. I may have to try this new print mode tomorrow

 

[balstestrat]

I saw it just today! I dont run the printer much as I changed positions... I only play with it when I'm bored. I just checked... and it looks like the other operator only did an update via the firmware menu, so while the printer says its up to date, its on 26.22. Just downloaded 33.22... I'm remoting in, so I cant play with it to see what issues it fixed... but ill play with it tomorrow.

Interestingly I see this in the 22 patch notes:

New print mode setting: one meter stabilization plot to improve tiling performance.

Have you tried this mode at all? My biggest gripe about the printer is the tiling. Our 560 was spot on, and this one is so far off... we do a lot of extruded signs, and on a 15 FT sign it ends up being half an inch off almost. on a 4 FT by 4 FT (Theyre printed in 12" sections" The 2 pieces on top are fine, 2 on bottom.. but where it joins ends up being 1/8 off. It's traffic...and seeing in a vehicle going 80 MPH, so it doesnt really matter... but it kills my OCD when we cant align a simple white border. I may have to try this new print mode tomorrow

That stabilization is the same thing as you settings up a 1m dummy plot at the start. It just warms up everything and moves along the already warmed up spot of the roll. So it shouldn't really make much difference after the 1st tile.
Anyway there's other factors, could be a lose screw in the drive roller gears (I've seen one). Or the tensions settings for the rolls if it's way off.

I would set up these strips along the whole job on the side and you can see if the movement is fucked up or correct. If those don't stay sharp and vary in thickness I would call the tech to check the driver roller gears and motor system.
Turn off color correction and have colors from different printheads like magenta and black.

 

[ikarasu]

That stabilization is the same thing as you settings up a 1m dummy plot at the start. It just warms up everything and moves along the already warmed up spot of the roll. So it shouldn't really make much difference after the 1st tile.
Anyway there's other factors, could be a lose screw in the drive roller gears (I've seen one). Or the tensions settings for the rolls if it's way off.

I would set up these strips along the whole job on the side and you can see if the movement is ****ed up or correct. If those don't stay sharp and vary in thickness I would call the tech to check the driver roller gears and motor system.
Turn off color correction and have colors from different printheads like magenta and black.

View attachment 162294

Ah, so I'm supposed to waste 5 ft to tape it to the take up reel, then another 3 ft of printing to make sure the panels will print evenly... 5% of a new roll every print? sometimes it feels like they want to be kicked for their solutions...


I haven't had a tech in to look at my machine. I think my warranty expired last week actually... We just print everything that needs paneling on our Epson. Can't do that for traffic, so extruded signs is the exception... They go high up so it's not a big deal. When I have a tech in I'll ask him to take a look, I wouldn't mind improving it..but from the few people I talked to, it seems like the 700 has a ton of paneling issues.. hard to believe every machine is just built out of spec and a screw or motor replacement would fix it. Never had this issue on our other 5 latex printers either. A 10 ft panel may go out, but nothing a beat of heat and stretching couldn't fix since it wasn't too far out .. but on the 700 it's too far to fix. I feel like it's the take up system.

Looking at Epson as an example - they tout how their resin printer uses the same take-up system as their surecolor, and it allows them to have great panel accuracy - and it's true... I've printed some 10 ft panels with a ton of text and everything's a perfect alignment.

 

[CC-CMYK]

Just bought a Colorado 1650. Can’t wait to get away from latex and HP. They are consistently inconsistent…Color, service, quality, etc.

Don’t know if I will like Canon (as a company) any better, but don’t know how they could be any worse than HP. The 1650 looks very impressive and have heard great reviews.

I was really impressed with the Canon at Printing United. I was not impressed by the sales reps at their booth. We came to them asked them how much and they kept stalling and trying to sell it to us. We told them we have cash and wanted an estimate written up and they still didn’t give us any pricing. One guy started to talk about our monthly payments and how much we would save. From what I gathered the 1630 deluxe would be 55k. We went to lexjet and they were more straight forward and and eventually quoted 42k plus up to 5k to 9k rebate on a trade in of our Hp. I don’t trust any Canon reps after that experience. None of them could give me a straight answer on anything and I’m still waiting on a formal quote from the conference. We ended up buying an Epson to save some money but if Canon would have acted less sketchy we would have bought one right then.

 

[balstestrat]

Ah, so I'm supposed to waste 5 ft to tape it to the take up reel, then another 3 ft of printing to make sure the panels will print evenly... 5% of a new roll every print? sometimes it feels like they want to be kicked for their solutions...


I haven't had a tech in to look at my machine. I think my warranty expired last week actually... We just print everything that needs paneling on our Epson. Can't do that for traffic, so extruded signs is the exception... They go high up so it's not a big deal. When I have a tech in I'll ask him to take a look, I wouldn't mind improving it..but from the few people I talked to, it seems like the 700 has a ton of paneling issues.. hard to believe every machine is just built out of spec and a screw or motor replacement would fix it. Never had this issue on our other 5 latex printers either. A 10 ft panel may go out, but nothing a beat of heat and stretching couldn't fix since it wasn't too far out .. but on the 700 it's too far to fix. I feel like it's the take up system.

Looking at Epson as an example - they tout how their resin printer uses the same take-up system as their surecolor, and it allows them to have great panel accuracy - and it's true... I've printed some 10 ft panels with a ton of text and everything's a perfect alignment.

You never know, forget to include in the instructions to tighten a screw and the guy wont do it because it doesn't say so... Notice a year later and you got a bunch of them out there.

 

[darinmcd]

You are going to hate canon

Just bought a Colorado 1650. Can’t wait to get away from latex and HP. They are consistently inconsistent…Color, service, quality, etc.

Don’t know if I will like Canon (as a company) any better, but don’t know how they could be any worse than HP. The 1650 looks very impressive and have heard great reviews.

Good luck with Canon, especially when the warranty runs out. Service sucks. Got rid of both our Canon flatbeds. Not sure about the cost of 1650 parts, heads, etc but Canon has been higher than any other machine I've owned

 

[ikarasu]

I will say this .. if you've had a latex before and saw what a pain it was to remove the leftover vinyl glue from the curing chamber... The 700 is super easy..

The whole bottom portion comes out in 6 screws.

Traffic vinyl has a really thick adhesive that gets left behind, same with the high tac we use lots of. It causes the media to stick and get headstrikes if it's not on the take up - decided to try and clean it... I was a little miffed when I went to the maintenance option and it told me I had to be trained and required me to enter a secret oin... But it took 2 mins to fmwstch the video and get the code. And I learned to take the bottom portion off without needing to do a ton of other removals, well worth it!

Just printed some reflective straight from the edge and it didn't grab on as well. I suggest those who have issues with media jams take a look and see if their platen is sticky, it's a quick 10 min fix.

 

[parrott]

I was really impressed with the Canon at Printing United. I was not impressed by the sales reps at their booth. We came to them asked them how much and they kept stalling and trying to sell it to us. We told them we have cash and wanted an estimate written up and they still didn’t give us any pricing. One guy started to talk about our monthly payments and how much we would save. From what I gathered the 1630 deluxe would be 55k. We went to lexjet and they were more straight forward and and eventually quoted 42k plus up to 5k to 9k rebate on a trade in of our Hp. I don’t trust any Canon reps after that experience. None of them could give me a straight answer on anything and I’m still waiting on a formal quote from the conference. We ended up buying an Epson to save some money but if Canon would have acted less sketchy we would have bought one right then.

Felt very similar about the Canon reps. That being said, I bought the floor model from them. Lol.

 

[CC-CMYK]

Felt very similar about the Canon reps. That being said, I bought the floor model from them. Lol.

How much did they sell it for?