DudeWhoPrints
New Member
What’s up guys? I have been in this industry since I was a kid. I go back to the first-gen days of large-format inkjets. Now that I have been in this industry for over 27 years, I can say with full confidence this industry is set up mostly to rob you blind. If you are just getting in, be smart! Don’t ever trust a dealer. Don’t ever trust anyone trying to sell you anything. Sure, good people are out there, but it’s rare. Do your own research before making any moves.
When I say it’s set up to rob you blind, I mean this from the perspective of dealers and machine makers. I love the industry in terms of what we do, business, and customers. I just can’t believe where we are today. It’s always been shady, but today it’s just blatant, and honestly, it’s sad to see.
When we got our first Roland VP years ago, which was really the first truly usable inkjet, times were exciting. Inkjets finally had the ability to output super high-quality large-scale prints with the ability to cut too. Space-saving compact all-in-one machines took off.
Roland’s machines in these days didn’t or rarely broke. They ran forever, needed little maintenance, ink was fairly priced, you didn’t get forced or boxed into 8-color setups, you could choose your ink tank size per job, consumables didn’t cost a fortune, and the machines themselves were lighter and more compact. Sure, some of this has to do with inflation and the way of the world as time goes on too, but a lot of this is just either pure stupidity or done on purpose.
We have seen absolutely nothing come close to the VP series in terms of longevity for solvent. Don’t get me wrong, these machines had plenty of their own problems too, but they were easy to fix/get around.
The solvent industry went totally backwards. They’ve basically made little to no progress at all. In fact, I would argue that if you took a print from a VP series from 07/08 and held it next to a VG series, you wouldn’t be able to know what printed which!
Rather than truly advancing the great foundation they made with the VP series, they went backwards. You can argue the heads got more advanced with more dots for greater quality and speed and blah blah blah, but they did this at the detriment of the user, for so little gain in quality.
Don’t even get me started on Mimaki. Used for years and using currently. Amazing cutters/cut accuracy, but most atrocious maintenance, one thing after another breaking constantly, parts made of the cheapest plastic costing hundreds, ink costing insane prices, and horrible service. I’m not saying they don’t also do good things, but I consider both Roland & Mimaki a huge part of the problem in this industry, along with so many shady dealers.
I am all for techs coming to fix machines when it makes sense for the big stuff, but not for every single little thing. That’s what it has turned into. Techs come, rob you blind, and fix nothing today.
So who can we trust today? Where do we go from here? Well if Roland wants to win back the people who used to swear by them they can start by bringing the VP series back but modernized. Go back to making heads like they once did, make machines that last forever again, and they’d win a lot of folks back.
Mimaki seems to maybe be getting it with the CJV200, but they need to stop robbing us blind for consumables and ink! Inks expiring within a year is also crazy. They also need way more techs.
Bring back true 4 color machines for small to medium sized shops! We don’t want machines with 8 carts man! It’s a money sucking waste! Even if setup for 4 color double, machines don’t look right with the other carts empty, and this also causes air in the line issues. The only one making a true 4 color that I know of now is Mutoh.
I think Mutoh & Epson make the best solvent machines today. Yo Epson, Mutoh and HP, why not give a go at making an all in one? I have had both setups. Print and Cut separated and AIO. I still prefer the all in one for freeing up space, and the streamline of a singular workflow.
HP Latex is the way to go if you want to be free of solvent problems, but it’s always a damn catch. HP build your own damn rip already! What are you guys even doing!? No one wants to pay for Onyx every month, and no one wants to output from Flexi. Who is running things over there? Even HP discontinued all the machines that people loved. How could they be so stupid?
I used to love this industry. It was so exciting when I was young. I stayed excited about it for a long time too. Now it just has me super bummed. Specifically, inkjets. We still love cutting vinyl. It’s a HUGE part of business, and it’s so much more enjoyable too. That old Roland used to be as worry-free as a stand-alone vinyl cutter. Bring back the good old days. Sorry for the rant. Had to vent on this, and I need more friends in the industry to talk shop with.
When I say it’s set up to rob you blind, I mean this from the perspective of dealers and machine makers. I love the industry in terms of what we do, business, and customers. I just can’t believe where we are today. It’s always been shady, but today it’s just blatant, and honestly, it’s sad to see.
When we got our first Roland VP years ago, which was really the first truly usable inkjet, times were exciting. Inkjets finally had the ability to output super high-quality large-scale prints with the ability to cut too. Space-saving compact all-in-one machines took off.
Roland’s machines in these days didn’t or rarely broke. They ran forever, needed little maintenance, ink was fairly priced, you didn’t get forced or boxed into 8-color setups, you could choose your ink tank size per job, consumables didn’t cost a fortune, and the machines themselves were lighter and more compact. Sure, some of this has to do with inflation and the way of the world as time goes on too, but a lot of this is just either pure stupidity or done on purpose.
We have seen absolutely nothing come close to the VP series in terms of longevity for solvent. Don’t get me wrong, these machines had plenty of their own problems too, but they were easy to fix/get around.
The solvent industry went totally backwards. They’ve basically made little to no progress at all. In fact, I would argue that if you took a print from a VP series from 07/08 and held it next to a VG series, you wouldn’t be able to know what printed which!
Rather than truly advancing the great foundation they made with the VP series, they went backwards. You can argue the heads got more advanced with more dots for greater quality and speed and blah blah blah, but they did this at the detriment of the user, for so little gain in quality.
Don’t even get me started on Mimaki. Used for years and using currently. Amazing cutters/cut accuracy, but most atrocious maintenance, one thing after another breaking constantly, parts made of the cheapest plastic costing hundreds, ink costing insane prices, and horrible service. I’m not saying they don’t also do good things, but I consider both Roland & Mimaki a huge part of the problem in this industry, along with so many shady dealers.
I am all for techs coming to fix machines when it makes sense for the big stuff, but not for every single little thing. That’s what it has turned into. Techs come, rob you blind, and fix nothing today.
So who can we trust today? Where do we go from here? Well if Roland wants to win back the people who used to swear by them they can start by bringing the VP series back but modernized. Go back to making heads like they once did, make machines that last forever again, and they’d win a lot of folks back.
Mimaki seems to maybe be getting it with the CJV200, but they need to stop robbing us blind for consumables and ink! Inks expiring within a year is also crazy. They also need way more techs.
Bring back true 4 color machines for small to medium sized shops! We don’t want machines with 8 carts man! It’s a money sucking waste! Even if setup for 4 color double, machines don’t look right with the other carts empty, and this also causes air in the line issues. The only one making a true 4 color that I know of now is Mutoh.
I think Mutoh & Epson make the best solvent machines today. Yo Epson, Mutoh and HP, why not give a go at making an all in one? I have had both setups. Print and Cut separated and AIO. I still prefer the all in one for freeing up space, and the streamline of a singular workflow.
HP Latex is the way to go if you want to be free of solvent problems, but it’s always a damn catch. HP build your own damn rip already! What are you guys even doing!? No one wants to pay for Onyx every month, and no one wants to output from Flexi. Who is running things over there? Even HP discontinued all the machines that people loved. How could they be so stupid?
I used to love this industry. It was so exciting when I was young. I stayed excited about it for a long time too. Now it just has me super bummed. Specifically, inkjets. We still love cutting vinyl. It’s a HUGE part of business, and it’s so much more enjoyable too. That old Roland used to be as worry-free as a stand-alone vinyl cutter. Bring back the good old days. Sorry for the rant. Had to vent on this, and I need more friends in the industry to talk shop with.
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