best bang for buck printer/cutter

[MIKE DAVIS]

Hi there, I am currently using a MutohXpertjet printer for quite some years, and am looking at upgrading, and wanted to know peoples general feel for Mutoh, roland and Mimaki printers? Without fighting about it, basically just wanted to see benefits or downfalls of each so I can decide if I want to stay with Mutoh or move on. My downfalls are that the Mutoh ink seems to scratch easy after a while curing if the signs touch, as well as custoimer service is terrible, so I have had to learn to fix issues myself, but has been a decent printer. I need to do a printer with a plotter this time. Thanks for any feedback.

 

[WizardWorks]

I bought a Mimaki CJV-200 back in March and I love the thing. 3 year parts warranty is nice, too. only real drawback is the expiration on the inks, but we all know there are ways around that. It's a great machine at a great price. I'm running the 8 color mode and the work it produces is eye poppingly gorgeous.

Seems like no matter what you buy, you're going to learn to fix stuff yourself. I'm only back in the industry 7 months and I'm already bitter and jaded about trying to get help from vendors after they cash my checks.

 

[Patentagosse]

I run a Roland VG2-540 for 5 years now. So far so good great prints, never changed a part (just the maintenance ones like pads, wipers). I still run on OEM inks. No clogging. Great colors (the orange cartridge makes a world of difference for hot colors (oranges, reds...) I don't know what the improve on newer model (VG3) but I've been with Roland since 2004, it's my 3rd printer (SP-300, VS-540, VG2-540). Nothing's perfect. They all have pros & cons. The increase in ink price is outrageous, whatever the brand. Liquid gold

 

[MIKE DAVIS]

I run a Roland VG2-540 for 5 years now. So far so good great prints, never changed a part (just the maintenance ones like pads, wipers). I still run on OEM inks. No clogging. Great colors (the orange cartridge makes a world of difference for hot colors (oranges, reds...) I don't know what the improve on newer model (VG3) but I've been with Roland since 2004, it's my 3rd printer (SP-300, VS-540, VG2-540). Nothing's perfect. They all have pros & cons. The increase in ink price is outrageous, whatever the brand. Liquid gold

Thank you!

 

[MrDav3C]

I run a Roland SG3 540 and I have to say that even as a 4 colour CMYK machine the print quality and colours are exceptional. I don't think any of our customers would noticeably appreciate the difference of an 8 colour setup enough to justify the additional costs and we are more than happy with the speed at which it prints.

The TR2 inks are expensive but are a considerable improvement from the Ecosol inks we were using on our old Roland SP540, they offer a good level of scratch resistance and outgassing times are significantly reduced but we still laminate pretty much everything apart from banners.

We did have a bad head strike a few months ago and both had to replace both print heads which was eye watering expensive but this was caused by user error rather than a problem with the printer itself.

With regards to repair and maintenance, Roland has made it pretty difficult for end users to do anything complex themselves being unable to access service mode etc. which means when and if things do go wrong you are pretty much in the hands of Rolands certified techs which obviously has time and cost implications.

I think one of the key things when buying a new printer is to consider the after sales support as any printer downtime is never good especially for a small shop with only one printer like ourselves.