Curious about different brands SAV pricing/quality

[RMarshall]

Can someone give me a little 101 on SAV?

Here's the background –
I used to use HP's Prime Matte Air SAV and their Polymeric Overlam because it's surprisingly cheap and works great for everything we do (primarily generic display boards/yard signs/stickers)
Then a rep from a local independent supplier comes by. They primarily sell MacTac and Drytac media.
He was telling me that the issue with HP's SAV is that the manufacturing contract changes every year or so, meaning the vinyl isn't always going to be the 'same thing'.
I try to support local/independent/small business whenever possible so I start buying media from his company.
He recommended MacTac RB428 as an alternative to the HP SAV.
At first it was about the same price and I didn't have any problem with it, but within the last year the price has skyrocketed to almost 2x what I was originally paying and it doesn't make sense to use it any more.
I've started using GF 214 and it's been great so far.

Here's what Im curious about –
Is there that much of a difference between brands when it comes to basic SAV?
The only reason I could see there being issues with HP's vinyl 'changing' every so often would be if we were a large company that relied on using the exact same material for the exact same products on the exact same printers etc.
Is GF 214 so much cheaper because GF is a lower quality brand?
Or is MacTac just a more specialized/expensive company that has been more affected by the supply chain/inflation/labor issues?

The rep for this local distributor has always been helpful and nice so I want to keep buying from him, but I can't justify paying $270 for a roll of SAV that's just going to be used for foam boards and yard signs.
For comparison HP Prime Matte Air GP is $217 a roll, and Im paying $160 for GF 214.

 

[brdesign]

For flat indoor signs and short term outdoor signs it's not really going to be that big of a difference on the brand. I haven't used the GF214, but have never had any issues with other GF products. When you get into longterm outdoor use, compound curves, rivets, etc, then it becomes more important on what type of vinyl you use.

 

[CanuckSigns]

We stock 3 different vinyls that we use for most applications

Arlon 510MT for our cheap stuff, coro signs, cheap decals, foamcore etc.
Arlon 4600 for our longer term stuff, prints on ACM, parking signs etc.
GF 201HTAC for our industrial decals that need to stick to anything.

We don't do vehicle graphics so i don't stock a 2 mil vinyl.

The only thing I've noticed with Drytac and GF products is they shrink a lot more than other 3 mil vinyls do.

 

[RMarshall]

We stock 3 different vinyls that we use for most applications

Arlon 510MT for our cheap stuff, coro signs, cheap decals, foamcore etc.
Arlon 4600 for our longer term stuff, prints on ACM, parking signs etc.
GF 201HTAC for our industrial decals that need to stick to anything.

We don't do vehicle graphics so i don't stock a 2 mil vinyl.

The only thing I've noticed with Drytac and GF products is they shrink a lot more than other 3 mil vinyls do.

I could see GF shrinking more, but surprisingly the GF 214 shrinks less than the MacTac RB428.

In fact the 214 seems to hardly shrink at all, same with HP's Prime Air which is polymeric.

The only Drytac vinyl I've used is SpotOn and that stuff shrank so quickly it was wild.

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

We stock 3 different vinyls that we use for most applications

Arlon 510MT for our cheap stuff, coro signs, cheap decals, foamcore etc.
Arlon 4600 for our longer term stuff, prints on ACM, parking signs etc.
GF 201HTAC for our industrial decals that need to stick to anything.

We don't do vehicle graphics so i don't stock a 2 mil vinyl.

The only thing I've noticed with Drytac and GF products is they shrink a lot more than other 3 mil vinyls do.

We are roughly the same:
510MT
Instead of 4600 we use GF 230
And we use Avery 2126HT or 1106 for high tack