Fluid Color vs Vanguard

[SWil9925]

Hello all!

I am in the market for a new hybrid flatbed printer. I have narrowed it down to the Fluid Color R98h Turbo with 8 Ricoh Gen 6 heads or the Vanguard VKH900-HS with 5 Kyocera Heads. Does anyone have feedback on either of these machines or even with these companies? Any feedback about service and/or maintenance. Thank you!

 

[ProColorGraphics]

Not to make it more difficult, but have you looked at Stratojet?

Stratojet

 

[MarkSnelling]

I know I'm biased as I sell Fluid Color units, but I can tell you a few things - the people at Fluid Color are really good. They are stupid smart and quick to solve any potential problems. Getting a 3 row Ricoh machine gets you about the same output as a 2 row Kyrocera unit. I always say the Kyrocera heads are like an Australian Shepherd dog. If you don't run them all day, they can be a pain in the ass. I usually limit selling these units to shops that run a full shift or 2 shifts a day. The Ricoh heads are very easy to work with - even if you don't run them hard all the time. Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions...I wouldn't sell a unit to Tampa but I'm happy to answer any questions you might have from an 'uninterested party' perspective.

 

[signheremd]

We bought a FluidColor R84H Turbo flatbed printer back in 2020 and highly recommend that company. The Ricoh Gen 6 heads are awesome balance between quality and speed - many companies are just now using them as the latest updates to their machines. The machine is easy to operate and we can do most of our own repairs and adjustments if needed. Sent one of our guys to FluidColor for a two day workshop and he came back able to change heads if we ever need. When you know you will be off for a few days, like Christmas or a weekend, just wipe the heads with flush - if you will be gone a week, then cap the heads. The owners manual is very useful for things like filter replacement instructions or calibration. We are still on the original heads and can see no loss of quality. Most of the year we run it M-F, the slow parts probably 3-4 days a week. We don't do shift work, so that is a normal 8 hour day. A couple of times we have had questions and contacted the folks at FluidColor and they have been helpful and really have a depth of knowledge. We had a CET before this printer feel this was an upgrade in quality, speed and reliability. I would buy another printer from FluidColor if need arises

 

[SWil9925]

I know I'm biased as I sell Fluid Color units, but I can tell you a few things - the people at Fluid Color are really good. They are stupid smart and quick to solve any potential problems. Getting a 3 row Ricoh machine gets you about the same output as a 2 row Kyrocera unit. I always say the Kyrocera heads are like an Australian Shepherd dog. If you don't run them all day, they can be a pain in the ass. I usually limit selling these units to shops that run a full shift or 2 shifts a day. The Ricoh heads are very easy to work with - even if you don't run them hard all the time. Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions...I wouldn't sell a unit to Tampa but I'm happy to answer any questions you might have from an 'uninterested party' perspective.

Thank you for your reply. Do you have an opinion on Ricoh Gen 6 heads vs Kyrocera heads? We run a full 8 hour shift M-F on our current hybrid flatbed. I have received samples using both print heads. The Ricoh Gen 6 samples were much better quality then the Kyrocera heads, which was suprising to me. I always assumed the Kyrocera heads were a better choice. What is your opinion on the two? We are looking for good speed but would be willing to sacrifce some speed for better quality. Do the Kyrocera heads print just as good as Rioch Gen 6 and perhaps the samples I recieved were just printed with an incorrect profile? Would love to hear your thoughts on this. Thank you in advance!

 

[SWil9925]

We bought a FluidColor R84H Turbo flatbed printer back in 2020 and highly recommend that company. The Ricoh Gen 6 heads are awesome balance between quality and speed - many companies are just now using them as the latest updates to their machines. The machine is easy to operate and we can do most of our own repairs and adjustments if needed. Sent one of our guys to FluidColor for a two day workshop and he came back able to change heads if we ever need. When you know you will be off for a few days, like Christmas or a weekend, just wipe the heads with flush - if you will be gone a week, then cap the heads. The owners manual is very useful for things like filter replacement instructions or calibration. We are still on the original heads and can see no loss of quality. Most of the year we run it M-F, the slow parts probably 3-4 days a week. We don't do shift work, so that is a normal 8 hour day. A couple of times we have had questions and contacted the folks at FluidColor and they have been helpful and really have a depth of knowledge. We had a CET before this printer feel this was an upgrade in quality, speed and reliability. I would buy another printer from FluidColor if need arises

Thats great information! Thank you!

 

[signheremd]

Thats great information! Thank you!

By the way, when we need high resolution we send the file over to the RIP at 600x1200 but print at Production speed and not High Quality. We do have ours calibrated pretty good. Normal prints and large text we send at 600x900 and run also at Production speed. We can print 1x3 nametags or photographs on canvas at the first and site signs at the second and no loss of quality.

 

[Django]

Thank you for your reply. Do you have an opinion on Ricoh Gen 6 heads vs Kyrocera heads? We run a full 8 hour shift M-F on our current hybrid flatbed. I have received samples using both print heads. The Ricoh Gen 6 samples were much better quality then the Kyrocera heads, which was suprising to me. I always assumed the Kyrocera heads were a better choice. What is your opinion on the two? We are looking for good speed but would be willing to sacrifce some speed for better quality. Do the Kyrocera heads print just as good as Rioch Gen 6 and perhaps the samples I recieved were just printed with an incorrect profile? Would love to hear your thoughts on this. Thank you in advance!

I would say the quality between the 2 are comparable. Biggest gain with Kyocera is the print speed. Biggest flaws with the Kyocera, from my experience, is when you have multi row and need to replace a print head. Trying to get a new print head to match properly with an old print head is a huge pain. I would go as far as saying that if you run into this situation, you should just go ahead and replace all heads that use the same color.
Don't get me wrong, any multi row are similar too but much easier to match new to old head. Just my 2 cents.

 

[MarkSnelling]

Thank you for your reply. Do you have an opinion on Ricoh Gen 6 heads vs Kyrocera heads? We run a full 8 hour shift M-F on our current hybrid flatbed. I have received samples using both print heads. The Ricoh Gen 6 samples were much better quality then the Kyrocera heads, which was suprising to me. I always assumed the Kyrocera heads were a better choice. What is your opinion on the two? We are looking for good speed but would be willing to sacrifce some speed for better quality. Do the Kyrocera heads print just as good as Rioch Gen 6 and perhaps the samples I recieved were just printed with an incorrect profile? Would love to hear your thoughts on this. Thank you in advance!

I prefer the Gen 6 heads all day....but with your type of output, you'd also be good with Kyrocera. They now have 3 row Ricoh Gen 6 machines which are pretty much the same speed as 2 row Kyrocera. The Ricoh heads are more user friendly and not as finicky if they aren't being run every day.