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HP L26500 Buyers remorse?

Intense01

Intense01

New Member
I just pulled the trigger on a new L26500. I have heard some people have issues with it but I have heard others that love them. I decided on the Hp vs. another Mutoh that I currently have.

I liked the HP since it doesn't have the solvent smell and is more eco friendly.
I haven't seen the l26500 print yet so I am not sure how the quality is. My current Mutoh prints pretty nice except for some red's and oranges. Sometimes I get weird banding on colors and I feel like I need to watch the Mutoh print the entire time to make sure it doesn't run out of ink or anything (VJ 1204 with 220ml cartridges). My full wrap business has picked up and I felt like I needed a printer that can print larger panels and I don't have to wait as long to laminate so my productivity should increase.

Does anyone have any buyers remorse for purchasing this printer over a Mutoh or Roland? Anything in particular I should ask the tech to show me?

Thanks again!
 
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B

Bill Modzel

New Member
Well, I'm a bit or a newbie on this one. I replaced my 6yo HP9000s with it a month or so ago. I had a couple of minor issue which HP dealt with quickly and efficiently.

The print quality is excellent. In fact, the first job I ran consisted of 4 large canvas prints that I gallery wrapped. They were all photographs and the colors reproduced very well with excellent detail. I just ran a vinyl job of 2'000, 3" x5" decals that I set up as 32" sheets on 30" wide vinyl. I ran a group of 10 sheets during the day and ran another ten after I left for the evening. The automatic take up is great.

One thing that really surprised me is I ran a job on some older end of the roll vinyl and had some head "kisses" from some puckers. Once the print heads advanced I was astounded that there were no jets plugged at all! I'd have to run a complete cleaning cycle on the 9000 once that happened and I so hated to wast all that ink each time.

On the negative side. I'm less likely to run a short job on it's own because of the time and attached cost of heating the printer up. Also, you have to pay attention to the LCD instructions and prompts. You can't skip steps and do things manually. You have to let things cool down before switching substrates so I do miss the immediacy of working with the old HP.

NO regrets though. I'm happy to eliminate the venting system from the old one and since everything on the 26500 is on the same side of the printer, I gained about 12 sq. ft. of floor space back also.
 
Intense01

Intense01

New Member
MrSalumi said:
Did I read that right? You bought a printer without knowing how it prints?
Click to expand...

Yep, I mean I have seen a couple samples and read some reviews and it seemed like a good deal. I bought it mainly because of the no ventilation and water based latex. I am sure it prints as good if not better than my current Mutoh. I am just checking to see if anyone has any regrets about purchasing this printer and if there is anything in particular I should ask the technician when they come to set up.
 
MrSalumi

MrSalumi

New Member
Ballsy!! I am sure any new printer is going to produce awesome prints. I've never had and HP but I know a guy who swears by his and loves the latex non solvent option included in his stable of printers. Good luck and let us know how it turns out!!
 
J

JoeBoomer

New Member
Latex Rocks!

I had L25500 at last shop and loved it. I have the L26500 showing up in the next day or two. If 25500 is any indication, the 26500 should be a knockout. I'm running on a 9000 now and will be happy to see her go. Latex Rocks!
 
Ditchmiester

Ditchmiester

New Member
We have had our L26 for just about a month now. I'm still amazed every day at the quality and vibrancy of the colors. I've don't photo realistic stuff that looks absolutely amazing. It's faster than I thought it was going to be and actually it's way easier to use than I was expecting. This was our first wide format Solvent/Latex Machine. We also chose this machine over an Epson S30 because of not having to wait to laminate. It definitely speeds production up.
 
K

kanini

New Member
Does anybody know how the print quality compares to for example a Designjet Z-series large format photo printer? That (Z-series) printer produces absolutely stunning prints, but only/mainly for indoor use. We have a Z-series but I'm looking to perhaps replace it with a latex if the L-series can achieve (almost) the same quality for example on poster paper and canvas? Sorry to be a :thread

Good luck with your new printer BTW!
 
HulkSmash

HulkSmash

New Member
Latex and UV is by far the best 2 outdoor print inks. Yes, the HP latex is a great machine, and a work horse. But i don't think this is more then a 3-5 year printer, then into the trash.
 
S

sowinski_t

New Member
Our shop has had our L26 for about 9 months now, and no major issues yet. Low maintenance, good colours, consistent quality, etc. Like I said, no real issues. Very happy with it. Having said that, my girlfriend who works at a different shop, got a brand new Roland (I don't remember the model, a nice solvent one, 72" wide I think) and has had nothing but problems with it since they got it. Strange I thought, because the VP-540 I ran at my old job ran like a dream. To answer your questions, I'm very happy my boss decided on the latex and not a new solvent.
 
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