Praise for Summa USA

[Pat Whatley]

I figured there's enough complaining when a machine goes bad or tech support is a joke that when something goes right it needs to be mentioned.

One of my beloved Summa D60 plotters started acting funky last week. I changed cables, fought through the problems, took it apart and cleaned it and it was still acting screwy.

Finally broke down and called Summa tech support. The tech guy answered the phone on the second ring. That's right, and actual tech guy IMMEDIATELY. Explained the problem, a couple of minutes of patient troubleshooting later we adjusted a couple of settings and the thing is working like a charm.

It's damn nice to call somebody who actually knows what they're talking about, knows their machines, and has the capacity to fix things over the phone.

Stuff like that is exactly why I've got three Summa plotters at the moment and will be buying another this summer.

 

[Letterbox Mike]

Best plotters ever. Best tech support ever. They're a fantastic company, I've had many experiences with them just like yours. If they ever get into the solvent printer market that would be our next purchase based on their tech support alone.

 

[artsnletters]

I'm a summa fan too....BUT i own 2 summa plotters (a T-750 and a T-610) and between the two the tangental heads have died 3 times! I love the cut quality and the speed, but the t-heads are a known problem (they all fail eventually) and the techs response to me was buy a drag knife assy. Which i did. I still need a down time to ship one to summa for a new head assy and a tune up. Still a $1500 proposition. I love Summa equipment but that still sucks.
Tim

 

[FatCat]

Loooooove my Summa! Great machine and yes, their tech-support is fantastic. When I got mine I had some issues with setting up for contour cuts and also was having an intermittent problem with communication via the USB cable. Like Pat said, you call and talk to a real tech that sounds knows the machine inside and out. Sure they cost a little more, but I feel worth every penny.

 

[Rooster]

+100 for Summa tech support.

Best I've ever used (by a mile).

 

[Border]

I've got a Summa D620 that I bought new in....1997, I believe?
Only thing I've ever replaced was the cutting strip! I even took it on the road in my van quite a bit in the early days.
Still works like a charm.

 

[Gene@mpls]

Two T-750s here- they and Summa tech rock- I have a Gerber enV 350 that
cost more than both Summas together that is a burr under my saddle.

 

[David Wright]

I'm a summa fan too....BUT i own 2 summa plotters (a T-750 and a T-610) and between the two the tangental heads have died 3 times! I love the cut quality and the speed, but the t-heads are a known problem (they all fail eventually) and the techs response to me was buy a drag knife assy. Which i did. I still need a down time to ship one to summa for a new head assy and a tune up. Still a $1500 proposition. I love Summa equipment but that still sucks.
Tim

Saying this how could one follow up and still praise them.
I am on my second and last Summa. Same problem with the T-head and either an expensive fix $1500 plus or downscale it to a plain drag knife, do the labor and still be out many bucks.

I picked up a used Gerber Envision and use my Summa with it. As long as I cut a registration mark first on every plot, there are usually very few missed cuts. For now anyways.

In the future I probably will buy a high end Roland only because my local supplier services them. Obviously a big plus.

 

[jscarl]

I'll stick to my Summa. Thanks again Jim.

 

[artsnletters]

Saying this how could one follow up and still praise them.

In the future I probably will buy a high end Roland only because my local supplier services them. Obviously a big plus.

the praise is mixed...when the Summas are cutting as they are supposed to, nothing else comes close. While my Summa was shipped back for service, i used a Roland and Graphtec to get by. I hated both of them. The user interface seemed much less effective, just simply harder for me to use. Maybe us with OLD Summa plotters are in the minority. They would much rather us pony up and buy a new plotter, instead of us fixing their defective heads. I don't have the dough to buy a new one so send it back i will. The new ones seem to have much less issues, i havent heard of new models T-heads going bad. Old ones=common (too common) problem. Sucks but like i said, performance and speed wise nothing compares IMO when its right...i can cut really tiny details with effortless weeding when it's right.
Tim