James Chrimes
New Member
Headed down later today to Atlantic City. Can't wait to see all the stuff there. The drive should take us around 6.5 hours. Hope to meet some of you there.
-
I want to thank all the members that have upgraded your accounts. I truly appreciate your support of the site monetarily. Supporting the site keeps this site up and running as a lot of work daily goes on behind the scenes. Click to Support Signs101 ...
Sign World USA
- Thread starter James Chrimes
- Start date
racershawn
New Member
I am leaving Thursday am early ... about 5 hrs for me... staying at Harras
Dan Antonelli
New Member
Friday, noonish to 4ish..... i hear its gonna be real slow this year---
Dan Antonelli
New Member
Just heard from some folks who were down there today - said it's real empty in there - I'm thinking I may bail actually - slammed with work and not sure its worth the drive down.
Gino
Premium Subscriber
That's great news to my ears. That should make the vendors there that much more anxious to wheel and deal when I get there. We have a 'Wish List' that might get more crossed off than I anticipated.
Getting there around 10:30am on Saturday and check things out. I'll hang out at the back end like others have suggested around 1pm. Then I'm back on the floor to close whatever deals I can.
After that.... I'm off to Borgata and fun................. 
CES020
New Member
I don't know which vendors you guys are talking too, but I was there Thursday and Friday, left at noon on Friday. The place was fairly packed, especially on Friday. As we were leaving, the people were flat rolling in.
I wouldn't say it was super crowded, but there were a lot of people and aisles were jammed in places.
What I did see was a number of dumb ass sales reps that would rather huddle together and talk to each other than converse with people walking by. I went by the R-Tape place 4 times to talk to them and every single time, both days, there were 3 people huddled together, backs to the aisle, talking to each other.
Not a single person in their booth. So if they weren't packed or busy, it was their fault, not mine
I saw a number of vendors doing that.
Overall, I can't say it was the best show I have been to, but I did get to make some good supplier contacts and spend a few minutes asking some questions, which really enlightened me on some things.
Came within a fraction of buying a photopolymer machine. 1/2 of me wishes we did, and 1/2 says it was better we didn't
Being I'm not a printer or a seasoned veteran in the business, I thought it was decent. If I had been in the business for 20 years, I probably wouldn't have thought much of it.
I wouldn't say it was super crowded, but there were a lot of people and aisles were jammed in places.
What I did see was a number of dumb ass sales reps that would rather huddle together and talk to each other than converse with people walking by. I went by the R-Tape place 4 times to talk to them and every single time, both days, there were 3 people huddled together, backs to the aisle, talking to each other.
Not a single person in their booth. So if they weren't packed or busy, it was their fault, not mine
I saw a number of vendors doing that.Overall, I can't say it was the best show I have been to, but I did get to make some good supplier contacts and spend a few minutes asking some questions, which really enlightened me on some things.
Came within a fraction of buying a photopolymer machine. 1/2 of me wishes we did, and 1/2 says it was better we didn't
Being I'm not a printer or a seasoned veteran in the business, I thought it was decent. If I had been in the business for 20 years, I probably wouldn't have thought much of it.
Typestries
New Member
Smallest show ever in terms of exhibitor space and number/quality of exhibitors. That's straight from a former exhibitor. Still worth going though! Read on.....
The new roland metallic inkjet machine is amazing, but not yet available in full production. Printing very slowly, but promising technology. And what kind of durability? I can see this becoming a major high end niche market in the digital world, and then, a few years later, the whole world will expect metallic full color. The machine wasn't even highlighted the way one would have thought they would.
mimaki flatbed was crawling along in unidirectional, the mutoh guys ran the board to the end on the flatbed and exposed the patently obvious pitfall of a pinch roller flatbed: the 6" of leader needed to feed the sheet through.
The Oce and agfa Flatbeds are nice machines and put out some nice stuff at a decent speed(relative, I'm a gandi user so speed for me is not what others may need).
The Seiko shown by alpha imaging is wicked fast, but ink cost is high. The HP latex printer makes beautiful prints, but is a huge electricity hog. 2x 220v - I asked the peak wattage/ampergae draw when running and curiously no one could tell me. a 60" latex printer that uses more juice than a big grand format? Wow, you're gonna need a lot of make up A/C in the summer to keep that room cool. Bonus, you might not need your heater in the winter, lol.
And, was it me, or were vinyl color charts strangely absent? Really now, we're a digital shop through and through, but we really do still use cut vinyl. Hmmmm.
Deals: a lot of floor machines already had sold stickers. Rolands especially. Could be a technique. Prices on machines didnt seem so special, but of course it was only friday. Come saturday, who knows.
Got to meet a bunch of great folks face to face, and that was worth the trip!
Thanks!
The new roland metallic inkjet machine is amazing, but not yet available in full production. Printing very slowly, but promising technology. And what kind of durability? I can see this becoming a major high end niche market in the digital world, and then, a few years later, the whole world will expect metallic full color. The machine wasn't even highlighted the way one would have thought they would.
mimaki flatbed was crawling along in unidirectional, the mutoh guys ran the board to the end on the flatbed and exposed the patently obvious pitfall of a pinch roller flatbed: the 6" of leader needed to feed the sheet through.
The Oce and agfa Flatbeds are nice machines and put out some nice stuff at a decent speed(relative, I'm a gandi user so speed for me is not what others may need).
The Seiko shown by alpha imaging is wicked fast, but ink cost is high. The HP latex printer makes beautiful prints, but is a huge electricity hog. 2x 220v - I asked the peak wattage/ampergae draw when running and curiously no one could tell me. a 60" latex printer that uses more juice than a big grand format? Wow, you're gonna need a lot of make up A/C in the summer to keep that room cool. Bonus, you might not need your heater in the winter, lol.
And, was it me, or were vinyl color charts strangely absent? Really now, we're a digital shop through and through, but we really do still use cut vinyl. Hmmmm.
Deals: a lot of floor machines already had sold stickers. Rolands especially. Could be a technique. Prices on machines didnt seem so special, but of course it was only friday. Come saturday, who knows.
Got to meet a bunch of great folks face to face, and that was worth the trip!
Thanks!
CES020
New Member
Yes, I thought it was the smallest in the 3 years I have been going now. A lot of big, obvious names were not there, and I found a lot of names I've never heard of or done business with, which I found refreshing, as I got to meet new potential vendors I was previously unaware of.
Yes, color charts were rare, in fact, I found samples from many people to be rare. Many samples were "protected" by having people stand in front of them, or put in a place that you couldn't just grab a sample without talking to someone. I had to ask Oracal for the color chart. It was on the backside of a display stand that faced the wall in the corner, so I think they were trying to discourage you taking them as well, which was stupid because they have the new 900 series, which replaced the 800, and they have some new colors as well.
Spoke to some people in the Bullpen and got some good advice. Super nice people in the Bullpen.
Agreed, not the best show ever, but sadly, the east coast doesn't get much in the way of shows, so it's either NBM, which I wouldn't drive across the street to go to again, Sign World, or something in Florida. Not sure why we can't get good, big shows on the east coast.
Yes, color charts were rare, in fact, I found samples from many people to be rare. Many samples were "protected" by having people stand in front of them, or put in a place that you couldn't just grab a sample without talking to someone. I had to ask Oracal for the color chart. It was on the backside of a display stand that faced the wall in the corner, so I think they were trying to discourage you taking them as well, which was stupid because they have the new 900 series, which replaced the 800, and they have some new colors as well.
Spoke to some people in the Bullpen and got some good advice. Super nice people in the Bullpen.
Agreed, not the best show ever, but sadly, the east coast doesn't get much in the way of shows, so it's either NBM, which I wouldn't drive across the street to go to again, Sign World, or something in Florida. Not sure why we can't get good, big shows on the east coast.
yukon
New Member
SignWorld Dudd
In the 15 or so years I've been hoofin' it to AC, this was by far the slowest slimmest show yet. The PVO template guy which sold to DesignWare a few years back wasn't there, so I couldn't upgrade my vehicle templates, which are innaccurate now anyway, the corner rounder machine guy wasn't there, SAI wasn't there, no Flexi demo booth, no SuperFrog Butch Anton, No 3M, No Fellers, no samples of much at all and the list goes on. The workshops and seminars... wait, were there any?
The highlight was the Bullpen with all the creative talent. It was great to see Alan, Howie and Mr J keeping the craft. Hey, bring back the pinstriping races!
Yukon
In the 15 or so years I've been hoofin' it to AC, this was by far the slowest slimmest show yet. The PVO template guy which sold to DesignWare a few years back wasn't there, so I couldn't upgrade my vehicle templates, which are innaccurate now anyway, the corner rounder machine guy wasn't there, SAI wasn't there, no Flexi demo booth, no SuperFrog Butch Anton, No 3M, No Fellers, no samples of much at all and the list goes on. The workshops and seminars... wait, were there any?
The highlight was the Bullpen with all the creative talent. It was great to see Alan, Howie and Mr J keeping the craft. Hey, bring back the pinstriping races!
Yukon
James Chrimes
New Member
True there. I did talk with SuperFrog Butch Anton on Friday. I did not see much in the way of software.
CheapVehicleWrap
New Member
whoah.. no 3M, no SAI, no Fellers? This is NOT GOOD!
racershawn
New Member
6 hr drive up .... 1 hr at show .... great dinner ..... lost $100 at the slots .... nice night at the hotel.... 6 hr drive back... show was empty with venders.... going to PRI show in orlando wedensday for 3 days .... sure hope it is better!!!
CES020
New Member
It could have been worse, I woke up about 2:45 am with an alarm going off. I thought it was the room above or below me and someone had set the alarm for the middle of the night and left it as a surprise for the next guest. After 10 minutes of listening to it, I heard some noise outside my door. I got dressed, stepped out, a security guard said "You need to get out of the building right now. We are evacuating the building".
I went back in, not knowing if I'd be back in, grabbed by backpack with all my stuff, and headed out. 1 hour later, they let us back into the rooms. Came to checkout the next morning, said "What happened last night?". They said "I have no idea what you're talking about".
I called up there last night, front desk "I have no idea what you're talking about", and they transferred me to security. The lady in security said "I have no idea what you're talking about, and there's no one on staff that would be able to answer that right now", and she hung up on me. So I have no idea why they did it, but I know I wasn't too happy having to get up and leave at 3 in the morning.
I went back in, not knowing if I'd be back in, grabbed by backpack with all my stuff, and headed out. 1 hour later, they let us back into the rooms. Came to checkout the next morning, said "What happened last night?". They said "I have no idea what you're talking about".
I called up there last night, front desk "I have no idea what you're talking about", and they transferred me to security. The lady in security said "I have no idea what you're talking about, and there's no one on staff that would be able to answer that right now", and she hung up on me. So I have no idea why they did it, but I know I wasn't too happy having to get up and leave at 3 in the morning.