Question Upgrade for Epson S80600

[yannb]

Hi, the 80600 is our best selling print-only roll-to-roll machine. More importantly, our customers experience very little technical issues, compared to another Japanese brand (not Roland). Manual maintenance needed only every 3 weeks. The profiles you can download from Epsons Edge Dashboard are very good. Grey is grey, and Pantones match well. These profiles, embedded in EMX files, are also rip independent, so if you want to run the printer with Onyx, Caldera, Flexi, Epson’s Edge rip … the colors are the same. On 3M IJ40, I’ve measured Pantone colors and they were closer to the official lab values than a Pantone swatch book. Customers really like the fact that they don’t have to get brand colors right by trial and error. Most of the tech calls I get from customers are questions about switching color mode, like from 9C+cleaning to 9C+white or metallic (because they forgot my explanation and didn’t write anything down), and how to create and print files with spot inks.
Another big advantage: you getanding free output at 8pass HQ in dark blue, brown, you name it. Text and vector graphics are very sharp, even at 4 pass bi-directional. At a close viewing distance, HP latex output is very grainy compared to what the 80600 produces.
If you like very saturated colors, give the EpsonWideCMYK profile a whirl. It boosts saturation of CMYK graphics into Pantone area.
I don’t think the 80600 will be out of spare parts soon, because the 80600L was introduced only 2 years ago. It’s the same machine, but in full black and with a bulk ink system.

If printing on textiles, wall paper, (uncoated) poster paper, canvases are more your thing, then I would advise the R5000.

Good luck.

 

[Adis]

Hi, the 80600 is our best selling print-only roll-to-roll machine. More importantly, our customers experience very little technical issues, compared to another Japanese brand (not Roland). Manual maintenance needed only every 3 weeks. The profiles you can download from Epsons Edge Dashboard are very good. Grey is grey, and Pantones match well. These profiles, embedded in EMX files, are also rip independent, so if you want to run the printer with Onyx, Caldera, Flexi, Epson’s Edge rip … the colors are the same. On 3M IJ40, I’ve measured Pantone colors and they were closer to the official lab values than a Pantone swatch book. Customers really like the fact that they don’t have to get brand colors right by trial and error. Most of the tech calls I get from customers are questions about switching color mode, like from 9C+cleaning to 9C+white or metallic (because they forgot my explanation and didn’t write anything down), and how to create and print files with spot inks.
Another big advantage: you getanding free output at 8pass HQ in dark blue, brown, you name it. Text and vector graphics are very sharp, even at 4 pass bi-directional. At a close viewing distance, HP latex output is very grainy compared to what the 80600 produces.
If you like very saturated colors, give the EpsonWideCMYK profile a whirl. It boosts saturation of CMYK graphics into Pantone area.
I don’t think the 80600 will be out of spare parts soon, because the 80600L was introduced only 2 years ago. It’s the same machine, but in full black and with a bulk ink system.

If printing on textiles, wall paper, (uncoated) poster paper, canvases are more your thing, then I would advise the R5000.

Good luck.

Thank you all for the great explanations and comparisons. In the end we decided to stick with Roland. Our boss decided that it makes sense due to how little variety of printing we do since it's only an in house printer for our fleet of vans. We decided to go with the VG2-640 with the 5 year warranty. We got to see it in person prior to purchasing and felt it was enough for what we needed. We really don't need extra speed or more color options as most of our work is with 4 solid colors. We are usually never in a rush to have something done immediately. Plus the leaning curve will be minimal between the old and new printer. We feel that even if issues come up it will be on Roland to fix it under warranty. In worse case scenario we kept out xr-640 as a backup plus having both Roland machines it can be used as a second cutter if need be. I will update you guys on our thoughts and impressions after we get to use it for a couple of weeks. Wish us luck!

 

[InkHead]

Does anyone know how often the S80600 has the sale/promo? I know they have a $4,000 Instant rebate going until the end of the month but I feel like I've seen this same promo not long ago. I'm looking at the S80600 but not sure I will pull the trigger before end of month.

 

[Adis]

Does anyone know how often the S80600 has the sale/promo? I know they have a $4,000 Instant rebate going until the end of the month but I feel like I've seen this same promo not long ago. I'm looking at the S80600 but not sure I will pull the trigger before end of month.

I know they had it for a couple of months now. I was talking to a Grimco sales rep while trying to decide what printer to get and he said they have been extending them on the regular basis. He also said that when they do take it away they usually bring the promotion back a couple months later. I would probably expect it to go on until the end of the quarter but it's not 100%. For us it was definitely a choice between the S80 and the Roland VG2- 640. The only reason we got the Roland is because it's compatible with our old Roland printer and software, and I wouldn't have to worry about running two different printers.

 

[InkHead]

I know they had it for a couple of months now. I was talking to a Grimco sales rep while trying to decide what printer to get and he said they have been extending them on the regular basis. He also said that when they do take it away they usually bring the promotion back a couple months later. I would probably expect it to go on until the end of the quarter but it's not 100%. For us it was definitely a choice between the S80 and the Roland VG2- 640. The only reason we got the Roland is because it's compatible with our old Roland printer and software, and I wouldn't have to worry about running two different printers.

Thanks for the info. I'm not in a big rush but good to know the promotion has been on going and if not will probably return in a few months.

 

[sunrise]

Really, the choice no a days is between an Epson and a HP. HP is great at sitting idle, but that's about it. Color consistency is horrible for repair panels and it wastes a LOT of vinyl compared to any other printer.

I would definitely recommend an Espon 60600 for your needs. You wont need the additional inks and the dual head makes it lightning fast for quick turnarounds. We print a lot of Ambulance/Firetruck graphics (along with all of our full wraps) with ours and a lot of solid color areas. It has a lot of real nice features that make it "user friendly". It self-cleans for the most part, but we do spend about 10 minutes every other week doing a manual cleaning on it. There is a simple material calibration tool that you can run that will eliminate any banding in solid color areas if it ever becomes a problem. It prints great on any vinyl we throw at it. and the colors are 100% consistent for repair panels. Prints GREAT on 3M IJ680-CR which I assume you use a lot of.

I recommend if you buy it that you talk with the sales company about setting up your color profiles when they deliver it for you. We just have 1 profile that we run for everything, makes it super simple. We run our Epsons all through Onyx RIP. PM me if you need more info.

What profile are you using? I'm trying to figure out what media setting to use on my s60600L, printing on IJ680CR

 

[jfiscus]

What profile are you using? I'm trying to figure out what media setting to use on my s60600L, printing on IJ680CR

Sent you a PM.