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24" Large Format Printer Buying Help ?

Scott Comeau

New member
I'm in the market for a 24" Large Format printer that I can use rool paper with.

I have been looking at the Epson 7880 - HP 130 - HP -Z2100

The HP looks good at 1500.00 $ But has been out for a while.

The Epson 7800 is real nice but I'm dont want to spend 1200.00 if
Print Head Strike happends and I have to have the repair tech come out.

The HP Designjet Z2100 Is nice but is it going to be replaced soon ?
I like this printer because you can replace the print heads.

I'll like to hear your comment on 24" Large Format Printer and print head strikes!

Many thanks for any help you can give me in selecting my new 24" printer.

Scott
 

Mike Shimwell

New member
If you're looking at the Z2100 you might consider the Z3100 (now 3200 with bigger red gamut on matte paper), which has a 12 ink set rather than 8.

I have one and it just works, no clogs, no head strikes and remarkably frugal on ink for cleaning if you don't print much. The only issue I've had with mine is that it originally put wheel marks on ilford gold fibre silk, but they introduced an upgrade part that was fitted under warranty and seems to have fixed the problem. It is standard on the 3200 I believe.

I moved from a canon 5000 because of the cost of replacing a head on the canon.

I don't know anything about the HP130 - is it dye or pigment?

I suspect that they are all good now, though LL raves about the epson. There again it's the newest ...

Mike
 

Scott Comeau

New member
I moved from a canon 5000 because of the cost of replacing a head on the canon.

I don't know anything about the HP130 - is it dye or pigment?

Hi Mike,

I'm not realy shure what type of ink the HP 130 uses but hear is a link to the printer:

http://www.shopping.hp.com/store/pr...umpid=in_r329_personalization/browse1/PDP_PDP

The reason I'm looking at this one of the cost if about 1300.00 $ less than the HPZ2100 and will print 24" wide but the printer has been out for a while.

Scott
 
The HP Vivera inks are pigment-based.

Are there ICC profiles available for the printer, for the papers you want to print upon?

I found that there aren't profiles for every make/mfr of printer, especially "consumer" models, so I advise looking for profiles before buying the printer.
 

Mike Shimwell

New member
A quick web search reveals that

- the deskjet 130 uses the Vivera Dye based inkset - 6 inks

- the Z2100 uses an 8 ink version of the Vivera pigment inkset

- the Z3100/Z3200 use (slightly different) 12 ink versions of the Vivera pigment inkset

Current perceived wisdom is that pigment inks are more archival than dye based inks, though HP make great claims for their dye set. Most photo printers now use 8 or more inks to be able to manage colour gradations well. One of the HP inks is a gloss enhancer that helps reduce/eliminate gloss differential and bronzing on glossy papers. The HP at least does very good black and white.

You should be able to get test prints, based on one of your own images, done on each of the machines if you ring around and then you can decide if there is any/sufficient difference worth you paying for.

Alain recently sang the pracises of the latest epson machine, but that's liekly more expensive again

Mike
 

Scott Comeau

New member
Many thanks for your reply !

I'm still up in the air on what 24" Printer to buy.

I'l like the HP Z2100 but the cost over the HP 130 is about 1000.00 $

How about the cost of refilling the ink for the HPZ2100 - HP130 - EPSON 7880 ?

Should I look at this cost ?

Scott
 

Mike Shimwell

New member
Probably, but the issue with large format printers is not so much the cost per ml of ink, but the cost per cartridge. The Z series printers have 130ml cartridges (after the inital 69ml startup cartridges supplied). These last very well, but are individually expensive.

I'm not sure that there's much to choose in costs, but if you intend to print on glossy and matt paper be sure you can switch without loss - that could be costly on olderf epson printers.

You should probably try to see some output before choosing - particularly the HP130 and Z2100 may not meet your needs - I've not seen output from eitehr, but both have smaller inksets than the 3100. The epson inkset is 8 colour, but supposed to be really excellent.

Also, factor in obtaining profiles. Not usually a problem now, but the Z3100/3200 has a profiler built in that is much more time efficient than using a manual scanner.

Mike
 

Daniel Austin

New member
I'm in the market for a 24" Large Format printer that I can use rool paper with.

I have been looking at the Epson 7880 - HP 130 - HP -Z2100

The HP looks good at 1500.00 $ But has been out for a while.

The Epson 7800 is real nice but I'm dont want to spend 1200.00 if
Print Head Strike happends and I have to have the repair tech come out.

The HP Designjet Z2100 Is nice but is it going to be replaced soon ?
I like this printer because you can replace the print heads.

I'll like to hear your comment on 24" Large Format Printer and print head strikes!

Many thanks for any help you can give me in selecting my new 24" printer.

Scott

I got the 7800 soon after it came out, it was a great printer.
 

Tracy Lebenzon

New member
I worked with the HP 130 for a while and ended up buying a 24" Z3100. The 130 does okay output but only okay. It’s also fairly limited in the types of paper it works with and iirc it’s a 6 color printer.

You really get what you pay for in printers and the ability to make your own color profiles for any paper is a valuable feature as the ability to use a wide variety of papers. My next printer will probably be the 42" Z3200. Epson also makes really good printers but I don’t know their models.

Shop around, even Ebay has some great offereings from time to time. If you care about the end product, don’t handicap yourself by trying to get less than a great printer.
 
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