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A list of Wide Format Inkjet Printers covered by FLAAR Reports
3M Commercial Graphics Division, 3M also makes outdoor media and a good solid RIP, Cactus software PostScript RIP. The RIP was phased out several years ago but since it is available used, we cover it in our RIP Series. Solvent ink printers from 3M are listed in the FLAAR Series on solvent ink printers.
Accuplot Used to OEM Mutoh for fine art prints; OEMed Mutoh for textile printing with dye sub inks. This portion of Mile High went out of business several years ago, but since their printers are widely available used, we list them in pertinent FLAAR Series. Remember, if you are thinking of buying a used printer, be sure to acquire the FLAAR Report on which printers are not recommended. Some printers have such poor design, or are so outdated, that no matter how low the price sinks they may not be a good investment. Yet other brands and models, even used, are a good way to start a new print shop. To help you figure out which is which, FLAAR has dozens of reports on www.wide-format-printers.NET.
Agfa , Montana was their brand name four years ago. Montana is an OEM from ColorSpan. GrandSherpa is Agfa’s current name for Mutoh . We cover Mutoh and Agfa printers in the Sign Series and Solvent Ink Series.
ANAgraph Inc, see FLAAR Report on Used Printers.
Brady Corp/Fuji (now Fuji Hunt) Brady Graphic Solutions, Colorpix, Piezo inkjet; last printer was the Fuji Piezo Colorpix machine. Beware of this new or used; better first check out the FLAAR Report on Used Printers.
CalCamp (deceased) CrystalJet, suffered corporate problems, was considered a promising wide format printer. If you find this printer available used, it has more value as a museum piece than as an actual printer.
Canon. We cover Canon printers in several FLAAR Reports.
ColorSpan part of MacDermid Graphic Arts, offers various wide format models including a giclee fine art printer (see separate list of fine art giclee printers); We have two ColorSpan printers that we use at our university. So we have several FLAAR Reports on various models of ColorSpan printers.
Encad NovaJet series and others, printers for basic signs . These printers all had issues, including the new NovaJet 1000i. Be sure to check out the FLAAR Reports, on signs, and individual reports on the NovaJet 1000i. If you are thinking of any Encad NovaJet used, be absolutely sure you obtain the FLAAR Report on used printers.
Epson Be sure you read our reports before you run off and buy an Epson 3000, 5000, 5500, 7000, 7500, 7600, 9000, 9500, or 9600.
Gerber Scientific We are gradually adding reports on Gerber printers.
Graphtec ( Western Graphtec) We discuss their printers in appropriate FLAAR Reports on signs, and in most of our reports on trade shows such as SGIA, ISA, and others.
GretagImaging, Raster Graphics, and Arizona printers all now belong to Oce. We cover these printers in various reports on trade shows such as DRUPA, SGIA, and ISA, as well as in our series on signs and our series on solvent ink printers.
Hewlett-Packard FLAAR offers reports on most wide format models of HP DesignJet printers, especially on the 5000, 5500, 500, 800, 1050, 30, and 130. You will find these in pertinent series on CAD, signs, photography, or giclee.
Iris, various Iris Giclee printers and other kinds of wide format printers including for proofing. The GPrint will no longer be made by CreoScitex; this technology has been taken over by another company, ITNH. Never buy a printer that costs over a thousand dollars until you check around and find what it is really like to have this printer in your shop. We have the Ixia version of Iris 3047 giclee printer and know several other people with the same Iris printer. You would be ill-advised to buy this printer without acquiring a FLAAR Report first.
Kodak rebranded Mutoh and Encad printers for several years; then Kodak bought Encad and attempted to produce the model 5260. That printer could not be manufactured to tolerances (the printhead and paper feeding system each had too many problems). Now Kodak is trying again with the Encad NovaJet 1000i. We have inspected this printer in detail, and found a few things about it that the advertisements don’t exactly tell you about (not all of them bad; actually the printer does do some things nicely).
Mimaki: we have two Mimaki printers and we discuss various models in our FLAAR Series on signs, on mild-solvent printers, and elsewhere.
Oce now sells Arizona and what is left of Raster Graphics and GretagImaging. Oce also sells one model of Gandinnovations printer. We cover these in UV-Curable Series and Solvent Series.
Raster Graphics produced several classics of their time, such an electrostatic printer, the 6-color PiezoPrint 5000, Arizona 30, Arizona Digital Screen Press (subsequently part of GretagImaging, then Oce). (see also listing under GretagImaging)
Roland DGA Corp. uses massive advertising, so sooner or later their ads make claims that end-users may find are not necessarily substantiated by reality. We cover Roland printers in FLAAR series on giclee and on eco-solvent ink.
Seiko, used to make oil-based ink printers. This technology failed Seiko and XES both. But now Seiko sells a mild-solvent ink printer that is better than any of their earlier oil-based printers.
SignWarehouse OEMs the Mutoh body with Epson print heads as their PrismJet Extra…. The discrepancy between their overly enthusiastic ads, and reality, is striking. These are the kinds of ads that, because they claim the printer offers heaven on earth, are bound to end up with a potentially disappointed and possibly disgruntled user (after you find out the limitations of what you actually end up with).
Western Graphtec
see Graphtec
Xerox Engineering Systems; their oil-based Xpress 54 and ColorgrapX X2 both failed FLAAR standards and failed in the marketplace. So XES disappeared about December 2002 or 2003 (can’t remember which; they disbanded without much notice). The ColorgrapX X3 failed to appear at DRUPA 2004, so now Xerox itself is rebranding the Encad NovaJet 1000i (Xerox paints this printer a different color, but it is essentially identical to the Kodak-Encad 1000i printer). You might want a copy of our site-visit case study of the Encad NovaJet 1000i printer if you are thinking of this Xerox version.
If you need a substantially more complete list of printers, FLAAR publishes
And our unparalleled opus,
- a master list of all water-based wide format inkjet printers.
Need more information? FLAAR now offers over 97 reports on wide format inkjet printers on www.wide-format-printers.NET.
Updated October 25, 2004.
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reports by Dr. Nicholas Hellmuth
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