# Help choosing wide format printer please



## micky_d (Aug 14, 2007)

Hi Guys, we have doing a small range of sportswear (via a small local sewing place for cut and sew) for a few years.
for the last 8 months we have been contracting out sublimation to see if its worth investing in equipment.
I now want to get a printer, and am on the verge, but would like some advice, as there are a couple of options.
So we went down to see an epson 9700, new, and it looks the part, but the guy were salesmen and for some reason printed out the files we took on a jv33. It's wide enough for our designs to fit on easily, and we are looking at another closer to home with a better deal.
Also, following a price enquiry, i was called last week by guy who has an rs 640s bought in december, and used very little, in fact he is offering the printer, inks, paper, pc, corel, adkins press, so it's a genuine sell off (although i have an adkins press, pc, corel).

my question is (amongst others)
would i be better with the epson, which is cheaper, and brand new,
or are there more benefits with the roland, second hand.
the roland is £9500 ($15,000) no vat
the epson is £5400 ($8,500) inc vat
the roland has versaworks, the epson would come with wasatch.
i was told the thing you pay more for is width and speed, and the epson can do the same quality as any other digital printer?
My head is saying get the cheaper option as speed isn't critical, but quality is.
But then i'm thinking i'd hate to get it and then afterwards for some reason realise i was stupid to miss the more expensive machine and go for the budget!! 
HELP!!!!


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## Coastalrich (Jun 24, 2009)

The Epson 9700 is a very good choice and I think it's speed is comparable to the Roland, if not better. The quality of the Epson is also excellent for your garment production. Make sure that you use a quality. supported ink with that printer and you have the dealer provide and support the refill cartridges that go with the Epson. Since the Epson printer uses pressurized and chipped cartridges and the refill cartridges are all after market, it is important that you use quality ones. 

Ask that dealer or another one to provide you with samples from the printer you are considering purchasing.


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## micky_d (Aug 14, 2007)

Thanks for the advice Rich, i'm going to see one tomorrow and will get them to do a couple of test prints i can compare to.
How do you ensure the inks are quality?
i would rather pay a higher price for better quality inks?
the dealer last week said they used sensient ink because they found minoukan ink they used to use was poor quality, however the dealer tomorrow supplies minoukan.
also last week, the deal included a limited edition of posterprint as they said wasatch was causing problems with the printers, but the dealer tomorrow has wasatch as part of their deal????
cheers, micky.


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## Coastalrich (Jun 24, 2009)

Wasatch is an excellent RIP and we have it installed at many of our customers using Epson and Mutoh printers. It has very good color management and is supported all over the world. The Ergosoft Poster print is also a very good RIP. 

On the inks - I think both Maheoukean and Sensient inks are good inks. Just make sure that the dealers fully support the ink system in the printer because Epson will not. You may also see if one of your local dealers supports J-Teck inks. We have found the new generation J-NEXT inks work very well with the new Epson printers.

Rich


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## Riderz Ready (Sep 18, 2008)

I would confirm what Rich has said - J-Teck ink is awesome and the Epson printers are great work horses and a perfect first printer in wide format. 

Realize the colors you get have many pieces to the puzzle. You can have the best ink, best paper, best printer but if you do not have a professional ICC profile to match what you are doing all is for not. 

Being that it appers to be your first in-house system I would recommend getting everything from one place if possible. There are many things that can go wrong especially when starting out and there is great comfort having one place to call. As you get more experienced you can branch out and source products individually to get better pricing if needed.

Good Luck


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## danielschelin (Apr 1, 2011)

You'll likely get faster speeds off the Epson than the Roland but width can be an important factor as well. Depending on how you decide you want to transfer you may want a 64" width so you can transfer 60"-64" fabric as well. Transferring cut pieces makes more sense to me and a 44" printer will fit this need well but that's not how I always see it done.


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