HP or EPSON

HP or EPSON
why or why not. just curous really, I have spoke with a few folks on this topic and was wondering what your thoughts were. TIA

vee

[tmazzullo_splat]

From what I have heard the Epson proofers are more reliable and band less. I have 2 Epsons in my shop, a 10600 and a 9000. They are both workhorses and when properly calibrated produce excellent color output.

[ChilBear]

We also are Epson. I had a 9000 and traded up to a 9600 to get wider gamut and smaller dots. Colour and reliability is wonderful. I know that Heidelberg pushed HP when the press came in but the Epson works well in the workflow.

Originally Posted by ChilBear

We also are Epson. I had a 9000 and traded up to a 9600 to get wider gamut and smaller dots. Colour and reliability is wonderful. I know that Heidelberg pushed HP when the press came in but the Epson works well in the workflow.

Maybe true but any proofer will have a larger gamut than the press, so the gamut in my opinion shouldn't be a selling point. Smaller dots - maybe so. I recently (for the first time) had a customer say "The proofs are fuzzy. Will they print this way?"
My HP's are fingerprinted to my press and ultimately they produce a good 'COLOR' proof > not so much on sharpness/crispness.
The EPSONS by far are much sharper/crisper prints in my opinion.

Thanks for the input guys.
Vee

ChilBear,
What workflow are you using?

[SlaveToTheMan]

Epson 9600 & 10000 where I'm at now. The 10000 is for faster, 2nd round proofs and internal dummies mostly. The 9600, man - hands above the HP5500PS for color & image quality. Granted, the color management with this setup (BestColor RIPs) is done properly and that makes a huge difference. There is one selling point on the Epsons though that I've noticed - duplexing on the same sheet. 8)

[prepress_brillance_43]

The EPSONS by far are much sharper/crisper prints in my opinion.

agree with _vee. Epson prints a very tight proof in my opinion. I'm running a 7600(with EFI ColorproofXF and Monoco Profiler), we've hidden proofs in stacks of press sheets and damn near lost them :!: ... and we'll be getting a 2nd proofer, probably the 10600, if my boss gets a full web instead of a half-size in the next year or so..

[David]

We have two HP 5000s which we use to make a two sided trimmed book proof. We also have one Epson 9600 which we use as 1-sided but at a higher res for contract proofs running ORIS Color Tuner.

David

[digitaldog]

Haven?t played with HP but unless their inks behave like the Epson pigmented inks with super fast dry down and stability, that would be a deal breaker.

[David]

Originally Posted by digitaldog

Haven?t played with HP but unless their inks behave like the Epson pigmented inks with super fast dry down and stability, that would be a deal breaker.

the HPs have trouble with heavy coverage and trying to back up a proof. It tends to slip and not feed through, smearing crap all over.

They tend to back up kinda close, about 1/8 inch off on a good day.