12-color printers and resolution??

[kovachjon]

Hi,
I am just starting to hear more and more about 12 color printers. One of our main competetors just bought a 12 color printer, and is boasting that the resolution is superior to our 6 color printer.
We run UV inks, an HP 5500. We don't print on gloss media, so we can only print up to 600dpi. Should I be worried? Would 12 colors do me any good on the resolution side of things? Do they even make a 12 color UV printer? I can't seem to find one...
The only thing that I can definitely be sure of is that my color gamut would be larger, correct?
Thanks for any feedback.
Jon

[Jalan]

I'm not sure the number of inks really defines resolution. It will give you more color gamut and better control of colors however. We have a 6 color and an 8 color. If we make the resolutions it prints the same like 1200x600, then they are fairly comparible short of the color gamut. We notice the difference in the quality of the different resolutions but 90% of our customers don't. So I'm not sure if you need to worry other than the way they are marketing it as better than yours.

My 2cents, hope that helps.

[kovachjon]

It does help. I didn't think it affected resolution at all.
Would anyone be able to point me to an article that talks about 12 color printers? Also - do they make UV 12 color printers? Are there UV printers that print higher than 6 colors? By UV I mean, Pigmented UV inks....
Thanks!

[Jalan]

Don't have any links that talk about 12 color but our 8 color is all UV ink.