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Falcon II Outdoor
Eco-Solvent Ink Printer
JULY 2004FLAAR ReportsS E R I E S f o r p r i n t i n g w i t h S o l v e n t I n k s
Nicholas Hellmuth
Contents
Size, shape, technology, mechanical 1Specifications: Printhead 2Construction (Build Quality) 4Tech support 6Cleaning, maintenance 6Inks 7Media 10Image Quality Analysis 12RIP, driver, color management 13Price 13General or Miscellaneous 13Please add your own suggestions 15Conclusions 15Bibliography 16
Caption for front cover photograph: Mutoh Falcon II eco solvent printer. at GOA 2004 trade show.
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Licensing Information
If you wish to distribute this report to other people within your company, please obtain a site licensing agreement for multiple copies from FLAAR by contacting Sheila Irving, [email protected]. Substantial discounts are available for licensing to distribute within your company. The advantage of a license is that you can opt for automatic updates. You may have noticed that FLAAR reports tend to be updated as additional information becomes available.
In some instances a license would be available to distribute outside your company, including in other languages.
To distribute this report without license violates federal copyright law. To avoid such violations for you, and for your company, you can easily obtain additional copies can be ordered available from www.wide-format-printers.NET.
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Brand name, model:
Mutoh Falcon II Outdoor, eco-solvent printer.
When was this model first introduced?
I have slightly conflicting introduction dates. This is not surprising since a printer can be “introduced” long before it is available to buy. And the inks could have been announced before the printer itself was announced. From trade magazine archives I discovered that Mutoh first announced the “eco-solvent plus” inks in July 2003. Mutoh itself indicated that the improved “second” version printer was introduced in mid-October 2003. I will have to reconcile these dates in a next edition. We are constantly adding new details to our reports as we learn new facts.
Size, shape, technology, mechanical
Is this printer made originally as a solvent ink printer, or is it retrofitted with solvent ink? If retrofitted, what was the original brand? What other printers are the same chassis?
This eco-solvent printer is retrofitted based on the Falcon II indoor which was made to use only water-based inks, not solvents.
The identical chassis has been used by Uniform to make their Uniform Fusilier. This is a retrofitting of the Mutoh Rockhopper II, the European version of the Falcon II Outdoor, outfitting it with “true” solvent ink.
Neither the web site for Uniform Digital nor the website for B&P Lightbrigade identify whether the ink is from Lyson or somewhere else. They do not specify whether the printheads are covered in their war-ranty, nor how long the Epson printheads will last using their kind of solvent ink
Is the width enough for target applications?
Yes, the width is ideal for mid-range production.
Mutoh Falcon II printer at ISA trade show
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Specifications: Printhead
What printheads are used? Xaar, Spectra, Hitachi, Epson, or other?
Epson 160B printheads, the ones in the Epson 10000.
Is the brand and model of printhead identified in the specifications?
The Epson origin of the printheads is seldom mentioned in any ad by Mimaki, Mutoh, or Roland. Only in more detailed spec sheets do you get any details. But for the ads for the general public, few if any of these companies indicate anything on the printheads besides that they are piezo technology and variable drop.
The 64” printer has 4 heads; the 87” printer has 8 heads.
This results in one head per color for the 64” printer if set to CMYK.
How many printheads per color? How many nozzles per printhead? How many nozzles per color?
None of this is listed in the printer brochure. But Mark and checking many web sites helped us with some of the missing documentation.
What is the true dpi of this printhead? How is this dpi calculated? How do you calculate perceived dpi that you use instead of true dpi?
None of this is listed in the printer brochures of Mimaki or Mutoh. Roland and other companies some-times have longer more detailed discussions of their technology, but these reports are not easy to obtain. And other than showing the positions of the two rows of 180 nozzles per row, there is not really any help even in the Roland brochure. Canon offers the most help in showing details of its printheads probably because it has about the most sophisticated printheads.
What is the drop size? Is this listed in the published specs?
If you dig deep into the Internet, or ask the printer company for serious information, you will eventually get info on the drop size. But other than saying “variable drop,” the brochures handed out at trade shows do not go into much detail. The reason is probably that most people just want a printer that performs and don’t have time to get intimate with the technology inside.
However Mutoh does surprise the reader with “Ink Droplet Range: “� 5.4� 11.5� 14� 25� 28� 41.5 ng
I am assuming that ng is nanogram. Most readers would prefer the measurement in drop size (picoli-ters) since there is no way to compare nanograms with any other printer. But I give Mutoh good marks for at least trying.
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Ink type Colors Printheads Nozzles per printhead
Total nozzles
Nozzles per color
Canon 8200 Water based 6 1 combo print-head, Canon
thermal7,680 7,680 1,280
HP 5500 Water based 6 6 HP thermal 512 3,072 512
Encad 1000i Water based 6 6 Lexmark ther-mal
640 3,820 640
Encad VinylJet Unique IR treated water based 4
4 Lexmark ther-mal
208 (?)uncertain 832
208 (?) zero info on Encad website
Epson 7600 Water based 7 Epson piezo 360 96
Epson 10600 Water based 6 Epson piezo DX3 360 180
ColorSpan 72s True solvent 4 16 Hitachi piezo 96 1,536 384
Roland SolJET EX Eco-solvent plus 6 Epson piezo 360 2,160 360
Mimaki JV3 160S Close to true solvent
6 Unsure, 2 or 3, Epson
Probably 360 180
Mimaki JV316SP
Close to true solvent
6 4 Epson piezo Probably 360 1,420 180 in 6 color mode
Mutoh Junior Eco-solvent plus 4 1 for black, 1 combo for the other 3 colors
Mutoh Falcon II Outdoor
Eco-solvent plus 6 or 2 x 4
Epson piezo 360 1,420 180
Mutoh Toucan 64 True solvent 4 or 6 Spectra 128
Seiko ColorPainter 64S
Close to true solvent
6 Seiko version of Xaar head
512 3,072 512
Tiara Opal II, same chassis as Mutoh Falcon II
Outdoor
Lactate solvent2 x
CMYK 4 Epson piezo, 360 1,420 360
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sHow long do your printheads really last? Do you have that written in a warranty?
As soon as we have information from either end-users or Mutoh we will report back on life expectancy of Epson printheads when using eco-solvent plus ink.
How often can you expect head strikes? What causes them?
If heat is too high the media may swell or ripple. If this happens you will get head strikes on the part of the substrate that sticks up too high.
Connectivity? Parallel, serial, SCSI, USB, FireWire?
100Base-TX Ethernet and IEEE 1284 (Paral-lel).
What accessories are available?
This printer comes complete with stand and take-up reel.
Construction (Build Quality)
What about solid-ness of construction of the printer?
Mutoh knows how to build printers, indeed the Epson 7000, 9000, 10000, 10600, 7600, and 9600 were reportedly manufactured by Mutoh. I do not know where the Epson 4000 nor the next generation Epson wide format printers are constructed.
What about heater or dryer? Is there a pre-heater and post-heater both, or just one? Is there a printer under the platen? Where are the heaters located? Is heater on top of, or under, the media?
A is the pre-print heater.
B is the fixer heater
C is the post fixer heater
D is the dryer.
1 It is not yet clear to us how many heaters the SolJET Pro II has. We would also like to check and see how many heaters the first generation SolJET had.
Mutoh Falcon II eco solvent printer at PMA 2004 trade show
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Ink type Pre-heater Platen-heater Post-heater other fan
Roland Ver-saCAMM
Eco-solvent lacking seemingly yes no
Roland Pro II SolJET
Eco-solvent Possibly lacking1
Evidently yes We are checking on
this
Splash of Color Solvent-
JET
Pentachrome Lyson Solvent yes yes yes
With three heat-ers a fan is not
expected
Mutoh Falcon II Outdoor
Eco-solventyes “fixer heater” Post-fixer
heater
dryer Of all the eco-solvent printers this seems to be the most com-plete system
Mimaki JV3 Mild-solvent yes yes lacking Has fans instead of post-
heater
Tiara Opal II Lyson solvent
Seiko Color-painter
Mild-solvent We are checking on this printer; there was no Seiko booth at NBM trade show.
ColorSpan 72s
True solvent yes yes yes With three heat-ers a fan is not
expected
So the Mutoh Falcon Outdoor beats the other printers, especially the Roland SolJET (which lacks a crucial heater). With a total of four heaters the printer can be more productive by running faster. The question to ask is why is each heater placed where it is, and what happens if you buy another brand of printer that does not have this particular placement of heater. It is notable that about zilch is written on any of this, neither in the specs nor in industry magazines (surely there is something somewhere, but we have not yet found any).
Can you turn them on and off? Can you vary their temperature?
Yes and Yes.
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sWhat about fans?
The printer has a “post-fixer heater and a dryer.” This is an unusual set of features, lacking in competing brands.
Otherwise there are exhaust fans are to keep down overall system overheating. The electron-ics and potentially other delicate parts of the printer may not like all the heaters near them.
Electrical needs: 110 or 220? US
With four heaters I would not be surprised if 220 was required, but the spec sheet handed out at trade shows does not even mention electricity.
Tech support
What is setup of the printer like? Can I do it myself? Does your cost include sending a person to set it up for me?
CalGraph does the 1-day installation.
Is training necessary? classroom training available? Is factory training available?
Yes, training is useful. GIA provides classroom training. There is no factory training and hence no on-line training.
Are dealers national (most companies) or regional (Roland allows a dealer to operate only within a limited regional area)? Do I have any choice in dealers?
Dealers are national and regional.
Cleaning, maintenance
How is head cleaning accomplished? Vacuum (suck), spray/purge & wipe, manual, automatic, other? Can you take the heads out and clean them individually?
Cleaning method is spray/purge and wipe. It is both manual, and automatic (timer based). But the printer does not stop to clean while actually printing.
Cleaning schedule is as follows: Clean the wipers every two months if you use the printer constantly. Oth-erwise clean the wipers every month. Use a lint-free cloth (I presume saturated with cleaning fluid).
Replace the wipers every 6 months.
Mutoh Falcon II outdoor printer close up from GOA 2004
Mutoh Falcon II eco solvent printer at NBM 2004
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sHow hard is it to cap the system and turn it off, for overnight, over weekend, while you go on vacation? Is there a capping station?
Yes, it is a self-sealing rubber capping station.
How often does printer automatically do its own head purge to keep ink from clogging?
The printer does not have a constant spitting routine.
Upon start up, do you have to swab the heads? How long does this take? How messy is it? What clean-ing materials are recommended? What is not recommended?
Do a nozzle check and go.
Does this printer stay on the entire time once it is turned on? How often does it expend ink to clean its heads?
The printer does not have a sleep mode. Instead you turn it all the way off. You can keep it off for up to 2 weeks (without doing purge and wipe cleaning routines).
Inks
How many kinds of ink are available? What kind of ink is this? Compare it with the ink for a Vutek, what are similarities and differences?
The Mutoh reportedly uses the same eco-solvent “plus” inks as the Roland.
What are the ingredients in the ink(s)? Is there Cyclohexanon? Is this a lite-solvent or eco-solvent? What is the chemical composition of the ink?
There is not supposed to be any Cyclohexanon2 in eco-solvent ink. But no solvent ink is something you want to breathe all day long, or get on your skin either.
Does ink come in cartridges or bulk?
The ink comes in 220 cartridges at present, and will have the option for 440 ml cartridges by this summer.
2 I have seen this chemical spelled as cyclohexanone and without the e as cyclohexanon.3 Figures on ink costs vary from honest to dishonest and everything in between. The only way to get factual ink costs is to run an experience in a neutral and independent institute. Due to the expenses involved, this is traditionally done as sponsored research.4 Most resellers want you to telephone so they don’t list the cost of the ink. Some PO Box type of resellers use bait and switch. So we never know whether the prices stated are real. The only prices we believe are those listed by reputable companies that we know personally such as Scarab Graphics, www.ScarabGraphics.com. ScarabGraphics offers Mimaki ink for $68, but we do not know if this is the official ink or after-market ink. You can ask them.
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What is ink cost per liter (not per cartridge, but per liter)?
Mutoh ink costs the standard $75 per 220 ml cartridge.
Ink type Colors Cost per cartridge
Cost per liter
Ink cost
per sq foot3
Ink and media cost
ColorSpan 72s Full solvent CMYK 2-liter containers
$124.50 0.14
Encad VinylJetWater-based, inter-
acts with IRCMYK 400 ml, $ 120
ink plus head is $ 186
$ 300
Mimaki JV3Full solvent 4 or 6 $ 73 per 220
ml, price on Internet4
$ 332
Mutoh ToucanFull solvent 4 or 6,
depends on model
$ 390 per gallon (roughly
4 liters)
Mutoh Falcon II Outdoor
Eco-solvent plus $ 75, 220 ml $ 340 .30 to .50
Mutoh Junior Eco-solvent plus 4 $ 75, 220 ml $ 340
Roland VersaCAMM
Called Sol ink but allegedly is identical to Eco-solvent plus
Roland SolJet Pro II EX
Called Sol ink but allegedly is identical to Eco-solvent plus
$ 199, 220 ml $ 340$ 0.36 and up
$ 0.65
Seiko Color-Painter 64S
Less aggressive than full-solvent but more strength than eco-
solvent
CMYK + light cyan and
light magenta
SolventJET (Splash of Color)
Lyson solvent ink CMYK + red and blue
$ 89 per 220 ml
$ 199 $ 0.28
Tiara Opal II (ScarabGraphics)
Lyson solvent ink, Lactate solvent
Dual CMYK $ 155 per 1 liter bottle
$ 155
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sHow many colors?
The printer has 8 ink lines, but it is outfitted for dual CMYK or 6 inks + 2 cleaning fluids. Mutoh does not offer the kind of 8-color option as does ColorSpan (but in dye inks only; there is no 8 color in ColorSpan pigmented ink). Roland tried offering 8 water-based inks but dropped that and no company offers 8-colors in solvent-based inks.
Is output splotchy? What about banding? What causes the banding?
I was so busy doing the interview and taking notes that I neglected to scrutinize the output. I will check the quality at the next opportunity and update this report.
Can you hot-swap ink?
You can hot-swap without a printing defect if you change out the ink fast enough so that the ink already on the material does not dry out too much.
Does an ink-out alarm system exists?
Yes.
Is the printer enclosed? How is the enclosure vented?
No enclosure; no venting system, not even after-market.
How much ink is used up during installation of the printer? If a piezo printer, does that mean I have to buy practically a complete set of ink within a few days of paying off the cost of my printer? Does that mean ink will end up costing more than my printer?
About 75% of the ink fills the system during installation. This is true with most Epson, Mimaki, and Roland printers. This means you will need to buy a complete set of ink within a week or so of installation.
Some printers now have “counters” which report how much ink has been expended for each print. Most printer manufacturers admit that these counters are generic estimates: they do not really count how much ink is actually squirted out the heads. So how about your printer? Does it even have a counter and if so, what is it really counting?
Yes, there is a counter. I assume it is estimating, rather than counting the actual ink droplets one by one.
GOA 2004 trade show displays the Mutoh Falcon II printer
Mutoh Falcon II outdoor printer exhibited at NBM 2004
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sDo you need to have a band of printable colors along the edge, outside the main printed area, to keep all printheads and their colored inks firing on each pass and ready to print (so as not to dry out when not be used by the colors in the design)? If your design has lots of empty white space, and then just cyan letters, this would mean your black, magenta, and yellow heads were not firing for a long time. On an old-fashioned inkjet printer these heads would dry out, and clog.
At the end of each pass one pulse spits out ink from each color. This keeps the ink fresh and the nozzles clear.
Media
Media core diameter? Options for other core diameters?
I am guessing it has a standard 2-inch core. I estimate it accepts only one core diameter.
Front loading, back loading? Paper path? In the paper path, can you see wrinkles, incipient skews?
Front-loading with the usual straight paper path.
Is a take-up system present? Standard reel or special?
Yes, there is a standard take-up reel.
Precisely how many kinds and types of substrates will work in this printer? And rate them by “work perfectly” through a continuum to “function but not flawlessly.” Will this ink print on everything that a Vutek will?
The answer to this question is what no white paper or spec has yet tackled with clarity.
What are preferred applications to print with this machine?
We will need to obtain a budget to undertake site-visit case studies to document the answer to this question. We have found for other print-ers that there is a difference between what ads claim a printer can handle and what a print shop operator can actually produce.
What kinds of substrates will not work with this kind of solvent ink? Does this printer’s ink require special media? Is it coated? Even if not coated, is it the really low-cost stuff, or is it limited (and hence by that very fact a tad expensive?) What applications would be better printed on another type of ink, media, or machine?
“Strange stuff, and mylar” might not be ideal materials. Again, we tend to get the best answers to these questions during site-visit case studies.
Mark knows Mutoh, Mimaki , and Iris-Ixia printers inside out, so if you have questions, he is the one who can answer them. You
can find Mark at the Mutoh booth at leading trade shows
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Mutoh Falcon II printer at booth of PMA 2004 trade show
What about adhesion? Are their substrates you can print on, but then have adhesion problems?
The full story on this, for the Roland and Mutoh, remains to be told. UV-curable ink adhesion is another set of similar yet distinct problems with abrasion. Thus it is impressive that Mutoh actually has a sort of White Paper in the sense of test results. Admittedly they are Mutoh’s own tests, but if these are by Mark and his crew, they know inks, media, and machines inside out, so I would trust the reports. Eventually these should be accomplished by an independent institute such as FLAAR, but it is good to see Mutoh getting started by doing them in-house.
Mutoh did an abrasion resistance test, a chemical (cleaning fluids) resistance test, and an outdoor durability test. They tested their Toucan, their eco-solvent, and the light solvent of another competing printer. I did not see a “Windex” test, nor ammonia, but what is already included is more than any other printer manufacturer has dared to show up front.
Acetone and gasoline took off virtually all kinds of ink, irrespective of whether pure solvent or eco-sol-vent or “soft solvent” of their primary competitor.
Longevity & Lamination. What substrates or applications will almost certainly require lamination?
Here is where it is tough for a printer manufacturer to explain the whole story up front. Merely putting an asterisk and burying reality in a footnote is better than ignoring reality or outright lies (that at least one company, not Mutoh, engages in). Sooner or later we will find out. It always looks best if the printer manufacturer themselves explain these matters before we find out on our own.
Thus it is refreshing to see Mutoh “strongly recommending lamination” in certain instances. Admittedly this statement is not in the original advertisement, but it is clearly stated in a supple-mentary brochure. I do not know if these are on the Mutoh web site. I was given a published brochure at the Mutoh booth at NBM graphics and sign trade show in Indianapolis, in June 2004.
I have no idea whether Encad has a similar brochure for their VinylJet. Virtually all their competitors eagerly pointed out to me that Windex wipes VinylJet prints right off the substrate. No one in the Mimaki booth offered me any comparable test results for their printer. ColorSpan has lots of test results but I do not know how available they are. The Roland VersaCAMM was banding so badly in the Roland booth I did not have the heart to ask the booth attendants about abrasion and chemical clean-ing tests. I do not like finding problems; I wish all printers were flawless, so I will find out what Roland offers at the next trade show where perhaps their printers are behaving themselves better.
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Is printhead height adjustment available? Manual? Automatic? How much?
Automatic, 3 positions� 1.2� 1.7� 3.8
I presume these are in mm (millimeters).
What thickness media is accepted?
Is not listed in specs handed out at trade shows.
Is there self-detection of media width?
Yes.
Is there a reliable counter of media length remaining?
If the counter is set at the beginning of the roll, then yes, you know how much media is remaining.
Is there manual feed capability of sheets (sheet feed)?
Yes.
Do you get roller marks on some media? Which media? How bad are the marks?
Only if the media is compressed while the media is sitting unused, and primarily only on adhesive material. During printing the media goes through the system fast enough so as not to pick up roller marks.
Image Quality Analysis
Mutoh holds the patent for “mirroring” ink laydown bi-directionally. The sequence going in the uni-direc-tional mode is black, yellow, cyan, and magenta. When the printhead continues to print in bi-directional return path, it prints in a mirror pattern to make sure that the appropriate sequence of colors is achieved. This is because magenta over yellow may give a different result than yellow laid down over magenta.
Mutoh Falcon II printer solid black print results at ISA 2003 trade show
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SigGraph 2003 trade show exhibits Mutoh Falcon II printer
RIP, driver, color management
Is a RIP included?
No RIP is included.
How many other RIPs work with this model of printer?
I would estimate that plenty of after-market RIPS work with this Mutoh printer.
Price
What is the price, and what do you get for this price? Compare the price, and what you get, with the nearest competitors?
In the price you get a printer and a separate cutter (if you buy the combo deal). This combination of printer and cutter is to compete with the Roland VersaCAMM which is a printer and cutter in a single unit.
For every benefit of having a printer and cutter in a single unit there is a corresponding benefit in having a printer and cutter as two separate machines.
General or Miscellaneous
Can this printer be left to run overnight or otherwise unattended?
Yes, and reportedly people do actually run it overnight unattended.
Please look at the ad claims for this printer in magazines and on the internet.
The original eco-solvent printers, both of Roland and Mutoh, had an ink that did not adhere well, and required expensive coated media. The situation with that first generation ink was so bad that Mimaki USA pulled their JV2 printer from the market a few weeks after it was announced. Brochures were issued (we have one), but no Mimaki eco-solvent printer was released in America. The Mimaki USA manager said it would have been a disaster both for anyone that bought it, and thereafter a sore eye for the Mimaki brand name. Only now is Mimaki coming out with a new generation mild solvent ink.
We have no idea what happened with all the original Roland SolJETs or all the original Mutoh Falcon Outdoor printers. Probably some sign shops were able to adapt and kept them. From
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sexperience with other flawed designs we know that some people may never have noticed the problems, or simply did applications where adhesion and the expense of coated media was not a major issue. Irrespective, we note that both Roland and Mutoh had to completely re-do their concept. We heard a couple of stories, but I must say I am impressed that there was not more flack from end users. It is my impression that Mutoh honorably returned the money or otherwise exchanged the faulty printers. Other than the lack of enough heaters to prepare the vinyl to receive the ink, actually it was not so much a faulty printer, it was more a poor ink, and then an unrealistic advertising campaign.
How many of your printer of this model are in use in the USA?
Reportedly over 300 of this printer have been sold, which is a respectable total.
What kinds of companies have bought over your printer models in the last two years?
Sign shops, franchise shops, and places that want to print with solvent ink but don’t want to install costly ventilation systems.
Please indicate the problems in the initial introduction of your printer, between the first ads and/or first showing of the printer at tradeshows? To what degree were early buyers also beta testers? Is this model of printer a mature model or is it still being redesigned and retrofitted?
Mutoh is one of the few companies that answered this question without flinching. Most other company personnel either became nervous or otherwise indicated that even my asking the question was awk-ward for them. Most other companies sort of avoided giving any answer at all. For the entire interview, Mutoh gets top marks for honesty.
“In the original printers there was a slight glitch in the fuses for 220 vs 110 electrical current. This is all fixed, and the printers sold in the US have a completely 110-electrical system.
“There were some issues with pumps in the first manufacturing run. We now use better pumps.”
Mutoh gets an A+. Once we have the wherewithal to undertake site-visit case studies (which involve getting from our office to other cities), we can check on what else might be improved, but we definitely like Mutoh’s openness.
The following question is not meant to be mean but is to protect the people who spend their money buying your printer. Are you sure that your company will exist over the next three to five years in a manner that can secure the investment of our company in buying one of your printers? Is it certain that spare parts will continue to be manufactured or at least readily available? Is there anything in your recent corporate past or upcoming future that might cause a reasonable person to feel justified in asking this question?
Mutoh intends to prosper and grow, and will definitely be in business for the long haul. For year 2002 Mutoh’s plants manufactured more printers than any other company other than HP (which is #1). This total is largely because in that year Mutoh was reportedly still manufacturing the Epson printers. During 2004 it is unclear who is manufacturing Epson’s newest models.
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What will the resale value of your printer be in three to five years? Will either the brand name or model specifications cause a knowing buyer three years from now to shy away from your printer or cause a knowing buyer to only want to pay a very low price as compared to the other printers our company is considering? Or is there some major technological breakthrough in your brand that will result in less value for your current model?
Resale value of the original eco-solvent ink from the years 2002-2003 is probably close to nil (if the buyer has to use that original ink or if the original printers did not have heaters in the needed posi-tions). But the new ink is dramatically improved and every few months more substrates are prepared to accept the eco-solvent plus kind of ink. So re-sale value should be okay during 2005. By the end of 2005, or surely by 2006, there ought to be new and/or better technology. But this would be true of any piezo printer that you buy.
Please add your own suggestions
If you know of any questions we neglected to ask, or any aspect of the printer that we overlooked, please let us know.
Conclusions
It would not be appropriate to issue any recommendation until we can undertake a site-visit case study or an in-house evaluation at FLAAR facilities. The purpose of the “First Look” concept is two-fold. First it allows the FLAAR staff to add more material to its growing coverage of digital imaging hardware and software. And more importantly, it allows a reader their first neutral independent yet penetrating look at the printer and some of the claims made for it in advertising.
Precisely because of the abuse of the ads hyping first generation printers, the inadequate ink, and potentially inadequate heating systems, we never approved any of these pseudo-solvent ink systems from 2001 through 2003. Although a healthy skepticism remains, we are eager to continue to learn more about the potential for this improved class of ink. Clearly the marketplace is calling for better technology in producing weather-proof signage. For the long-term, UV-curable is one solution (once prices drop to $30,000 or below; this year already the price dropped from $400,000 down to $40,000 for the Oce Arizona 60UV).
But all it would take is breakthroughs in ink chemistry, in printhead technology, and in the chemistry of materials and substrates to allow a greatly improved class of printers that is neither UV-curable nor full-solvent. What everyone would love to have is the benefits of both UV and full-solvent, while escaping the health and environmental hazards…and achieving prints that adhere and won’t rub off with abrasion.
Whichever company produces such a wonder widget will deservedly triumph in the signage market. With Epson and Roland gobbling up the fine art, giclee, and photo markets; with HP grinding its teeth to catch up and surpass Epson in proofing, commercial photography, fine art and giclee, Mutoh is cleverly positioning themselves in signage.
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s Bibliography
“Falcon II Outdoor Ink Cost Study,” 2-27-04, 17 pages, kindly provided by Mutoh.
“Introducing MUTOH: Winning Together!” This 33 page PowerPoint or PDF is readily available on the Internet.
It is virtually unexpected to find a report on the Internet that lists the things that a printer is weak at. 99% of what is on the Internet is merely a regurgitation of official PR releases, advertising slogans, or other situations where people are desperately trying to sell you one brand or another.
FLAAR does not sell printers. And we are not desperate either. We can afford to tell the truth.
What printer manufacturers don’t realize is that if their printer is really good, an honest report (including the pros and cons too) will result in selling far more printers than by increasing their advertising budget. More people read FLAAR reports than read all trade magazines put together.
As a university professor I prefer to write reports based on consulting other comparable research results. Of course no one else has time or a budget to research inkjet printers, and especially not to develop, and then apply, a standardized evaluation format. So in this First-Look format of the FLAAR Reports, we don’t yet have a list of other people’s articles to cite. Frankly we don’t yet know any.
But surely someone has written on this printer. If you know any articles, reports, or anecdotes about the Mutoh eco-solvent ink printers please let us know at [email protected].
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