Large Format Plotter Selection Help

Need to buy a large format plotter for a small company. It will be used to
do Architectural shop drawings and print out 36"x42" scanned drawings for
estimating purposes. It will be used often but not for multiple users as of
yet anyway.
I have worked where we used the HP inkjet models and the large laser
plotters. The HP-500 or 800 are what I have pretty much decided on unless
other similar or cheaper models are available. The $2000 to $3000 dollar
range is what I am looking for +/-.
Any information on a cheap cheap large format scanner would be helpful also.
Any ideas, suppliers, special price offers or websites would be greatly
appreciated.
Thanks
~JNJ~

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James W. & Julie Eaton, Sr.
Katy, Texas
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making the decisions." Justice Clarence Thomas

 

Xerox makes a very good, fast, large format(A to E size)
plotter. A lease is the way to go, as this plotter
is quite expensive.

Dennis

 

Good morning.

I used to buy based on price alone. Several several years ago I needed
a large format plotter which I said would be used only for draft check
plots of our engineering drawings. Usually we tend to go for the
cheaper ones. So I bought an HP250 as compared to a HP750C (top of the
line then). The difference was only around $2000 (small since this is
just the cost of 1 job then) but I said we won't be needing it for
image plotting. Several months later I jgot a job which required an
aerial photo output and the HP250 just won't do. So make sure that you
really do not need an image printer. If the difference is just several
thousand dollars then go for the high end one.

I would suggest the EPSON brand over the HP. Resolution at 2400 dpi is
very very good.

hth

 

We got a new HP Designjet printer last year, with some mixed results.
The printer works great, is very quick, and is a great improvement
over the HP large format printer we had before as far as speed, print
quality, and options. The've definitely improved their printers over
the years in these areas. Unfortunately they've got a lot more
complex too. Our first HP printer had ink cartridges with the print
head built into it. The new ones have the print heads in the moving
carriage assembly, and tubes running back to the ink cartridges that
are in a fixed position. This means that not only do you have to worry
about the ink cartridge going dry, but also the print heads going bad
and having to be replaced (which we had happen, and it leaked magenta
ink all over until we replaced it, and our drained ink cartridge from
the mess). Since then (6 months ago), we've had no problems with it
though. I guess only time will tell if it was just a fluke that
happened, or a common occurance.

Whatever happened to simple, good quality products?

Hope this helps,

 

That depends on the terms of the lease. Our lease includes toner,
maintenance and paper and is purely based on usage. (0.15 per square
foot printed). Also included was the scanner giving us scanning and
copying capabilities. It's cheaper to run than outsourcing copies,
and the speed and time savings makes it cheaper to run than our HP.
(We also have an HP750C which only used anymore for color plots.)

-Tim

 

I used to work for a company that had two HP1050's and although the
resolution is not quite as high as some mentioned in this thread I never saw
a problem with them in the two and a half years I worked there. Every time
the heads were changed the machine realigned them all down to a T.

Matt