Recommened/Favorite Plotters/Printers

[Anonymous]

Hi Guys, I am wondering if you all can give me your recommendations for the best plotter for Archicad. Pretend cost is no issue.

Right now we have a HP Design Jet 4500 and Scanner.
I DESPISE this plotter AND the scanner, I find they crash all of them time, and are NOT user friendly.

We get awful Photo prints from Archicad out of it (until just yesterday actually, someone here miraculously got wonderful photo prints out of it, we are still trying to figure out how)
Our regular plots we send we find often are off center, cut off, margins don't behave nicely, and our text is often randomly thrown all over the sheets.

Anyway, there is more, but I won't bore you. I don't recommend this plotter.

What we need is a Larger format scanner, a large format photo printer, and a rather quick drawing printer.

And suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank You.

[Dwight]

Recommend:

I've been using the Epson 3800, a photo printer capable of 17" wide printing.
We mostly print to heavy luster paper having an excellent gamut and Archicad product [through Mac] is accurate enough.
I switch ink regimes to print construction documents at 17x22 and longer.
Epson uses the same technology in their 4800 - 24" wide. And a wider model....
For inkjet printers they are whisper quiet and relatively fast for construction documents once you dial your quality level down enough.

These printers come with about 2/3 of their value in large ink cartridges, so i hardly felt the purchase.

[Anonymous]

I have a XEROX 7400 DT with 2 drawers. It prints 12 x 18 and anything below that, it is a color laser and one new set of color ($1,200) lasts through probably 15000 pages (or more). I replaced the color two years ago and still have over 7,000 pages to go (or so says the xerox). Have never had to call anyone about it, runs like a top.

Was expensive to get, but oh, so worth it!

[Anonymous]

also, I have a Microtek Scanmaker TMA 1000XL, which scans 12 x 18 at whatever resolution you want...if you want the hair on a bee's knees, you got it! Easy to use, usb,

I have an HP 500 plotter, which works well if one doesn't send too many pages to it...it seems to have an upper limit, but I don't know what that is, possibly the ram in the Jed Direct card? or something. If I knew how to add more ram or if ram could be added, it would be added.

[Anonymous]

I don't do much printing in-house lately but for high volume, large format work I have been pretty impressed with Océ. Setup can be tricky though.

I have had good experiences with both Epson and Canon but for ease of use and reliability (and Mac compatibility) I would say I like the Canon machines I have used better. HP has left me with a sour taste. They used to produce good, solid, reliable performers, but I have had (and heard of) numerous issues with keeping them running properly.

On the smaller side (B/A3 size) I am really happy with my new Brother MFC6490CW. The print quality won't match one of the multi-tank Epson or Canon machines, but it is otherwise amazing.

It is a multi-function machine that prints, scans and copies up to B/A3, has two paper trays, an auto-document feeder AND built-in wired and wireless networking. It is also a snap to set up. I had it up and running in minutes with everyone easily printing and scanning over the network with minimal effort. The ink tanks are also large and the cost per page seems pretty low. They even include the large capacity tanks with the machine - a nice touch.

The most amazing part to me is the price. It lists for $319US and is generally available for around $250. I would happily pay more than that just for a usb scanner that can do 11x17. This scanner has built-in networking, auto-feed and a nice printer/copier attached.

[Anonymous]

Well I've been real happy with my HP OfficeJet Pro K8600 after my
Epson 7500 (24") went down.
The K8600 is a tiny bit noisy as it prepares to print, but really not by much.
The greatest thing for $300 that prints on up to 13x19 paper.
Holds extra large black ink cartridge.
I've have had three remodel customers be quite happy with the 1/8" scale I produce as my "design" phase presentations.
This saves a ton of paper, ink,($$$), desk space and time!
I only have to go to 24x36 from BP house as final output .
I now don't hesitate to print however many test sheets I want.
(I like looking a paper not the screen for final reviews).
There is just something "real" for me about making final notes on paper first.