I've been using HP Z Series printers since they first came out (still have original Z3100 but don't use it).
(snip)
FWIW, YMMV.
Best,
Mark
Mark,
The video is very well done from my perspective. I usually avoid them as I am more a reader. I like to set my own tempo and skip text where it is less interesting. Voice over and music in videos are usually of the shouting kind. Nothing of that in your video.
Your video and the discussions here convinced me of the main HP Designjet Z9+ qualities. For me there are some practical things to resolve before I make a decision. The profiling target size will be solved in time I expect. Pricing here is reasonable given the integrated spectrometer + profiling software like it was with the other Z's. On top the universally usable print head, which I noticed early on as being a big step forward in maintenance service and costs. The more when your shop is hours or days away from the main distribution/service centers, not a problem here though.
Still intrigued whether the head holds any fluids while packaged, I would not expect that and otherwise I can not understand the technology. I am also curious about the two sealed ink slots at the left side, the optional gloss enhancer ink has been discussed but is there more to be expected? Also is there any sign that it measures the media transport optically the way the Z6xxx printers do it?
I think the spindles have changed for this new generation of printers. Pity as I use 6 spindles for my Z3200. making media changes easier. I have quite a stock of inks now, mainly in 772 carts so I can continue with the Z3200 for some time to come. And it ain't broken yet..... For the volume printed these days I do not need a faster printer, semi pensioner that I am.
On the print qualities like smoothness and detail. I recall with the introduction of the first Canon iPF models and the HP Z3100 around 2006 that there were more comments on the coarseness of the prints made with the Canons, while it used a uniform 4 picoliter droplet, than on the Z3100 that had several inks squirted with 6 picoliter and the rest with 4 picoliter droplets. The Epson wide formats only use the 3.5 picoliter droplet throughout at the highest (and slowest) printer quality setting, otherwise it adds the bigger droplets as well. So not that much difference and certainly not when the paper surface does not make the highest resolution choice worthwhile. The next Canon iPF models had better weaving/stochastic addressing of the droplets and nobody complained anymore, droplet size still 4 picoliter. Epson responded with a wider set of inks in their next generations, the gamut of the Canons and HPs did not go unnoticed. I did not read the HP Z9+ head specs and ink channel differences thoroughly but with the universal head for all channels usable I would expect it can use the dual droplet size for all ink channels.
I think in general that the development of how the droplets are arranged in cells on the media to represent image pixels has been fantastic over the two decades I used wide formats. The IQ limitation today is in the expected printer's speed. Droplet size at 3.5 or bigger can still be precisely addressed at those speeds and are small enough not to be seen by the average human. Thermal heads with their higher quantity of nozzles per ink channel can easily compete with the piëzo heads heads higher rate of firing + their variety of droplet sizes.
Drivers and print applications also improved much over the two decades. we learned our lessons in this forum on what to upload to the OEM driver or RIP, which resampling methods can be used and how to deal with sharpening for print. I will not exchange my workflow with Qimage Ultimate + HP OEM driver for a RIP as I had a bad experience of the implementation of the Z3100/Z3200 in the Wasatch SoftRip. It simply did not do an UCR as thorough like the HP OEM drivers had and the image quality suffered by that; neutrals less neutral, more bleeding and besides IQ the ink consumption was higher. Getting N-channel printer/media profiling correct for/in a RIP is an art and science thing in itself. I asked Wasatch Inc to do it again and it became worse. I think there are companies like Ergosoft capable and willing to do this but I am less impressed by shops that do this in house.
What I appreciated most of all in the Z's has been the consistency of the prints over time. There are critical customers that ordered the same prints for 10 years and I could deliver them the same print every time. Onboard calibration praised, Qimage's interactice jobs log too. If it went wrong it was usually the media with a quality issue or no longer available. Yesterday I had banding in a black print, I really can not recall when that has happened the last time. Cleaned all the heads and while I expected that I should have to replace the black head as it must be something like 3 years old, it just recovered. I think a thin string from cleaning my hot 3D printer head was transferred to the media roll when it was put on the spindle, user's fault. I have a spare HP GB Z3200 head from 2014, I did not find a reason to use it. The printer is still going strong, repeats my customers prints fine, the main reasons a Z9+ purchase may wait.
Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst
http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htmMarch 2017 update, 750+ inkjet media white spectral plots
