HP Z9+ paper recommendations

[kuau]

Just curious for all the Z9+ owners out there, what are your favorite papers for both color work and monochrome work.
Thanks

ps. Mz Z320024" PS has finally died so looking for a new 24" printer.. Reading all from what Mark L. has to say it would seem this is a good option

[Kaz]

I can NOT recommend the Z9. I have spent more time on the phone with HP (not including HP service onsite) - than I have actually printed on the printer.

The firmware seem to have issues that have not been corrected - (no firmware updates for about 1 year)

One of the issues is printer will not accept profiles for official papers - if the papers are not made for the printer configuration you have. So if you have Gloss Enhancer installed - you can not install papers profiled on a printer WITHOUT gloss enhancer. It will look like it imports - but it will not work. Do it enough times and the paper database becomes corrupt and you can't do ANYTHING with paper at all. All paper menus become "unusable" from Calibration to Sync paper settings. If that can kill the printer - the database in the printer is not "safe" and it could happen at anytime to anyone.

I think every install of custom paper leaves the "custom" paper in the database even if not visible - and after a number of different papers the database fall over and corrupts itself.

The "latest" firmware 07_20_34.1 was released in Oct 2020 - but does not have the fixes for the paper handling despite the paper handling bug was reported by another LL user to HP more than 1 year ago - and the user (Doug) got a "beta" firmware which is LATER than the current "public" firmware.  (See other Z9 thread)

If HP is really doing so bad as the other Z9 threads show - I think the DesignJet brand for anything but Latex is dead and will not get much further support.

So it is not worth putting money into a product that is not being seriously supported. If serious bugs are allowed to survive for more than 1 year it is clear the supplier have stopped development.

I have used DesignJets since .. 1995? and I do feel sad about the situation. On paper the Z9 is a super printer but the software/firmware is not up to the usual HP quality.

[deanwork]

Why did they release a version that doesn’t have the gloss enhancer? Was this some cost cutting measure :-).

I can NOT recommend the Z9. I have spent more time on the phone with HP (not including HP service onsite) - than I have actually printed on the printer.

The firmware seem to have issues that have not been corrected - (no firmware updates for about 1 year)

One of the issues is printer will not accept profiles for official papers - if the papers are not made for the printer configuration you have. So if you have Gloss Enhancer installed - you can not install papers profiled on a printer WITHOUT gloss enhancer. It will look like it imports - but it will not work. Do it enough times and the paper database becomes corrupt and you can't do ANYTHING with paper at all. All paper menus become "unusable" from Calibration to Sync paper settings. If that can kill the printer - the database in the printer is not "safe" and it could happen at anytime to anyone.

I think every install of custom paper leaves the "custom" paper in the database even if not visible - and after a number of different papers the database fall over and corrupts itself.

The "latest" firmware 07_20_34.1 was released in Oct 2020 - but does not have the fixes for the paper handling despite the paper handling bug was reported by another LL user to HP more than 1 year ago - and the user (Doug) got a "beta" firmware which is LATER than the current "public" firmware.  (See other Z9 thread)

If HP is really doing so bad as the other Z9 threads show - I think the DesignJet brand for anything but Latex is dead and will not get much further support.

So it is not worth putting money into a product that is not being seriously supported. If serious bugs are allowed to survive for more than 1 year it is clear the supplier have stopped development.

I have used DesignJets since .. 1995? and I do feel sad about the situation. On paper the Z9 is a super printer but the software/firmware is not up to the usual HP quality.

[Kaz]

The Gloss Enhancer is a separate cartridge you purchase (with a printhead) and a "dongle" to unlock it.

But once installed - you can't install paper profiles made on printers without GE - DESPITE the printer is perfectly capable at printing without using the GE "system"

And if you get a Paper profile made on a printer with GE installed - but even done without GE enabled for the paper - you can't use that paper profile on a printer without GE "unlocked"

It is completely crazy....

[deanwork]

Isn’t the whole concept designed to easily create your own icc profiles? Why would you need their canned profiles? I’m confused.

The Gloss Enhancer is a separate cartridge you purchase (with a printhead) and a "dongle" to unlock it.

But once installed - you can't install paper profiles made on printers without GE - DESPITE the printer is perfectly capable at printing without using the GE "system"

And if you get a Paper profile made on a printer with GE installed - but even done without GE enabled for the paper - you can't use that paper profile on a printer without GE "unlocked"

It is completely crazy....

[Gerd_Peters]

Creating profiles via the HPZ9+ has been heavily neutered by HP. You can only work with a maximum of 440 patches - that is clearly too little for me personally. Furthermore, you have many small restrictions such as you can no longer determine the amount of ink and the printer ignores the settings for paper thickness (firmware error). The existing HP paper types have, as far as I could tell, only two different ink thicknesses they can offer. The embedded spectrometer is a simple i1Pro. This means you can only do a M0 measurement. M1 or M2 does not work. The firmware does not work until today...etc. etc....

For simple RC papers, the system works satisfactorily. But as soon as you use papers that are a bit stronger and tend to swell slightly - you have problems. I think HP positioned the printer more for sign makers or similar.

Greetings Gerd

[kers]

Creating profiles via the HPZ9+ has been heavily neutered by HP. ....

The cause could be X-rite, protecting its (expensive) products.
The Z3200 turned out to be a free printer in that sense.

[deanwork]

Yea, your probably right. HP probably didn’t want to pay the licensing fees to X-Rite for the required capability, so it all got dumbed down to a glorified poster printer. Now what they could do is offer a professional software upgrade and charge for it. But I’m not waiting around for anything that may or may not be possible in the future. The main thing is I don’t trust them to stay current with Mac OS in the future or even the present from what you guys are saying. They never promoted this thing in the first place. I know one thing, that dual drop tech and those inks are certainly overkill for a rc media poster printer.

The cause could be X-rite, protecting its (expensive) products.
The Z3200 turned out to be a free printer in that sense.