2015 Reader’s Choice Top Product Award Winners
For the past ten years, we have been featuring the winners of these product awards as voted by the readers of Wide-Format Imaging.
2015 marks the 10th anniversary of the Wide-Format Imaging Top Product Awards. For the past ten years, we have been featuring the winners of these product awards in the pages of our April issue—as voted by the readers of Wide-Format Imaging.
To be considered for these awards, a product had to be released, commercially available, and shipping between September 1, 2013 through December 31, 2014. Voting was open to app print service providers worldwide from January 12 through February 13, 2015.
Finishing
G3 cutter, Model XL-3200 from Zund America, Inc.
Category: Cutters & Routers
Digital cutting equipment specialist Zünd offers wide-format print shops greater flexibility and productivity with the introduction of a new version of its established G3 cutter. Thanks to a re-engineering of the system to double the beam height to 120 mm, models XL-3200 is now able to accommodate thicker materials up to 110 mm enabling packaging printers to achieve new levels of performance.
Scotchcal Gloss Overlaminate 3658G & Scotchcal Matte Overlaminate 3660M from 3M Commercial Graphics
Category: Laminates & Laminating Equipment
With 3M Scotchcal Gloss Overlaminate 3658G and 3M Scotchcal Matte Overlaminate 3660M, sign shops can create finished graphics covered by the 3M MCS Warranty for up to nine years of outdoor use. These 2-mil overlaminates assure an excellent long-term appearance for graphics by protecting sign faces from environmental factors, including ultraviolet light.
Ink
TRIANGLE ESC Wide-Format Inkjet Ink from INX International Ink Co.
Category: Solvent Ink (Eco, Mild, & Hard)
The ESC alternative eco solvent ink for wide-format applications is the latest to join the TRIANGLE brand roster of products and works in conjunction with the Epson Stylus GS6000 commercial outdoor printer. ESC produces vibrant color for outdoor banners, posters, and tradeshow graphics in addition to its added value for use indoors. In line with the company’s philosophy for developing greener and sustainable products, ESC offers improved Isopropyl Alcohol (IPA) resistance. TRIANGLE ESC inks have dual capability and replace a product with limited production for indoor-only applications.
VUTEk GSLXr 3M SuperFlex UV Inks from EFI
Category: UV Ink
Designed to have both excellent weather-fastness and flexibility over time, the new inks are available in six- and eight-color ink sets. EFI has SuperFlex formulations for the EFI VUTEk GS3250LXr Pro and the new EFI VUTEk GS5500LXr Pro printers. The inks can withstand 150 percent elongation, as well as withstand heat in excess of 200-degrees Fahrenheit—including direct flame—during wrap installation procedures. These capabilities represent a breakthrough for any ink along with UV/LED digital printing spectrum—a market where past ink formulations have not been able to withstand the direct flame or stretching capabilities needed in wrap installations.
Media
Ultra White Blockout from Top Value Fabrics
Categories: Fabric & Textiles and Grand-Format Media
Ultra White Blockout is a double-sided bright white fabric that is engineered with a black blockout layer in the center for beautiful imagery and excellence in double-sided graphics. It is an uncoated, flame resistant fabric that is engineered specifically for printers who require brilliant results using Dye Sub transfer technology. It is available in widths to 122 inches and is ideal for Dye Sub transfer printing.
Ultra White Blockout Dye Sub Performance Textile
Canvas Prime from Top Value Fabrics
Category: Fine Art & Photography (Tie)
Canvas Prime is a 100 percent polyester woven fabric with a bright whitepoint that yields outstanding color consistency and excellent image sharpness when printed. It
is available in widths to 126 inches and is recommended for UV, Latex, Dye Sub Direct and Dye Sub Transfer printing. This product is FR and it's also sustainable as it is REACH Compliant.
GS Canvas Production Satin from Epson America
Category: Fine Art (Tie)
GS Canvas Production Satin a 16 mil/360 gsm two over one weave of a cotton/polyester blend base. It is acid-free, lignin-free and elegantly textured with a semi-gloss satin surface. The paper has two sizing coats applied to the base to ensure total adhesion of the two ink jet receptive layers to optimize image quality, eliminate voids and significantly improve durability. Excellent for photographic and fine art reproduction, this canvas produces images with a large gamut for exceptional colors, has an extremely bright white point and an industry-leading DMax to maximize deep, dense colors.
3M Envision Print Wrap Film SV480Cv3 from 3M Commercial Graphics
Categories: Media for Walls, Floors, and Rough Surfaces and Vehicle Wrap Media
3M Envision Print Wrap Film SV480Cv3 is a 2 mil non-PVC wrap film with slideability, snap-up, air release, and excellent removability. It can also be used to wrap everything from vehicles to boats to even rough surfaces.
Magic PCW MATTE from Coveris Advanced Coatings
Category: Paper
Magic PCW-MATTE is a 14 mil, 100 percent post-consumer waste matte paper, making it a truly earth friendly option for inkjet printing. This product is cross platform compatible with water-based, solvent, eco-solvent and UV-cure inks. The ultra-smooth surface, combined with the high ink saturation provides a rich density for photographic and indoor promotional graphics.
Fome-Cor Canvas Board from 3A Composites USA Inc.
Category: Rigid & Semi-Rigid
Fome-Cor Canvas Board is comprised of white extruded polystyrene foam sandwiched between a deeply embossed “canvas-like” white clay-coated paper facer on one side and a standard Bright White clay-coated paper facer on the other. It can be decorated with the same techniques used with original Fome-Cor board and can be knife cut, die-cut and embossed to create three-dimensional effects. It is available in the 3/16-inch thickness in four standard sizes, including: 30x40-inch, 40x60-inch, 48x96-inch, and 60x120-inch sheets.
Scotchcal Perforated Window Film IJ67 from 3M Commercial Graphics
Category: Window Graphic Media
3M Scotchcal Perforated Window Film IJ67 is a removable film designed for short-term promotional first surface window applications. This 5.9 mil vinyl film has a pressure-sensitive adhesive and a 40 percent die-perforated pattern. It comes with a polycoated paper release liner that is backed with a continuous paper layer, enabling easier registration on UV, solvent and latex digital printing platforms, as well as screen printing equipment.
Output Devices
HP Latex 360 Printer from HP
Categories: Aqueous Printer / Durable Aqueous / Latex (24-95 inches) and Textile (24 inches +):
The higher-volume, 64-inch HP (Booth 1913) Latex 360 Printer prints up to 978 sqft/hr (91 sqm/hr) and increases application versatility with an ink collector for porous textiles. The printer also features automatic front-to-back registration for printing double-sided banners, a larger front panel display, and support for HP Custom Substrate Profiling via the embedded spectrophotometer.
SureColor T7270D from Epson America
Category: Engineering Printer (24-95 inches)
The Epson SureColor T7270D is Epson’s newest 44-inch dual-roll large-format color printer. Featuring the Epson PrecisionCore TFP print head and Epson UltraChrome XD pigment ink, it delivers extreme line accuracy with resolutions up to 2880 x 1440 dpi. In addition, the 44-inch printer offers an optional multifunction (MFP) module, enabling PC-free full color scan and copy capabilities—up to 36-inches wide.
HP Scitex 15000 Corrugated Press from HP
Category: Flatbed Printer (24-inches +) (Tie)
The HP Scitex 15000 Corrugated Press simplifies and streamlines corrugated printing on an industrial scale. The press features HP Scitex High Dynamic Range (HDR) Printing Technology that enables a unique combination of high-quality output at industrial volumes.
Other features include:
- Easy setup and operation as well as speeds up to 6,456 ft2/hour, helping to maximize productivity.
- An integrated automatic media loader that handles up to four media stacks side by side, optimized for use with corrugated sheets without operator intervention.
- HP HDR240 Scitex Inks, which are GREENGUARD GOLD Certified and meet AgBB criteria, making them ideal for indoor point-of-purchase displays, bulk bins and freestanding display units.
Rho 1012 from Durst Image Technology US, LLC
Category: Flatbed Printer (24-inches +) (Tie)
The Rho 1012 offers customers the highest print quality available in the segment, featuring the new 12-picoliter Durst Quadro Array technology that can print at speeds up to 5,000 s.f./hr. The small drop technology implemented represents unrivalled quality at these print speeds, giving the user the ability to meet the quality and volume requirements normally reserved for high-end lithographic applications.
Barak 8QW from Matan Digital Printers
Category: Grand-Format Printer (96-inches +)
This member of the Barak family features white ink printing, on top of Matan’s 8-color PDS technology and boasts a collection of value-added features and options, to support customers in increasing productivity, minimizing waste, reducing labor and ensuring unrivaled ease of use.
ValueJet 1626UH from Mutoh America Inc.
Categories: Hybrid Printer and UV Printer (24-inches +)
The UV-LED ValueJet 1626UH – 64-inch hybrid printer, includes front and rear flatbed tables, optional take-up system, Mutoh edition FlexiPrint DX RIP software, one year limited on-site warranty and installation. It can print on a variety of roll-fed and rigid substrates up to a half inch thick using CMYK + white and varnish ink, adding texture to your prints. Create packaging prototypes, POP signage, trade show graphics, banners, posters, yard signs and indoor graphics.
HP Designjet T3500 Production eMultifunction Printer from HP
Category: MFP (24-95 inches)
The HP Designjet T3500 Production eMultifunction Printer (eMFP) is the most productive large-format color multifunction printer in its category. It can print D/A1-size pages in 21 seconds with dark blacks, neutral grays, and vivid colors. Users can copy and scan quickly with advanced features, including presets, batch
scanning, multipage PDFs, and scan to email. Users can also operate unattended thanks to two heavy rolls of up to 650 ft (200 m) and a total ink capacity of 1,800 ml.
ValueJet 1638X from Mutoh America Inc.
Category: Solvent Printer (24 inches +)
The VJ1638X allows sign shops to produced banners at a high rate of speed, freeing up time to produce more applications throughout their busy work day. With print speeds up to 1,012sqft/hr and the easy load rear feed lever production printing is a snap. Plus, the patented Intelligent Interweave print technique virtually eliminates banding and Smart Features like ValueJet Status Monitor (VSM) allows operators to manage the printer remotely for simpler, smoother operation.
Software
V10 from Caldera
Categories: RIP Software and Workflow Software
The tenth edition of Caldera's feature packed printer control software will liberate today's print houses through productivity, connectivity and modernity. V10 doubles previous average RIP speeds to provide printers of all sizes and types with the independence to print what they wish without having to sacrifice speed or complexity.
Designed for efficiency, it allows users to streamline their screen to focus only on live tasks, while icons and markers have been standardized throughout in a modern style. Caldera's use of HTML5 provides cross-platform, cross-OS support for remote management via new module VisualRemote which recognizes the nature of today's print room by providing different levels of off-site access to operators.
Designjet HD Pro Scanner from HP
Category: Wide-Format Scanner (24 inches +)
The HP Designjet HD Pro Scanner scans at six inches per second for color images and 13 inches per second for black and white images. Additionally, the scanner provides multipage PDF and scan to e-mail, USB and network capabilities, allowing users to easily and quickly share images. The device scans images up to 42 inches wide from thick or rigid media and features charge coupled device (CCD) technology and an advanced five-camera system to capture complex data quickly without sacrificing details. The scanner also has adjustable legs, offering an ergonomic stand for optimal comfort.
