Nicholas Hellmuth inspects a second FastSigns sign franchise print shop that has a Zund 215 UV-curable flatbed printer.

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What is it like to have a Zund UVjet 215-C or 215-Plus in your print shop?

The only way to see what it is really like to own a Zund UVjet 215 is to have access to a functioning print shop that already has one, and to ask them, in blunt detail.

FLAAR does all this. We find a print shop and ask them point blank what the printer is like. We have now accomplished this for the Zund 215. You can order your FLAAR Reports site-visit case study on the Zund UVjet 215-C with comments on the 6-color version, UVjet 215-Plus.

For example: there are two main places to buy your Zund in the US : ACCI and Global Imaging (globalimaginginc.com). We know them both. We know their owners and their tech support people. Our reports cover this aspect too. It is not a good idea to buy a brand of printer if there is no tech support or if the resellers don’t really know much about UV-curable inkjet printer technology.

We also know the Zund dealer in Dubai and other countries.

You won’t get this level of independent documentation from elsewhere. Indeed last week we learned about another Zund installation in the St Louis area and we got some feedback. Several months later we returned to St Louis and undertook a site-visit case study of the 6-color Uvjet 215-Plus model. So now we have two separate site-visit case studies in addition to our general FLAAR Reports evaluation/review (three reports on the Zund).

If I were about to spend $125,000 on this printer (especially with other brands costing less nowadays), I sure would want to acquire the FLAAR Reports on each brand of UV printer that I was considering, before I made a final decision.

Zund UVjet 215 Plus UV-cured flatbed inkjet printers

Product comparisons of the Zund 215 with other UV-cured flatbed inkjet printers

If you are thinking of a Zund UVjet 215-C or Zund 215 Plus, then you are also probably looking at the ColorSpan 72UVX or ColorSpan 9840, or perhaps the Gerber Solara 2 or even the Raster Printers 72UVZ or Daytona?

But now there are four more new entry-level UV-curing printers to look at: ColorSpan 5440uv, 5445uv, 5460uv, 5465uv-curable wide-format inkjet. We have inspected these new ColorSpan printers in the MacDermid factory in Minneapolis four months ago (before they were released).

In May 2006 we inspected the ColorSpan 9840uv at the factory, a week before it was first shown at FESPA Digital.

Since it has not yet been possible to visit the Zund headquarters in Switzerland , we don’t yet have documentation on their recent improvements to their 215-series and the re-launched Zund 250.

Comparative price shopping is only useful for buying TVs or other generic products. With a UV-cured inkjet printer, there is more to consider than merely the price on the first invoice. What if the printer is low-priced (so you get lured into considering it), but what if this cheap printer breaks down after the first month?

So if you are daring to consider the Flora LJ1800, Infiniti UV1612 (Infiniti Xterius in Europe ) or Teckwin TeckSmart UV1600, you absolutely need to prepare yourself with the FLAAR Reports. These printers have still working their way through an extended beta stage. But in another several years these hard-working Chinese companies will have reached a level of quality control that we will take a second-look at them. Also by then we hope that serious tech support is available for Chinese printers in America and Western Europe (so far only Infiniti Europe has acceptable local tech support in certain areas). With no local tech support no complex printer can be kept running. If your printer is down you lose your clients (and they probably jump to another competing print shop across town, which has a printer that functions all the time).

A large print shop in Ohio gets tips from FLAAR. They bought a printer that held up well to scrutiny by Nicholas Hellmuth. Within the first several months they made enough money with this printer to pay off the entire purchase price. Now they are making a profit.

We should not guarantee that you will make a profit, but we sure can provide you with facts on the pros and cons of UV-cured inkjet printers that no one else dares to tell you.

If you purchase any four complete UV-series, or any 12 individual UV reports (on specific brands, 2nd level reports or above, or site-visit case studies) you can also arrange to have Dr Nicholas Hellmuth come to your print shop as a consultant. Just cover the basic airfare, transportation to your print shop (anywhere in the world) and per diem costs (hotel, meals). We can consult in Spanish, German, and also English, and can understand French, Italian, and Portuguese.

Once you have bought the reports, there is no additional consulting expense other than getting Professor Hellmuth to your location.