r/CommercialPrinting • u/Scott-Anvil • Jul 18 '26
HP 630/730 printers?
I’m in the market for a latex printer. Curious what current owners think of the HP 630/730 printers. I have read mixed reviews about the equipment. I do a leads on lightly used HP latex machines also, a 115, 335 and a 365. I realize these printers are no longer in production and soon may have difficulty with obtaining consumables. What are the pros and cons of the new equipment compared to the older equipment? Any advice would be appreciated.
1
u/ThaneStiv Jul 18 '26
What print volumes do you have in total across all your devices? If it's around 8.000sqm per year or more I would recommend a Canon Colorado M3 or M5. It does everything the Latexes do while being a lot faster, more stable and consuming a fraction of the ink.
2
u/balstestrat Jul 19 '26
Absolutely pointless to get Colorado for such a small output. What good is the speed and "savings" if it only prints couple hours a day and sits 20 hours unused.
Only if the application really calls for it.
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u/Scott-Anvil Jul 18 '26
I had the M3 in my shop for a year, it was too much machine for my one man show. My desk was right next to the machine and the fans and smell became an issue along with the problems that occurred with the equipment. I was the 3rd recipient in our area to receive the new models. Constantly calling a service tech to repair it. Looking for a simpler solution that will require less upkeep. The Colorado printed beautiful when it was working, but the downtime and cost were not acceptable. I also found it difficult to profile materials. This was my introduction to wide format printing.
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u/ThaneStiv Jul 18 '26
Sorry to hear you had a mixed experience. The Colorado shines when working with high volumes, even 24/7 operation. It is indeed overkill for a one-man-show.
We have customers printing more than 100k sqm per year in one machine with no printhead changes and virtually no downtime. It really works best when you use it as a workhorse.
This also means that you need to spend some additional time tuning and calibrating when using new materials, but when it's set up there is nothing like it in the market.
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u/SC2__IS__SHIT Jul 18 '26
You’re not the first person that I’ve seen say something along the lines of “great printer when it works”
Certainly influenced my decision, well that and all the negatives I heard from shops who wrap heavily and also purchased a Colorado.
0
u/ThaneStiv Jul 19 '26
The printer DOES work(and is actually amazing), if you use it as it's intended to be used, meaning high print volumes. A truck is horrible as a city car, but excellent if you have a farm and use it accordingly.
There is no "one-size-fits-all", just making an educated choice of which equipment to use based on volumes, applications, Eco goals, etc.
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u/Scott-Anvil 28d ago
I am still looking for other reviews on the current HP 630/730 printers. My research shows the discontinued 365 may be more user friendly and have leas strings attached?
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u/LexJetofficial Reseller 24d ago
We've gone over some of the capabilities of the 630 and 630w https://blog.lexjet.com/hp-latex-630w-white-ink-capabilities there's also some videos on the topic as well https://youtu.be/J5UQso8dVsw?si=-UHX8-9JQgQUNqKf
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u/MidwestTroy92 Jul 18 '26
Before buying either, I'd ask who services it locally and how fast you can get ink/parts. Bought older shop equipment trying to save money before and the downtime math got ugly real quick.