Epson A3 75ppm/100ppm Business Inkjets

I know a few dealers took these on, and I believe most of them dropped them. Hoping these guys can help you out. @Jason H , hoping Eddie J can help also

Thanks Art, I haven't heard much of anything from Epson since these launched...

gap posted:

Looking for ANY channel insights on Epson's high-speed A3 business inkjets:

-What verticals/businesses are buying these?
-What are models are these replacing?
-Epson's promotional/sales strategy - dealer discounts?
-Success stories or challenges with these models?

Thanks!

 

We took their line on. I actually went out to Long Beach to epson's headquarters and saw the machine and ran it etc. I was impressed with the speed and the first thing I thought was "Riso Killer". 

With that said, we have not sold a single one in a year and a half or so. We thought this could possibly be the next "thing", but it appears that is not the case.  When we talk about it to the customers they don't get excited with the selling points the machine has: No replacement parts, 50,000 page ink cartridges, print head warranty. They also don't like the bridge unit that makes the stapler sit out 3 or 4 feet from the machine. It makes for a very large footprint and also adding the finisher slows the machine down to half speed. 

I feel that epson went full speed ahead with signing up dealers but didn't have anyone in place to train those dealers to sell the product, other than explain pricing and talk about the spiffs you can get. 

All in all, we have had no success with these machines. I actually have 2 in my office I am trying to sell to another dealer or anyone who will take them.

Thanks Jason! I was out at the Epson office as well around the launch time and they were SO excited to get this product on the market. Print quality was good in my opinion when they tested it, but I've also heard that there are still customer concerns around page curling. Appreciate the additional feedback. 

Got a demo on the Epsons but was not impressed.  HPs Pagewide inkjet is a far better product and presents a very real threat to the laser world we all have been living in.  HP's biggest drawback on their Pagewide MFPs is their user interface which is very clunky compared to the other major MFP manufacturers like Ricoh, Canon and KM. 

The output from the HP Pagewide exceeded my expectations.  For business documents on plain copy paper the output is better than Epson or Riso's outragiously expensive Comcolor.  If you run presentation paper or inkjet photo style paper through the HP Pagewide the output actually blows Laser away.

Fisher

Can you give me a run down of the most popular models of the HP Pagewides and maybe MSRP's also?

We have the  HP e77650 A3 in our showroom.  The street price is comparable or slightly lower than our Ricoh Laser devices of similar speed.  First page out speed and the ops panel interface are the only weak points I can find with it.  Color CPC will be $0.01 to $0.02 less than that of what we do on our comparable laser devices.

https://www.dokuteam.de/filead...oad/HP_PW_E77650.pdf 

The image quality on low quality 20# copy paper is fairly good.  Far better than a Riso ComColor and perfectly fine for office use.  I should also add that the Epson product we took a look at the output came out quite damp feeling where the HP comes out nice and dry.

Using papers with ColorLok technology there is a noticeable jump in image quality to where it is at least equal to a laser device.

When running brochure and presentation papers designed for inkjet the output is noticeably superior to laser.  Before seeing the machine in person I had the preconceived notion that these machines would not be suitable for places like real estate offices where image quality and photos on presentations are important.  In reality its quite the opposite as photographs print out looking superior to laser when you run the inkjet paper.

Now the down sides:

The number one downside is dealing with HP.  They are their own worst enemy when it comes to getting a foothold with office equipment dealers.

The ops panel compared to a Ricoh, Canon or other major manufacturer of MFPs is terrible.  I should add that the web interface for the machine is quite good.

First copy out for walk up copying is quite slow.  Guessing 9 seconds in the real world.

Finishing options are somewhat limited but should not be a big issue in this segment.

Fisher, circling back to ask how the finishing capabilities are for the PW models? I know that they are limited in comparison to laser models, but are customers welcoming the option of having a finisher? How's it selling? Is it a game-changer for positioning PW vs. laser? Thanks

gap posted:

Fisher, circling back to ask how the finishing capabilities are for the PW models? I know that they are limited in comparison to laser models, but are customers welcoming the option of having a finisher? How's it selling? Is it a game-changer for positioning PW vs. laser? Thanks

We are in the early stages with HP.  We've sold a couple of the A3 page wides so far.  In this segment we don't sell a high percentage of finishing devices even on the other Laser product lines we sell.  I don't see finishing as a limiting factor as I can always pivot to another product line if I need booklet finishing.

I do think the page wide technology will be a game changer now that I have them in my showroom and have had the chance to play with them.  Where HP is missing the ball with the current generation of machines is with the operation panel which I think is terrible compared to a Ricoh, Canon, Kyocera or KM.  As far as the image quality of the pagewide goes it is more than acceptable on even the cheapest grade of copy paper and if you use Inkjet presentation paper it actually blows a Canon or Ricoh mid-volume laser MFPs out of the water on image quality.  HP just needs to work out the kinks in their user interface for walk up copying and scanning and they will be a force to be reckoned with.

Thanks Fisher for the info! Of the few A3 PageWides that you've placed, are you targeting A3 laser-based environments? Or A4? Trying to gauge what segments are specifically being targeted for PW installations?