Hiya 'Heads, I'm getting ready to make a plotter purchase and I'm sort of stuck between 2 choices. I saw the Summa D60 and the Gerber P2C 600 at the A.C. Sign show and I was somewhat impressed. Both are basically the same machine. Are any of you running these plotters? Got any good, bad or ugly stories? Both have their pros and cons. The Gerber is more money, and it comes with the omega CL (basic) software. On the other hand the Summa is a few hundred dollars cheaper, plus with Summa's software, you can cut right from Corel. The major influence on this purchase is price. They are several thousand dollars cheaper than the sprocket fed plotter I would prefer to have. Is there anything else I should be looking at that's in the $2500 price range that comes with a stand & media basket? Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Havin' fun,
Checkers
Posted by Dave Grundy (Member # 103) on :
Brian..I'll let OP give you his opinion!!!!!!
I know what I'd buy but I don't want to sound biased in any way!!! Posted by old paint (Member # 549) on :
id do the suma.....gerber is that last choice....unless absolutly necessary.....
Posted by steef de boer (Member # 5195) on :
Just bought a summa d-60 3 weeks ago and i love it allready
Steef
Posted by Artisan Signs (Member # 3146) on :
Have had a Summa D60 for a year now, and love it. No problems at all, and cutting from Corel works great.
Posted by Rick Beisiegel (Member # 3723) on :
Brian:
Have you explored the Graphtec? I am a BIG Gerber fan, but, for everyday plotter work...with budget considerations, the Graphtec carries a 3 year bulletproof warranty. Plus, you can cut from Corel or Illustrator. Should fit into the same budget area. I bought a 5100 and am very happy with it.
I also have Gerber which I would choose hands down before Summa simply because of the superior tech support and my supplier, (Advantage Sign Supply), has maintained Gerber's good name by their commitment to customer service. As a rule,(not always), the only people who hate Gerber have never really tried Gerber.
I am not bashing Summa, just always remember: In the competitive equipment market place, there is always a reason for price differences. I paid more for Gerber, but, after five years, I know why......It's just better!
[ December 17, 2004, 07:53 AM: Message edited by: Rick Beisiegel ]
Posted by Todd Gill (Member # 2569) on :
Checkers - I'd go with the Gerber Hands down....my buddy has two Gerbers and they're built like a brick outhouse. The D60's had issues, although it sounds like they may have been addressed. Check out this post:
Ive had a Summa D-60 for two years now, and absolutely no problems at all. If I had to buy again, it would be the same machine.
Posted by Ricky Jackson (Member # 5082) on :
I LOVE my Summa D60!! I've had it for about 2 years and no problems. Don't buy anything but factory blades tho. You can put the "training wheels" on that baby and cut a whole roll. It's exactly half the speed of my envision plotter but it's not a bottleneck at all.
Posted by William DeBekker (Member # 3848) on :
If they fix the issues with the D60 go for it Mine is around 3 years old and works fine as long as I dont use the media Sensor. We have tried to fix that problem many time but to no avail so I just leave it off. Otherwise I eally like it. This was my Second summa. Our first one was a 610 and that plotter was bullit proof. its over 10 years old and still runs great.
Posted by Gord Gilliatt (Member # 5295) on :
I've had my D60 (bought it used) for a year now and it works flawlessly.
Posted by Checkers (Member # 63) on :
Thanks for the input people, I decided to get the Summa. I've used Gerber for many years and I'll admit that they have great products. But, until I'm doing this full time for myself with a steady cash-flow, I have to try to keep costs down. The summa allows me to do that. I didn't consider Graphtec this time around because I really didn't get to see their products first hand while I was at Atlantic City. Their salespeople were too busy with others and by time I would have been able to get back to the booth, the show was closed. I will say that Jim Doggett did stay late and took some time to show me the features of the D60. That was a definite plus in my book.
Have a great weekend!
Checkers
Posted by mark zilliox (Member # 3873) on :
Checkerz! if you need some steeler "pinstiping" on your summa. let me know. May swing up that way with 2 kayaks next summer-let's float the Juanita !
hmmmmmmm
Posted by old paint (Member # 549) on :
you need to kayak OHIO-PYLE. its right across the border in pa.
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