ready to buy plotter

i've found some great deals on ebay.

what do you guys think?

i know i've bothered MM before about it, but hell, dont hurt to get a second opinion again..

Plotter

54"

i have a 32 inch plotter like that. runs good but loud. it still dosent bother me. i got that one when i upgraded from a roland stika15. not in price but size.

Tint,
I was going through the same dilema about 3 months ago, I called MM and chatted with GTO and a few others about plotters, and they all gave me the same advice, stay away from the ones on ebay, give sign wharehouse a call, they have some good deals on plotters, that are about 100X better than the ones you and i looked at, for not too much more than what those ones are selling for.
Just like a "good" tint job with "good" film, you get what you pay for

so what did you end up buying man?

I bought a building which already had a vynal guy in it so I don't have to fock with it

At the shop, one of the guys does vehicle wraps, signs lettering etc etc etc so I opted @ this time to not spend the money on it, and but some other needed things

these are good ones for the money
http://www.signwarehouse.com/cutters/ve/Q_series.html
or these
http://www.signwarehouse.com/cutters/gr/graf_selector_pg.htm

Stay away from ebay plotters. You get what you pay for.

Just like tinting..... Why spend $30,000 for a car and expect to get a tint job for $99 ?

I bought my 24" graphtec from signwarehouse and I am glad I did. And when I'm ready to upgrade and get a 60" printer/laminator/cutter I'll buy em all from them as well.

i really wanted to buy something that i could probabyl learn on ya know. over the winter time i didnt have time to decide on what to buy. but recently i think it would be a great add on but first i would like to invest in something not so much up there, so when i feel i need to upgrade i'll buy something more reliable for higher volumes.

Plotters and vinyl dont take much time to learn. Since you already know how to tint, doing vinyl should be easy to pick up. The computer part may take you a while if your not fluent with computers, but a few hours here and there after work or on weekends and you'll be up to par in no time.

ask MM or GTO, those were my EXACT words

I'll give ya a call tommorow, and we'll talk

When you are lokking into buying the printer and things pm me and I can hook you up with a local place here in michigan. When I was looking around for mine it was between a local place and signwarehouse.com. I got a better deal from the local place and there main road tech is from detroit so it doesn't take long to get him out to you if you need it.

I have had 4 different plotters over the past 5 years and suggest not going for the cheap ones. I finally broke down and bought a good one and it is so much faster and doesn't ever mess up. weather its a small decal or racing stripes they all come out perfect everytime.

I have a graphtec fc7000 series plotter and love it. I was also told the the signwarehouse.com q-series are made by graphtec and basically the same thing but branded that way as thier plotters.

what size and what brand do you want? I come across people trying to sell their used ones all the time, some I may even be able to certify and get you an extended warranty.