HP designjet 130r printer

[RPHOTOGRAPHER]

Hello all,

Does anyone print with the HP designjet 130r?
if so, does it have the print quality you need as in color prints and especially in black and white on fine art paper?
Do you use any bulk ink system with this printer?
what is your overall rating of this printer.
I am looking to purchase one,but, before I do I woud appreciate some feed back info.

Thanks
Ralph Duke
www.ralphduke.com

[ljb0904]

Hi Ralph,

I use one and I think the output is fantastic. The inks last a long time and it's shown to be a very economical printer as well as having the deepest blacks of any color printer. However, it's basically a one paper printer. I use only HP Premium Plus Photo Satin with it as that's the combo that gets the 80year archival rating. The printer can be finicky at times, but the output is simply beautiful.

[[=brian=]]

Its a dated printer and will not give you the quality that an epson will give. That being said overall it is still an excellent economical printer. As for the 80 year whatever. the hp 130 uses dye inks and will not last more than a month outside in UV light.

[Michael Gordon]

Color print quality on HP Prem Plus Photo Satin is superb. It looks like Fuji Crystal Archive from a Lightjet. Because the papers are swellable, the ink is IN the paper rather than ON the paper, which is a huge plus for me. Unless you like metameristic b/w prints, I wouldn't recommend it for b/w. Picoliter size (4pl) is larger than the most current Epson's (3.5pl), so dithering is more evident.

Wilhelm print permanence info is here. I've conducted my own tests, and Brian is wrong in his last sentence.

PROS: Great paper (Prem Plus Photo Satin); great printed image, beautiful color depth. CONS: water-soluble prints; b/w sucks; not intended for matte papers.

Good luck!

[RPHOTOGRAPHER]

Laurent,

how do you like the black and white prints you get from your DJ130??
Im getting mixed opinions about it???
and what paper do you print on for b&w?

[IanMazursky]

Hi Ralph,
We had a 130nr for a few months (actually 3 placements and none that worked).
It was an OK printer for its time but that time has passed. HP could never get ours to not scratch and mark HP’s own media.
Probably my bad luck with HP’s but thats par for the course.
I stepped up to an HP 5500 UV that never worked correctly then a painful foray into the Z3100’s, a whole other painful story!
Finally settled on an Epson 9880 a few years ago and couldn’t be happier.

The 130nr was fast and i liked that. The roll feed was a bit quirky but once you got the hang of it, it worked well.
The Dye based ink really got me, i know what they say about permanence but its hard to sell Dye over Pigment regardless of what Wilhelm said.
But the ink wasn’t terribly expensive and the 130nr rip made proofing much easier and consistent.
I liked the printer for contact sheets of digital images. You could print a lot of them cheaply on a roll.

When HP gave up trying to fix the scratching/marking issue, we used it for contact sheets. Once it paid for itself, we sent it packing.

A current Epson or HP would be a much better choice. The 130nr’s that HP is selling are probably old stock that they just want to move, could be wrong.
I think they still might have a manufactured date on the back of the printers. Its a good way to tell how long they have been sitting in a warehouse.

[DougtheKnight]

Hi Laurent, and Ralph,
You say it is a one paper printer? I've been using a variety of papers including a glossy roll 24 inch. I use a continuous ink supply system and I am very happy with it. Ink last a long time. I don't use the HP XXXX photo papers selection in the print driver dialog when I use ICC profiles with Photoshop. (example: Don't pick HP Photo Gloss, select instead Photo Gloss) I've been printing 24"X 36" = fantastic and details in the print is very good.. Printer can be finicky when your first learning to use it but I feel I have good control over it now. If you go the other way and print the small size 4X6 inchers... it may not properly accept the single sheet so I added a support for the left side of the 4X6 stack in the tray that holds the stack together. Other operations work fine...
By the way: I accidentally had a small business calling card pulled out of the washing machine. The Dye print held up very well but the paper (card) was somewhat wrinkled as you might expect- but the ink was virtually un altered.
Hope this good info for you all. I still learning... and having fun too.
DougtheKnight