Oce's rebranded Encad printers
Since
we already cover Encad
printers directly from Encad and mention the identical printers
which are relabeled by Kodak and Ilford we have not previously reviewed
the same printers which are rebranded by Oce.
Oce
sells mainly to large companies that want everything in their corporation
taken care of by a single vendor. Thus Oce sells copiers, wide format
scanners (from Contex), CAD printers and other office equipment.
The main advantage of Oce is that it's RIP and inks may be a tad
better than those of Encad itself since Oce owns Onyx
PosterShop.
In
the realm of CAD printers Oce does not appear to use Encad but rather
a BubbleJet printhead design. Most large format printers simply
do not give details of the head manufacturer but a dpi of 360 dpi
with a designation of BubbleJet suggests a Canon product, hopefully
not the same as the old Selex design. The Oce CAD printers are their
models 5150 and 5200. FLAAR is setting up a new evaluation center
so perhaps we can have the architecture department test these printers.
The
Encad models by Oce include the Oce CS 5050 and CS 5070 (in 42"
and 60" width models). We will eventually post all the latest
model numbers such as their equivalent of the Encad 850.
Oce
had an opportunity to purchase Encad two years ago but decided to
attempt to develop their own printer. The Oce people I spoke with
felt that the Lexmark printheads were already at the limits of their
capability long ago.
But
so far Oce's own printer has not appeared, despite rumors of its
existence. Instead Oce bought all the printer brands of Gretag Imaging:
Cymbolic
Sciences LightJet, Arizona,
RasterGraphics
(which however was rather morbund before the purchase), ANAgraph,
and others.
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reports by Dr. Nicholas Hellmuth
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First Posted November 30, 2001, last updated june 1, 2002 |
