HP PageWide Color Flow MFP 785z+ Opinions and Advice Sincerely Needed

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  • AKSturb01
    Technician
    • Jul 2009
    • 27

    HP PageWide Color Flow MFP 785z+ Opinions and Advice Sincerely Needed

    Hello, I hope this is the right place to post this or at least it will be allowed because I am hoping to get some knowledgeable opinions from technicians who know them about the HP PageWide Color Flow MFP+ 785z+ printer.

    Background: I run a small printing and mailing shop and we need an auxiliary printer for things like:

    8.5x11 color (mostly - 95%) and black and white with variable data (and without)
    8.5x14 color (mostly - 95%) and black and white with variable data (and without)
    11x17 color (mostly - 85%) and occasional black and white with and without variable data.

    Duplex printing on any of the above three from time to time

    Occasionally color envelopes - things like logos - #10 Regulars, #10 Windows, and sometimes 9x12 envelopes.

    We used to do all this on our Riso HC5500 but they are becoming more defunct by the hour.

    I estimate our max. page count per month at around 20k-30k.

    The items we print in color have a *color* coverage of usually around 30% of the area of the page, sometimes less, sometimes a bit more. The variable data usually consists of addresses and barcodes, but occasionally other areas of the page.

    I would sincerely appreciate some astute advice about whether this printer is a good choice in terms of maintenance, cost per page, speed and reliability/durability. Can the RIP/Engine on this machine handle flexible workflows like this in either native PCL6 (which we can generate, one of us is a programmer) and/or PostScript? What does the speed degradation look like?

    We intend to self-maintain and can do that if we have the service manuals and access to parts. We have one electrical engineer on the team and have fixed many Riso inkjets ourselves over the years.

    If you are running one of these or have worked on them, I'd be very grateful to hear your opinion. Everything I see on the Internet and from HP is a sales pitch or marketing speak.

    Thank you in advance, and I am prepared to chip in a reasonable amount of money through PayPal for good advice, the straight dope on these machines and any tips pitfalls and suggestions or *imperatives* as the case may be. I appreciate and can understand technical discussions. Alternative suggestions are welcome also.
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