Xenta Ilumina - Info Wanted

[unisys12]

Hey guys! I was talking to a customer the other day that runs a small print shop out of her home and she showed me a sample pack from a company called Xante. More specifically, the model in question was the Xenta Ilumina, which is a small color press. Xante: Products: Ilumina (http://www.xante.com/products/ilumina/)

What I was wondering is if anyone out there has any experience with this company. Our sales manager called their corp office in Mobile, AL and talked with some people and they are sending over one of the sample packs to our office. I have also done a lot of Google searches and read many different things, but there's just really not a lot out there on these guys. The one thing that I was able to pretty much determine is that the do not support on-site service. Most all service is done either over the phone, the website or you package the machine back up and send it back to them repair.

If anyone has experience with this company or have customers that use some of there products, I would greatly appreciate your input. Thanks! :cool:

[blackcat4866]

The color Xerographic printers are made Okidata, with Xante covers. I've been on the website. That's all I know of them.

[LPMS]

I run a xante illumina and its usually nothing but a pain and the consumables are expensive as hell

[Eric1968]

I'm not having much trouble with these (Oki) machines. A big advantage is that they can print on 300 grams. Some suppliers say that this machine can print on any kind of paper which is just not the case .The machine is easy to maintaine. The customer can replace drums, toners, transfer belt and fusing unit. Important is instruction to the customer. A lot of customers use some exotic kind of paper and expect a brilliant output. Some customers use inkjet paper in this machine(!) When used in a proper way you can really print awesome prints with this one.

[kingpd@businessprints.net]

We were considering becoming dealers for them some time ago but never did. They're rebranded and slightly modified Okidata laser printers. Actually Okidata is now selling their own version of them with a different input and output option. Another outfit called PSI Engineering also sold them as well. Some of the Xerox line is the same but not modified. These are being heavily marketed as digital presses specializing in heavy stocks and envelopes for as low as 2 cents per envelope.

Here's the bottom line: They're not presses. Actually any company including Canon, Xerox, and Oce using the term press on what is really a laser printer/copier is just using marketing and blowing smoke up your A@@. Years ago the term press was used because it made them sound better. Back to the point in hand, there's not a big dealer network but there's not much to do in terms of service since most all parts are customer replaceable which makes them also very expensive to operate.

A box of 500 full color envelopes (#10) will cost around $20-$25 minimum before any markup which is kind of high. Also the envelopes CANNOT be run through a laser printer to print the addresses on later. The toner will come off and ghost in the second printer.

In short, the machines are expensive as hell and the supplies are expensive as hell.