Vision or New Hermes

[Ron Granitz]

We are full service sign shop (Vinyl/digital printing/electral/engraving, etc.)

I run the Engraving Dept. and have currently a New Hermes XP7000 router and a ULS X-660 60 watt laser.

I have gotten the powers to be to finally agree to get a cylindrical engraving device to do Jefferson Cups, mugs, bowls, etc. We have the opportunity to either get a Vision Max Pro, loaded with install and training for about $17,000 or a IS400 (without all the extra attachments) installed and training for $16,995 new, $15,990 6 month old demo or $13,900 for a refurbished.

What is the recommendation from the forum? I like our XP7000 for it's durability, very solid machine, but for god sakes, the support sucks butt. I've never had so much trouble getting a part or help on line to save my life.

Vision will do live webinars to show you how to do a project on your machine.

My hang up is that the IS400 will handle a 13" diamter object and the Max Pro will only do 7" dia. But the Vision comes with more, and has better service, our ULS rep sells the Visions.

Help.

[Scott Shepherd]

Have you looked at the Roland EGX-360? Might be one more to consider. It has 8" diameter capacity. Are you in Virginia?

[mike berry]

We had an IS400, cumbersome is a good word for it....the Gravograph software is not user friendly.

[Ross Moshinsky]

We've had an IS400 for 7 years now I think. Never had a major issue with the machine itself. The only issue I can recall is the accordion cover has ripped twice. It's been a true work horse. I believe Smith & Warren Badge has 10-15 units to do all of their engraving. I'd say it's one of the best rotary engravers around. That said, I wouldn't buy from New Hermes. I don't think there is any advantage. I'd buy a unit from eBay. There are several every week for around $7-10k with software, computer, & dongle. I don't recall how much the cylinder fixture is, but I don't remember it being over $1500.

As much as I like the machine, I wish I could say the same about the software. It's mostly good. There are just a lot of backwards things. Control+A isn't select all. Control+L is. Control and shift have switched functions. It must be a European/French thing. The program eats resources and ram for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It's amazing how much of a resource hog it is. Program will get memory leaks and crash randomly. A lot of the features you think will be neat and work well just stink. Vectorizing is one of the biggest disappointments. Trying to do line construction drawings with snaps and things like that can be very trying. Knowing that, there are a lot of good points. It's an engraving software. Hundreds of fonts available. Does a really fine job of making tool paths and how detailed you can get is pretty impressive. The control over the text and layout of the text is pretty good. The variable/matrix feature is a huge time saver. Almost makes the entire program worth the high price. For a rotary engraver looking to do simple 2D engraving, I'd probably still recommend Gravostyle even though it is expensive and full of annoying features and problems.

[Mike Null]

I have a Newing Hall 350 with power base. I can engrave 8.5" cylinders. I like the Newing Hall people a lot better than others I've encountered in the business. My machine (rebuilt and upgraded) is now 3 years old since the upgrade with no issues. I spent about $10,000 on the upgrade/refurb.

[David Takes]

I've had an IS400 Volume for over 10 years. It's been a great robust machine that has brought very few problems over the years and is very easy to maintain yourself. I personally like the Gravostyle98 software over their current software, although the current software is better in terms of training staff. I wouldn't hesitate to purchase a refurbished machine, as my unit has been in use for over a decade and still performs like it just came out of the box.