Choosing the Best Printer for Vehicle Graphics

One of the most common applications that our sales reps are asked about is vehicle graphics. Whether it’s full car wraps, fleet graphics, or decals, vehicle graphics are a very popular application in our industry. Today, we’re going to look at all the printers that we sell and determine which ones are best for producing vehicle graphics.

Awarding a single printer as the best vehicle graphics printer is a difficult task. Therefore, it will be most helpful to break these into categories and award winners by category. Don’t worry, at the end of the video, we will crown a single printer as the best overall for vehicle wraps.

Best Print Quality for Vehicle Graphics

If you have very demanding clients or corporate clients with brand colors that are at the far reaches of the color spectrum, you need a printer with a very large color gamut. If this is the case for you, then the best printer for color gamut and print quality is the Epson SureColor S80600. With a 10-color ink set that features a dedicated Orange and Red channel, this is the widest gamut printer suitable for outdoor graphics. If you need the very best print quality, look at the Epson S80.

Lowest Cost of Entry

If you want to begin printing vehicle graphics but are on a budget, then we recommend the HP Latex 315 for under $11,000. HP does offer a model called the 115 for $1000 less, but for reasons we won’t go into in this video, we think the 315 is the lowest total cost of entry into the HP Latex family for vehicle graphics. The 315 offers all of the benefits of Latex inks at a very affordable price.

Benefits of HP’s Latex Ink Set for Vehicle Graphics

First, it is outdoor durable. HP’s inks carry 3M’s MCS warranty for fleet graphics up to 8 years, depending on the vinyl and laminate used and the region they’re installed in. HP’s ink longevity is as good or better than any others out there. Second, HP’s latex inks have best-in-class elasticity for stretching and conforming around contoured surfaces during installation. This is crucial, as some competitor ink sets can’t hold up to this stretching and begin to show white stretch marks during installation. Installers are always pleased when given graphics printed with HP Latex. The final major benefit is instant lamination. Prints from any of the HP Latex printers are immediately ready to be laminated and installed. This is a huge advantage over solvent ink competitors that require at least a few hours of outgassing time before the print can be safely laminated. This can be the difference between delivering a job on time or not, especially when panels are damaged during installation and need to be reprinted.

Best Printer for Repeatable Color

If you have large fleet customers and are printing the same jobs and colors repeatedly, we recommend the Epson Resin SureColor R5070. The Resin is Epson’s answer to HP Latex. It boasts similar longevity, elasticity, and instant lamination properties but has one important difference from HP Latex. While HP Latex printers use consumable thermal print heads, the Epson R5070 uses a long-lasting heat-free micro piezo print head. One challenge with HP Latex is generating consistent color across panels and jobs as the condition of the print heads is always changing. With Epson, the print head is not susceptible to the same degradation and offers more consistent color from panel to panel and job to job. If you are consistently returning to the same jobs and colors month after month, the Epson Resin wins our vote for the best vehicle graphic printer for repeatable color.

Best Overall Vehicle Graphics Printer

Finally, it’s time to crown the best overall vehicle graphics printer. If I were starting a business or replacing a printer for vehicle graphics, I would buy the HP Latex 800W. This is HP’s newest Latex technology and their flagship printer. It has all the amazing benefits of Latex inks and a few extras that set it apart. First, it has the best consumable cost of any of the printers on this list at 10.5 cents per ML in huge 3L boxes. This means more profits from every vehicle job you produce. Second, it is the latest generation of Latex Ink technology with an adjustable overcoat fluid. This anti-scratch fluid is combined with the inks in the older Latex 300 and 500 series printers but is now its own standalone channel on the Latex 700 and 800. The anti-scratch fluid is excellent for producing prints that hold up to handling and scuffing but can interfere with lamination. On the Latex 800, we can turn the channel completely off so that our laminate adheres best. The final feature I love about the Latex 800W is the white ink. You probably won’t use white ink on 99% of your vehicle wrap jobs, but when a customer asks for a clear film or a chrome vinyl, you’ll be glad you can offer this higher-value service with an opaque white ink graphic. For these reasons, we believe the HP Latex 800W is the very best printer for vehicle graphics.

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I hope this overview of our favorite printers for producing vehicle wraps, fleet graphics, or decals was helpful. If you want to run samples on any of these printers, come to Chicago and test them with us. There is no better way to find the very best printer for your vehicle graphic needs than to see them in person with your own print files. If you have questions, please give us a call at 1-800-771-9665 and ask to speak with a commercial sales rep. Thanks for reading!