Virtuoso SG400 or Ricoh SG 3110DN

[PhilRat]

Hi, just getting back into Sublimation after a break and in need of a new A4 printer. I've only ever used the Virtuoso SG400 in the past so have nothing to compare it to. Didnt really have any problems with the SG400, except sometimes it printed images a little too dark, and am not against getting another one. Just wondering if anyone that has used the SG400 and the Ricoh SG 3110DN as a direct comparison, which they prefer. Thanks

[Tubstar]

Hello,

I think in essence they are the same machine. Both made by Ricoh, but the SG400 uses the Sawgrass sublijet hd ink straight out of the box. Also, Sawgrass give a standard 2 year warranty. I have one of these, its great out of the box, the power driver really takes care of the colour profiles.

The ricoh though, if you bought one you could use with the new sublisplash inks. I am still tempted to change to these eventually. They are marginally cheaper, i think about 15%. Although you can get a change over kit which basically gives you two full sets of cartridges for the price of one.

If you go for the richo, it may be worth buying a standard one from somewhere (approx £100), then buying the changeover kit (approx £195). Then you have two full sets amd you could sell on the standard ink carts for a few pennies on ebay. That would still save you over £120 on SG400 but give you twice as much ink. Someone please correct me if my logic is wrong.

Alex.

[Tubstar]

I have just read an ongoing thread about the ricoh 3110 being discontinued. It looks like there are some big differences between the two printers. Perhaps you should ignore my previous post sorry. Although if money is tight the ricoh, with twice as much ink would still be cheaper. I always wonder though if I sacrificied on quality to save cash at the start, if I would regret it latter when I wanted to something more detailed.

Anyways, I am more than happy with the results from my sg400 and the second hand adkins studio mug I started with. Only wish I had gone a3 to be honest with the sg800. But they have gone up since my purchase.

Alex.

[mr-gobby]

Common dilemma, my money is on the sg400 as it's not discontinued. I've had both printers they are similar to use, not really done enough to give back to back comparisons. The sg400 comes with a higher quality output setting available. Company called novachrome have sg400 at £350 with sg ink and 2 year warranty, informative chap called Dave in technical is useful to chat too. Mdp have 3110 sawgrass for £259, if Sublisplash is your way of thinking there is 3110 @£256.25 from dyesubsupplies. 3110s are 1 year warranty and these are all plus vat prices. 3110s were going for £50 from some suppliers a while ago when being discontinued, some still lurking but now over £100 new unused with STD inks (not installed) then you can then add whatever inks you fancy

[Daninho]

Common dilemma, my money is on the sg400 as it's not discontinued. I've had both printers they are similar to use, not really done enough to give back to back comparisons. The sg400 comes with a higher quality output setting available. Company called novachrome have sg400 at £350 with sg ink and 2 year warranty, informative chap called Dave in technical is useful to chat too. Mdp have 3110 sawgrass for £259, if Sublisplash is your way of thinking there is 3110 @£256.25 from dyesubsupplies. 3110s are 1 year warranty and these are all plus vat prices. 3110s were going for £50 from some suppliers a while ago when being discontinued, some still lurking but now over £100 new unused with STD inks (not installed) then you can then add whatever inks you fancy

what do you mean with sawgrass 3110's? The sawgrass model is the SG400 as far as i know, the 3110 is the original Ricoh product, that can be bought for like 100 Euro refurbished, sometimes used for 50 Euro. The Sawgrass SG400 has a bit better printhead i think, more resolution. I dont know why some shops selling Epson Kits including the Eco Tank and sublisplash ink for really high prices, i mean that Eco Tank model is like 160 Euro + 140 Euro ink, then you need paper. Some shops want nearly 500 Euro for that which i dont know where the price comes from.

[mr-gobby]

That post is over two years old now but once upon a time before the SG400, Sawgrass inks were used in 3110's.