flexi 8 as a rip

[PGilleland]

I am going to either upgrade Flexi to 8 (note I love flexi for almost everything, except for the rip, up to this date), get Onyx or Wasatch.

I could upgrade Flexi to 8 cheaper than buy one of the other 2. My dealer carries Onyx, but I understand there are less profiles. (I use Orajet a lot and can't find any profiles for Onyx for that yet.)

I know there is a lot of discussion on the forum about this, and I have read and re-read them all and still having trouble deciding.

Of those of you who use Flexi 8, are you able to do most of the things that the other rip programs do, just as well and easily?

TIA

[eye4clr]

I can tell you that Oracal is currently getting their line profiled in all major RIPs. So if that is your primary media, it may not be a factor in your decision in the near future.

[Byron]

I started with Versaworks and Flexi 7.5 and after problems and frustartions with both upgraded my Onyx from 5.6 to 6.5. Very glad I did. It is solid as a rock and gives great results everytime.
As for oracal profiles and use this media as well, I tried the oracal profile for onyx from their website but it was not very good. Too much ink lay down. I found the best solution was right in onyx. I use either the economy cal vinyl profile or the glossy cal vinyl 1x4var dot and the results are spectacular.
The only drawback to onyx is with print/lam/cut. Seems the reg marks are not good enough for the printer to pick them all the time. And of course just when you need it to work it doesn't. Go figure.
By the way when I upgraded my onyx, when I pointed out that it would cheaper for me to upgrade my Flexi they offered an additional competitve upgrade discount so there was no longer a financial issue.

[gabagoo]

I am pretty sure the same holds true with Flexi on the lamination/cut issue. Have not experienced it yet, but was told by the dealer. You can always have a supply of black 3mm squares ready for emergencies. Those do work and although a little inconvenient can be better in some cases then cutting by hand.

[american printer]

Flexi 8 does a great job of print and cut. We are using 8 with a Graphtec 7100.
Onyx is much more involved and in my prior experience not as accurate.
Andy

[Byron]

Just as a follow up (and no I am not on commision for onyx) I can tell you that if great color right out of the box with reds that are red and black that is a true black and not some greeny grey then onyx is the way to go.
For straight print and cut work it has been perfect. Even print, dry overnite and cut next day it is great. The only time it struggles is when you print, then laminate, then cut. Seems the marks are just not good enough to be properly scanned thru the laminate by the printer. Using black markers and other methods haven't worked for me.