Xante Ilumina Digital Envelope Press

[JustinB]

I got to see some output from the PSI 3655 and it looks nice and all, but I'm having a hard time justifying spending a boatload more compared to the straight shooter. The company hosting the demo made mention a few times that the printer itself has been modified from original to make it more friendly for envelopes. i.e. it runs cooler, etc. PSI itself claims their toner is better quality and "high definition" compared to the regular oki toner. Sounds a little fishy to me...

Does anyone have any commentary on this?

[damfino]

I own a PSI and there are no modifications to the printer (unlike Xante) nor any proprietary toner that I am aware of. What Oki does for them is install a custom RFID chip in each toner cartridge (same for xante) so you are forced to buy from them.

Very problematic feeder and lousy service. Buyer beware.

[digital4life]

I have been looking to add an envelope press to my shop and have been studying them for several months
I am going to go with Xante I believe because the price and quality are more reasonable than the other ones I've seen and studied
One of my friends just put a Xante in their plant and they say it prints more than envelopes, the registration is great and with the demand I need this unit, I'm sick of having to turn away short runs, I will be making a decision very soon, Xante so far is the best option and the press is easy to operate

[digital4life]

I looked at PSI but I heard its jams alot, I definately find the top feeder is better because the media goes in a straight path, I am going with the Ilumina I think, everyone I have talked to that has one enjoys it

[MSLDoug]

There is a third player in this market. It is called the Intoprint. They use the same Oki print engine but have configured their product with a modified Streamfeeder envelope feeder. This feeder is bulletproof as it has been on the market for years. The key difference between PSI and Intoprint is that PSI is building their own feeder and this is the first version, same with Xante. You cannot load the Xante until it is empty, both PSI and Intoprint can be run continuously by top loading a bottom feeder. Probably the biggest advantage for the Intoprint is the infeed modification that they have made. The envelope is center driven into the Oki. If the envelope comes out of the feeder crooked it will straighten out in between the guides every time and be in register. PSI uses solid rollers to feed the envelope into the printer and if it is not straight you get a bad envelope. Another great feature is an electric eye on the delivery conveyor. The conveyor doesn't run until a piece exits the print engine. This really helps when doing variable data when you need to keep the pieces in the proper order. The Oki print engine has to delay periodically to catch up on fuser temp which will cause gaps on the conveyor. They offer a less expensive variable speed conveyor. If you are only doing static envelope printing it probably doesn't matter but these machines are great for variable data. The better system with a Fiery RIP gives you all kinds of control of print without going back to pre-press. The RIP also lets you easily do variable data without special software. My experience is that everything digital is expensive, initial cost and operationally. The advantage is supplying an on demand product to your customers and also figuring out ways to use variable data to create value to what you are selling. These things are not designed to replace high volume and spot color printed envelopes. They are to service people that want short run full color envelopes and do things that cannot be done on offsets or other print engines.

Doug

[Happyprinter]

Just a piece of advice. We installed a Xante Ilumina and were not at all happy with the quality output or technical service (lousy). We sent it back and bought a Oki 9650 and will be adding a straight shooter soon. A lot less money, Consumables cheaper to purchase, print quality great on envelopes and other stock. Tech support directly thru OKI has been wonderful.

[jotterpinky]

Does anyone have an average cost per envelope (real world pricing not the bs from the manufacturer)

Also in regard to the straight-shooter has anyone tried running open end booklets through this thing. We need a feeder for our mailing tabber and want to use it to feed booklets of about 4-8 sheets of paper folded in half and tabbed on the open end

[Hightower]

Does anyone have realistic data about this?

[oliverseemless]

We have one for sale. Anyone know where the best place to post for sale of used Xante Illumina Envelope Digital Press. 2 year warranty still left. Practically brand new.

[Hightower]

Why are you selling? Any idea about cost/page, anyone?