Xerox iGen5 + 5th color orange/clear + thick stock option

Hello,
we going to change our X1000 to a new press and i'd like to ask for experiences/thougts about iGen5/150 with 5th color station with orange toner and/or clear toner + Thick Stock Option.
Thinking about iGen because of uptime, realiability and speed mainly for Christmas season, for quality of output (mainly the solids), for larger sheet size, and we'd like to try the Thick Stock option for business cards, greeting cards and custom packaging. We are curious about the 5th color station with orange toner for expanded gamut for photobooks and for business clients need. We have the X1000 with clear toner and just sometimes using it for document security, for enchancing greeting cards and flood varnish option for better output on photo products.

We worry about reactions of photo products (books, calendars, etc.) customers - they like the X1000's gloss toner - while iGen's matte toner is for us more professional looking, maybe they miss the glossiness...
We bought the X1000 (after our X550) just because of quality of output, i am curious on your opinion if iGen5 has really better everyday quality of print, and if the customer can differentiate this - is this a real advantage over X1000, or X1000 is enough? What about economy of X1000 vs iGen5, price vs price of the machines / lower impression price / higher monthly fee / bigger electricity bill?

If somebody has experience with Thick Stock Option - please let know if this upgrade has a negative effect on other stock registration precision and please share your experiences with thickness of various stocks.
We plan the 5th color station with orange just for to try out, if somebody has experience with enchanced gamut for everyday applications, please let know.
Somebody told, that the Clear toner option on iGen5 has some limitations vs the X1000 Clear...
And we thinking between FreeFlow RIP and EFI RIP, before we had CreoRIP (X550) later FreeFlow RIP (X1000). Has the EFI RIP some advantages like the multi pass clear dry ink option on X1000?
Thanks a lot.

 

I thought the new Igen has a gloss option also, no?

One of our business partners run this machine and the thick stock option should have no effect on lighter substrates.

I run a NexPress (two actually) they have both matte and gloss options. Exceptional up time (however most maintenance you'll do yourself. Not a bad thing!) some of the best color in the industry for digital and a machine built for photos.

 

iGen5 is available with either low gloss toner or standard toner (glossy toner). However, the extended gamut kit (orange, green and blue toners) is only compatible with low gloss toner.

Clear has some draw backs. It requires a different fuser oil and slows the machine down because the sheet has to go through twice if printing clear over top of CMYK. If clear is by itself, fuser oil does not need to be changed and press will run at rated speed. It is also has a different look than the 1000 clear.

Thick stock does not affect registration of other papers. The thick papers (351+) use a slightly different paper path then lighter weights.

 

iGen 5 - 150 will handle a sheet 350gsm up to 500 microns as standard.
Changing the print engine engine from full colour to full colour and 5th colour takes approx 50 mins.
Mechanically the parts are swapped in 10 mins but then the xerographic set up has to be done then the colour maintenance.
You'll have to plan your jobs very carefully to avoid downtime while swapping colours.
The upside is, with the addition of the orange for instance there is no comparison between Pantone orange 021 C and the cmyk equivalent.
It is bang on to the Pantone book !!

 

This is only true if you're changing to a different 5th color. If you have orange in the machine and you want to switch to 4 color only, it takes less than 3 seconds.

 

You need to do CMT including TRC linearization when swapping to 5th colour. Takes more than 3 seconds I find.

 

Correct, if switching from Orange to Blue/Green. However, if you already have orange loaded in the machine and setup. It only takes a few seconds to go to 4 color mode and then a couple seconds more to go back to orange if needed.