Ricoh and Roland DG take home BLI 2020 Wide Format Pick Awards

Keypoint Intelligence - Buyers Lab (BLI), the world’s leading independent provider of testing services and analytical information to the document imaging industry, announced its Pick award recipients in the Wide Format category, with the accolades going to excellent hardware from Ricoh and Roland DG. These awards acknowledge the products that gave the best performances in Buyers Lab’s field tests over the prior year.

The BLI 2020 Wide Format Pick awards go to the following exceptional devices:

Ricoh Pro L5160 (Dual CMYK)

Outstanding High Production CMYK Eco-Solvent/Latex 54-inch/64-inch Printer

Roland DG TrueVIS SG2-540/SG2-640 (CMYK)

Outstanding Entry-Level CMYK Eco-Solvent/Latex 54-inch/64-inch Printer

Roland DG TrueVIS VG2-540/VG2-640 (Eight-Color with Orange)

Outstanding Gamut Expansion Eco-Solvent/Latex 54-inch/64-inch Printer

Roland DG TrueVIS VG2-540/VG2-640 (Eight-Color with White)

Outstanding Enhanced CMYK Eco-Solvent/Latex 54-inch/64-inch Printer

David Sweetnam, Keypoint Intelligence’s Director of EMEA/Asia Research & Lab Services commented on the award winners:

“The dual CMYK Ricoh Pro L5160 is designed with the end user in mind, and the end result is pure class. Highlights include an intuitive color touchscreen with 30 configurable media presets, simplified and automated maintenance, ergonomically friendly roll loading, and high (1,200 ml) capacity latex ink cartridges. Print shops will also benefit from the Ricoh Pro L5160’s rapid turnaround. It excelled in our productivity assessment with speeds that were 54 percent faster than average when printing on Avery Dennison MPI 3000 monomeric vinyl and 24 percent faster than average printing on MPI 1105 premium vinyl at the most productive setting,” he said.

“Roland made several significant upgrades to the TrueVIS printers that clearly offer an enhanced user experience,” he said. “The printers now feature automated sheet cutting as well as inline perforated cut capabilities that will surely be appreciated in busy print shops.” New TrueVIS inks are included in the entire device portfolio, from the entry-level four color SG2-540 to the enhanced and extended gamut VG2 models with either white or—a first for Roland—orange ink. “The VG2-540 with orange and VG2-640 with white received exceptional scores in every aspect of image quality. Most notably, the VG2-540 with orange produced wide color gamuts that exceeded the Adobe RGB color space in the orange region of the spectrum, a feat some devices have approached but never surpassed—until now.”

Accepting the awards for Roland DG was Kohei Tanabe, President, Digital Printing Business Division (pictured). “We are honoured that BLI has recognised the print quality and productivity of our VG printer cutters, that are engineered to deliver versatility, precision and power,” said Tanabe. “The ‘VIS’ in TrueVIS is Latin for ‘Vision,’ which is very appropriate when you consider how these advanced machines allow users to bring their visions to life, giving them a true competitive business advantage.”

“It’s a great honour to gain the ‘seal of approval’ from a highly respected test lab like BLI,” noted Roland DGA President Andrew Oransky. “The TrueVIS VG-640 and VG-540 printer cutters clearly outperformed other printers in their class. The quality and performance of our advanced inkjets, along with our world-class service and support, allows Roland to consistently exceed the expectations of our