When Liz Allen’s entrepreneurial spirit kicked in, and she decided to open up a FASTSIGNS franchise in Oviedo, Fla., she had a number of items on her to-do list, but perhaps few as important as purchasing a wide-format printer for the shop. When attending the ISA Sign Expo in Orlando earlier this year, she jumped on a discount offered in a show special, and purchased an Epson SureColor S60600 64-inch solvent printer from LexJet.

“FASTSIGNS did recommend the Epson,” Allen says. “We chose it because of its speed. It was three times faster than the other printer we looked at.”

Allen opened her new FASTSIGNS store in July, and because she’s new to wide-format printing, she hired Mike Howell, a seasoned sign shop printer, to manage production of banners, floor graphics, magnets and more of the shop’s offerings.

“I’ve been in the sign business for 30 years,” Howell says. “I saw the Epson printer when I was at FASTSIGNS corporate office, so I was able to get my hands on the printer. It’s very quick — a lot faster than a lot of the other machines I’ve used.”

A month and a half into the new business, Howell says the Epson S60600 is “a well thought-out machine. They’ve really sorted out a lot of issues that sign makers have had.”

For a solvent printer, Howell says this one is much quieter, dries quickly and includes a light inside. “It’s the first printer I’ve every used with a light in it.”

Epson claims that the S-Series printers are the first solvent machines to offer same-day lamination with Epson UltraChrome GS3 Inks, which Howell agrees is a big perk. The S60600 also had its Dual-Array PrecisionCore® TFP print heads, which aid in its speed. “Usually two-headed machines mean twice as many problems,” Howell says. “But it seems to be doing fantastic.”

And with it’s 8-cartridge, Epson UltraChrome GS3 Ink, Howell says the color reproduction is “spot on.”

“It’s an excellent machine,” he says. “It’s exceeded my expectations, and I’m really impressed with it.”