The HP Designjet T770HD and Canon iPF775: A Comparison

We've just got our hands on a detailed comparative review of the HP Designjet T770HD and the Canon image PROGRAF iPF755 printers, courtesy of the Buyer's Lab (BLI). The review - in which the T770HD fared very favourably - compares the performance of the two printers in various tests, covering important features such as reliability, print quality, ink consumption, and file compatibility.

Let's start by considering the prints themselves - after all, they're fairly integral to a print workflow... Straight off the bat, the HP Designjet T770HD outperforms the Canon iPF755 in both colour and black print quality. In colour, the Designjet produced more distinct fine lines than the Canon, making the HP the obvious choice for detailed printing, while prints from the Canon suffered from blending in some areas of closely spaced fine lines, making production of accurate detail very difficult.

Where greyscale is concerned, the T770HD offers halftone fill printing with black ink only, allowing for neutral grey halftone fills. Conversely, the Canon iPF755 prints halftone fills using process (four-colour) black, resulting in a fill with a cyan tint. Even set to its 'black ink only' setting, the Canon's halftone fills weren't quite up to standard, this time suffering from a brown appearance.

The HP printer also demonstrated superior consistency across large print areas, showing little (if any) banding on maps and posters with heavy ink coverage, while the Canon was not so successful.

Ink consumption was tested over a 6-day period by printing 3,600 sq feet of three different documents (with starts and stops) to approximate real-world use. In this test, the T770HD again came out on top, using 13.5% less ink overall than the Canon.

Where file compatibility is concerned, both the iPF755 and the Designjet T770HD handled a range of file types with no problems. However, when it came to the supplementary HP-GL/2 files - which have become a lot more commonplace in recent years - it was the HP that took the trophy, suffering from no processing defects whatsoever. The Canon, on the other hand, displayed a variety of error messages and print head carriage stops that led to print times two-three times longer than those of the Canon. This is far from ideal if your workflow utilises such files on a regular basis.

While it's true that the Canon and HP printers were well-matched in a number of the BLI tests, there are clear and important advantages to be seen with the HP. For example, colour and greyscale accuracy are key when communicating project ideas to clients, and the Designjet T770HD is easily the most reliable in this respect. It was also noted that the T770HD generated a colour gamut 45.3% larger in than that of the Canon, giving you a greater colour range and more versatility in your colour printing.   

For CAD and other detailed print work, the HP Designjet T770HD should be strongly considered; its line accuracy makes it ideal for showing designs clearly and effectively, while its colour gamut and consistency let you produce bold and striking results with confidence, every time.

Visit our online store, Jigsaw24, for more information about the T770HD, or call our experts on 03332 409 204  or email CAD@Jigsaw24.com if you'd like more information.