We just added an HP Latex 700 to our production floor — and if you’ve worked with us before, you’ll notice the difference immediately. This isn’t a replacement for our Roland VG2-640. It’s an expansion that gives our team a second weapon with a completely different set of strengths. Here’s what that means for your next project.
Two Printers. Two Technologies. One Shop.
Our Roland VG2-640 runs eco-solvent ink — it’s been our workhorse for vehicle wraps, outdoor signage, cut vinyl decals, and anything that lives in the elements. Eco-solvent is tough. It bonds aggressively to substrates, resists UV fade, and handles heat and moisture without breaking down. For fleet wraps and exterior applications, it’s the right tool.
The HP Latex 700 runs water-based latex ink — a fundamentally different chemistry. No solvents, no VOCs, almost no odor. Prints come off the machine dry and ready to handle. That changes what we can do for interior applications, occupied spaces, and time-sensitive installs where you can’t have a freshly printed wrap sitting in a ventilated room for hours before it goes up.
What the HP Latex 700 Does Better
Interior Environments Without the Odor
Medical offices, schools, food service spaces, and retail stores can’t tolerate solvent smells — even low-odor eco-solvent has a detectable chemical scent during and after printing. Latex prints are essentially odorless. Wall murals, window graphics, and interior displays produced on the HP can go directly into occupied spaces without airing out.
Wider Substrate Range
Latex ink adheres to substrates that eco-solvent can’t touch — uncoated papers, textiles, canvas, synthetic fabrics, and backlit film. If you need a fabric banner, a canvas wall display, or a backlit graphic for a lightbox, the HP Latex 700 handles it. Our Roland couldn’t.
Immediate Handling — No Off-Gassing Wait
Eco-solvent prints need time to off-gas before lamination or installation — typically 24 hours for best results. HP Latex prints cure on exit. That cuts a day out of production time for applicable jobs, which matters when you’re working against a grand opening or a tight installation window.
Color Consistency at Scale
For multi-location rollouts where brand color accuracy across dozens of prints matters, the HP Latex 700’s color management is exceptional. It’s G7 calibration-capable and holds tight tolerances across long runs — important for franchise clients and national brand programs where a panel printed in week one needs to match one printed in week four.
What the Roland VG2-640 Still Does Better
The Roland isn’t going anywhere. Eco-solvent ink outperforms latex outdoors — it’s more resistant to abrasion, edge cracking, and extreme temperature swings. For vehicle wraps, channel letter faces, outdoor banners, and anything that’s going to face a Southern California summer, eco-solvent wins. The VG2-640 is also a print-and-cut machine — it prints and contour-cuts in a single pass, which is essential for decals, stickers, and complex die-cut graphics that the HP can’t produce without a separate cutter.
The Real Benefit: We Choose the Right Tool for Your Job
Before adding the HP Latex 700, every print job ran through one technology regardless of whether it was the best fit. Now our production team selects the printer based on your application — indoor or outdoor, fabric or vinyl, immediate install or standard lead time, odor-sensitive environment or not.
That means better output quality, fewer compromises, and in many cases, faster turnaround. It also means we can take on projects we previously had to turn away or subcontract — fabric displays, canvas installations, textile graphics, and archival-quality prints for hospitality and healthcare interiors.
Applications by Printer
| Application | Roland VG2-640 | HP Latex 700 |
|---|---|---|
| Vehicle wraps & fleet graphics | ✓ Preferred | |
| Outdoor banners & building graphics | ✓ Preferred | |
| Die-cut decals & stickers | ✓ Only option (print/cut) | |
| Window graphics (exterior) | ✓ | ✓ |
| Interior wall murals | ✓ | ✓ Preferred (no odor) |
| Backlit film / lightbox graphics | ✓ Preferred | |
| Fabric & textile displays | ✓ Only option | |
| Canvas & uncoated media | ✓ Only option | |
| Healthcare & food service installs | ✓ Preferred (odorless) | |
| Multi-site brand rollouts | ✓ | ✓ Preferred (color accuracy) |
What This Means If You’re a Current Client
If you’ve had jobs with us before, nothing changes in how you request or approve work. Our team will select the right printer on our end based on the specs. If you have a specific preference or a substrate requirement, just mention it when you submit your project — we’ll work around it.
If you’ve been holding off on a project because you weren’t sure we could handle a particular material or environment, now’s a good time to ask. Contact us for a free consultation and we’ll tell you exactly which machine fits your application.
A couple of sample prints
