QPS has been a distributor for Nazdar inks for more than 17 years and together with fellow Nazdar distributor Hallmark Equipment Services it has taken on the UK and Ireland sales for Chinese wide-format printer manufacturer Longier.

The Longier printers available from QPS include the 2.5x1.45m Hunter FP3750 and FR3750, the 3.2x1.45m Hunter FR4650, the 2x3m Hunter FP6000 and the 1,000x900mm Hunter FP900, with the two 3750 models expected to be the most popular.

Of these, the FP3750 is flatbed-only and can handle materials up to 50mm thick, while the FR3750 includes an unwinder and rewinder for optional roll-to-roll or flatbed production.

The 3.2x1.45m Hunter FR4650 is also a hybrid flatbed and roll-to-roll machine, while the FP6000 and FP900 are both flatbed only. All machines feature the same KM1024 printheads, 14pl minimum drop size (FP900 only: 6pl) and 720x1,080dpi maximum resolution.

All five machines are available in eight-colour configuration (CMYK, light cyan, light magenta, white, varnish) and can print up to 35sqm/hr at maximum resolution or 70sqm/hr with the optional second bank of printheads, which is available as a field upgrade.

List price for the machines is as follows: £109,000 and £117,000 respectively for the Hunter FP3750 and FR3750; £125,000 for the Hunter FR4650; and £129,000 for the Hunter FP6000. QPS director Chris Bailey said he was still assessing the UK market for the FP900.

He added: "We've taken one machine order already for the FP3750, which has the oversized 4x8ft bed and the roll-to-roll option; that's the machine we expect to be most popular in the UK because the wide-format market is moving away from wider machines and concentrating towards 1.6m.

"The other two machines have quite a big footprint and from that point of view you would need quite a specialist requirement to go for them."

Bailey said that while the presses might seem expensive versus the likes of Mimaki, they were "a lot quicker and a lot cheaper to run".

Average ink costs of around 105p/sqm (85p/sqm at 360x1,080dpi full coverage) were around 40% cheaper than rivals such as SwissQPrint, Oce Arizona and Agfa Anapurna he added.

The Longier devices are available to order now with around an eight week lead time, although Bailey said the first few had taken significantly less than that.