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Intelligent Mail Barcode with Rena DA-590 or Pitney Bowes W700?

Published: July 13, 2009

Thinking_Question_MarkHello.  Hopefully you can help me. I’m using a Rena DA-590 printer that I inherited when I started at my company.  We sell speech materials and print an average of 9,000 envelopes per month.  We were told that this unit will not generate the intelligent mail barcode. Is this the case and if so can you give us an idea of what it would cost for a printer than does?  How about the Pitney Bowes W700 -Gary

Expert Recommendations: Rebuilt Rena Imager 1 or Rena Imager 1.5 new

Thanks for the questions.  Unfortunately, neither the Rena DA-590 or Pitney Bowes W700 will not generate a good intelligent mail barcode.   They utilizes the old HP 26A ink cartridge which does not have a high enough print area, therefore it would need print the top 2/3’s of the barcode, then come back and print the bottom 1/3.  The likelihood of it being readable is not good.  The rena DA-590 is also limited in its ability to print graphics.  These were great units. I remember taking my first unit out of the box some 14 years ago and as you have seen with your experience with the Rena product they hold up very well.

Since you are familiar with the Rena DA-590 I would recommend staying within their product line.  If you are considering a rebuilt unit as many people are due to the economy I would urge you to strongly consider the Rena Imager 1.  If you would like to move into a new unit I would look at the Rena Imager 1.5.  The prices are $2,500.00 and $6,795.00 respectively.  These are different from your DA-590 in that they are fixed head units which generate up to 9 lines of address in one pass.  They both use the newer HP45A print technology which will generate the intelligent mail barcode.

The fixed head technology will provide greater speed and because there are less moving parts because it doesn’t rely on a shuttling head much greater durability. The only drawback is that if you need to print other information on the mailpiece it would have to be done in a separate pass. I hope this answers your question. As you can see there are many variables that go into making the right decision on your next address printer. If you would like to discuss your application in greater depth let me know.  Thank you.

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