Solvents inks come in two main guises eco (mild) or full (aggressive). The full solvent inks are designed to 'burn' into un-coated media like vinyl's so that once the solvent has evaporated off, the colour is a permanent part of the media itself. These inks can be highly durable and are generally for outdoor use with over five year durability. The eco or mild solvent uses a slower drying liquid suspension and needs heaters to dry. Coated media accelerates drying and facilitates colour vibrancy.

• Seiko
• Mimaki
• Epson

UV-Curable, pigmented inks available in cyan, magenta, yellow, black, light cyan and light magenta are designed for reliable jetting, low maintenance, long printhead life, low cost of operation and long term outdoor display life — 2 to 7 years depending on application. SolaChrome-UV inks print directly on just about any substrate. The main advantages to a UV curing system is that as soon as the inks are cured they are totally dry and it can print onto wide ranging substrates.

• HP 45000 - 35000
• Mimaki

Dye and pigmented solids, dissolved in the carrier (usually aqueous/water based) and the ink cannot. The aqueous inks have a wide colour gamut and can look 'photo-realist' for Photographic reproduction or Fine Art printing. Much better fade resistance is achieved with the new generation pigmented inks with a number of manufacturers offering long term warranties when used with the appropriate media. This well established, tried and tested technology is very robust, with low cost machines.

• Epson
• HP
• Canon