NatureScapes.net Forums

Epson announced a replacement for the 3880. According to Ron Martinsen's blog, it shares the IJ head/fluid management platform of the 3880 suggesting that it is less prone to clogging than the 4xxx family. We'll see.

Joerg

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases ... 65190.html

It seems to have an optional roll paper adapter, which was the big thing (for me, doing lots of panos) missing in the 3880. So this new one looks very good. Might even be my next printer, if the reviews turn out good.

THE biggest feature I would like, is that it is uncloggable, for people doing low volume printing...
Fingers crossed !

Yes, the optional roll adapter is a step in the right direction. The lack of it on the 3880 was always the main thing I didn't like about that model, though I can understand why Epson may have chosen to protect their 4880 / 4900 model as the one intended for roll stock.

It's interesting that Epson are commenting even semi-officially about preserving the head design from the 3880 in the new SureColor 800 (and by extension the 600 as well). This is as close to an admission that I've yet seen that the direction they took with the x900 series head design had a major problem. Rather than move the x900 type head design forward with the new SureColor printers, they've regressed to the x880 design which was the best Epson made so far.

Unfortunately, the x880 head design and ink management system had a major problem: it's still an 8-channel head with 9 inks loaded. So in the year 2015 with a brand new Epson printer series coming out you're still going to dump tremendous amounts of PK and MK into the waste tank, if you switch between glossy and matte media. For Epson to be sticking to this approach, especially with the initial increased pricing of the SureColor ink set, is a pretty clear disregard of the customer's interests.

We'll see if the black ink wastage is offset by any reduction of cleaning cycles due to head clogs with the SureColor printers. Since the head design is the same as the x880, I would expect clogging roughly the same as the x880's as well. The new inks may improve clogging a bit, but I doubt the primary clogging issues can be resolve entirely through the ink formulation. That's not necessarily good enough for me any more. And it's defintely not the question I was hoping to still be asking about Epson's new printer lineup.

I really, really wish Canon would produce an updated 17" desktop model (iPF 5400?) to replace their fairly ancient iPF 5100. If they did, I would probably get one in a heartbeat...

Here's the first review I've seen and it's a fairly thorough one:
http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/revi ... eview.html

Looks pretty good to me...

According to the Northlight review, the P800 comes with starter ink carts (64 mL) rather than full carts (80 mL). Didn't the 3880 come with 80mL carts?

John

Early 3800's also came with the partially filled carts and then later they switched to full ones. Don't know about the 3880. It may also depend on region.

My 3880 shipped with full ink carts but that was five years ago.

I'm guessing the ink price will be on the order of the 3880, though I'd guess a bit more. Probably about $0.87/ml...


Brian

They are about $8 more per cartridge.

Hopefully that ink price will come down to current 3880 levels after awhile.

E.J. Peiker wrote:They are about $8 more per cartridge.

That's quite a bit more expensive, more than I'd have guessed.

We'll see how long those prices last...


Brian

It takes time with a new product to get "street pricing". Manufacturer's usually keep tight control over pricing with a new product release.