Epson 3800 Q

[MATT]

I am looking at buying a printer for home, a secondhand 3800 has become available for $1400. The owner is local to me and is upgrading to to a larger model. He has said that he will make sure all inks are full as this was one concern of mine with 9 carts at $100 odd each new.

Is there anything to look for? He is happy to do a test print for me and has said he has never had any problems with blocked heads ect..



IS the $1400 a good price? I can not justify the price of a new one, if new is the way to go a 2880 is more inmy budget.


ANy other info would be helpful.

thanks

MATT

[agriffiths]

Good find Mat, I'm also looking for one of these. Not sure whether to wait a few weeks for the 3880 to come out though.

If the inks are full then that sounds like a great price. Does he have two?

[MATT]

Good find Mat, I'm also looking for one of these. Not sure whether to wait a few weeks for the 3880 to come out though.

If the inks are full then that sounds like a great price. Does he have two?

Well that sounds promising. The 3800 doesnt do roll paper ?? Is that a problem? I would think that I would most likely be printing A3's but having the option of going bigger if need appeals.

MATT

[agriffiths]

The 3880 doesn't have the roll paper function either. I think you'd need to step up for the 4800 for that option.

My thoughts are if you're going to fork out for the 4800 you may as well go the extra distance and get a 24".

If you're just going to be printing A3 then the 3800 should do nicely. Problem is no matter which printer you get you'll always want to print the next size up .

Main difference between the 3800 and 3880 is a new Vivid Magenta and Light Magenta inkset for better blues, violets and purples. 3880 also has a new printehead that uses ink repellant coating to prevent clogging. The possibilty that clogging will be reduced in the 3880 is what I'm hanging out for, otherwise I'd just go ahead and buy the 3800.

[Matt. K]

The inks costs and lack of roll paper facility make this printer perhaps not a good buy unless you are going to continuously make a lot of prints. Printers need to be worked regularly otherwise they tend to start giving problems...clogged jets etc.

[agriffiths]

Printers need to be worked regularly otherwise they tend to start giving problems...clogged jets etc.

yes, a problem I'm hoping the 3880 revision will be able to overcome.

[Murray Foote]

Blocked heads used to be a serious problem on Epson printers five years ago and more, particularly with pigment inks, but I don't think it's much of a problem any more.

Vincent on Photo-i fired up his 2100 for a review, probably to compare with the 2880, and he had not used it for a year. He might have done a single head clean but basically it just worked straight off - and this is two or three generations before the 3880.

I have not used my R1800 for a couple of months at a time without having any problems. I don't recall even needing to clean the heads at any time except when I had a banding problem caused by an incorrect profile, though I might be wrong about that.

I did have a serious problem with "blocked heads" when I had an R800 until I worked out that that was due to letting air into the lines by running the inks too low. The R1800 seems much more forgiving on this.

Image Science has new 3800s for $1945 and the cheapest price on http://www.shopbot.com.au is $1855, so $1400 is probably a reasonable price.

I'm also contemplating a 3880, especially if my forthcoming exhibition proves reasonably viable. OK, the coated head's a good thing. From my limited understanding, I'm more interested in the increase in gamut and the smoother transitions from an improved method of laying down the inks. Monochrome especially could be a significant improvement over my R1800.

The 3800 can print beyond the prescribed 37" (if I remember the length correctly) using the Quad Tone RIP for black and white only - and therefore presumably the 3880 will be able to also. there's also a German freeware utility that worked with earlier versions of the 3800 and might be updated for the 3880. However, according to the documentation on that site, the earlier version of the driver is still available for download and you can switch between the two without problems (ie for the 3800). You might possibly need different custom profiles, though.

I agree there's no point buying one if you're not going to make use of it. It will come with say $800 of inks for $2000, compared to an R2880 for about $1200 with about $200 of inks so it's fairly attractive in those terms. The cost of the 3800/ 3880 cartridges is relatively high but the cartridges are much larger than A3 cartridges and even with discounting for A3 printer cartridges the cost of ink (R1800 vs 3800) remains about the same. I understand, though that the 3800/ 3880 will be a little bit more efficient in their use of the ink.

It I go ahead with trading up to the 3880, it wil probably be in January or February because prices are often a bit lower after the initial period.

Regards,
Murray

[Potoroo]

Blocked heads used to be a serious problem on Epson printers five years ago and more, particularly with pigment inks, but I don't think it's much of a problem any more.

What did they change? Epsons used to be notorious for clogged heads.

[gstark]

What did they change? Epsons used to be notorious for clogged heads.

Quite a lot. They also used to design their ink cartidges with all 37 flavours in the one cartridge. As soon as one ran out, you needed to replace the whole cartridge, wasting whatever unused ink (and there would have been plenty) that remained in the other colours.

Now everything is in individual carts, so you only replace what you need. But if you do it as soon as their driver issues its first warning, you will still be wasting about 20% of your ink. Their drivers are very aggressive in warning you of your depletion levels. I wish there was a way to turn those off, but still retain ink monitoring.

[Murray Foote]

What did they change? Epsons used to be notorious for clogged heads.

By the 1270 and 2100 they were most of the way there and they improved a bit more with the R1800 and R2400. I don't know whether there was a significant change earlier than that.

It may only apply if you are using Epson inks, though. Part of the verification system is built into the chips in the cartridges which perform more tasks than simply supplying the inks. I read a technical paper on this a few years ago but wouldn't know where to find it now.

When you change cartridges on the A4 and A3 printers you also need to assess whether to change other cartridges that are low because the process of changing a cartridge removes a small amount of ink from each cartridge. Probably not an issue for the 3800/3880 though because the cartridges are so much larger (80ml vs 13ml for the R1800 or less for the R1900).

[Matt. K]

I run two 2100 and 4 R800 printers extensively at work. Running the printers until the ink cartridges are bone empty has never caused a problem over 5 years of hard and continuous use. Using dirty or dusty or plain A4 paper causes problems...also, leaving the printers switched on for long periods without printing anything will also cause problems.

[Murray Foote]

Yes, I've read of people having problems who never switch their printers off. Switching the printer off parks the heads and I think turning it on again involves a maintenance cycle.

[MATT]

Wow thanks for the replies and good info..

I will most liekly use it for a day a month printing everything I would wat inone go rather than a print here and there. So would most likely but swithced off most of the time.. THe current owner said he has not had any issues with print head clogging..

The $1400 is really a the end of my printer budget, so I am not realy in a position to purchase a new one or the 3880 whenever it arives.

Regards
MATT

[agriffiths]

Reports indicate the 3880 is due mid October .

[agriffiths]

Matt, did you pick up the second hand 3800?

[MATT]

Matt, did you pick up the second hand 3800?

I am on holidays , hopefully I will get to see it in person next week adn pickup..

MATT

[MATT]

Well I have returned from holidays and are having secondthoughts.. Now thinking a 2880 with a roll feed meya be better and cheaper in the short term...But I dont know

The is another reason for the thread bump.. I was goign to put this in Bargins but here seems OK.

vanbar are having a sale. See here http://www.vanbar.com.au/adds/stockclearancesale.pdf

Well they have an 1 x epson 7800 for $2999 and a2 x 4880 for $2500 ( this I would like)....

So any of you keen printers may want topgrab what appears to be a pretty good price..

Also a few K7's for the pentax boys

MATT

[agriffiths]

Great find Mat! There's certainly a few goodies in there. If only I needed a 24" 7880!

Any chance I could grab the details of that second hand 3800?

[Murray Foote]

Very interesting prospect, Matt.

Actually I just met someone who had a bad run with a 7800 and sent it back (ended up buying a Canon). Might be just a bad sample, though. The 4880s do sound interesting. I wonder if that means there's a 4900 on the way? Maybe not. Still, I just don't have room for a 4880. I have an R1800 in a wardrobe converted to shelves. A 3880 would fit but not a 4880.

A 3880 is perhaps a bit enhanced from the 4880 in image quality as inherited from the 7900/9900. It might be interesting to compare equivalent 3880 and 4880 profles when the 3880 comes out.

As I was suggesting earlier, if you subtract the cost of included inks, the 3880 is only about $200 more expensive. If you are considering a 2880 for roll printing, you need to assess how large you really want to print, specifically on A3 roll. If I recall correctly, the standard driver on the 2880 goes to 44" whereas the 3880 goes to 37". A year or two ago I was printing panoramic landscapes from a 617 camera (and I may well go back to that). Since standard matte board goes to 40", I decided to restrict myself to that and never needed to print more than 37".

[MATT]

Great find Mat! There's certainly a few goodies in there. If only I needed a 24" 7880!

Any chance I could grab the details of that second hand 3800?

Not so fast.......

Murry thanks for the info.. more food for thought..

MATT

[agriffiths]

 LOL!

[agriffiths]

Just purchased the Epson 3800 from Vanbar and quite happy with the results on A4 gloss.

Can anyone tell me the best /cheapest place to find premium Glossy A2 and A3? (preferably in Melbourne)

[MATT]

Could I possible be so bold and ask at what price?

Congrats on the purchase. I am stuck at work and am yet to touch base wit the owner of the secondhand 3800

MATT

[agriffiths]

Yup, it was $1,718.18 ex GST. Best new price I've been able to find.

Anyone know where I can get Premium Gloss A2 for a decent price?

[MATT]

Thanks seems like a great price..

As for the paper , what is a good price?

MATT

[agriffiths]

RRP seems to be $120... so basically anything below $100.

[MATT]

How did you go find any papers?? I saw ebay had a local seller selling 50 sheet backs of A3 for around $90 ..

MATT

[agriffiths]

I've just discovered Epson traditional A3+ and won't be going back to premium gloss. I can get 25 sheets of A3+ for $100 and feel good about it as I'm supporting my local imaging store . Plus the prints are spectacular! I delivered two A3+ prints to a client with this paper and as a result secured work to cover their entire office in printed enlargements. That should keep food on the table for a while.

A2 Traditional is next on the list. That should work out at $160 for 25 sheets.