Epson 3880 on Sale for $850

[Ron Marshall]

In case anyone is considering a purchase:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/649771-REG/Epson_CA61201_VM_Stylus_Pro_3880_Large_Format.html

[Rider]

I wonder if this is a sign of something new to come?

[Curt]

free shipping.

[neil poulsen]

I wonder if this is a sign of something new to come?

And that's through October 31st.

[asnapper]

Its been reported Epson will have 3 new printers at Photokina but I doubt one will be a replacement for the 3880

[Larry Gebhardt]

$799 at Atlex.com with free shipping.

[R Mann]

At what point is it worth it to buy it just for the ink?

[SAShruby]

At what point is it worth it to buy it just for the ink?

Funny thing is, that the cost of ink is exactly what Epson is after. They gave you tool cheap and then rip you off on inks... ;) How do you increase your revenue? Sacrifice one time revenue of the printer to offset added value embedded in inks. At the end, you make'em money because you have to use printer to avoid clogging your head which would cost you $$$, so you must use ink...

Easy :)

[Greg Miller]

I have had my 48900 for several years. It sometimes goes a while without printing. It rarely needs a cleaning, and when it does a single pass or two of cleaning generally clears it up. That's a significant improvement over the 4000 that I owned; and renders the loss of ink due to nozzle clogging pretty moot. I think with each successive generation of printers. Epson has been able to improve the clogging issue (which is inherent to all inkjets).

And while I would always like to see the price of ink go down (and I know that's where all the profit is for the manufacturers who count on a captive audience), the price of ink per print is not that bad. If I could cause a price reduction, I would focus on paper prices before ink prices.

The cost for ink at B&H prices is about $450. So at $799, the printer is only costing $350. That's a heck of a price for a heck of a printer.

Regarding ink prices, it is interesting to note that the 80 ml cartridges for the 3880 are almost exactly the same price as the 110ml cartridges for the 4880. Too bad the 4880 does not support hot swappable MK & PK.

[SAShruby]

And strategies like cancelling warranty if you use 3rd party inks... nice move, right? BTW, a reminder!, first fill up take 50% of your cartridge, so make sure you buy extra inks too ($450 to be added).

[Ron Marshall]

And strategies like cancelling warranty if you use 3rd party inks... nice move, right? BTW, a reminder!, first fill up take 50% of your cartridge, so make sure you buy extra inks too ($450 to be added).

Sounds like you had a bad experience with an Epson?

[SAShruby]

Sounds like you had a bad experience with an Epson?

Not really, I bought an Epson outside of warranty, these things doesn't apply for me but in this case, when you buy new Epson, it's a whole different ball game. I use Cone inks and I'm happy. Risk is all mine, it was since beginning.

Personally, I technically struggled to make good print out of it, but not because of the Epson difficulty, but because of my non-familiarity with digital printing and image editing.

But fisrt message I got when switching to cone was: Warning!!! You will void warranty if you switch to non Epson inks, DO YOU AGREE?"

Pretty good, eh?

[Tyler Boley]

not so...

from this link-
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?topic=45105

"But, here in the USA we have the Magnusson-Moss Warranty Act and the Sherman Anti-Trust Act which both state that a manufacturer can not deny warranty repair to equipment based upon choice of consumables - unless the manufacturer can prove that the repairs are necessary for something that their own consumables would not cause. It would have to be that the use of the ink broke something that the use of their ink would not. That limits it so severely that Epson does not deny warranty coverage in the USA to printers which have been used with 3rd party inks, because Epson inks themselves are known to cause certain common problems that all inks cause to tiny piezo inkjet heads. But, they do reserve the right to remove the carts, and charge the customer for a set of Epson carts in which to do their repair and final testing (which is reasonable).

In Japan, Epson CAN deny warranty coverage to consumers who use a 3rd party ink. In EU they can not deny warranty. I am uncertain about other parts of the world.

In any event, Inkjetmall maintains insurance in the case that our ink products cause harm that Epson ink products do not. So we have the hole covered in any event.
Jon Cone
InkjetMall
http://www.inkjetmall.com

end of quote..
Tyler

[Brian Ellis]

And strategies like cancelling warranty if you use 3rd party inks... nice move, right? BTW, a reminder!, first fill up take 50% of your cartridge, so make sure you buy extra inks too ($450 to be added).

I've never heard that the first fill-up (by which I assume you mean the first time you load the cartridges that come with the printer) takes 50% of the cartridge. Where did you hear that (not arguing with you, just that I don't remember hearing that before)? I went about two years, maybe more, with the ink that came with my Epson 3800 before needing any new cartridges and then it was only a couple. Also have never had a clog despite the printer occasionally sitting idle for several weeks in between printing sessions.

[SAShruby]

I've never heard that the first fill-up (by which I assume you mean the first time you load the cartridges that come with the printer) takes 50% of the cartridge. Where did you hear that (not arguing with you, just that I don't remember hearing that before)? I went about two years, maybe more, with the ink that came with my Epson 3800 before needing any new cartridges and then it was only a couple. Also have never had a clog despite the printer occasionally sitting idle for several weeks in between printing sessions.


Correction:

http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/support/supDetail.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=yes&infoType=FAQ&oid=141552&prodoid=63085147&foid=148278

Thanks for the checking Brian. 7880 takes 50%.

User feedback:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1003&message=35796561

[PViapiano]

Cone now has replacement inks for the K3 set at much better prices than OEM.

Has anyone been using the Cone color inks, and how do they match up for you? I'd be very interested in their use for both color prints and digital negs...

[Rider]

I've never used Cone. I still have an Epson 4000 chugging away. Are there color replacement inks for that one?

[SAShruby]

Cone now has replacement inks for the K3 set at much better prices than OEM.

Has anyone been using the Cone color inks, and how do they match up for you? I'd be very interested in their use for both color prints and digital negs...

I just started to use them. Cone inks states they match the k3 inks, you can slowly switch to cone from K3's, that's what I do right now. I have switched LLB and LB so far. Waiting for other inks to run out. When I switch completely I will run calibration tests for sure. You can contact customer service, their response was prompt and great. they even sent me piezo inks samples. Nice, eh?

[Ron Marshall]

I just started to use them. Cone inks states they match the k3 inks, you can slowly switch to cone from K3's, that's what I do right now. I have switched LLB and LB so far. Waiting for other inks to run out. When I switch completely I will run calibration tests for sure. You can contact customer service, their response was prompt and great. they even sent me piezo inks samples. Nice, eh?

Their customer support is great; and they take the time to fully answer your questions.

[SKimber]

Funny thing is, that the cost of ink is exactly what Epson is after. They gave you tool cheap and then rip you off on inks... ;) How do you increase your revenue? Sacrifice one time revenue of the printer to offset added value embedded in inks. At the end, you make'em money because you have to use printer to avoid clogging your head which would cost you $$$, so you must use ink...

Easy :)


Well.. I know what you said exactly, but there is always a way to save money with such great printer. check the following wonderful refillable system -

http://www.inkrepublic.com/3880-irefill.asp

this allows you to use larger cart with 3rd party inks, cheaper of course, and you can reset maintenance tank if using their system.

you can also make your 3800 or 3880 to support roll papers (that means they can work as great as 4800, 4880). check the 4th youtube video.

my 2 cents.

[Shailendra]

Does anyone know how long it can print vs its 17" width?

[Jon Shiu]

Does anyone know how long it can print vs its 17" width?

37.5 inches, or longer with a professional (expensive) RIP.

Jon

[D. Bryant]

37.5 inches, or longer with a professional (expensive) RIP.

Jon

Quad Tone Rip provides a quality B&W solution for $50 but for color big $$$.

Don Bryant

[Greg Miller]

Quad Tone Rip provides a quality B&W solution for $50 but for color big $$$.

Don Bryant


Qimage is available at about the same price and can print color. It is only limited in print length by the computer's processing power or paper roll length.

[D. Bryant]

Qimage is available at about the same price and can print color. It is only limited in print length by the computer's processing power or paper roll length.

Sorry Greg, that's not correct. I've researched this long ago and Qimage doesn't solve that problem.

For example the 48XX Epsons can make prints over 500 inches long with Qimage because it is a roll paper printer and the Epson 48XX driver allows Qimage to recognize that banner mode can be set.

That is not the case with the 38XX printers. Since the 3800 has no facility for roll paper therefore Qimage cannot be set to banner mode.

Don

[Greg Miller]

Sorry Greg, that's not correct. I've researched this long ago and Qimage doesn't solve that problem.

For example the 48XX Epsons can make prints over 500 inches long with Qimage because it is a roll paper printer and the Epson 48XX driver allows Qimage to recognize that banner mode can be set.

That is not the case with the 38XX printers. Since the 3800 has no facility for roll paper therefore Qimage cannot be set to banner mode.

Don


Good catch. I see that page length is limited to 37.4" with Qimage on the 38XX printers. I had used Qimage previously with 48xx printers and had no length limitations.

[612tom]

Hi, I'm going to hijack this thread rather than start another...

Given the last post was 8 months ago - does anyone know if a mod/hack to the Epson driver or if a new RIP has been launched to print longer than the 950mm (37.5") that Epson quote is the max for the 3880?

I think my photography is getting better (or at least it's not as crap as it once was!), so I've had some prints made and haven't been particularly happy at all with the quality from Teds here in Melbourne - others might have more luck. Anyway I like to keep things in-house so have started to narrow down a printer selection for my uses. 70/30 BW/colour. The majority of my work is 1:2.5 ratio, slightly panoramic, and so I've been through and worked out the largest size print I'd be able to do with the 3880.

If using A2 sheets I could only do a 594x238mm which seems a bit small and wasteful for such a large printer. However I could tap into the many different types of paper available. I dont think there's a huge selection available in rolls is there?

If I did find a good paper available in rolls, using a 17" (432mm) roll with the max length of 950mm, then my image is 380mm x 950mm, which seems better usage of the paper space. So I'd cut a 950-1000mm length off the roll and feed it into the printer. Has anyone done this with the 3880? Tricky? I'll ensure I have plenty of desk space!

However to get the full use of the 17" width I need to stretch out to about 1079mm long, which is 130mm too wide according to Epson.

If I bought Quad Tone Rip for BW does it definitely let the Epson 3880 print longer than 950mm? How!? And can someone apply that gadgetry to colour?!


I know I should be looking at the 17" printers that support roll paper, but they go beyond my budget and are built for heavy use. I'd only be looking to do 1 or 2 prints a month at the most.

And how big is this shipping box the 3880 comes in? The price in the US is approx $1000-1100 currently, whereas here in rip-off Oz its still up in the $1800s. I'm sure I can buy in the US, freight it over, and pay import tax for less than $1800....


Thanks in advance...

[venchka]

The Canon iPF5100 would appear to print your required length from 17" rolls.


Maximum Roll Print Length 59 Feet (19 meters)3

3.The maximum printable length varies depending on the application, OS, and RIP used.

I own the iPF5000 and really like it. It is HUGE. In round numbers, probably 1m x 0.75m (13.5" (H) x 39.3" (W) x 31.9" (D)). It will accept 17" rolls from all the major players. I get good to great (at least as good as my photos deserve, being in the same "(or at least it's not as crap as it once was!)" category as your work from Red River papers. the paper starts off very inexpensive. Shipping may kill you.
A friend of mine owns an Epson 48xx and loves it. It uses rolls too.
Cutting and flattening paper from a roll prior to printing might be a pain.
Good luck.

[612tom]

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll check it out - might be beyond my budget thats why maybe it wasnt on my radar. But worth a look - I have an A4 cannon $100 inkjet and it really isnt bad at all...

Cheers