Epson 4880 or 4900

[alharding]

I'm in the market for a 17" printer. I've been going back and forth over the pro's and cons of Epson's 4880 and 4900. I've spent the last few years working with both an Epson 9880 and a 9900 in a lab. I've had successes with both, but overall,I find that the 9900 is a little inconsistent. I've noticed that the humidity has to be just right to avoid uneven drying, and the platen gap has to be constantly adjusted to avoid streaks. (these two things only occur with larger prints regularly.) When these factors are just right, the 9900 makes great prints, fast. These problems don't seem to affect our 9880 as much. Although its a little slower, the results are a lot more consistent. I can see some difference in how the surface of the ink appears between the two, but they're very, very similar. I'm not sure the orange and green in the 9900 really add more to the prints either visually or actually as they almost never need to be replaced.

In short, I'm sure that either of these would be fine for my purposes, but I'm really looking to see if anyone out there has had hands on experience with the 4900 under normal use. I've used 4880's before, and liked them very much. I'm curious if these issues I mentioned above with the 9900, occur with the 4900. Any advice is much appreciated.

Thanks,

Al Harding

[Bob McCarthy]

Unless you need roll paper, why not a 3880. Mine produces excellent prints both in color and in B&W.

bob

[Andrew O'Neill]

A friend of mine has the 4880. Nice prints come out of it. Takes rolls, too.

[Shac]

Al - I had the same question & suggestion as Bob (I have a 3880)

[Peter De Smidt]

As far as I can tell, the big differences between a 3880 and a 4880 are that the 4880 can use roll paper, and it has much bigger ink cartridges. The latter would be a plus only if you print a lot. I have a 4880, and I really like it, but I haven't used a 4900. Are there third party cartridges for a 4900? If not, there are for the 4880, which allows the use of 3rd party inks, such as Piezography and MIS inks. In addition, the 4xxx series printers are much bigger and heavier duty than the 38xx printers.. The 4xxx series printers are high production workhorses, whereas the 38xx series is aimed at lighter use.

[Greg Miller]

I would go with the 4900 because it has everything you will ever need. Has both matte and photo black cartridges on board (no tedious and costly switching) and can use roll paper.