3800, 3880 & 2880 confusion

[Alan Goldhammer]

I have enjoyed this discussion concerning the 3800 vs the 3880. I just purchased a 3800 and could return it for a 3880 but I am somewhat reluctant for this reason. The 3800 gives excellent results and has been in production for some time. The 3880 has still to be extensively tested by consumers. We still do not know its true properties...or do we?

See the comments of our colleague Eric Chan on the benefits of the 3880 (Sept 1 note).  I suspect that this is a true benefit.  I have the 2880 and the prints are indeed superb.  The mechanical parts of the printer are likely not changed much so I suspect your comment about its "true properties" can be answered in the affirmative.

[Bill Koenig]

In regards to the 6 month self life of the K3 inks. My 3800 will be 3 years old in March of 2010. I still have two of the original ink cartridges that came with the printer (Magenta and Cyan) I will be replacing them soon, as I have a big print job coming up.
Every time I replaced a ink cartridge, I would gently shake all of the ink cartridges.
I haven't had a single clog, and the prints look as good as day one.

[Professional]

Nothing to add here but really i am very happy with Epson 3800, i leave it for long time with no print [between 2 months up to 5 months] completed 1 year with it and soon i will complete 2 years, and i see it prints better and better each time, really i am very happy, and because i print alot with A4 and some A3 and more with A2 [17x22/17x25] i feel i can't look at smaller printers, even it makes me to think for larger printer like 9880 [7880/7900 print up to 24" which is not that much so big than 17" anyway, so i want minimum 30" wide], and about the ink, i didn't replace any ink yet, but i can see few colors inks will run out sooner or later [planning to buy all the inks for emergencies and will buy that first colors running out inks more].

[tolsen]

I completely agree on the ink cost issue. The 3800 is the way to go.

I left my 3800 printer unused for two months this summer and it printed perfectly when I turned it on afterward.

I have just finished testing the 3880 and my review will be online later in the week. The Vivid Magenta K3 inks do have a wider gamut than those on the 3800, and the printer also is capable of slightly better dithering and thus slightly smoother images, but the differences aren't that great.

Michael

Thanks to everyone for all this useful information. I will be receiving an Epson 3880 in a few days and have a few related questions:

- Cover: Is it worth getting the somewhat expensive cover for the 3800/3880 ?

- Stand-by: Should you leave the printer on standby when gone for a month/a few days/a day? I would like to save energy, but realize that the printer might do some useful automatic head checks when in stand-by mode.

- Epson Cold Press/Hot Press paper: Does anyone have experience with these papers and ideas how they would fare in the Epson 3880? I realize that paper choice is highly subjective, but since I have not been able to sample them myself I am curious what others think. Till I get my hands on them I will probably stick with Ilford Gold Fibre Silk, Moab Entrada and Epson Velvet, depending on what I print.

- 17x25: Anyone with connections to the paper industry, please encourage them to give us more options in 17"x25" cut sheet. Are there any good and reasonably priced companies that will custom cut (and straighten) roll-paper? Since the Epson 3800/3880 does not have a vacuum feed system - is there any concerns with using paper that is not perfectly flat in these printers?

Regards,
Tore

[madmanchan]

Thanks to everyone for all this useful information. I will be receiving an Epson 3880 in a few days and have a few related questions:

- Cover: Is it worth getting the somewhat expensive cover for the 3800/3880 ?

I just cover my 3800 with a large beach towel when I'm not using it.

- Stand-by: Should you leave the printer on standby when gone for a month/a few days/a day? I would like to save energy, but realize that the printer might do some useful automatic head checks when in stand-by mode.

If I plan to not use my 3800 for more than a day at a time, I turn it off and unplug it from the wall.

[tolsen]

I just cover my 3800 with a large beach towel when I'm not using it.



If I plan to not use my 3800 for more than a day at a time, I turn it off and unplug it from the wall.

Eric,

Thanks for your reply. That makes good sense.

Regards,
Tore

[budjames]

I replaced my Epson R2400 with a new 3880. I installed the 3880 2 weeks ago and the first few 11 x 14 prints from LR2.5 using the canned Epson profiles for Enhanced Matte were spot on. I printed to Ilford Galerie Fiber Gold Silk using the Epson luster profiles and the results too were good.

I just purchased Epson Exhibition 17 x 22 on sale, well regarded LexJet e-surface, and Red River luster and glossy paper to try out. The only problem now is that I'm waiting on profiles to become available from Ilford, Epson and LexJet.

Very excited about my purchase.

My R2400 fetched $355 on eBay last week. Not bad since I deducted 100% of the purchase price as a business expense on my taxes and used it over 4 years.

Cheers.
Bud James

[CoyoteButtes]

Bud,

Will look forward to your impressions of the Epson Exhibition Fiber and the Red River papers on the 3880 when available.

Thanks,

Stan