Epson 5500 - Yay or Nay?

[thanser]

I've just been given a second-hand Epson Pro 5500, stored in its original box, along with a spare black ink cartridge. How could I resist? It was free.

I started scouting around online and found the driver, which Epson provides. The last Mac driver version supported 10.4 and I'm running 10.6 - I hope that isn't a problem and maybe there's a third-party driver for this printer that would work better?

I do have an Epson 2200 printer that I've kept, but how would it compare to the Pro 5500?

How does the Pro 5500 stand up by today's standards?  Any good?

Would it make a better B/W only printer?  Are there any requirements to converting this printer to B/W only?  Or special printer settings?

If this printer even worth cabling up, cleaning up, and experimenting with? 

I appreciate any comments or suggestions you might have. 

[Ernst Dinkla]

Edit: Nay

Is is 10 years old technology and very complex technology. I had a 5000 apart 5 years ago and in my opinion if your 5500 does not print within a day get rid of it, you will be hooked to it for months to come if you want to make it work. The inkset is Archival in all connotations :-) Very fade proof as it it is more or less "prefaded", in short, has no gamut. If it prints consider another inkset as it is a 6 channel model. Use color dyes or make it into a B&W quad printer then.

Edit: As far as I know there was never a 5000 or 5500 converted to B&W and I doubt QTR supports it or Paul Roark made curves for it. The minimum droplet size is at least 5 picoliter but it could be 9 as well. If you want an A3+ quad printer get a 1400 and check the information for the different B&W conversions. More fun, better prints and probably cheaper. Yes that 5500 has larger carts but two are split in two sections, each about 33 ML I guess so not that much larger. I have some 5000 parts stocked if you really think differently ........

Just my 2 cents.

--
Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst

http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm
December 2012, 500+ inkjet media white spectral plots.

[thanser]

Thank you!

I agree, and I'm not even going to unpack it.  I'll give it away and save myself a lot of trouble. 

Thanks again.