Raw & Post Processing, Printing > Printing: Printers, Papers and Inks

Has Epson Stopped Developing Large-format Printers?

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printbreakr:
I'm in the market for my first large-format (wide-format) printer. I've always been an Epson guy so I naturally gravitate towards Epson printers, specifically the 900-series, like the Stylus Pro 9900. I want to print fine-art photography so I like the extra gamut. I also like the relatively open nature of the Epson printer market, both with people taking them apart and third-party options like those for inks. Since this will be a significant investment for me, I am definitely concerned about the clogging issues; however, after reading about maintaining this printer, studying a good amount of the "confidential" service manual I found all over the Internet, and reading some amazing threads on this forum, I'm confident I can maintain it. I have more time than money so maintaining it myself (as much as possible) and third-part ink options matter to me.

Anyway, here's what I'm actually concerned about: I went through all the Epson Stylus Pro series brochures (just to get an idea of how they have improved over the years) and have noticed something a little disturbing. These are the copyright years listed on each brochure:


--- Quote ---Epson Stylus Pro 7000/9000 - 2000
Epson Stylus Pro 7500/9500 - 2000
Epson Stylus Pro 10000 - 2001
Epson Stylus Pro 7600/9600 - 2002
Epson Stylus Pro 10600 - 2002
Epson Stylus Pro 7800/9800 - 2005
Epson Stylus Pro 7880/9880 - 2007
Epson Stylus Pro 11880 - 2007
Epson Stylus Pro 7900/9900 - 2009
Epson Stylus Pro 7890/9890 - 2010

--- End quote ---

So it seems that Epson has not released a new large-format printer in the fine art category for at least 5 years. Before that, they were putting them out every 2 or 3 years for a decade. This makes me wonder if Epson is giving up on this market OR if the technology has simply matured enough that there is not much else to improve. While I can't think of much else a printer like the 9900 could do, I do know that with electronics, manufactures will often introduce minimal and perhaps useless new features just to sell some more printers. Since Epson doesn't seem to be trying at all anymore, my concern is that Epson might decide they don't want to support an aging product some time soon and there won't be any more parts to service my investment for the next several years.

What do you guys think about this situation? Are these printers just so good there is nothing to improve, is this a category Epson does not see profitable, or is it something else?

Mark D Segal:
I have no access to any company-confidential information so anything I say about this is pure logical deduction on my part. I do not believe Epson is vacating this market segment. The P800 is evidence they are researching improved ink-sets and printing algorithms. Having just recently released the P-600/P-800, I don't think all that R&D would be confined to these two prosumer models. To make it commercially viable there must be a long-run strategy to port new materials and software technologies into the higher-end models as well. I would not be the least bit surprised to see SureColor 24 and 44 inch models down the road, and perhaps even a replacement for the 4900 with the new ink-set. But take all this for what's it is - logical deduction, a.k.a speculation.

dseelig:
Me with the climate issues dry humidity issues, my 3880 died Epson told me beciase of the dry climate. I would stay away form Epson I use an HP z3200 great pritner and does not drain ink like an Epson does can be left a lone for weeks and then makes a perfect print. If a head does go 50  bucks.

digitaldog:

--- Quote from: dseelig on July 29, 2015, 03:27:39 pm ---Me with the climate issues dry humidity issues, my 3880 died Epson told me beciase of the dry climate.

--- End quote ---
Pretty dry here in Santa Fe (usually well into single digits). My 3880 can go months without a clog, I don't think I can count on one hand the number of times I've had one. The 4900? Clogged every other day.

Mark D Segal:
Maybe you've seen my story of the friend who inherited my 3800, left it unused for close to two years; we switched it on, and after two rounds of nozzle cleaning (no power clean) it was printing quite well. Considering how far out of date the inks were and all that elapsed time, it was kind of surprising. I nonetheless recommended that he reprofile the printer or update the inks, because not all aspects of colour reproduction were spot-on. But hey....

Anyhow Andrew, do you keep your 3880 in a humidified room, or does it sit in single-digit humidity? Epson specs do say a minimum of 20% for these printers.

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