Epson R3800 ABW Same As Epson R3880 ?

[IanBarber]

Does anyone one if the technology in the Epson R3800 ABW driver is the same as in the R3880 driver ?


My 3880 has died and I have been offered a 3800 and was wondering if there is any downside from going down a step.I know the 3880 has Vivid magenta but 99% of my prints are in black and white so I am guessing this will not really affect it.

[Jager]

My guess is there is little-or-no difference with ABW mode between the 3800 and 3880.  Before moving to Piezography I used ABW almost exclusively for my B&W printing and I certainly don't recollect any difference when I moved from the former to the latter.

[IanBarber]

What made you change from ABW to what you use now

[Jager]

Well, Ian, like a lot of things it started, for me, with just some idle thinking.   Just wondering if it were possible to achieve even better results than ABW - though I had been using ABW for quite some years and was very happy with it.

That's the short answer.


The somewhat longer answer is contained within these two threads, and the link:

http://forum.luminous-landscape.com/index.php?topic=94806.0

http://forum.luminous-landscape.com/index.php?topic=95021.0

http://jeffreyhughes.net/wordpress/2014/12/21/adventures-in-piezography/


Today I'm running a P800 using Epson's OEM inkset (and so have access to the latest ABW), along with my 3880 running K7 Piezography (with a split-tone inkset).  OEM color, OEM ABW, and K7 Piezo cover pretty much all the bases for me.  I'm delighted with the options I have.

[IanBarber]

Thanks, i will enjoy reading those links.


The P800 is on on my watch list now that the 3880 has died. I heard to day that the P800 goes to sleep every 2 hours of non use to save power but it also does a cleaning cycle when it wakes up which is a little worrying due to ink consumption.


Are you able to confirm/deny this please

[Jager]

There is, indeed, a "Power Off Timer" on the P800, Ian.  Mine is set to "off."  There also is a "Sleep Timer."  Mine is set to "15 minutes."

Neither is an issue.  If the printer powers off, it's no different than if you had powered it down manually.  Likewise, I'm guessing the sleep timer simply parks the heads, while the printer remains in a ready-to-print mode.

As far as the start-up, as far as I'm able to tell it's no different than the 3800/3880.  The same noises.  The same amount of time.  It's definitely not the explicit cleaning cycle that you can run manually - and which takes considerably more time.

I've printed with the P800 quite a lot since acquiring it on 7/1.  I have no sense that ink usage is in any way different than the 3880.  I highly recommend it (and given the choice between a new P800 or a new 3880, I would choose the P800).

[IanBarber]

Thanks, thats very encouraging to hear.


I did have a little moan at Epson about my 3880 only lasting just under 3 years and also the fact that the P800 is supplied with 64ml of ink but they did reply by saying that even after the initial priming, the carts should have at least 80% ink remaining in them, would you also agree with this.


Ian

[Jager]

Aye, I'd say that's probably accurate.  The P800, like its 3880/3800 predecessors, doesn't have super long ink lines.  You still have enough ink left after the initial charge to make quite a few prints.