I don’t know about the Epson printers, I’ve so the IPF8000 at work and it is no match for my Z3100ps. Printing on the same paper (Tecco 380 Premium, Orafol 1917, Tecco GLU/II) the 1200dpi/1200dpi resolution (on best) on Canon is the equivalent with 600dpi/600dpi on Z, on fast printing option. The printing dots were obvious and it has banding. The owner sad that the banding problem could be corrected but the dots would remain at the same size. On Z at 1200dpi/1200dpi on Tecco GLU/II I cannot see the printing dots even with a magnifier glass! The banding problem didn’t appear even on the worst paper on fast, let alone on best… The Z series is more versatile on different type of paper due to the inks, that are better than of all printers created so far. The money HP spent in development it makes the difference, regardless our preferences on how the colors must look on a print. I’m totally satisfied with my printer and so are my customers.
The costs are also very reasonable, on a sq m on average, it needs 12-13 ml with GE and 8-9 ml without GE. On solvent printers for example (HP 9000s), the average is 19-20 ml.
About the clogging issue, the Z3100 have non on 2 months and is ready for printing at any time (the Epson and Canon printers have plenty of clogs). The pigmented inks have the tendency to dry out faster and are thicker then the dry inks (we have also a HP designjet 2500CP that has also a pigmented ink set and when a head has a clogging is very hard to clean). The Vivera inks are very ease to clean, I made an experiment and left a head on the desk for about a week, and after that I clean it very easy with the brush that comes with the head. The HP 2500 UV head (with pigmented ink) if I left it for a week it will be a nightmare to clean.
The HP representative said: “the z3100ps is their best printer; "the Cadillac of their printers"”. I, after more than 10 years of experience in printing business, I could say that the Z3100ps is the Ferrari of all printers!
I’m also happy that the software update will include more paper profiles and more tolerance in loading paper (especially on hand made paper and small sheets it needed that).