Hello and Thanks

[nickdavis]

I have enjoyed lurking here for some time, and thought it was time to jump in and offer my thanks to the members of this forum.

I recently decided to replace my trusty W8400, and was unable to find a reference better than this forum to help guide me between the Canon iPF8100, Epson 9880, and HP z3100.

(When I purchased the W8400, there were few resources on the internet, so I started W8400.com, which is now http://www.canonwide.com. It's a good place to ask questions about the Canon Wide Format printers. )

In the end, after hours of reading these forums, I ended up purchasing a iPF8100 and an iPF6100, and should take delivery of them next week.

How I made my decision:

1) Epson 9880: Since I live with only Matte Black in my W8400 (I never switch them out), the ink-switching seems to be a problem only when I'm staring at the brochure. It was all the talk of clogged print heads that scared me away, plus the seemingly-imminent announcement of a new model based on the 11880.

2) HP z3100: I'd been eying this printer since I first saw the specs, thanks mostly to the built in i1. After reading that you can't swap ink mid-print, I became worried that HP really didn't think everything through. That, along with the small size of the ink cartridge scared me away. Also, why pay for the i1 twice if I'm buying 2 machines?

3) Canon iPF8100: Before starting my research I hadn't even considered getting another Canon. I really don't know why, but I suspect it was the lack of community around these printers. I was delighted to find the wiki, as well as some of the posts by the owners of these machines. As I started thinking about it, I had owned my W8400 for 2 1/2 years, and had never had a single problem that wasn't a result of my error. It's performed flawlessly. Then I found the pricing over at Digital Graphics Resources, and the deal was sealed. With the Lucia inks, no black-switching, and baseline calibration, along with the trouble-free performance out of my W8400, the decision became obvious. I'm glad this time not to have to be a pioneer!

On a surprising note, I placed an ad on CraigsList Sunday night for my W8400 and it was sold and picked up by noon on Monday at close to my asking price. I'm amazed at how fast at happened! So I'm without a printer in the meantime

I hope to stick around and share any expertise I may have with large format. My wife and I own a retail store, and do a lot of canvas and large photo printing.

[neil snape]

Yes things have changed so much since the W8400.

This forum has become the defacto forum for multi brand printers , and the people posting very well behaved, informed , and open to suggestions.

Your criteria for choosing an LFP is very targeted, and well thought out.
I do think you made a good decision , and for what you need to do, the Canon will be a very nice printer.
I wouldn't worry as much about the Epson clogging unless you are in an environment which is outside it's normal operating range.
The HP Z series is also a good choice with features that may have a great impact on long term production.

When you get up and running post often here so we can all share experiences.
There is also a good forum that Ernst started which covers all brands, when the Epson wide format group decided they didn't want to hear about other printers!