On the negative side, the HP has a rather squirrely driver that isn't as robust or bullet-proof as the Epson.
Sometimes one particular problem becomes the bugger that kills any possible satisfaction, and the squirrely HP Z3100 driver did it for me. I managed to replace the Z with a 7900 for a tidy $1k and have enjoyed it thoroughly. I count it as my best spent photography dollars. Not that the Z performs well for many, and the Z3200 even better, just not my particular experience.
My vantage point is about as complete opposite from MR's as someone could get. MR is a professional's professional with a decades of experience. By comparison I am a hobbist just starting out spending odd bits of time printing stretched between learning other photography skills. I have loved virtually every print off the Epson, and in that way think my opinion is every bit as or more worthy as MR's: you don't have to be a superhero to fly. Sometimes I've had to clean the heads in this bone-dry climate, although yesterday I turned it on after a 2-week hiatus and the check strip was perfect.
I think that there are some substantial distractions thrown in the marketing blitz including the spectrophotometers and gloss differential enhancers, and believe that your money is better spent contentrating on the core printing hardware. A check print is less wasteful than that printer calibration. I enjoy the Epson FA, Luster, EEF and Ilford Gold Silk quite a bit using the available profiles, and should be able to get my dealer to supply a profile for an off-brand papter. I found that the HP gloss enhancer didn't show on a non-HP Magic paper I once tested and found weird banding on a couple Moab Entrada to HP test prints. As a product development engineer myself, I have the sneaking suspicion that the HP GE was not in the initial product scope but required by their chemistry approach. By measure of how little experience I've gained, I haven't made any time for B&W printing, but better add that to my learning list if I'm ever going to be worth my salt.
However the 7900 paper basket has me stratching my head. I agree with the proposal Hilljf-John made in an earlier post that the 7900 might do well to copy HP's "wake-up & spit a few ink drops" to ameliorate clogs. A funny downside quirk is that it prints so quiet I actually end up checking on it after sending it a print to see that it's really doing it's thing. And I bought the Z3100 after MR praised it in his review, so learned that the device must fit my personality and not anybody else's and in that way glad that my 7900 purchase preceeded and was not influenced by his review posting.
Best regards everyone, Ralph
