Epson 4880 & 3880

[WilliamBriggs]

I'd like to hear from Epson 4880 and Epson 3880 printer owners for their assessment of these two printers, in particular, are there any nozzle clogging issues especially if you haven't used the printer for a few days? I owned a 4000 but the nozzle clogging was a constant problem. Epson claims they have addressed this issue with subsequent versions of the printer but I want to hear from folks who own and use them. Thank you.

[mikeseb]

I'd like to hear from Epson 4880 and Epson 3880 printer owners for their assessment of these two printers, in particular, are there any nozzle clogging issues especially if you haven't used the printer for a few days? I owned a 4000 but the nozzle clogging was a constant problem. Epson claims they have addressed this issue with subsequent versions of the printer but I want to hear from folks who own and use them. Thank you.

I have had minimal to no clogging problems with my Epson 3800, which I've owned about 6-8 months. I turn it off after I'm done with each day's printing; not sure if this is what Epson says I'm supposed to do, though. Like you I previously owned a 4000; I had few clogging problems with it either as long as I turned off the printer between widely-separated printing sessions.

After several weeks of disuse recently the printer did a cleaning cycle on startup, but this was painless and seemed to use little ink. Very satisfied with the printer overall. I especially appreciate the built-in ethernet card, which was a several-hundred-dollar optional upgrade on the 4000. This has allowed far more flexibility in placing the printer about the office space. If I could get it to work with a wireless print server it'd be even better.

I used to use ImagePrint with the 4000 in order to get adequate B&W and for its workflow abilities; I have the 3800 set up in IP but rarely need to use it, since the 3800 does such a good job with  B&W.

[Jeremy Roussak]

I'd like to hear from Epson 4880 and Epson 3880 printer owners for their assessment of these two printers, in particular, are there any nozzle clogging issues especially if you haven't used the printer for a few days? I owned a 4000 but the nozzle clogging was a constant problem. Epson claims they have addressed this issue with subsequent versions of the printer but I want to hear from folks who own and use them. Thank you.

I've had a 3800 for a little under a year. I print sporadically: I might get a burst of enthusiasm and print daily for a while, or I might leave it unused for a month. I've had only one blocked nozzle, which responded to a simple cleaning cycle. I recently moved house, did a head alignment and carried on working without difficulty. I switch it off, as advised, if I'm not planning on using it for more than 24 hours.

The quality is superb.

Read Eric Chan's page on the 3800: it's very helpful.

Jeremy

[PeterAit]

I've had a 3800 for a little under a year. I print sporadically: I might get a burst of enthusiasm and print daily for a while, or I might leave it unused for a month. I've had only one blocked nozzle, which responded to a simple cleaning cycle. I recently moved house, did a head alignment and carried on working without difficulty. I switch it off, as advised, if I'm not planning on using it for more than 24 hours.

The quality is superb.

Read Eric Chan's page on the 3800: it's very helpful.

Jeremy

I have had a 4880 for about 6 months now. It frequently sits for a week or 2 without being used and I have yet to have a clogging problem. I turn it on every 2 weeks or so. Once in a while it will go through some routine where it prints a bunch of color rectangles (this is NOT the power cleaning that uses a lot of ink). When it does not do this, I run a nozzle check from the printer driver. So far, no clogs at all. The printer has been flawless and creates gorgeous prints.

Peter

[iCanvas]

I have owned a 4880 for about two months.  I print on canvas and have not had any clogging problems.  I prefer the 4880 because I am able to print a 18.25" canvas width through the printer.  I also didn't like the pizza wheel marks left on the 3880 on dark prints. The 3880 is a great printer but for my use, the 4880 hit a sweet spot.  I can print 8x10, 12x16, 12x24 and 16x20 canvas sizes which is about half of my printing.  Sometime in the future I'll get a 9900.  The 4880 has already paid for itself.

[Raw shooter]

I have had the 4880 since it was released.  Replaced the 4000.  The 4880 is a far better and reliable workhorse.  Still get occasional clogs - and I print lots of paper types.  

Still hate the matte/ photo black switch process.  I feel like my pockets drain each time.  

A strong recommendation when everything is weighed.  The final prints are amazing.

[Michael Boyd]

I purchased the 3800 awhile back and had it for one week before taking it in to the service center and then returning it immediately after that. I did experience one clog from it during that week, however that was due to a head strike.

The problem with the 3800 is that the paper handling, to me, was horrible. I was getting pizza marks on the prints from the ejection assembly. I had read Eric Chan's FAQ page and was attempting his workaround to avoid the pizza marks which involved cutting a piece of 2 ply matboard to the exact size of the paper, and using that as a sled to use the front feed, which is designed for thicker substrates. Something must not have been set right because as the paper started to expand from the ink film, it caused a head strike; which lead to a clog of the magenta. A few cleaning cycles cleared it up but the pizza marks remained.

I dealt with Epson Pro service on this issue, which was more or less useless, and they told me to take it in for service, which I did. The tech and I chatted at length and said he would replace the ejection assembly to see what would happen, but we basically agreed that I should just return it and get another one, since it was under 30 days since the purchase.

I returned it to Calumet the next day and picked up a 4880 Standard Edition instead. With the rebate, it came out to a few dollars more than the 3800 Professional Edition. I just decided that I would buy the RIP separately at a later date, since the Epson bundled RIP is extremely crippled anyway.

I am extremely happy with the 4880 it performs like a pro printer should; great paper handling and a vacuum print bed!

The one instance where I did experience a clog is when the paper tray ran out of stock mid job. The printer paused with the print head carriage uncapped and the vacuum continued to run. I probably took a few minutes to replenish the paper, but once printing resumed it was obvious there was a clog, most likely caused by the increased air flow from the vacuum. A few cleanings cleared it up. I won't be making that mistake again.

All in all, I am very happy with how things turned out. The 4880 design is very robust, which I am sure you are aware of since it is similar to the 4000. It drinks some ink every once in awhile to keep the heads clean and open, but nothing that is alarming. It just prints what I ask it to and there have been no issues with the quality.

I wanted to like the 3800... but it just didn't work out for me. The small footprint was very nice and it weighed around 35lbs. But again, paper handling and marks on the print killed it for me. The idea of having to do a "little dance" and feed it paper one sheet at a time just wasn't going to work. I know there are plenty of satisfied users of the 3800 though, it just wasn't for me.

Basically, if you are accustomed to the performance of the 4000 (other than the clogging), I would opt for the 4880.

This is my first post here on this board... sorry it was so long winded. I'll keep it shorter in the future.