How does the Epson 3880 do after a period of disuse?

[loonsailor]

I'm thinking of stepping up from my HP B9180 to the Epson 3880. One of the reasons I chose the B9180 several years ago was the feature it has to keep the heads clean automatically. Once every day or so it goes through some gyrations to do a sort of mini-clean of the head. I go through periods, sometimes 2-3 months, when I don't print at all. When I come back to it with the HP, I need to run a full head cleaning cycle, which uses a page or two of glossy and some ink, and then it works great. (Of course, I know all of this uses expensive ink) At the time I bought the HP, Epsons had a reputation for being troublesome to get working after a period of inactivity - clogged heads, etc.

My question is, is that reputation deserved, or has it been solved with the newer printers? If I don't use the 3880 for 3-4 months, what will be necessary to get it humming again?

Also, how long is the lifetime of the inks in the printer?  I know Epson says 6 months once a cartridge has been opened.  Does that seem conservative or real?

Thanks for any input!

[Mussi_Spectraflow]

The automatic head cleaning feature on the HP's is pretty slick. I have a Z3100 in the office that has been nozzle clog free for almost three years! That said the HP heads are designed to be replaced every so often so the cleaning strategy is a bit different between the Epson and HP printers. I've worked with many epson printers over the years and the feedback about head cleaning varies a lot. Certainly the more you use the printer the better. Environmental issues also make a difference, high altitude and low humidity seem to be an especially bad mix. If you do go away for a couple month I would expect some clogged nozzles when you return and a few rounds of head cleanings. That said it does seem that some of the minor tweaks to the print head coatings have reduced the frequency and tenacity of the clogs. I wouldn't expect more than a few rounds of the auto cleaning to get you back up a running, and with the larger ink tanks in the Epson 3880 this shouldn't be too much of an added cost.
The timeline for ink "expiring" seems very conservative. Off the record Epson acknowledges that the ink in unopened carts can last quite a while beyond the use by date. I've seen cartridges that have been in a printer for a year or two without any issues. Also the 80ml carts in the printer should mean that you go through ink much quicker than the 220 carts in the 4880, so I wouldn't worry.

I'm thinking of stepping up from my HP B9180 to the Epson 3880. One of the reasons I chose the B9180 several years ago was the feature it has to keep the heads clean automatically. Once every day or so it goes through some gyrations to do a sort of mini-clean of the head. I go through periods, sometimes 2-3 months, when I don't print at all. When I come back to it with the HP, I need to run a full head cleaning cycle, which uses a page or two of glossy and some ink, and then it works great. (Of course, I know all of this uses expensive ink) At the time I bought the HP, Epsons had a reputation for being troublesome to get working after a period of inactivity - clogged heads, etc.

My question is, is that reputation deserved, or has it been solved with the newer printers? If I don't use the 3880 for 3-4 months, what will be necessary to get it humming again?

Also, how long is the lifetime of the inks in the printer?  I know Epson says 6 months once a cartridge has been opened.  Does that seem conservative or real?

Thanks for any input!

[Wayne Fox]

I'm thinking of stepping up from my HP B9180 to the Epson 3880. One of the reasons I chose the B9180 several years ago was the feature it has to keep the heads clean automatically. Once every day or so it goes through some gyrations to do a sort of mini-clean of the head. I go through periods, sometimes 2-3 months, when I don't print at all. When I come back to it with the HP, I need to run a full head cleaning cycle, which uses a page or two of glossy and some ink, and then it works great. (Of course, I know all of this uses expensive ink) At the time I bought the HP, Epsons had a reputation for being troublesome to get working after a period of inactivity - clogged heads, etc.

My question is, is that reputation deserved, or has it been solved with the newer printers? If I don't use the 3880 for 3-4 months, what will be necessary to get it humming again?

Also, how long is the lifetime of the inks in the printer?  I know Epson says 6 months once a cartridge has been opened.  Does that seem conservative or real?

Thanks for any input!

The 3800 is one of the finest printers ever made, and indeed it has proven to be the most reliable and clog free Epson printer.  I have had 2 running in remote locations for a couple of years now, and they are rarely turned on.  Many times after weeks of inactivity they have no clogs when I start them up, if there are some, a standard cleaning resolves it.  You will find many forums where this same experience is echoed.

The 3880 is basically the same printer, so I would assume it would perform similarly.  I haven't purchased one yet, but will soon have a demo unit here to test.  

As far as ink life that is very conservative.  I take them out occasionally and agitate them upside down gently.  I'm sure several of mine are over a year old.

[jsparks]

As far as ink life that is very conservative.  I take them out occasionally and agitate them upside down gently.  I'm sure several of mine are over a year old.

Does the Epson tell you the ink is out of date?  The B9180 periodically nags if the ink is out of date.  When it does this, you have to hit a button on the printer to continue (although I can see no ill effects from using out of date ink).

I'm not the original poster, but I'm also planning to replace a B9180 with a larger printer and the Epson 3880 is the most likely choice (I'm also considering a Canon iPF 6100 or HP Z3200, but I would have to work pretty hard to have enough space for one of these).  I do live at high altitude (7200 feet) with a very dry climate and do have concerns about clogging.  The HP has been mostly clog free although I did have to replace one of the heads last fall (which means that it is getting clogs, but only once had more clogs than the nozzle cleaning and remapping could handle).  

Is anyone using a 3800 or 3880 at high altitude with intermittent use without problems?

John Sparks

[EtienneBester]

Is anyone using a 3800 or 3880 at high altitude with intermittent use without problems?

John Sparks

Hi John,

I live in Pretoria South Africa and although I'm not sure if 4500ft counts as high alt I can report that I haven't had any clogs on the 3880 in the couple of months that I've been using it. I only use the printer over weekends (longest time without use has been 2 weeks) and it is switched off and plugged out when not in use (we have frequent lightning storms here in summer). It is also quite warm and humid, average anual around 65.7 degrees F. It will be interesting to see how it holds up in the much dryer winter months.

Hope it helps,

Etienne.

[Rhossydd]

Also, how long is the lifetime of the inks in the printer?  I know Epson says 6 months once a cartridge has been opened.  Does that seem conservative or real?

Like everyone else I've found the 3800 to be almost* entirely free of nozzle clogs in the three years I've run it.

With respect to life life; I'm just about finishing the two last original inks carts supplied with the machine when new three years ago. SIX times the claimed cart life and they're working perfectly to the last drop. Whenever I've changed other carts in the last 18 months I've pull every ink cart out and shaken it to keep the pigment in solution, but I'm not convinced that's really necessary.

Paul


*One blocked nozzle was due to a head strike on some badly warped paper. I should have increased the platen gap to compensate. The other problem was when a replacement cart failed to initialise properly, one head cleaning cycle solved that.

[stevegoldenberg]

Like everyone else I've found the 3800 to be almost* entirely free of nozzle clogs in the three years I've run it.

All,  I'm just working in a new 3880 and I'm curious about how to maintain the printer if you're not going to use it for a while, do you turn it off or leave it on?  What's the best practice for keeping the printer running well (and clog free).

-Steve Goldenberg
Street & Interesting Portrait Photography
Washington, DC
http://www.stevegoldenberg.com/

[Rhossydd]

All,  I'm just working in a new 3880 and I'm curious about how to maintain the printer if you're not going to use it for a while, do you turn it off or leave it on?

I just follow the instructions from Epson; Use the on/off switch on the top and turn it off when it's not in use.

[Kirk Gittings]

Is anyone using a 3800 or 3880 at high altitude with intermittent use without problems?

I live at 5280 ft. in a desert. Does that qualify? My 3800, used every few months, has only needed one head cleaning in a couple of years. Compare that to my previous 4000, which clogged every couple of days.

[Wayne Fox]

Does the Epson tell you the ink is out of date?
Is anyone using a 3800 or 3880 at high altitude with intermittent use without problems?

John Sparks

No alert if the ink is out of date.

I live in Draper, Altitude around 4500 feet.  As far as high altitude, not sure, but guessing the printer will be fine unless you get pretty extreme.

All,  I'm just working in a new 3880 and I'm curious about how to maintain the printer if you're not going to use it for a while, do you turn it off or leave it on?  What's the best practice for keeping the printer running well (and clog free).

turn the printer off when not not using it ... this seals the head.  Leaving it on may actually cause it to clog.

[madmanchan]

I can't comment on the altitude ... I'm near Boston and pretty close to sea level ... however, the 3800/3880 printers do fine when not used for a long period. When I don't intend to use my 3800 for more than a day or so, I just turn it off and cover it with a thick towel. I've gone for 3-4 month periods without using it, then fired it up again to do 40 prints. I tend to use it in spurts and believe these models work very well in that regard, with little fuss.

[loonsailor]

Thanks for the replies, everyone.  It made me confident enough to order my printer today!

[Bill Koenig]

I just changed out my last original ink cart just a few weeks ago, it was the cyan. My 3800 will be 3 years old in April.
Like everyone else, I would agitate the remaining old carts every time I changed a old one.