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Author Topic: 3880 verse 4880 vs ???  (Read 2924 times)

joepix

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3880 verse 4880 vs ???
« on: October 01, 2010, 01:12:11 am »

Besides roll printing and larger ink carts, what advantsges does the Epson 4880 offer over the 3880. Both have tremendous rebates right now.

How much ink do they consume when switching between glossy and matt black?

Anybody have experience with ink head clogs. My 4000 is horrendous with clogs, so much so that I stopped using it a year ago (free to a good home if you want it).

I'm a casual user and can go a week or more between prints. Is there a better choice for me?

Thanks.
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Jeremy Roussak

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Re: 3880 verse 4880 vs ???
« Reply #1 on: October 01, 2010, 03:59:01 am »

Anybody have experience with ink head clogs. My 4000 is horrendous with clogs, so much so that I stopped using it a year ago (free to a good home if you want it).

I'm a casual user and can go a week or more between prints. Is there a better choice for me?
For what it's worth, I print perhaps even less frequently than you and the only head clog I've ever had in my 3800 was after I forgot to open the output door on the printer and had a rather hard head strike as the paper buckled. I think the 3880 is very similar to the 3800.

Jeremy
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Farmer

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Re: 3880 verse 4880 vs ???
« Reply #2 on: October 04, 2010, 06:09:16 pm »

For the casual user, if you have no pressing need for roll paper, I would highly recommend the 3880 over a 4880.  It's smaller, easier to use, designed specifically for sheet media and you won't end up with ink that's long overdue its expiry, but still benefit from much larger ink tanks (and cheaper per ml) than smaller printers and still have 17" capacity.

You could consider a 4900 if you really wanted the HDR inkset, but again I would suggest a 3880 is a better fit for you.
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Phil Brown

Wayne Fox

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Re: 3880 verse 4880 vs ???
« Reply #3 on: October 04, 2010, 10:15:15 pm »

Besides roll printing and larger ink carts, what advantsges does the Epson 4880 offer over the 3880. Both have tremendous rebates right now.

How much ink do they consume when switching between glossy and matt black?

Anybody have experience with ink head clogs. My 4000 is horrendous with clogs, so much so that I stopped using it a year ago (free to a good home if you want it).

I'm a casual user and can go a week or more between prints. Is there a better choice for me?

Thanks.

Just thought I would add that ink switching on the 4880 uses a considerable amount of ink, vs the 3880 which only needs to swap the ink in the head itself.  As was mentioned, this printer has shown very little clogging issues, even for casual users.  The 38xx series epsons may be the best printers for the money that any manufacturer has ever built ... they really are outstanding.
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vandevanterSH

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Re: 3880 verse 4880 vs ???
« Reply #4 on: October 04, 2010, 10:50:58 pm »

I replaced my 3800 with the 4880 when Epson had overlapping rebates and I think the cost was $850 and free shipping.  I like the 4880 for build quality and paper handling both sheet and roll.  If you are going to be printing both matt and glossy, forget the 4880, the ink switching procedure is tedious and eats A LOT of ink, (IIRC about $70 for the "round trip").  The 4880 also has head clogs if not used fairly frequently ie every week or so.  The clogs are resolved by running several test prints and I have yet to need an ink wasting "cleaning" cycle.  My 3800 could sit unused for months and restart without a head clog.  I don't recall every having a clogged head with the 3800.  With that said, I prefer the 4880.

Steve
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chocodog

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Re: 3880 verse 4880 vs ???
« Reply #5 on: November 02, 2010, 09:29:14 am »

I would just wait for the epson 4900.  It will solve the problem of the ink switching
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Alan Smallbone

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Re: 3880 verse 4880 vs ???
« Reply #6 on: November 02, 2010, 10:42:19 am »

The other advantage of the 4880 over the 3880 is the 4880 has a vacuum platten that holds the paper flat, if you have a lot of humidity the paper can curl. I chose the 4880 because of the rebate and the roll paper and the paper holding. Great printer.

Alan
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Alan Smallbone
Orange County, CA

Alan Smallbone

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Re: 3880 verse 4880 vs ???
« Reply #7 on: November 02, 2010, 10:44:07 am »

One other item, if you want to use paper smaller than 8" wide then get the 3880, the 4880 will only handle 8" or wider paper.

Alan
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Alan Smallbone
Orange County, CA
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