Epson 7900 Read Before you buy

[DeanChriss]

I've had a 7900 since they came out and I don't regret it. I have occasional clogs, but one had never occurred while printing. But HP seems to be the only manufacturer who really has this all figured out. Their nozzles virtually never clog, and they are also very cheap and very easy to replace. Of course *every* printer has its own quirks - really. When buying you have to figure out which one best suits your own particular requirements.

[narikin]

Canon's are great printers, but Canon dealer support is pathetic for these, so I won't stock them in my store.  And for those that say they haven't had a clog in their Canon printer, please study up on the technology.  You have had clogs, but you just aren't aware. Canon printers will waste ink on keeping nozzles clear (not neary as much as Epson), but has thousands of spare nozzles to use when others clog.

You won't be aware until the head runs out of spare nozzles for one of the colors, and you have to replace the head(s).  As with Epson printers, some are lucky and go a long time, others not so much. I'm not saying this is good or bad, it's just a different head technology, but with current inks all brands of printers have to have some method of dealing with clogged nozzles, because they are frequent and unavoidable - Canon, Epson or HP.

good points Wayne, but yes I was aware of the technical distinction - the end result is the same: no clogs from user viewpoint.

conversely, I found Canons support to be equal or better than Epson. and more willing to go the extra mile. A recently faulty 700ml Epson ink cart (chip refused to register) was eventually replaced by a grumpy individual that took 3 days to arrive. He seemed to think it my fault I didn't have spare 700ml carts laying about!  Nothing extra for my frustration or 3 days downtime. Poor service. and they want me to send back the faulty cart...

[Christopher]

Ok now, What I really would like to know in what conditions you all are printing. I mean I don't want to defend Epson, but my 7880 nearly never clogged. I could leave it off for 2-3 months and it still was fine. Now with my 9900 I haven't printed enough to say something for sure, but I turned it back on today after around 2 weeks and it was fine. NO cloggs at all.

[Shark_II]

Ok now, What I really would like to know in what conditions you all are printing. I mean I don't want to defend Epson, but my 7880 nearly never clogged. I could leave it off for 2-3 months and it still was fine. Now with my 9900 I haven't printed enough to say something for sure, but I turned it back on today after around 2 weeks and it was fine. NO cloggs at all.

And there are others that have probably not had any clogging problems with their Epsons either.  But it does not take a Reading Comprehension Wizard to figure out that Epsons have WAY, WAAAY , WAAAAY more reports on these (and other) forums of clogging problems than any other brand.   

So enjoy your good luck.  Because that is what it appears to be... just luck.  Other owners here will tell you that you won the Epson Lotto by having one the few that never clog.

So, anyone wanting to buy a new large format printer want to play the lotto?  How lucky do you feel?

I'll just stick with Canon (my third now with ZERO problems) and let you Epson guys roll the 'will it, or will it not' clog dice.

And the black ink switch still plaguing Epson is ridiculous... why on earth have you Epson fans put with that crap for so long?  And it is a whole 'nother reason to stay away from them.

Tom

[Wayne Fox]

While that's true, the fact is with the Canon approach you don't have to worry about kicking off a 30x20 print only to have it ruined by a clog, thus wasting time, ink, and paper. This seems far preferable to me than having to print a nozzle check before every print job, like so many Epson users find they have to do.

I find it very rare to have a print ruined by an Epson because of a clog mid job. On my 11880's I only run a nozzle check every few days.  On the 7900 every couple of days.  I think the first print with a problem in months was yesterday.

And on at least a couple of occasions I remember my Canon ipf6100 clogged up enough to ruin some large pano's when using it a few years ago. I don't think Canon is immune to the problem.  If I left the 6100 off for a few weeks, it almost always spent time cleaning after starting it back up, forcing me to wait to print a print.

Not really knocking either one, I think they are both great, and as I mentioned for occasional users the way the Canon hides the clogging can be a nice thing for the workflow, even though in the long run it might not be saving as much money as everyone thinks.

I personally believe the technology of the piezo heads is superior for controlling dot placement and size, but will admit it really doesn't translate to a visible difference on the print most of the time.

conversely, I found Canons support to be equal or better than Epson. and more willing to go the extra mile. A recently faulty 700ml Epson ink cart (chip refused to register) was eventually replaced by a grumpy individual that took 3 days to arrive. He seemed to think it my fault I didn't have spare 700ml carts laying about!  Nothing extra for my frustration or 3 days downtime. Poor service. and they want me to send back the faulty cart...

I'm not talking about end user support.  I'm a Canon dealer, sell quite a few Epson printers and after seeing the new 8300 last year was very interested in perhaps putting one on the floor, producing work with it, and seeing if I could sell a few.

Mentioned it to our rep, but the printers are a different department. On more than one occasion he has put a request through to get us info ... I've given up at this point.  I know the other dealer in town who is much larger than me doesn't stock Canon printers either.

[abiggs]

I think Epson has a much better sales channel, for sure, especially over HP. Canon is really trying to buy up business these days, and I have to say that after owning 2 large format Canons I think they have a good case to be in the fine art printing world. They are built like tanks, no black ink switching, I have had great experiences with their support, they are trouble-free to operate, fast as hell, and with the latest x300 generation are really really capable printers. Many of the kinks have been ironed out on the product and service side, but I do think the sales channel side needs to be worked on some. It's really nice to see people buying up the 8300 for way under the $3k mark. That's awesome.

[catchall]

I'd gladly pay to replace the Canon print heads when needed compared to the time (time is money) spent cleaning nozzles on an Epson.

[abiggs]

I just got tired of having to proactively clean the 9900, or I didn't proactively do it I had to wait and wait for the printer to wakeup and do a self-cleaning. Just got tired of the b.s.

And why, after many years bitching, did Epson *still* require a black ink switch?? I know that we don't have to swap out ink carts, but even the purging of ink in the printhead is a massive pain in the ass. I mean, seriously?

[catchall]

I'd also say that there may be a huge difference in Epson performance if you live in average relative humidity of 50% or more vs 10-40%. The Epson specs make this clear: 50% or more is required. Canon states 10% or more. So if you live in a dryer climate, you should buy Canon or HP or realize that there will be huge issues with clogging. That said, my 3800 is far superior to my 4800 in that it clogs way less. Sounds like Epson hasn't really improved this much in their 7900 and 9900s, though I don't have either to compare.

Again, I'd much rather pay the price of new print heads than have to deal with constant clogging problems.

[Christopher]

Funny that I know two more people here living near by, one with a 7990 the other a 9900, no clogging problems at all. The 7990 is only used once a month. However I can say that both have a room with a humidity at 55%. However you could argue that it works the other way around, a z3100 for example lasted forever with it's orginal heads because it did not clog as well.