New Epson Stylus Printer - 13" R3000

[BradSmith]

Epson has just announced a new, high end 13" printer, the Stylus R3000.   K3 inks with vivid magenta, pressurized,  auto black switching, wireless connectivity, roll feed capability, 29.6ml cartridges.  Available March 2011, list $849US.

[Scott Martin]

Worked on one today - pretty cool stuff. I hope they do a 17 inch version to refresh the 3880.

[Alan Goldhammer]

Worked on one today - pretty cool stuff. I hope they do a 17 inch version to refresh the 3880.

Isn't the 4900 the solution here?  Why would Epson add roll paper capability to the 3880?  It appears that this is an upgrade of the 2880 with larger cartridges and better connectivity options.  The auto switching between PK and MK is useful as well. 

[Scott Martin]

Isn't the 4900 the solution here?

I don't think so. The high duty cycle 4900 is great for high volume labs but is too big for the average consumer. Look at the 4880 vs the 3880 - one is for volume pros and the other for consumers. I find the 3880 to be kind of frustrating with it's paper handling problems and overall cheap feel. IMO, I think it could be fine tuned and refreshed into a higher quality product.

[Gemmtech]

"I find the 3880 to be kind of frustrating with it's paper handling problems and overall cheap feel. IMO, I think it could be fine tuned and refreshed into a higher quality product."

It did take me a print or two to be able to get perfect paper handling every time, now it's a non issue.  The 3880 could be fine tuned, but I wouldn't consider it to have an overall cheap feel, I'd say that the slide out trays feel cheaply made, but the rest of the printer is solid.   

[Alan Goldhammer]

"I find the 3880 to be kind of frustrating with it's paper handling problems and overall cheap feel. IMO, I think it could be fine tuned and refreshed into a higher quality product."

It did take me a print or two to be able to get perfect paper handling every time, now it's a non issue.  The 3880 could be fine tuned, but I wouldn't consider it to have an overall cheap feel, I'd say that the slide out trays feel cheaply made, but the rest of the printer is solid.   

I agree on the paper handling, I've had two misfeeds in the 11 months of owning the machine.  With the 2880 one or two misfeeds a day were quite common.  It's a very sturdy machine, put together far more solidly than the 2880.

Alan

[Aristoc]

Epson has just announced a new, high end 13" printer, the Stylus R3000.   K3 inks with vivid magenta, pressurized,  auto black switching, wireless connectivity, roll feed capability, 29.6ml cartridges.  Available March 2011, list $849US.

I am happy with my 2880. I don't print matte, so I never need to buy a matte black cartridge to keep my printer working. WIth the new printer, you have to have a matte cartridge in their just like you do with the 3880. A bit of a waste if you don't print matte much or at all.

[buggz]

I will be interested in the reviews for this one.
Especially cost of ink, and weather it clogs easily after periods of non use.
I was going to get a Canon 9500 MkII, as I now want a pigment ink printer.
I currently enjoy the use of my Canon 9000 MkII, though, the tiny ink carts is a pain when I get into printing moods. Though, it hasn't clogged once after periods of non usage.

[PhilipCummins]

EdJune: I think probably the 3880 is the best bet until the 3000 is released/reviewed, if you check around you'll see quite a few people commenting on clogging/ink waste on the 1900 and 2880 whereas the 3880 seems to be less problematic. Probably easiest to quickly check on Amazon & forums.dpreview.com (and here) to see what the general feel is like.

[Randy Carone]

The Epson 3800/3880 series seems to be the least clogging printers ever made by Epson. I've had a 3800 refurb since Oct '09 and have not had one clog. I've gone through three sets of ink so my usage is not high volume. I think one of the reasons the printer is clog-free is that the ink carts are above the head and the cart design is only used in that printer model, so perhaps they got it right with that configuration. Once I caught on (in the first week of printing) to the fact that you need to keep a bit of pressure on rear feed sheets until the printer grabs it, feeding has been flawless. It appears that the 3000 has the same geometry as the 3880, so my guess is that it too will be a clog-free printer and a good fit for those who only need to print 13" wide. We haven't gotten pricing on the 26.9ml carts yet but I will be curious to see if it competes with the .61/ml of the 3800/3880 carts.

[keith_cooper]

I was speaking to Epson UK about this printer and they hope to have some samples to test March/April.

I'm looking forward to giving it a good try-out and seeing how it stacks up against the 2880/3880

For people wanting to print at any higher volumes, I note that the specs I've seen don't mention any maintenance tank - not sure how long it would take to fill the pads, but might be a factor for some.

BTW Until I can get one for review, I'm keeping notes on release info and anything else I find about the printer at a R3000 info/notes page. At the moment it only seems to be mentioned on the UK and US sites, but I'll keep looking since Epson have often produced slightly different materials for different regions.

[John R Smith]

For people wanting to print at any higher volumes, I note that the specs I've seen don't mention any maintenance tank - not sure how long it would take to fill the pads, but might be a factor for some.

Bet you there won't be a maintenance tank at this price point. Which is a problem, unless like the 2400 you can run the waste lines out to a catch-bottle. But then you need to be able to reset the counter, as well. But the 2 pico-liter minimum droplet size sounds good, as do the larger size cartridges.

John