canon wide format pricing and warranties

[kreidberg]

I am thinking of upgrading from an Epson 3800 to a canon ipf6400 to be able to do 24 inch prints. I will not be printing very frequently and I see too many posts about clogging with the Epson 7900 if not used frequently enough.

The Canon wide format printers seem to have less problems with clogging or other problems, at least judging from the relative lack of posts regarding this problem.  (Do you agree).

My questions- it seems that the canon wide format printers were discounted much more heavily last winter-spring- 2013 than at present.   What is the likelihood based on Canon's past history that these discounts will appear again?

secondly- Canon offers for ~$1400 a 2 year extended warranty on the ipf6400, whereas B&H has a Square TRade Protection plan for around $139.  Does anyone have a strong recommendation either way?  An extra $1400 for two years warranty seems pretty steep.

thanks very much

Jordan

[inHaliburton]

Hi Jordan,

I'm a new owner of an ipf6400. Only had it a couple of week, and have not had time to do much printing yet. I purchased mine in the States (I live in Canada) paid the GST when I crossed the border and it was still many hundreds of dollar cheaper than here in Canada. I decided to stay away from Epson for the reason you mentioned. Their commercial printers are meant to be used pretty much on a daily basis.

If you are interested, and I looked around for several weeks, I found the best price and service from Shades of Paper. The contact person I dealt with is  John Ferriola @ 856-787-9200. They are located in NJ so I didn't have to pay sales tax either! The price I paid was several hundreds of dollars less than $2000. Would you believe that the ipf6400 is priced at $4000 at a well-known store in Toronto? If you mention my name to John, perhaps he'll give me a good deal on paper or ink when I need!

Regards,
Paul Hicks.
In Canada, eh?

[BarbaraArmstrong]

I got the ipf8300 last year during the heavy discounts.  This was just before Canon launched their new models (the x400 series), and I'm sure it was an effort to close out their old inventory.  So I would be surprised to see such steep discounts again before they are ready for another change.  I also purchased mine through John Ferriola at Shades of Paper.  Give him a phone call, and he will stay in touch after the sale to make sure you aren't having problems with anything.  I also like asking him for paper recommendations.  Let him know what type of surface you like, and he will have some good suggestions.  Knowing John is like having a doctor, dentist, lawyer, accountant -- an arsenal of specialists for life's questions/problems.  I print sporadically, and have had zero problems with the 8300.  And, like you, this was a decision not to go with the Epson because I didn't want to pull my hair out over clogging/cleaning problems.  --Barbara

[keith_cooper]

You didn't say where you are? I'm assuming US from the prices mentioned? Here in the UK, prices are usually much higher than the US for example (Canon Europe couldn't get printers for the prices that some of the x300 ones were sold for in the US)

The biggest deals seem to come when new stuff is on the way, so probably not till the x500 range appears is or is imminent.

The 8400 wasn't a big enough jump for me to change our 8300, but a 8500 might be in a couple of years (and the 8300 will be getting on a bit)