Unfortunatelly, I had no experience with Z3100, but FWIW:
- Yes, it's true - you only have to make one linearisation on one of supported media types, and the whole rest is updated
- The spectrodensitometer gives a good calibration, you need a spectrophotometer unit to create custom calibrations for unsupported papers, but many paper manufacturers support such calibration files.
- Same here, no clogging until the terminal clog.
- Same or even better, there are also 300ml ink carts available which is more convenient than 110ml HP carts
- Roll and sheet paper load is better than in HP, drivers and print plug-in are much more convenient
- It's absolutely noiseless in standby, and very, very quiet while printing. Nonetheless, it's also much faster than HP.
- It has resin encapsulated pigment particles with splippering enhancing substance, variable pigment particle size, and it adds green colorant to black parts, so bronzing, gloss differential and scratch resistance on glossy/satin media is in the class of it's own, way better than both HP and Epson.
Here are some of my questions:
- Calibration: on the Z3100 every paper needs to be calibrated. From the reviews I've read it seems that the iPF6400 only needs to be calibrated with one paper and not for every individual paper. Is that true?
- Calibration: Does the densitometer give good calibration, or is it really necessary to have the built-in spectro?
- Head clogging: my Z3100 has shown zero problems over six years. Is the iPF6400 as good in this respect in your experience?
- Ink usage: how do the two printers compare? I've found the Z3100 to be excellent in the respect.
- Paper load: is the paper load (especially sheet paper) better than the pretty poor paper load on the Z3100?
- Printer noise: the specs show the iPF6400 at about 35dB when in standby, which is pretty quiet. As the printer will be in a small office this is important. Is it really much quieter than the Z3100 (which has a noisy fan, even in standby)?
- Is the loss of the Gloss Enhancer a really big loss, or do the iPF6400 inks handle bronzing on gloss papers reasonably well?
The decision for me, assuming that the printers are equally good, is do I keep my really excellent Z3100 and risk not being able to get spare parts when something goes wrong? ... or do I get rid of it now and pay the $2500 or so upgrade to a new iPF6400 + set of inks?
Advice most welcome!!
Robert