Canon extended Warranties for Large Format Printers

[Jglaser757]

I was looking into an extended warranty for the Canon 8400 but it does not cover for print heads. If that is the most frequent item to go on one and its not covered, WHat is the benefit of the warranty? I dont get it!

[Jeff Magidson]

I was looking into an extended warranty for the Canon 8400 but it does not cover for print heads. If that is the most frequent item to go on one and its not covered, WHat is the benefit of the warranty? I dont get it!

The heads are considered "user replaceable" and come with their own 1 year warranty. There are PLENTY of other things that can go wrong with large format printers and I would recommend the extended warranty. Out of warranty service calls are about +/- $1,500

[Rob Reiter]

I used Epson 9600 and 9800 printers for 6 years, always purchased extended warranties and always needed them, I've used the Canon 8100, 8300 and now 8400 for seven years, in a commercial environment, never purchased the extended warranty and never needed it (knocking on wood right now!)

I'm not saying no one ever has problems with Canon printers, but I bet the majority of users on this forum have similar experiences. By the time these printers are most likely to need work, they will probably be out of the extended warranty, too. I would rather bank the cost of a warranty. The savings over three years will buy a new printer.

[mstevensphoto]

having just gone through a printer replacement (ipf 8300 replaced with ipf8400) I can soundly say I'm still not interested in an extended warranty. The warranty runs 2/3 the cost of a new printer AND a new printer gets you new full inks. what I absolutely positively would do is take canon up on their $1500 total fix offer for problems.

with canon's deal you pay $1500 for an out of warranty service, that guarantees that they will get the printer working. it is less than an extended warranty and as expensive as it is, it is likely less than your repairs (a main board alone is $900+labor). After more than one fixing I'm buying a new printer. I am a tree hugger and I hate to have these beasts be disposable, but it just is not worth it to pay $2k for a warranty that lasts a year when you can buy the whole new printer for $3899 and get new ink, new warranty and so on.

[Jglaser757]

having just gone through a printer replacement (ipf 8300 replaced with ipf8400) I can soundly say I'm still not interested in an extended warranty. The warranty runs 2/3 the cost of a new printer AND a new printer gets you new full inks. what I absolutely positively would do is take canon up on their $1500 total fix offer for problems.

with canon's deal you pay $1500 for an out of warranty service, that guarantees that they will get the printer working. it is less than an extended warranty and as expensive as it is, it is likely less than your repairs (a main board alone is $900+labor). After more than one fixing I'm buying a new printer. I am a tree hugger and I hate to have these beasts be disposable, but it just is not worth it to pay $2k for a warranty that lasts a year when you can buy the whole new printer for $3899 and get new ink, new warranty and so on.

That's very good info to have. Also, i realized that if I have an extra year of warranty protection if I use certain credit cards,,Pain to actually need it but,a little piece of mind!

[Jeff Magidson]

I am a tree hugger and I hate to have these beasts be disposable, but it just is not worth it to pay $2k for a warranty that lasts a year when you can buy the whole new printer for $3899 and get new ink, new warranty and so on.

One correction : The extended warranty is $1,250 for a year, so that's less than 1 $1,500 service call and if you need more than one service call in a year you are really screwed without the extended warranty.

[bill t.]

Put that extended warranty cash in a jar and buy a new printer when your first serious issue arises.

I'm 1361 days on my iPF8300, with nothing but printhead replacements all of which were covered by warranty, and a few maintenance tanks.  Current maintenance tank is over a year old with >8000 square feet.  Don't know what the year-end printer sales will be like this year, but usually you can pick a new printer in December for less than the cost of the carts and the heads that are included.

My current thought is that when I get the first "parts status warning" on one the 15 such items that are monitored in the printer firmware, I will buy a new printer and give the current one to a competitor.  But so far all those monitored items are listed as "OK" after more than 30K square feet.

[mstevensphoto]

Put that extended warranty cash in a jar and buy a new printer when your first serious issue arises.

My current thought is that when I get the first "parts status warning" on one the 15 such items that are monitored in the printer firmware, I will buy a new printer and give the current one to a competitor.  But so far all those monitored items are listed as "OK" after more than 30K square feet.

those are two excellent thoughts. I'd love to know where the $1250 warranty is from, that's way less than I've seen, but I still likely won't buy one. I had 3.8 good years of service from my ipf8300. it paid for itself in the first 9 months. Same as Bill I had to buy a few print heads, got a few free with warranty. I wish I had ditched it at the first problem. then it would have been worth something still.

I thought "how much can a repair cost, I'm not doing $1500." after $1800 we still hadn't fixed the problem and I said no more. I see a warranty being bad on two levels, 1 you're way less likely to have a problem in the 2nd year (use dependent) and more likely to have one further out so you've probably just bought coverage that you didn't need. 2 after spending the $1500 to fix whatever problem you encounter you're quite likely not to have another major one. so while it's one incident, it's the one you need and it's not a cost if you don't. but really, think carefully about just getting a new one.

[Dan Wells]

I hate the idea of these huge machines being disposable - they have as many resources in them as a major appliance, and more than anything else we routinely buy, except for a car. Disposable electronics are bad enough when it's an iPhone, much worse when it's a 200+ lb monster full of plastic and metal!

Dan

[bill t.]

^Then don't trash them.  When they reach the point when further propping up is not economical and possibly damaging to your professional reputation from delivery time and quality issues, give them to somebody else who has the time to deal with the problems.

If you list a dead wide format printer on Craigslist, you will have several replies within minutes, as I did with my 9880.  Or offer the dead unit for parts, the catch being that takers have to haul away the whole thing.  As organ transplants that hunk of industrial materials can live on for many more years.  And much of the steel such as in the base is highly recyclable and of great interest to scavengers.

Let's see, 70 years on my body, 36 years on my refrigerator, 28 years on my house, 12 years on my pickup truck, 3.72 years on my 8300.  My goodness how time flies.

[mstevensphoto]

Let's see, 70 years on my body,

you can list that on craigslist too

[bill t.]

you can list that on craigslist too

I've tried, but all get is pitches from the AARP.  And offshore Viagra suppliers.