{ 3100 : at 143 pounds the thing is a beast. The canon at 100 pounds is no lightweight either.....I knew that they were big but did not really understand how big (always read the fine print!).
That leads me to the Epson 3800. At 40 pounds it is way more managble in my home environment, even though I do have room for the others. I have concerns about prolonged lack of use. Epson has no wake-up feature that would cycle the heads. They rely on an airtight seal and seem to place all their faith in that solution. Time will tell I guess. During long trips I can move the unit into our cool basement. Maybe I could connect the printer to a timer that will power up the printer (not turn it on) and it will cycle and go off again? (If anyone knows if this is plausable please post). Not possible for me to move the others easily.
Paul
A - For both 3800 or 5000 the recommendation is to leave them on and don't turn it off when not in use . This will do an automatic nozzle check and use a small amount of ink to make sure the heads are not clogged. If you want to turn it off when not in use , check this practice with HP or Canon . I doubt they will say ok to this .
3800 needs to be turned off when not in use .
B - RE moving your printer to the basement :
Is it really needed ? As long as the printer room has a normal temperature and humidity with no direct sun on the printer , it should be all right . What are the benefits of moving it to the basement? You can save your back and your time with not moving the printer at all .
But if you have some reason to move the printer: 3100 comes with its own movable stand . For 5000 you can get the optional stand/cabinet which is movable . So they are both movable as long as you want to move them in the same floor . Moving to another floor is another story .
All the best
Avalan