Any new 44” printers on the horizon?

[Asael]

My iPF8300 has stopped working, and once I stop throwing money at it in a desperate attempt to revive it, it will be time for a new printer. The current generation 44” printers are all a few years old, and I am wondering if there is anything new around the corner – maybe a Canon/HP with better paper handling, or an Epson that does not clog LOL.
Asael

[NAwlins_Contrarian]

As is usually the case, those who really know (being bound by non-disclosure agreements) are unlikely to say, and those who say are unlikely to really know. But going by basic info:

* Canon Pro-4100, introduced October 2019, replacing Pro-4000 introduced 2016;

* Epson P9570, introduced October 2019, arguably replacing P9000 introduced 2015 and P10000 introduced 2016; and

* HP Z9+, introduced May 2018, replacing Z3200 introduced 2008.

So by the standard of historical model cycles of this class of printers, there's no reason to think a new model is imminent, and indeed, even the oldest of them is not (until May) "a few years old" and the others are well short of that.

[deanwork]

I’m in the exact same position as you. I just bought a main board to replace in mine which is not hard to do and may very well solve my problem after replacing the fan. I’ll know if it worked this week. I checked and these inks will be available for four more years.


The only replacement I would buy right now is the 12 ink Epson 9570. It appears to be a very capable machine with a great gamut and excellent speed for production work. There were a lot of software issues with it at first but people who have them say they have all been resolved. The printers can apparently sit much longer without use and not clog. I would like to wait one more year and see how they pan out long term. But regardless I’d keep anything in warranty for the first 4 years.

Unless Canon goes back to an inkset that has acceptable longevity ( for me ) and can produce good monochrome
I won’t be going back to Canon. The true black and white software that was available for them is no longer in business. It’s a shame because I really liked the durability and reliability of Canon.

My iPF8300 has stopped working, and once I stop throwing money at it in a desperate attempt to revive it, it will be time for a new printer. The current generation 44” printers are all a few years old, and I am wondering if there is anything new around the corner – maybe a Canon/HP with better paper handling, or an Epson that does not clog LOL.
Asael

[Asael]

I realize that the 9570 is newer, but while there are many great things about it (thick paper!:), I had so so many head clogging issues with my last Epson that I am very hesitant to go that route.
Have the software issues with the Z9+ been solved?

[deanwork]

I’ve been working with my epson 9890 and 7890 printers with Piezography k7 lately since both have new heads and they are doing really well. What I’ve learned is that you need to keep the capping station clean always. Few people ever do that, the wiper blade should be changed every couple of years. I never did that. And the damper assembly called the ink selector unit should be changed if regular clogging is going on or in any case every three or four years. I never did that and I learned my lesson.  Epson never tells you this stuff because they want to service your printer because it’s a big revenue stream. Finally they should be kept in warranty as long as possible. That’s the cost of owning an Epson. Now the 9570  hasn’t been around long enough to really know but they sure made the access to the printhead much easier to clean and service. This latest model really IS a totally new design while P9000 is hardly changed from the 9900s.

I don’t know what HP is up to with the Z9. I don’t think much of anything during the pandemic. I rarely hear of anyone using them. I know their bw is very good from the tests I had done, but I believe the color gamut is in third place, but that could be inadequate printer drivers . What concerned me the most besides HPs lack of promoting these is the seeming lack of precise control of ink limits for various media while maintaining the best color gamut as with the previous models.  Maybe they have redesigned the color center software by now to equal the Z3200. If so I haven’t heard about it. My concern was primarily the poor control of gloss enhancer on semi gloss fine art media. I can’t live without that. Matte media and rc media are probably fine. They certainly are fast enough.

I realize that the 9570 is newer, but while there are many great things about it (thick paper!:), I had so so many head clogging issues with my last Epson that I am very hesitant to go that route.
Have the software issues with the Z9+ been solved?
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[Asael]

Thanks for the info.
No perfect solution, so it will boil down to the P-4100 or the P9570 with 2 years of extended warranty.
Still trying to see if I / Canon tech can revive the ipf8300.
(I certainly prefer the old Canon inks.)