While that's true, the fact is with the Canon approach you don't have to worry about kicking off a 30x20 print only to have it ruined by a clog, thus wasting time, ink, and paper. This seems far preferable to me than having to print a nozzle check before every print job, like so many Epson users find they have to do.
I find it very rare to have a print ruined by an Epson because of a clog mid job. On my 11880's I only run a nozzle check every few days. On the 7900 every couple of days. I think the first print with a problem in months was yesterday.
And on at least a couple of occasions I remember my Canon ipf6100 clogged up enough to ruin some large pano's when using it a few years ago. I don't think Canon is immune to the problem. If I left the 6100 off for a few weeks, it almost always spent time cleaning after starting it back up, forcing me to wait to print a print.
Not really knocking either one, I think they are both great, and as I mentioned for occasional users the way the Canon hides the clogging can be a nice thing for the workflow, even though in the long run it might not be saving as much money as everyone thinks.
I personally believe the technology of the piezo heads is superior for controlling dot placement and size, but will admit it really doesn't translate to a visible difference on the print most of the time.
conversely, I found Canons support to be equal or better than Epson. and more willing to go the extra mile. A recently faulty 700ml Epson ink cart (chip refused to register) was eventually replaced by a grumpy individual that took 3 days to arrive. He seemed to think it my fault I didn't have spare 700ml carts laying about! Nothing extra for my frustration or 3 days downtime. Poor service. and they want me to send back the faulty cart...
I'm not talking about end user support. I'm a Canon dealer, sell quite a few Epson printers and after seeing the new 8300 last year was very interested in perhaps putting one on the floor, producing work with it, and seeing if I could sell a few.
Mentioned it to our rep, but the printers are a different department. On more than one occasion he has put a request through to get us info ... I've given up at this point. I know the other dealer in town who is much larger than me doesn't stock Canon printers either.