Turning back to the main topic of this thread - the 7900 - and Gary's experience with his 9900 - I have colleagues here in Toronto using both of these printers extensively and they sing the praises of them. This means they are capable of first-rate performance. Needless to say, any piece of complex machinery can have issues, and one hopes the manufacturer retains an interest in going the extra mile to keep their reputation intact. This is a very competitive market segment.
I agree with your colleagues Mark, these printers are very capable of the first-rate performance of which you speak. When they are performing up to their potential they are a joy to work with. However, after reading posts on this forum concerning possible issues with these machines I began a log the first day I started printing with the 9900. That list of issues, mostly repeatable issues, has grown to more than 60 entries and has served me well when talking to the folks at Epson and the onsite service techs as well. I too keep a collection of nozzle checks, dated and timed to coincide with my log entries. With these I can show the techs exactly what is happening and they can then diagnose the situation with a higher degree of accuracy. All of this to say that I will continue to be in touch with Epson as often as I deem necessary to keep the printer doing the job it was meant to do.
I believe you also mentioned that these X900 series printers should not have the nozzle dropouts and other issues you are experiencing. And again I agree, they shouldn't. But keep this in mind Mark. The last tech I talked with at Epson about two weeks ago was a fellow who, in my opinion, was one of the most straight shooting techs I had experienced. I again explained my situation and of course he had my file of past calls to read as well. One of the first things he said was this, " I assume you are aware that nozzle droputs not unusual on these machines". He's the first person at Epson who has actually uttered these words to me. I agreed of course, but I also told him that I had been using two 7600 printers for many years without the frequency of problems I had been experiencing with the 9900. He had no answer to that statement, except to arrange another service call. I'm hoping that will happen very soon, but I guess the local service techs are still waiting for parts. Rather suspect I think. I will place another call to Epson on Monday to have them track the situation, again.
You're quite correct, this has been a very interesting thread. Some helpful information and perhaps some not so helpful, but interesting all the while. And just so you know Mark, I'm not far from The Big Smoke myself. Perhaps we shall meet sometime. I will continue to follow your posts regardless. And I will continue to keep you posted on my progress with the mighty 9900.
Gary