Hi Bob, please let us know how it turns out, level of difficulty, and total time. I'm in the same boat.
For those who don't know, you can order the print head directly from Epson at 562-276-1305 (there might be a better number as they will help you and transfer you to the warehouse). The print head is the only part which Epson sells directly and they charge $1299 for it (if you have D1 do the work, the parts cost is stated as $1132.
My options are:
a) have D1 do the work which according to their estimate and time involved this will likely run $2500+
b) buy a new 7900 at $2400, get a fresh start and a new warranty (and an option on the extended)
c) after four Epsons, move to Canon and get their new 6400 for slightly under $2000.
d) buy the $1300 print head, cross my fingers, and break out the swiss army knife and duct tape . . .
Clearly, D1 makes the least sense unless they can somehow solve the clog without replacing the print head. I'm leaning towards DIY option "d" or checking out the new Canons. enduser, you may be right about the Canons and if you have one, I'd like to hear your thoughts. I've had several Epsons before this and I've always had this notion that the ink wasting routines were part of the package deal for Epson's superior print quality; but by now it seems like that gap may have narrowed or disappeared and it's worth taking a look at the Canons. I've read good reviews but I can't find anything comparing black and white between the Canons and Epsons and that is what I'm looking for. I went down to the local Calumet yesterday as they used to have example prints from both printers, but they no longer do.
I spoke with an Epson dealer yesterday who said that Epson had "improved the process" and I was less likely to have the clog problem now than with one of the very early x900s. I'm not sure how that makes sense at all if they are the same printer with the same manufacturing process. And in searching for more info on the Canon printers, I keep stumbling upon more anecdotes of people with the same problem from the Epson x900s. I try to be balanced and take all of these anecdotes with a grain of salt. I realize that it is sort of like Yelp reviews of a restaurant-- the one star and the five star reviewers have incentive to post a review whereas the people who have a decent experience are not likely to take the time. Still, trying to take this into account, there sure are a lot of accounts of print heads failing, even between one and two years old, thus rendering the printer useless.