New Printer Options...

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Ian
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So my SP4800 has developed a strange "groan" when printing today, yellow needs clearing out every time I print colour (which is once a month at most), and it's getting more and more ornery about paper loading issues. It's also bloody huge and takes up a stupid amount of space in my office. Oh, and I can't lift it on my own.

I have quite a few 220ml carts for it, but with about 5 of them needing replacement shortly I'm wondering whether it might be best to just ditch the printer before the groan becomes a clunk and sell the unopened carts.

To that end, I've been looking at a replacement.

Canon Prograf-1000
Pro: It's Canon so will hopefully "just work". Heads are replaceable. Black ink swap is pain free.
Con: 600mm paper length limit which will make my 6x17 panoramas a bit dinky. This is a biggie. If they fixed it with firmware I'd almost certainly buy it.

Epson P-800 (Originally put the 600 but it was a typo)
Pro: I can print whatever size I want.
Con: Ink swap shinanegins. Irreplaceable head (?). It's Epson and will probably require fiddling with to get it to work.

Epson P5000
Pro: It does everything
Con: It's massive and expensive and realistically, it's overkill for my needs.

So none of these three are the perfect solution which in today's world is a bit annoying. Spending around the thousand mark for a printer feels as though it should be perfect, so I'm not sure I can pull that kind of expensive trigger on something I'm not happy about.

Is there anything else worth considering in the sub £1500 mark?
 
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Might the Epson P-800 be something to add to you litss?

It prints bigger pages than the P-600 (17x25 vs 13x19) and has larger ink cartridges (80ml vs 26ml) meaning a lower ink cost per page. I did a print course which used a P-800 for our output and it was very reliable with no major issues to get it to work. Sizewise, it is a lot smaller and lighter than the Canon Prograf-1000 and Epson P5000, about the same size as the P-600. Epson has a rebate offer on North America (I'm in Canada) which reduces the price by 25% - is that available in the UK?
 
Lol, I typo'd... Meant to put an 8 instead of a 6....

That does make more sense. Down with typos!

I just bought my first printer (Canon Pro-100), choosing it mainly for the low price as an intro to printing devices. I would have gone with the P-800 if I were convinced that I'd be doing more printing. The option to be able to print large panos using roll paper is attractive.
 
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Personally - a used HP Z3200 or Canon IPF6400, 6450, or even 6300.

Pro 1000 - way too many limitations. I don't need to list them, except maybe mention terrible support once warranty is up. Head is replaceable but not cheap!

Epson - if the head goes it's good for the bin. Otherwise it is the best by a long way.

Interestingly see this http://wilhelm-research.com/Canson/WIR_Canson_Fine_Art_and_Photo_Papers_2019-08-22.pdf
Print longevity is a rarely debated topic and I am not sure if anything over 30 years is really needed, but if it is you may want to cross out new Canon PRO line. The IPFs were fine.

You really don't need anywhere near 1k if you go used route unless you get unlucky.
 
Just posted in another thread
Had Canon Pro 1000 for almost two years, not over used but left on standby to save ink (you lose loads on restart if it is turned off) - printing a few days ago and power goes. Looks like a new power pack needed £172 plus £250 to fit... less than impressed to say the least :mad::mad:
 
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A used HP Z3200, fantastic quality prints, very economical to run compared to LF Epson's.
 
I had kind of a similar dilemma a year or so ago and did look at both of those, but went a bit crazy - I bought an Epson P7000 at the Photography Show on discount.

Overkill? Yep! Near impossible to get into the house? Yep! Budget breaking? Yep! But wow, the prints are amazing and realistically, size limitations go out the window, especially with panoramas - which was my big sticking point. It wasn't even a fiddle to set up once I got it in the house - only issues were my own workflow, which I sorted quickly. Only real issue is I don't use it nearly as much as I need to - and that could be a problem with an Epson that you don't seem to get with a Canon.

If you're doing panos, then a roll printer is really the best and most cost effective option.
 
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