A3 Printer

Epson R2880, or 1900

The only problem with and A3+ printer is the size of the ink cartridges, the cost of these and how much you print! Bloomin' expensive!
 
PCWorld are doing the Epson 1400 for just shy of £250.
I've no knowledge / experience of A3 printers - can anyone comment on this "budget" A3 printer?
 
I have an Epson R2400 and the output is absolute photo quality, as good as going to the printers. They are seriously NOT cheap to run and if you are thinking of buying one to save money doing your own prints then buy yourself a lens instead :)

What I would do is look at a CIS for the Epson, with that (or refillable cartridges) you will reduce the price per print dramatically. Really good paper would cost about £1 per A3 sheet and about the same for the ink (using the CIS). The R2880 is apparently an improvement over the R2400 but I cannot see any difference as the R2880 is stunning.
 
The difference between the R1400/1900 and R2400/R2880 is the type of ink which varies between pigment inks and dye inks plus a few minor changes in order to get the best out of each ink type (as far as I was made to believe).

I currently use refillable cartridges in my R2400 but will switch to a CIS in the next few months (so another TPer can have the refillable cartridges and ink when I do!)
 
Epson R2880...awesome quality prints, especially black and white, but colour results are almost as good..

I think Permajet do continuous inkflow systems for this printer and as has been pointed out Matty, will help reduce ink costs. They are expensive to run though as Darren says :)
 
cowasaki said:
I have an Epson R2400 and the output is absolute photo quality, as good as going to the printers. They are seriously NOT cheap to run and if you are thinking of buying one to save money doing your own prints then buy yourself a lens instead :)

What I would do is look at a CIS for the Epson, with that (or refillable cartridges) you will reduce the price per print dramatically. Really good paper would cost about £1 per A3 sheet and about the same for the ink (using the CIS). The R2880 is apparently an improvement over the R2400 but I cannot see any difference as the R2880 is stunning.
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I agree. Not so sure about using refillable cartridges but a quality CIS system is a good addition. I use the Fotospeed CIS system and it's top notch!

I also have the R2400 and it's an outstanding machine. I'd say better than most lab prints.
 
I'm getting the Lyson CIS next month (or that is my current plan). The refillable cartridges are actually really good, just pop the cartridge out and refill it using a syringe. No mess and no real fuss. I have an R300 with a proper CIS and they are convenient so looking forwards to getting the same on the R2400. £150+vat+p&p with 60ml x 9 of inks.
 
Actually i've just had a look and the Fotospeed/Quill system with 65ml x 9 cartridges and 50 sheets of A3 paper is £199 inc Vat
 
Epson all day long, CISS systems make them far cheaper to run in the long term.
 
Another happy R2400 owner here but it does get through the cartridges. Will have to look into a CIS I suppose.
 
The CIS does make a big difference. 10x the ink for only twice the cost of a single cartridge so I save a lot! And you get free custom profiles and good support (I use Fotospeed)
 
I seem to be being pushed towards the Fotospeed one now...
 
GaryK26 said:
PCWorld are doing the Epson 1400 for just shy of £250.
I've no knowledge / experience of A3 printers - can anyone comment on this "budget" A3 printer?
Click to expand...

Had one for a while now, print quality is great and I've fitted a ciss which gets me nicely round the small cartridge problem.
 
I have been toying with the idea of getting an A3+ printer for a while now , I have a couple of R300's and need to move on from them, the quesion is do I go for the pigment inks or the dye inks that I already use ? the cost is double but the life of the picture goes up alot ,
Is a R2880 with pigment inks the way to go ?

AAAAARRRRRH all these ??? with the r300's on there way out
 
I'm very happy with the results I get from my Canon iX4000. It's only a 4 colour job but the results are as good as (IMO) those from my 6 colour (but only A4) s820 (also Canon).

I've only used one compatible cart (in the s820) and would never use one again - poor colour rendition, faded faster than original and was blotchy on some prints (it almost looked as though ink was being dripped onto the print). Yes, the cart was a LOT cheaper than an original but I reckon it saved me almost nothing since I took it out after only a few prints (due to the blotchiness and poor colour rendition) and used a fair amount of genuine ink in an attempt to flush the carp stuff through the head before it had a chance to block it.
 
I once did the maths on A3 printers(couple of years ago) and worked out I would need to print over 700 A3 prints to make it worthwile.You could get a A3 print done for just over £1 at the time at a lab.Taking into account the price of the printer,paper,ink etc It didn't make financial sense.Might be a bit different mow.
How many have I sent away to be printed at A3-None.
Would have probably done quite a few if I'd went with the printer.
 
That's only half the point though, Vulcan. Home printing has never really been about saving money, it's more to do with having control over the results and the immediacy of the results. If a home print doesn't look quite right, you can do any adjustments you feel necessary and run another one off, while with a mail order one, you wait by the letter box for a couple of days, get all excited when the tube arrives, possibly to be deflated because the sky's the wrong colour blue... Another wait by the front door?
 
cowasaki said:
I have an Epson R2400 and the output is absolute photo quality, as good as going to the printers. They are seriously NOT cheap to run and if you are thinking of buying one to save money doing your own prints then buy yourself a lens instead :)

What I would do is look at a CIS for the Epson, with that (or refillable cartridges) you will reduce the price per print dramatically. Really good paper would cost about £1 per A3 sheet and about the same for the ink (using the CIS). The R2880 is apparently an improvement over the R2400 but I cannot see any difference as the R2880 is stunning.
Click to expand...


i have not seen any Epson printer as good as loxley prints, not even close.
 
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I find the 2880 a great printer. I get the epsom cartridges from Just ink & paper at £8.99 each which is a saving on standard prices. However you do need 8 of them. If anyone knows anywhere cheaper i would be grateful to find out.
 
coljun said:
I find the 2880 a great printer. I get the epsom cartridges from Just ink & paper at £8.99 each which is a saving on standard prices. However you do need 8 of them. If anyone knows anywhere cheaper i would be grateful to find out.
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I bought refillable ones. Takes ten minutes to refill them with the blunt syringes provided and costs peanuts. Never had an issue but make sure you use the printer at least every other week
 
I would be interested in using refillabe carts may i ask from where you get them & the inks . which ink do you use. I take your point re use every week .I have not had any problems with my machine but i do print every 7-10 days even if just a 6x4 print . regards colin
 
coljun said:
I would be interested in using refillabe carts may i ask from where you get them & the inks . which ink do you use. I take your point re use every week .I have not had any problems with my machine but i do print every 7-10 days even if just a 6x4 print . regards colin
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I bought them from a chap who used to be a member on here but was banned from selling as he was believed to be doing it to make a profit :) I am actually removing the refillable cartridges and switching to a CISS when my VAT refund comes in. The old cartridges will be free to a good home (if collected) with the remaining ink but they are for the R2400. I am switching to a Lyson CISS because I have got a test print from all three of the main suppliers and that is the one I preferred although there was very little in it.
 
thanks for your reply. I think i will look into the same system , thanks for the advice ,colin
 
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