Epson R1800

  • Thread starter Thread starter medico
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medico

Hi Guys,
I'm considering buying an Epson R1800, mainly for A3 work, has anyone any
comments (Good or Bad) on this machine.

How long has it been in production? Is it about to be replaced?

Is it worth the money?

All comments welcome.

David.
 
This is an excellent printer that uses Epson pigment based dyes.
As it is very accurate adherence to reasonable color management is
necessary: basic monitor calibration/Photoshop stuff.
I do not print much B/W but have had very good results for my purposes.
Although it uses a gloss optimizer I find the results on Epson premium
glossy paper to be outstanding, even better than the venerable 1280 that
Epson still sells. The 1800 is also very good on lustre finish papers. I
rarely use matte type papers. The canned Epson profiles are very good with
Epson and several other papers with similar finishes.
It is, however, not the cheapest printer to run, and you need to check that
heads are not clogged prior to printing sessions. Regardless I prefer Epson
by far over anything Canon has ever
made,/repackaged-endlessly-as-a-new-model.
 
We bought ours almost two years ago; about 6 months after it was introduced
in the U.S., and have found it to give very fine results with pretty
accurate color rendition to what we see on the monitor. Subtle color
renditions are amazing and are very apparent in comparision to non-photo
Epsons such as the 880 or C84. The large format of 13 X 19 is something I
was very much wanting to have available, and this machine does a nice job in
fulfilling the need. Additionally I enjoy the ability to make DVD labels
directily on the media. It prints very fast.
There have been a couple of times when I've needed to run cleaning cycles
to get the yellow running again, but I have to conclude that's a result of
not running it for three or more weeks at a time. Epsons like to be run
rather than left sitting.
The one big consideration to me is the size of the cartridges. They are
small; only holding about 12 cc of ink.That is hardly adequate, even if it
wasn't a large format printer. Cartridges will run about $12 + each, and
there are eight of them in this machine. So be forwarned that if you are
doing even a fair amount of printing you will go through ink rather quickly.
One big way to overcome this hefty ink cost is to buy good quality third
party ink, that has the same Epson longevity characteristics as well as
color, and refill using spongeless cartridges with a chip resetter, or a
CIS. Is it worth the money? How much do you value a large format machine
with high quality output? I'm still glad we bought ours.
 
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