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Epson 2880 & 3880 value

durrIII

New member
OK I have to make a decision. Life without a printer sucks. The 2200 died and I will not repair it, so i must decide between the 2880 & the 3880. My pocket book is leaning toward the 2880, but I would like to hear from users about both. Any advice out there?

thanks
 
Hi durrIII

I also am looking at this very choice. I think both printers have pretty much identical image quality. The decision would seem to hinge on two variables; paper size and ink cost.

INK COST:
The current street price (Atlex.com) for the 2880 (11ml ink cartridge) is $11.20 and the 3880 (80ml ink cartridge) is $47.99. Based on these capacities/street-prices you are paying $1.02 per ml for the 2880 and $0.60 per ml for the 3880. I believe the 3880 also holds both matte & photo black simultaneously and I have read that a round-trip switch between the two uses about 6ml (~$3.60). The 2880 holds only one black at a time so a matte/photo black round-trip switch means two cartridge swaps. I am not sure how much ink the 2880 uses for the swaps, perhaps one of our GetDPI 2880 owners can help.

PAPER:
The 2880 uses both roll up to 13" wide and flat sheet up to 13"x19" (Super B) size. The 3880 does not support roll paper but does support sheet paper up to 17" x 22 (A2).

I have decided upon the 3880 based on the ~70% higher ink cost to run the 2880. Also figuring in my decision is the round-trip photo/matte black ink change hassle and cost. Some of the new Baryta papers seem really cool and I am curious about them. I probably would not print too much at 17" x 22" but I would if I had a full frame sensor that could take advantage of it. The printer I would like to see is a 3900 series with a vacuum paper hold down, some folks have had scratching and head strikes with the 3800 printer but it seems to be a sample dependent thing.

Hope this helps
Paul
 

Wayne Fox

Workshop Member
If you buy enough ink with 2880 to equal the ink you get with the 3880, I think you'll find you are almost at a break even point. It doesn't take long for the 3880 to be the more economical choice, and I believe it's a much better built printer.
 

robertwright

New member
ditto: the included ink in the 3800 price more than offsets the initial investment. If you bought 500$ in ink for the 2800 series you would not be able to print as much as you could with the 3800. Its a no-brainer. Get the bigger printer. you are going to pay for it anyway one way or the other.

plus you can search around on amazon and find cheaper ink for the 3800- as low as 42$ a cartridge sometimes.
 

robertwright

New member
what's the price differential? plow the difference back in to ink I guess.

re the vacuum system, at first I thought I needed that after getting some buckling on 17x25 sheets but I had used the harman recommendations and slowed the print head down per pass, which i think meant that the paper stayed under the head longer, with normal duration the paper gets out of the printer fast enough that the warpage is past the print head in time. so I think their idea of slowing the head down so the paper could dry was not a good idea at least in my conditions.

3880 has the vivid magenta, also does it not have a new dither? that is where a lot of quality gains are made, might be worth it to get the new one.
 

Wayne Fox

Workshop Member
3880 has the vivid magenta, also does it not have a new dither? that is where a lot of quality gains are made, might be worth it to get the new one.
Yes, 3880 has new screening/dither, also new head design. However, differences in print quality for most images would require some serious loupe peeping to see.

I'd buy the 3880 just because I would prefer a new printer, never know what issues you might be getting with a used/refurb one. But I think 3800's will be printing for a long time - they really are outstanding printers with great quality.
 

ustein

Contributing Editor
The 3880/3800 are just better printers. It starts with feeding and the tiny ink cartridges on the 2880 just hurt.

Uwe
 
P

plupcoutrielo

Guest
Epson 2880 3880 value

Definitely sounds like a head strike. Please try setting the Platen Gap to Wide in the printer driver settings and make sre you have the paper thickness set appropriately

If this doesnt help then its likely you have a printer defect in which the print head is set too low. I would call Epson in this case.
 

JMSPhoto

New member
I agree with the ink cost trade-off, but depending on your volume of use you may have to replace the ink early.

Also, you need to consider the size of the unit into consideration. The 3800 series is huge compared to the 2800.

I have the 3800 and love it, but I had to answer lots of questions to the wife after it showed up and took over the desk.http://forum.getdpi.com/forum/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif
 

Diane B

New member
I have had the 3800 since the month it came out. As to the replacement of the ink early (speaking of ink costs relative to 2880 ink costs)--I have several carts that have not yet been replaced and I can't tell the difference from the first month. I do 'shake' my carts periodically--and do run checks for clogs before all print runs. Amazingly--I have never had a clog yet--and I print in spurts, not daily--or even weekly.

I have the 3800 sitting next to my 2200. The footprint isn't too dissimilar--but the 3800 looks (and IS) a good bit larger and heavier. But--footprint wise, if you can fit the 2200, you'll be okay with the 3800.

Not sure about the 3880 but I have printed panos (cut from roll paper) to 41" I believe. A bit tricky--you need to support the paper--but it works fine. You just need to do a custom/user sized paper. I also print 17 x 25 as 'normal'.

I hope my 3800 keeps printing for a long long time. My color and b&w are just wonderful--it would be hard to make me happier with a printer for my needs.

Diane
 
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