Epson Stylus Pro 3800 2880x1440 DPI Color Inkjet Printer - C635011UCM

• EPSONA
• Sold as 1 EA

I''m a Fine Art Digital Photographer, not a techno geek to make it plain to those reading my assessment of the Epson Stylus Pro 3800. Since getting into the digital arena and printing my own images, I''ve been with Epson exclusively. My digital prints are quality images, printed on the many available Epson substrates with perfect results. The Pro3800 is intuitive and easy to use, the switching between photo and matte inks is seamless, but takes a little time. So what. Coming from a wet darkroom experience in the past, time was something expected and desired for the outcome of a beautiful print. The printer''s colors are spectacular, the black and whites are great, the manual is easy to understand and if followed, the results speak for themselves.

Perhaps I should mention that my printer is upstairs in my studio, attached to my MacBook Pro and used only for the purpose of creating my photographs. The previous reviewer speaks of many other applications he had in mind for this unit. Perhaps his expectations somehow exceed the normal use for a printer of this caliber. But, I admit, I am no techno person, just an artist who is delighted with the performance of this printer.

As to the shipping mishaps he has experienced, unfortunate, but does happen. I bought my printer through Amazon, and it arrived in tip top shape. Also, I''ve always had good customer support from Epson in the past, so don''t know why he didn''t.

For you ..... prospective buyers ...... assess your printing needs first, look up other printers and independent reviews, then make an informed choice.

West Cornwall, Connecticut

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This printer offers excellent print-quality, and it does so in a small footprint. I''m amazed! However, Epson slacks a little in regards to reliable networking, beta-testing, shipping, and efficiency.

I have possessed two of these printers and both had some major issue:

#1 First one was most likely damaged during packaging, because the shipping box was in pristine condition. I had to ship it back and get another printer, albeit, I didn''t have to ship it until the new one arrived, but with Epson''s poor tech-support, even this was no easy job for me. I ended up having to call the Headquarters to speak with someone, but the whole building was too busy with some big meeting to help me. Nobody EVER called me back during the whole experience of swapping the two printers out.

#2 Second printer was also damaged (STRAIGHT FROM EPSON!), but I managed to reset the front tray. You can tell the machine is fragile, just from the serious amount of foam and blue tape Epson ships the device with. It takes a good 5-10 minutes to carefully unpack. Printers have never really been built like tanks, and I don''t expect the manufacturers will find a way any time soon.

#3 Bug in the software? My printer suddenly started displaying it was using Photo-Black ink, instead of Matte. So I set it to swap the blacks out back to Matte black. Soon after, it displayed Photo Black again. So I wasted two swaps to find a cosmetic BUG! Cosmetic, sure, but this is a bit over the top. Epson even mis-spelled the word, "Networking" in the Firmware update utility inside the LFP Remote Panel. If that''s indicative of Epson''s attention to detail, I can only imagine this is where they had to cut some jobs to give the K3-ink crew more time and materials. I''m just glad the K3-ink department got it right!

#4 The IT staff at Epson should get more involved with the design engineers and help them understand more about RELIABLE LAN networking. This printer is among the lowest quality LAN nodes I''ve dealt with in my life. I''m a Cisco Network Engineer, btw. If you want to experience repeated futility, try getting this thing to regain an Ethernet connection to a Mac Book Pro after unplugging the cable and rebooting either device. I don''t wish to think every Epson printer does this, but I''m surprised Epson didn''t build any decent Ethernet status monitoring in the printer. No, that''s something HP does well, and have proven it for the last ten years.

#5 Poorly laid out menus and buttons: Yeah I''ve worked with better. Question: Why do you have to reboot the printer to change it''s IP address? Haven''t we evolved enough to virtually eliminate reboots?

I can''t boast enough about the print-quality, and to keep the price within reach, there has to be some sacrifices made along the way. Shareholders don''t budge on these things, and I don''t expect Seiko to, either. So, if you can live with potential issues in production as such, I think you''ll be a satisfied customer, assuming your printer arrives intact and without something bent. I just wish Epson could have worked a little harder on other aspects of the printer that may not relate directly to the actual image.

btw, the whole time it took me to type this review, the Epson print software STILL hadn''t figured out it cannot print due to the Printer''s NIC card not communicating! How about a little better error-checking? I wish Canon were better, but they''re really not. They seem to have budget issues caused by shareholders, too.

Read Best Reviews of Epson Stylus Pro 3800 2880x1440 DPI Color Inkjet Printer - C635011UCM Here

My new Epson 3800 has exceeded all my expectations. The print quaility is

extraordinary and getting great color is much simpler than other wide format

printers I''ve owned. The print speed is exceptional.