Canon Pro9500 or Epson 3880 or ?Konica Magicolor 7450 II

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Canon Pro9500 or Epson 3880 or ?Konica Magicolor 7450 II

eleff
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p.1 #1 · Canon Pro9500 or Epson 3880 or ?Konica Magicolor 7450 II

Canon Pro9500 or Epson 3880? I need good quality, not speed. Both printers have a rebate, (is that because there is a new version coming?). The Canon Pro9500 II is less than half the price of the Epson 3880, is the quality that much better (the extra $600 is not a deal breaker) Are there other sources for the ink, or can I only use Epson/Canon? How do their relative ink costs compare?

I have to purchase before September 1.

Finally, has anyone used the Konica grafix Magicolor 7450 II with glossy? Is the magicolor an option with photographs? I have easy access to the 7450 II

Scott

Aug 29, 2012 at 01:18 AM

Hammy
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p.1 #2 · Canon Pro9500 or Epson 3880 or ?Konica Magicolor 7450 II

No idea about the Konica, only Epson vs Canon.

I was Canon for many years, then they went to chipped ink carts and increased the price. Epson did too, but since I needed an all new print world, I decided to try Epson.

I had the 1800 printer: two of them. After about a year, the rollers on one of them started falling apart. On the second, I started getting consistant clogs. Bought a third (used) for spare parts... only to find it had the same clogging problem.
Color matching was more problematic with Epson than Canon ever was.
The other issue with the Epsons was that it was more than twice as slow as the Canon's I previously had. For me, speed is nice - we do alot of volume: up to 2000 prints a week, so you can imagine what we put the printers through.

So after all that, I'm back with Canon: i9900's. Same volume, same demands, no color issues, prints out as fast as I can process them... and after two years, both printers are still working great.

I had hoped Epson was better in terms of quality, price and performance, but none of those were realized by my experience.

Aug 29, 2012 at 02:27 AM

hugowolf
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p.1 #3 · Canon Pro9500 or Epson 3880 or ?Konica Magicolor 7450 II

I also know nothing about the Konica/Minolta. Of the other two, the Epson 3880 is in a different league to the Canon 9500 II. It is 17 inch as opposed to 13 inch. It will print up to 17 x 37.4 inches. It has much larger (and therefore less expensive per unit volume) cartridges. A new 3880 comes with about $450 (retail) of ink with 80 ml cartridges compared to 11 or 14 ml cartridges (I can’t remember which).

At least with the recent models, Epson some to have largely gotten over their clogging problems. The only downside now being the mat to photo black ink swap. Canon has separate lines for M/P, the Epson still needs to change if you change from RC to fine art paper.

You might also want to look at size. While the Epson 3880 is the smallest 17 inch on the market, it is still a lot bigger than a 13 inch printer. Do you have space for it?

I can’t say that the rebates will continue till next month, only Epson and Canon would know that, but the current rebates have been completively extended every month since maybe March.

Brian A

Aug 29, 2012 at 03:14 AM

BigBadWolfie
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p.1 #4 · Canon Pro9500 or Epson 3880 or ?Konica Magicolor 7450 II

I have the Pro9500mkII and have no experience with the 3880. Judging from everything I've read, I think the 3880 will produce a noticeably higher quality print when printing black and white. For color prints, they are pretty close and a matter of preference.

As hugowolf detailed, the 3880 is a larger printer that prints bigger, has bigger ink tanks, and has really good build quality. If you need to print bigger than 13x19 and for high volume work, the 3880 is an easy choice. The 3880's larger tanks does give a lower cost per print, but if that cost savings will be negated a bit if you frequently swap the matte and photo black inks and you don't end up finishing the tank before the ink expires. From what I've read, Epson recommends using the ink within 6 months of installation, but I've read people using the ink past 1 year without problems that it's something to consider. So it's possible for the larger ink tanks to pay for itself pretty quickly if you print frequently, but if you don't print frequently, I wouldn't really make ink costs my biggest consideration.

I think if price was no object get the 3880. Don't get me wrong, I'm pretty happy with the Pro9500mkII's performance and it's certainly not some cheap consumer grade printer. It makes beautiful, professional-quality prints and you won't hear too many people complaining about the Pro9500's build quality. If I was buying again, I'll probably still go with the Pro9500 because I don't print enough, especially in black and white, to justify the cost of the 3880.

As for ink, there are certainly 3rd party options, but YMMV. Hope this helps.

Aug 30, 2012 at 11:32 AM

anthonygh
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p.1 #5 · Canon Pro9500 or Epson 3880 or ?Konica Magicolor 7450 II

I have the R2880 and the IQ was judged by reviewers to be comparable to the Pro 9500 mk2...and also to the R3880 (same ink set). It doesn't clog.

The problem for me with the Canon (one reason I didn't buy it) is that there are no 3rd party pigment inks for it..whereas here are some excellent pigment inks for the Epsons that are a lot cheaper than OEM inks. The Canon has some quirky settings as well....it imposes border sizes with some paper selections. All in all Epsons seem more flexible and cheaper to run if one is interested in 3rd party products.

That aside...I have the Canon Pro 9000 mk2 and use OCP inks and it is an excellent machine..I use it for colour, and the R2880 for pigment B+W. Part of me regrets not getting a R3880 but I didn't see myself doing A2 prints then.

Aug 31, 2012 at 11:26 AM

anthonygh
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p.1 #6 · Canon Pro9500 or Epson 3880 or ?Konica Magicolor 7450 II

Aug 31, 2012 at 11:27 AM

TheBearman
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p.1 #7 · Canon Pro9500 or Epson 3880 or ?Konica Magicolor 7450 II

Don't know if you've made your choice yet but wanted to pass on my thoughts when I went down this road earlier this year.

If you are really limiting your choice between the 9500 and the 3880, then the choice is fairly easy. The 3880 provides larger print options, less expensive ink cost and 3rd party ink availability. I had the 9500 and it does seem to consume ink fairly quickly as a result of the small cartridges.

Now, if you expand your choices you could consider the Canon Pro 1. It is not a 17 inch printer like the 3880 but I think the image quality is comparable and in some cases better (my opinion). The factory ink cost is about the same but the 3880 has the option of third party inks which can lower cost. One factor to consider with the 3880 is also the ink switch mentioned above. Although not a physical swap of the cartridge, there seems to be a single line so ink from one cartridge must be purged prior to filling the line for the other (3880 owners, correct me if I'm wrong). You can avoid this by not making regular changes in your printing which would cause this activity.

You should also consider what type of printing your planning to do and how often. Pigment printers produce great results but dye based printers (Canon i9900 or the 9000) produce a better quality glossy image than the 3880, 9500 or Pro 1. Also note that these printers are not happy sitting for long periods of time. Let one sit for a couple of weeks and you can expect to use a fair amount of ink in cleaning cycles (automatic and manual). Even using 3rd party inks this can get expensive but with the Canons, the Pro 1 for example, this can result in burning through $350 for a replacement set with little output to show for it.

At the very least, with any pigment printer, you should look to print a test page at least once a week. This will help keep the heads clear and limit the amount of ink lost to cleaning cycles (I know, printing to save ink doesn't make sense but it does work).

I went with the Pro 1 and think (again my opinion) the black and white performance is exceptional. It's big, heavy, and a full set of 12 cartridges will set you back $350.

Sep 01, 2012 at 03:44 AM

Jglaser757
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p.1 #8 · Canon Pro9500 or Epson 3880 or ?Konica Magicolor 7450 II

i just sold my 9500 mk ii and replaced it with the 3880 last week..The ink cartridges in the canon were replaced every 7-8 13 x 19 prints..I have printed out about fifteen 17 x 22 prints on the epson and the cartridges on the epson are more than half full...Forgetting the cost..it was a pain the arse sending off for new cartridges every two weeks or so...Come on! every 7-8 prints for a canon,,really,,,

Maybe im still in awe of this machine,,but right now, i love it..

PS,,,the footprints are about the same too!!!

Sep 01, 2012 at 01:01 PM

Hammy
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p.1 #9 · Canon Pro9500 or Epson 3880 or ?Konica Magicolor 7450 II

Jglaser757 wrote:
The ink cartridges in the canon were replaced every 7-8 13 x 19 prints..

I'm not impressed with the smaller and smaller carts with new models either, but I print alot of 5-7s before I have to change out any cartridges: like over 300 5x7 prints or is mix of a couple hundred 5x7s, a few dozen 8x10s and nearly a dozen 12x18s. (all at 300dpi)

So you must be using some exotic carpet rag paper or have your ink setting way too high.

I too used to print out posters at high DPI (1440 on Epson 7600, now Canon iPF710), but found out that the printer will do it's own interpolation and printing at 180dpi does 5 things with no difference in output quality:
- less processing time
- less disc space used for saving print
- faster print
- uses ALOT less ink
- dries instantly

Sep 01, 2012 at 04:57 PM

BigBadWolfie
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p.1 #10 · Canon Pro9500 or Epson 3880 or ?Konica Magicolor 7450 II

Jglaser757 wrote:
i just sold my 9500 mk ii and replaced it with the 3880 last week..The ink cartridges in the canon were replaced every 7-8 13 x 19 prints..I have printed out about fifteen 17 x 22 prints on the epson and the cartridges on the epson are more than half full...Forgetting the cost..it was a pain the arse sending off for new cartridges every two weeks or so...Come on! every 7-8 prints for a canon,,really,,,

Maybe im still in awe of this machine,,but right now, i love it..

PS,,,the footprints are about the same too!!!
Well, 13x19 prints is going to eat up a lot of ink. Since you're printing out seven to eight 13x19 print every two weeks I can see how the 3880 works out better for you.

Anyhow, care to give us a comparison between the two printers as far as quality of prints?

Sep 02, 2012 at 03:00 AM

Jglaser757
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p.1 #11 · Canon Pro9500 or Epson 3880 or ?Konica Magicolor 7450 II

BigBadWolfie wrote:
Jglaser757 wrote:
i just sold my 9500 mk ii and replaced it with the 3880 last week..The ink cartridges in the canon were replaced every 7-8 13 x 19 prints..I have printed out about fifteen 17 x 22 prints on the epson and the cartridges on the epson are more than half full...Forgetting the cost..it was a pain the arse sending off for new cartridges every two weeks or so...Come on! every 7-8 prints for a canon,,really,,,

Maybe im still in awe of this machine,,but right now, i love it..

PS,,,the footprints are about the same too!!!
Well, 13x19 prints is going to eat up a lot of ink. Since you're printing out seven to eight 13x19 print every two weeks I can see how the 3880 works out better for you.

Anyhow, care to give us a comparison between the two printers as far as quality of prints?

I see no difference in the prints or their quality!! They both produce great prints...One is just less expensive in the ink department!!!!!!

Sep 02, 2012 at 12:08 PM

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