My love affair with Epson printers started with their Epson Stylus Photo R2200. I still know people that have one, and they still love it.
Then I upgraded to the R2400, and then finally to the 2880, which has been my favorite 13×19″ photo printer ever. But I just read where Epson announced their new Epson Stylus Photo R3000, (shown above—photo courtesy of Epson) and I think it might be time to upgrade again, because of course they improved enough stuff that I can’t say no, like larger ink tanks, and no more swapping black ink cartridges when going between photo and matte papers, new built-in advanced black & white capabilities, better paper handling options, and of course they always tweak the ink technology so the prints look amazing, but what put me over the top was the wireless printing part.
I have an Epson Workforce 600 wireless printer at home (that my buddy Terry White talked me into getting) and I love, (my wife and son use it all the time too—because it’s wireless).
Anyway, I haven’t seen one in person yet, but after reading all about it, I have a bad feeling I’m going to have to get one sometime in March when they ship. It list’s for around $850. Here’s a link to Epson’s site for more info on it.
I thought you were using MPix ? ;)
— Woods
Hi Woods:
I use MPIX quite a bit, but I also have my own printer. Is there some reason I have to use only one or the other?
-Scott
I don’t know. As much as I use wireless for everything, I don’t want to mess up my Huge photo pixels by accident. I don’t think I’d use wireless to print a photo.
Documents all the time, and sometimes they get messed up, I woudln’t want to risk that in a photo.
Bottom line, doesn’t make any difference, since I’ll not have enough money to get this printer anytime this decade.
I still have my Epson 1280 and 2200. Love them both, but I will get this one!
I saw one at ImagingUSA in the Epson booth and I can’t add much of anything to this description other than, the Epson guys said the ink size is not just bigger, it’s double. The one they had on display was printing a panorama canvas from a roll, and it looked sweet! I think this will be a big winner.
Damn. They had to go and do that just weeks after I finally bought a 2880. That’s not nice Epson.
Ditto. Very frustrating!!!
I just bought the 2880 mainly because of the rebate – obviously Epson wanted to get rid of as much 2880 stock as possible before this announcement. $300 back from the price though makes my 2880 a pretty good buy as the cost netted out to $515 plus tax instead of $815.
I have to go get a napkin to wipe up the drool. Looks like an awesome printer. I’ve been an Epson fan forever. Hands down the best photo printers out there! I wonder if a R1900 replacement is coming soon? That’s more in my wallet comfort zone!
Thanks for the link, Scott!
–John
I got the 3880 after watching your video with the Epson guy. My first Epson since the days of fast drying cartridges and man do I love it. What a printer. Thanks for all the info on Epson in that video. It really helped make the decision. Now I am having a blast playing with paper. I love paper.
Paused the video once, which resulted in a unique pic of you and Epson guy seemingly attempting to fly. I grabbed it but don’t know how to post it here. Bet you’re glad about that.
Steven
I was about to pull the trigger on a 3880 but the R3000 is what I really want! I’ll continue to nurse along my R2400 until this baby is available.
Can I have your old 2880? I’m stuck with an old R1800…. (Even though I still like printing on it with Epson’s Velvet Fine Art paper.)
The front-in/front-out option for canvas and fine-art papers is very cool (I bet printing on metal would look awesome with the new inks, too)! I would also be excited to use this printer with the Epson Hot/Cold Press papers (my R1800 doesn’t support the new Signature Worthy papers).
I’ve never bought my own photo printer. It’s not so much that I’m in love for sending them off, but my experience with inkjet printers for other documents is that I don’t use it often enough and the ink seems to dry out before I’ve really used it. I think I’d like the immediacy of having one at home, but not if it becomes frustrating and expensive because of the ink.
I’m not sure that the issue of ink drying out is much of a problem anymore. I have an Epson 1900 that has been turned off for several months at a time and I’ve never had any issues with the ink drying out. I tend to use it sporadically – lots of prints at one time and then nothing for a while.
As much as I like the 1900 for color, I am currently looking for a printer for B&W printing. I’ll have to watch and see what the reviews have to say about the 3000’s B&W capability.
Looks interesting. The only thing I don’t like with the 2880 is the ink swapping between the matte and gloss. I typically only print gloss, so I don’t print much matte that it makes an issue. I would say I would probably print more in matte if I didn’t have to waste ink going back and forth (not worth it in my opinion for one matte print and then switching right back). From what I read on the epson site, it still has to switch between the two carts- just that it does it within the printer, and you don’t need to manually switch the carts. If it didn’t have to charge the ink for a switch then it would have been a worthy upgrade (for me).
You strike me as a Stylus Pro 4900 kinda guy, no? It uses HDR ink, so it must be better.:-)
I had an Epson Stylus Pro 4000 and if I did not print at least once a week I had to purge the lines and waste a LOT of ink, has this problem now been solved?
Dear Dave
I have the 4800 and have the same problem with it. The prints are as perfect as I could possibly imagine, but sometimes I do an hour of head cleaning and money wasting before getting a solid nozzle check.
–Jaddie
Scott do you have a reason why you would choose the 3000 over say a 3880 other cost and print size? I have a 3800 and I like it. I would like an option for roll pager, I think, maybe not. Do you use roll paper?
Looks like you could save enough money on this new printer to say buy a Green Bay Packer Cap.
I got fed up with my Epson printers dying every year and needing to be replaced. Switched to Canon and those problems are history. A few months ago bought a Canon Pixma Pro 9000 Mark II, and there is no going back for me — THAT is a nice printer! (The only thing it is missing is roll paper support, which would be the one thing that might cause me to upgrade in the future)
I have to say, just when I think I don’t need any more gear, then I read something like this. Why do my pockets never seem to have enough change in them to afford all this great gear. Ah well bit of saving to do.
I’m kind of partial to my Epson 7900, but that does look nice for a teensy printer. LOL
Found this post looking for a review – have you tried the R3000 yet?