Epson R1800 is Discontinued???

I saw over at B&H that the Epson R1800 is discontinued! I thought this is an excellent printer for the most part? I saw a nice review of it on Popular Photography not too long ago.

Does anyone have any insights on a replacement model? What is Epson releasing to replace the R1800?

Epson seems to come out with printers faster than Fuji does with cameras. It's just the way things are.

Must have been replaced with R1900 which sure looks very similar.

J

Yep... except one of the blue cartridges has been replaced with orange.

I bought my Epson R2400 back when they were $900 and I believe it's still a current model.

They'll probably change that too. There really was no reason to change the R1800 except to change the ink formulation and throw off the 3rd party guys for a bit. The whole business model is predicated on ink sales....

j.

There are a couple other changes too: http://www.inkjetart.c​om …chive/IJN_2008-01-25.html

JohnJ80 wrote in post #4809254
They'll probably change that too. There really was no reason to change the R1800 except to change the ink formulation and throw off the 3rd party guys for a bit. The whole business model is predicated on ink sales....

j.

Probably...welcome to the world of modern capitalism...it does nothing for the customer, but sure as hell makes the company and shareholders rich...also kills competition, which imho is participating in a monopolistic behaviour. If the US DOJ (and other countries similar governing bodies) won't charge Microsoft with monopolisation, then smaller companies won't get attacked imho.

Dave

I've owned an R1800 for a little over a year now, and have been very happy with it despite the occasional clog, which is easily cleared. It's probably still got 3 or 4 years left in it, but I doubt if I can resist replacing it for that long. I've been following this review of the R1900, which may be of interest.

Thanks for the info linked and comments all. I was eyeing the R1800 for my next purchase and noticed it is being discontinued. My previous printer is an old HP 79xx Photo printer which I've had for over 5 years now... still working great

As long as the R1900 is supported with CIS, then I'd have no problem moving up to it. I'd wait to hear what the verdict is on that first. Maybe epson has put some sort of "our ink only" electronics in this one. If so, then unless it can be disabled, I'd not buy it.

Just a note on clogs - if the blank spots in the test pattern move, then it is air bubbles and not clogs. That what it is mostly for me with my R1800. I don't think I've ever had a clog, but I do get the occasional air bubble.

J

JohnJ80 wrote in post #4815617
As long as the R1900 is supported with CIS, then I'd have no problem moving up to it. I'd wait to hear what the verdict is on that first. Maybe epson has put some sort of "our ink only" electronics in this one. If so, then unless it can be disabled, I'd not buy it.

Just a note on clogs - if the blank spots in the test pattern move, then it is air bubbles and not clogs. That what it is mostly for me with my R1800. I don't think I've ever had a clog, but I do get the occasional air bubble.

J

I hadn't considered the possibility that my "clogs" would be air bubbles, but next time I get one I'll look into it. If so, they would probably dissipate after shutting the printer down overnight instead of immediately going through one or more $5.14 head cleaning cycles, which is what I estimate each one costs.

Your CIS must use some pretty Epson-compatible ink. From what I see and hear, the primary cause of clogging in these Epson pigment ink printers is use of third party inks. That was what I think the reason for all my trouble with the R800 was, which I was finally able to correct with extreme measures a couple of years ago, and it's still chugging along nicely, with only Epson inks, of course.

This reviewer so far seems to think the R1900 is a considerable improvement over the R1800 except for one thing, he thinks the ink cartridges are too small.

BillyR wrote in post #4822359
I hadn't considered the possibility that my "clogs" would be air bubbles, but next time I get one I'll look into it. If so, they would probably dissipate after shutting the printer down overnight instead of immediately going through one or more $5.14 head cleaning cycles, which is what I estimate each one costs.

Your CIS must use some pretty Epson-compatible ink. From what I see and hear, the primary cause of clogging in these Epson pigment ink printers is use of third party inks. That was what I think the reason for all my trouble with the R800 was, which I was finally able to correct with extreme measures a couple of years ago, and it's still chugging along nicely, with only Epson inks, of course.

This reviewer so far seems to think the R1900 is a considerable improvement over the R1800 except for one thing, he thinks the ink cartridges are too small.

Epson is the primary promoter of the notion that only their inks are any good. The marketing term for this is "FUD" for Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt.

I did a long evaluation of this before I switched. You can read about this on my blog here:

http://www.prophotohom​e.com …php?userid=3425​2&entry=56

Where I talk about my experiences with my R1800, Mediastreet inks and my Mediastreet CIS. In a nutshell, what I found is that the longevity of the mediastreet inks are just as good (if not better - both exceed the longevity of silver based chemistries and dye inks by spectacular amounts), I get better results that I got with OEM inks and papers, and I'm saving something like 70% of the ink cost.

The issue is if you select crap inks, you will have problems. If you chase the OEM ink in our printer with an ink that is chemically incompatible with the OEM ink without flushing you will have problems with clogging. If you select high quality inks, get custom profiles (no big deal), and understand your color flow it is very straightforward to get results at least as good as the OEM inks and probably better while saving an amazing amount of money. For example, I have save enough money to buy a new printer every in the equivalent amount of ink in 8 cartridge sets.

That said, the results from the R1800 are so good, that while I'm sure the R1900 is better it isn't going to be "oh wow" better. Even if it is, it will only be a short while before the 3rd party guys have an ink set to match it, I'm sure.

J.

JohnJ80 wrote in post #4826777
I get better results that I got with OEM inks and papers, and I'm saving something like 70% of the ink cost.

Your post piqued my curiosity and I read your report with interest. I also went to the Mediastreet site and checked their prices. I guess the 70% you saved is with the CIS rather than the individual cartridges. I notice on the Mediastreet site that the regular cartridges sell for $9.95 each, which is only $1.54 less than the $11.49 I can get Epson cartridges for at Newegg. What looks to be their premium cartridges at $12.95 actually cost more than Epsons. Unless I'm missing something here, that is not a very significant savings, but I'm guessing your 70% savings come from using your CIS system. If that's the case, it probably wouldn't be that great of an advantage for me to set up a CIS, as I don't print enough pictures to justify it.

By the way, I forgot and left my printer on all night a couple of nights ago, and now I have a small clog in the infamous blue nozzle. It's only one segment, but I've used up about $25 worth of ink trying to clear it. Guess I'll leave it alone and keep doing nozzle checks when I shut down, and if any more appear use the syringe and plastic tube procedure.

Yes, it is with the CIS not with the cartridges.

You don't have to be a high volume printer to get huge savings. You just distribute the savings over a longer period of time and it doesn't take long at all to go through 8 cartridge sets. In that time, you will have paid for the CIS and half of a new printer.

On your clog:

If the same segment is blank in several tests then it is a clog rather than a bubble. If the segment moves, then it is an air bubble.

Leaving the printer on, IIRC, is not a problem. The printer is supposed to park the head the same as if it is turned off if it is not used in a while. Just don't ever turn it on where the heads come out of the parking station and then pull the plug.

I'm not familiar with the syringe and tube procedure (please tell me about it) but have used on printers the paper towel soaked with windex and then park the heads move.

That all said, in 2 years of owning this printer, I've never had to do anything other than clean the heads to clear it.

J.

J.