I have had an epson 1280 for almost 3 years. Was happy with it. However, it has lost it's life - so am in the market for a new piece of equipment. Am interested in what others are using. We use it for not only trophies and awards but custom shirts. Want top quality - low maintenance as we are very rural and cannot afford the traveling time for lots of repairs. What is out there?? Pros and Cons of your experiences.

Thanks in Advance

Charli

My two cents as I replaced my 1280 in March of this year. The way this industry has changed and Epson keeps adding new models and discontinuing others. I figured if I could get another 4 years out of a new 1280 like I did my last one then I couldn't go wrong with only investing another $330.00 (what this one cost including shipping) instead of $700.00 - $2,000.00. Plus my files have already been set up with the 6 color inks. This is important to me as 75% of my business is repeat jobs.

Zona

Better late than never on an answer, I always say. We too are in a rural area and I don't have ready access to techs of any sort. We purchased a new E 4000 almost 2 years ago and have been extremely happy. I have it set up as a 7 color dye-sub and 1 channel fast black for screen print positives. A very happy solution to two problems.

I replaced an Epson 3000 with which I had nothing by frustration! It worked, but only when and how it wanted to. I sold it and the new owner is happy as a clam. Don't tell me 3000s don't have "personality". Anyway, the 4000 has NONE of the paper feed problems that the 3000 did and it is also very good as far as banding/clogging. It has a "power" head clean for when you really need it. (I've used it twice in 2 years - and this printer can sometimes sit for a couple weeks at a time - we do a large variety of things and dye sub sometimes takes a back seat to the other processes.)

If you have any specific questions on this printer I'd be happy to answer them. I believe the 4800 is the "replacement" and hope it is as user friendly as the 4000.

When I went to buy my dye-sub printer, I did a lot of research and spent the extra money for the 4000 and have been very happy with it. We even travelled with it to a show (3000 miles) and it did just fine.

We too are rural and don't want tech problems. I would highly recommend the 4000.

I too just switched to a 4800 and I love it! It is considerably more expensive then a 1280 but with all the ink I flushed down the 'tube' on print head clogs i think it will be well worth it. I don't have a clue how this 'monster' could be brought on the road but my bach aches just thinking about it. I personally unloaded it from the crate and onto my desk but everyone recommends using two people. (right Chuck?) Anway, the features and the incredible job (and speed) that it prints at is just incredible. I had pretty much allways used roll paper on my 1280 but was a bit of a pain cutting off the individual sheets from the 1280. I ended up put a 1" wide piece of gold tape from JDS where the paper feeds to on the output tray without removing the top layer of protective paper on it for a smooth cutting surface.
The automatic cut off features is wonderul. I especially like that unlike the 1280 with black and magenta being the primary colors that like to clog that the 4800 has one black cartridge, a light black cartridge and a light light black cartridge so that hopefully there will be less chance for clogging when utilizing those last 2 carts.
Good luck on your decision.