Suitable printer for large volume pigment printing on gloss

[Nozzle]

@The Hat
Ok, I will report back in a different thread. I have already done some preliminary speed tests with my WF 7610 (same printer, just A3 size.) 4x6 in Standard quality with borders 36 sec. Not bad. You would think it would be quicker considering what a crazy amount of nozzles this printer has.. 800 for black and 256 for each color.

 

[The Hat]

@Nozzle, I was never one for speed at all, more like quality, consistency and reliability, poor output meant more waste and missed deadlines..

 

[Nozzle]

@The Hat
Of course, quality has to be good or at least good enough. Lots of nozzles means you can produce that good quality in less time.

 

[Nozzle]

Ok, this is how it all unfolded.

I replaced matte black with photo black on my Epson WF 7610 and after profiling it produced amazing photo quality prints. Surprised me that color transitions were smoother and dot patterns became much finer on glossy paper comparing to printing with matte black. All seemed good, but then I tested the refillable cartridges and managed to print only 12 photos before ink ran out. This is ridiculous, especially considering that the seller promised at least 300 pages with 80 coverage. It gets me that the chinese reverse engineer standard chips and not the XL ones. Plain stupid. In any case. The conclusion is - WF printers (or for that matter any Durabrite printer) can be converted into fine photo printers by replacing matte black with photo black, however the available cartridges are crap.

So, after some thinking I decided that the best solution on the marked for printing large volumes with pigment is already here in my room - Epson 3800. Now I'm getting large 280ml carts for it. I don't know why that is, but there are plenty of s/h Epson 3800/3800 units out there going cheaper than R2000-R3000 printers. Can someone explain why? Last week one hardly used 3800 didn't sell for $300AU (~$220US). And I see R3000 going for more than that (~$500AU and more). Is it the size that people don't like? Anyway, because of this strangeness of the market, s/h 3800/3880 printers are the most attractive and economical large volume pigment printers. It's just i have a mental barrier that's difficult to overcome - for me, a fine art printer, printing advertisement material on such a fine printer is sacrilege. It would take a while to get used to it. Do you guys have any idea what sort of volume can these printers handle before they fall apart? 20.000/30.000/40.000 A4 pages?