Wide format printer ideal for graphics and CAD/CAM (Epson Stylus Color 3000)

Member Name: pb696

Product:	Epson Stylus Color 3000
Date:	25/08/02 (366 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A2 print size, Separate ink carts, Ethernet/Postscript options

Disadvantages: Paper loading can be fiddly, Colour output slightly dated

We bought this printer over four years ago now, but Epson are still selling the same model.

This printer is ideal for large format colour printing (up to A2, and banner paper) and produces very good results. There are four seperate ink cardtridges (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black) so that ink would not be wasted as it would be on combined colour tanks. The cartridges are very large and last for several months (although this does depend on usage). However they are also rather pricey at around £30 each.

When this printer was first introduced it really was unbeatable in every respect. Now, however, there are other Epson printers which go up to 2880dpi (as opposed to 1440) and have six colours. The output of these printers is superior and the 3000 is getting rather long in the tooth in this respect.

The 3000 can take any sort of paper but excels on photo quality paper. The printer is quite average in speed (8ppm quoted for A4 colour) but obviously much slower on larger paper. In terms of connectivity it is also rather dated having a Parallel port and Mac Serial port. Fortunately there is an expansion slot which can take interface cards such as Firewire and Ethernet print servers, but these are costly.

The loading mechanism could be improved. It sometimes fails to load paper and is a pain to reload due to a cover that needs to be removed. Another problem is that the ink heads get clogged quite frequently and need to be cleaned, which consumes ink. Aside from these factors it is a very robust printer.

Epson haven`t updated this printer for ages, and it is time for them to improve it with 6 colour inks and newer connectivity such as USB.

Summary: