am currently mulling over the idea of getting a large format printer. saw some really good results with an epson 7890 the other day but the guy using it had the usual epson tale of woe with clogging/jams etc and looking at it i hear it’s wasteful on ink.

an alternative may be some form of canon ipf. has anyone any experience of any of these or can suggest any alternatives. ta

Always had reasonable results with HP Plotters – like this and above.

http://compare.ebay.co.uk/like/180904188177?var=lv&ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar&adtype=pla

We have a HP Designjet 500 at work which is used daily.
It has broke a few times but considering the amount it gets used is is very reliable.

As for jams, the only time that happens if the paper hasn’t been loaded correctly (working from a roll).

I’ve also used a Canon with paper folder attachment which was brilliant. Far better than the HP, but at 4 times the cost.

Look into Oki for middle ground.

I’ve used EPSON 4880, 4900 and above and can’t really fault them. Used to use Canon but had issues with banding on a new machine a couple of years ago and the response was not as required so switched loyalties. I’ve never had a print head that’s clogged with epson, but the printers don’t sit idle for more that 12 hours. Ink costs aren’t that bad when you get into the bigger capacity cartridge range – they last as long as you’d expect.
As with everything, it depends what you’re using it for! Photography, fine art reproductions and giclee and they’re good printers. They tend to hold some good resale value as well as long as you look after them.