Ron Martinsen's Photography Blog: Epson SureColor P800 Unboxing & Review

Monday, November 9, 2015

Epson SureColor P800 Unboxing & Review

Epson SureColor P800
Lot’s of tape to remove, but it helps keep it safe in its travels to your home

Ever since I did my P600 review, I’ve been eager to test the Epson SureColor P800. As the replacement for the legendary StylusPro 3880, it’s got big shoes to fill. However, this printer comes with everything I loved about the P600 and more, so it’s a long overdue upgrade.

In addition to things like wireless printing (with excellent iOS AirPrint support), one of the biggest improvements is the support for roll paper (sold separately) – and not using the basic adapters found on the P600. The P800 optional roll media adapter gets a heavy duty metal housing that bolts to the printer in seconds (without tools) and a proper print spindle similar to the one found on the 4900. This gives you first class roll support like you’d enjoy on the 4900 without the bulk of that printer. Here’s a picture that shows the different adapters:

P600 Roll Adapter (top) vs
Epson Roll Media Adapter for SureColor P800 (bottom)

I was so excited about this that I cleared out my 4900 to make room for this printer as my new primary printer for doing 17” roll print jobs (especially handy for things like Epson Exhibition Canvas).

While some will balk at having to pay an extra $200 (at the time this was written) for the roll adapter, I like the strategy of bundling it separately for those who don’t need this feature and who would rather save the money off the P800 base price.

Be careful when ordering

Epson SureColor P8000 vs P800 Box
P800 (top) vs P8000 (bottom) – Big Difference!

A funny thing happened when ordering – somewhere behind the scenes someone added an extra zero so instead of a P800 a P8000 arrived. While this was corrected without any troubles in this case, it’s something to keep in mind as the numbers are so close it’s easy for this mistake to happen again.

Conclusion

While I admit that I had my fair share of print head clogs with the 4900, I’ve never had the 3880 clog up so bad that one power cleaning couldn’t get it back in order. In fact, even after leaving it off for months at a time I’ve been able to turn it on and get a print right away. As a result, when I found out that the P800 would use the same print head as the 3880 and add roll support, I was happy to bid my 4900 farewell. I suspect I’m not alone in this frustration, so I was very eager to put this printer through its paces – as well as see how it does sitting idle during long-term testing. Click here to see my review to see how it did.

This is the hottest printer on the market this year, and the adapter is one of the “most wishable” items in B&H’s wish list database.

Where to order

Click here to learn more or order the P800 at B&H. My friends at Amazon have it available here.

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