Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

The SP4900 is in many ways an awesome printer. And its ability to print exquisitely on canvas rolls puts it, for me, in another league. For reference, I have owned (and still do) Epson 2200 & SP 3880 printers. In comparison, the 4900 is industrial sized. So I made a specific table for it & keep it in a separate room, connected to my custom desktop with a 20 ft. USB cable. Yes, I know Epson says max of 10 ft. but that's conservative. I have WIFI, but I don't trust it for such huge files. For quality comparison, I profiled 2 versions of a recent photo of fall foliage in NY for both the 3880 & the 4900 on premium luster paper, then showed them to various friends & family for blind comparison (only I knew which was which). No one failed to find the 4900 version more appealing, more vibrant. Those extra colors are apparently not for naught. My initial experience with the printer was all joy: at the quality & the ability to keep rolls of paper installed under a cover, and still easily switch over to sheets. That soon changed to frustration, as the next time I tried to print (two weeks later, as I live in two States & go back & forth) resulted in a wasted picture with missing pigment. Two cleaning cycles later, still no better. So I called Epson & was advised to use the "power cleaning" (the one the manual warns wastes lots of ink). After 2 cycles of that, we were back to normal. At this point I asked the Epson rep if this meant that the 4900 was like my 2200, which was noted for clogging up & needing frequent cleaning, rather than my 3880, which has never clogged (both in dry Arizona). Not at all, he said, this was new technology, it should not happen. Next trip back led to the same problem, now needing 3 cycles with power cleaning. A second Epson rep this time told me that this is normal unless you use the printer daily! Indeed, so much for a consistent story. After replacing the starter Grey ink (which was the initial cause of clogging), and not having any further issues for some 3 months (still going back & forth - not using every day) I began to think the problem was fixed. [FYI the 2200, which would clog in Southern Arizona, has never done so in Western NY - so location may well be a factor.] Also be sure to update to latest version of the software, as initial version led to some issues with print size matching. As has been mentioned the manual paper feed is a bit of a learning process, but once mastered is now pretty consistent for me. Update 4/14/12 (and reason for low rating): After spending more time with this printer, it's clear that it is only affordable for someone needing to do frequent printing (at least in a dry climate). It's propensity to clog & then require endless cleaning to try to unclog it has returned with a vengeance (I say try, as the cleaning as often as not creates more clogs) and makes it impractical & very expensive for anyone else. In this regard it is much, much worse than my old SP 2200. I still love the way it prints but be aware that ink cartridges cost $100 a piece & they are 11 of them. I have therefore reduced my rating,to match my experience. Your experience may be different. Update 4/10/13: In addition to the chronic & severe problem with clogging ink jets, now add poor roll paper handling to the list. Whenever you print for the first time each day, it takes around 10 minuted cleaning (read: wasting your $1100 worth of ink on board) & fooling around with the media (read: managing to lose the canvass feed. Reinsert it at this point & it cuts off part of the print. Try looking for ink for this printer on Epson's site. The older 4800 & 4880 are listed & all the older models. Strangely, this one is missing in action. It's as if Epson has decided to disown this printer - as well they should. However, they need to compensate their loyal customers who have lost significant amounts of money on this product.\ Update 12/13: Not worthy of even 1 star. Now dead, after minimal use since new, but out of warranty. Shows a maintenance code 4000 & "printer's ink tubes are nearing the end of their service life." Epson's solution is $275 for a technician to come & look at it. Then you have the cost to repair it.