Epson 1500 A3 Printer

[Justin]

I have to totally disagree with that Jonathon. In my more recent experience the inks are lasting a great deal longer. I can (honestly) count on one hand the number of heads cleans I've done over the past year across 3 printers and that was just because I remove the carts and did a single head clean once they were replaced.

I agree this was always the case using bought sublimation carts rather than my own refil carts many years ago in older printers D88, 1290 etc. but these latest printers are a vast improvement.

[Justin]

OK, you didn't give me a chance to respond before posting again! My above comment is in response your ink usage issues.

I'd prefer this thread didn't really degenerate into a lets slag Epson in favour of anything else thread, I'm merely asking if anyone has used the 1500 yet?

[JSR]

I'd prefer this thread didn't really degenerate into a lets slag Epson in favour of anything else thread, I'm merely asking if anyone has used the 1500 yet?

I'm honestly not sure where my words "I love Epson printers..." could be taken as slagging off Epson (I have more Epson printers here than any other brand), but okay I'll refrain from posting anymore.

[JSR]

Keeping on-topic here (I hope ), is it true that this printer has USB and Wireless connectivity but not wired Ethernet? Is this common with Epson printers these days?

My only comparable Epson is my B40W that had USB, Wireless and Ethernet. For an RRP of £350, I'd expect an Ethernet port as well as Wireless and USB. Seems a crazy omission.

[Justin]

I guess there thinking is why would they want wired ethernet and wireless connection...that's providing the wireless works well enough. I guess the vast majority of users go down the usb route. Wireless would certainly be useful when (like me) you have a lot of stuff in a very small area

[JSR]

I guess there thinking is why would they want wired ethernet and wireless connection...that's providing the wireless works well enough. I guess the vast majority of users go down the usb route. Wireless would certainly be useful when (like me) you have a lot of stuff in a very small area

Yes, I'm not saying don't have wireless - just that they should also have wired. I have my printers mostly in the same corner of the same room. Feeding a line from the router to a hub to feed all the printers is the easier option for me (and the most reliable, given how flaky my B40W was when trying the wireless connection).

I guess the reason it's easier for me using wired is because the router is in the main room and the wireless signal has to get through at least two walls to get to the printers. A weak wireless signal is okay for my iPad and my netbook, but using a weak/flaky signal for a printer that needs a continuous connection is probably just me asking for trouble.

I don't think USB is "the norm" these days because there are smartphone/tablet apps that print directly to network printers (USB is no good in these situations), and Epson even promote this themselves for the 1500W.

Having more connectivity options should be the default for printers really and it seems a bizarre cost-cutting measure when the printer itself has an RRP of £350. Cutting corners on a sub-£100 printer is to be expected, but not on a £300+ printer.

[Justin]

I run my printers through a usb hub rather than an ethernet hub. Is it more beneficial to use ethernet?

[pisquee]

It is odd, as our general office work 720 all in one Epson (which is the same 6 colour carts as the 1400) has usb, wireless, and ethernet

[JSR]

I run my printers through a usb hub rather than an ethernet hub. Is it more beneficial to use ethernet?

Yes. I use more than one computer at the same time, and it's helpful to not have to plug/unplug USB leads all the time.

In addition, I can print to and scan from my printers using my Android phone and iPad if the printers are connected to the network. (If they're connected via USB, you can use a remote app installed on the computer to do the same thing but the computer must be on and connected to the network to achieve this. Much more convenient if the printer is connected direct to the network.)

Of course, if all you want to do is print from a single computer then no there's no advantage to a network printer over USB whatsoever.

That said, though, I've had more trouble using USB connections on my 1290S and 1400 over the years than I ever have when using ethernet (or parallel - remember that?).

I would suspect that there are less and less people in the "one computer/many printers" category these days. I'd suspect that families tend to be in the "many computers, smartphones, ipads/many printers" category and, for that, network is king. We have four people living here and I can count six computers/laptops, at least ten printers, and at least four smartphones/iPads. USB? What's that? :biggrin::biggrin:

[Justin]

Different strokes etc. I guess. I have similar numbers but only use usb, as long as the main PC is on all the other PC's, netbook and so on can print over the network.