Why do problems always happen when you're busy!

[socialgiraffe]

OP stated he wanted something "more 'industrial'" and 'substantial' than "home printers, or office printers at best"

This rules out the Ricohs, are they are also printers aimed at the home/office markets. If he wants an "industrial" level printer, which is "more substatial" than his current A4, then he is seeming to want something from Epson's Stylus Pro range,which when starting with the A2 models, are not "large" format in terms of footprint.

Sorry Pisquee, but this is total rubbish. It does not rule out the Ricoh's at all. My 7000 is one of the originals back from 2007 and I have never had a problem with it and do not expect to. It does not cycle through cleaning and subsequently waste ink as you suggest and is one of the best sublimation printers on the market. Likewise I have a back up 3300 which until an hour ago was covered in a layer of dust. As a test I plugged it in and printed a sample out. Perfect print as I expected. The comments about wide format are valid, but they do not suit everyone and you do not take into consideration things like maintenance and footprint cost (the A2 Epson is considerably bigger than the A3 Ricoh). Plus if the guy is looking for an A4 does he really need a wide format and the associated hassle of having to cut everything down before sublimating?

When remlap is asking for industrial or substantial you and everyone else knows what he is asking for is a printer that is reliable which the Ricoh's are and not one person can deny that. You only have to ask Martin or any other trusted supplier of Ricohs to find out how many are returned versus how many are sold.

Getting back on topic, Remlap, get yourself one of the Ricoh A4s and you will never look back. Purchase from a reputable dye sub supplier and you will be a happy man.

Epson Stylus Pro about £1000.00 including VAT plus ink
Ricoh SG3110 (with full set of inks) £312.00

Yes, ink is considerably cheaper on the wide formats, but then the time it takes to do one print and trim it and presuming you do not mind wasting more paper probably means that it is not that much cheaper.

P.S. I have owned Epson wide formats in the past and while it was an excellent machine it did come with its own set of problems and the maintenance subscription was not cheap.

[pisquee]

Ricoh themselves market these printers as "office printers"
http://www.ricoh.co.uk/products/printers/

substantial means "large in size" so, if OP wants something "more substantial" than A4, then this combined with him wanting something more "industrial" led me to a more professional line of printers like the Stylus Pros.

If the OP doesn't actually want something 'more substantial" "industrial" or is actually happy to stick with printers aimed at office printing, then fine, recommend him something along the lines of another Epson or Ricoh small office printer, but I was taking him at his literal words.

I admit large format is not for everyone, but I do think everyone deserves to at least know that it is an option.

[Justin]

You're not giving the OP chance to come back in here, because a printer is described as 'office' doesn't mean it isn't substantial, industrial or even reliable. You need to let Steve tell us what he's looking for.

[remlap3]

Hi all, thanks for all your comments - hopefully I haven't started something here!
I need a printer that is at least A3 - I have a Ricoh A4 printer for Chromablast, which I have used once so cannot give an opinion on it. I finally managed to get my second B1100 working to fulfil the order, I assume the print head need replacing in the problematic one.
Will look into both options described and see how I get on.
Cheers,
Steve