Piezography and Epson's new "P" line of printers

Now that Epson has replaced the R3000 with the P600 and the 3880 with the P800 can we confirm if Inkjetmall expects to provide cartridges for these printers? I ask because the Epson site has this language on the P800 specifications: “The SureColor P800 printer is designed to be used exclusively with genuine Epson inks and cartridges.” (emphasis mine).

Jon also hinted the 3880 replacement MAY not be compatible with 3rd party cartridges. It would be nice to know the answer before all the 3880s disappear.

Any insight would be most appreciated,
John

I’m no expert, but of course manufacturers would say their machine is designed to work exclusively with their cartridges. From the looks of these machines, they are essentially the same innards as existing models with a new(?) print head and housing. I’m sure they’ve changed the chips, so it will take time for resetters and ARC to be developed. But it looks like they haven’t changed the cartridge styles, so once chips are developed we can hopefully just swap them out without having to buy new carts too. Of course, by the time they’re developed, the carts will have reached their end of life anyway… :wink:

Edit: Looking closer, they both seem to use the AMC head which is also used in the existing models. What exactly did they change besides cartridge chips???

Given the similarities between the 3880 and the P800, my view is that the question is not “if” but “when”, as in “how long before …”. I guess there’s even a chance that the existing carts might work with the newer P800 chips behind them, but that’s just a blind guess. If you don’t need roll paper and you want to refillables, then I can’t understand why you wouldn’t just get a 3880 or two.

Didn’t I recently read a post here where Epson issued a firmware update for the 1430 and now the “updated” printers won’t recognize third party cartridges??? Perhaps the P series is for Proprietary…

Yes you did, but I’ve only read reports of that happening to the 1430. I’ve not seen reports of that happening other 13" or larger printers, unless I’ve missed something. Epson does seem to go to extra lengths to protect the 1430. Over the years there have been changes to chips and the chip fabricators have always adapted.