The Epson P800 Versus the Epson 5070

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Epson SureColor P5070 17 Inch Inkjet Printer

Epson's 17 inch professional photo and proofing printer

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This article helps you determine what would be the best printer to suit your needs between the A2 Epson P800 and the 17" Epson 5070.

There are a few key things you need to consider first to help make your decision - the size of prints you want to do, volume of work you will be printing, available space in your work area, and of course overall cost.

Pros and Cons

Epson 5070

Pros

Proper roll paper feed (i.e. is motorised, thus tensions the media, and there is also suction at the platen to hold the paper more flat under the print head).
Thus good (if a little small) for canvas, good for roll media in general, and in general the most reliable way to print very high volumes
Speed - it's faster than a P800
Lower running costs - approximately 25% or so

Cons

Initial Cost
Size - it is really huge (much larger than a P800) - and really needs its own stand/table
Each ink cartridge is a bigger investment
To keep it running well, and to get the most cost benefit, it really needs quite regular usage - ideally daily

Epson SureColor P800 A2 Inkjet Printer

The benchmark A2 fine art printer today, and our default recommendation for anyone wanting to make big, beautiful, archival prints in-house.

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Epson P800

Pros

Initial cost is much lower
Vastly smaller - it can fit on a desk
Much better paper feed for sheets
Already quite cheap to run
Sheets are much easier to use/sell than roll prints immediately as they're inherently flat. Often standard size frames exist too
Clogs less than any other pigment inkjet printer from Epson
Fantastic reliability record

Cons

Need an accessory to achieve roll printing, and it's a pretty basic roll feeder (no tension or suction, hand cutting required)
Not as cheap to run as 5070
Not wonderful with materials that really work best with rolls, like canvas
Slightly more head strike issues due to lack of a print suction/vacuum system to hold paper flat

My general thoughts on the two are that unless you are doing a lot of printing, the P800 is almost always the better choice for most people.

The P800 is very well built, versatile, very simple to use and significantly better with sheet printing than the 5070.

If you really do want to do roll printing, I think the 7070 is a vastly better choice than the 7070 as roll printing and bigger prints tend to go hand in hand.

Printing

Good suggestions from knowledgeable and friendly staff.

- Wayne C -