Home > Consumer Reviews > Epson Stylus Pro 3800 Printer Standard Model Photo Printer

I am a professional photographer and decided that I was tired of the horizontal banding on my 7600 whenever I did not use it for a few days always necessitating a head cleaning or two. After 6 years and 11,000+ prints I'm really not complaining about the 7600 but it was time to make a decision. After some research and discussions with dealers, I thought I'd give the 3800 the nod over the more expensive 4880 and I am happy to report that I am pleasantly pleased. With a much smaller footprint than the 7600, it gives nothing up in print quality and as a matter of fact beats the quality which really pleased and suprised me. Color matching with my monitor was perfect right out of the box another plus, no messing with profiles or rip's. Another plus was that the sheet feeding eliminates the curling you get with roll paper which was worse as you got towards the end of the roll. All these plusses and quieter operation too!
I have gone 3 days without using it so far and the first print after that had no banding! At this point after 3 weeks use and about 200 prints, I am 100% satisfied with this product.

I have had an Stylus Pro 2400 for the past 2 years before this up-grade to a Stylus pro 3800. The fact that I can produce image sizes of 16x20 (largest with this printer is 17x22) I have found no manufacturer that offers 16x20 papers as yet. I am extremely happy with the results of my 17x22 enlargements and with the menu options in the printer window. It is however, necessary to read the manual...especially on the feed options and how to get the papers to feed. Some of the instructions are a little vague and require familiarity with earlier Epson printing techniques. The ICC paper profiles become a little easier to determine with use.

First impressions mean a lot, especially when it comes to setting up expensive new equipment and giving it a first go. I just received this printer today (ordered from here). Packaging was sound, instructions were clear, setup was a breeze, and I've so far printed about 5 photos and pieces of very high resolution artwork and have been truly stunned at the results. For only owning this for a few hours, I can't give an 'experienced' review, but I can say that this printer's first impressions have been nothing short of spectacular so far.

This has been the most reliable clearest printer I have ever owned. It is large, but it does handle 16x20 prints wonderfully. I really like the large ink cartridges, they last well. I have never had any fade out at the end of a cartridges the way I had with other printers. For heavy paper, the back feeder works quite well but is hard to get useed to.

After years of owning modestly priced Epson large format printers, I finally spent more and bought a 3800. So glad that I did. None of the complaints I had about the others apply to this one. It is one fine machine, installs easily, not too big and heavy considering the competition, communicates with the user. Perhaps the biggest improvement over the lower priced models is the paper handling capability, you can feed this unit most any kind of paper and it will be handled with ease. Another nice feature is the size of the cartridges, you won't be buying a set every few weeks as with the lower priced models. My 14 year experience with Epson has always been love/hate, loved the images, hated the flimsy paper carriages, cartridge ripoffs, etc. Not saying that everything about this one is lovely (strange black ink strategies in particular, pedantic auto settings that are hard to get around, etc.) but the overall quality of the machine puts one into a forgiving mood. This is one jewel of a printer.