Epson Stylus Pro 4880 Printer (SP4880K3)

by Epson

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 30 x 33 x 14 inches ; 89 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 95 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000UPRW3S
• Item model number: SP4880K3
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: June 17, 2003

Product Description

Designed to meet the needs of the most demanding professionals, the Epson Stylus Pro 4880 incorporates a unique, 17-inch wide printer with a newly enhanced, ink technology, forcing one to reconsider what¿s possible with photographic ink jet printing. Epson UltraChrome¿ K3 Ink is the standard by which all other professional-level ink technologies are measured. Now enhanced with our groundbreaking Vivid Magenta pigments, our newest generation of ink technology requires only eight colors, including a three-level Black technology, to significantly raise the level of quality for professional color and black-and-white prints.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

83 of 83 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Printer! Watch out for borders on Cut Sheets!, May 16, 2008

By 

Chet Lee (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Epson Stylus Pro 4880 Printer (SP4880K3) (Office Product)

I have been using this printer for about 3 weeks and it has worked wonderfully. The color profiles I've gotten from Epson and Ilford are close enough that I will not bother with custom profiling until I find a lot of spare time.

Ink usage is pretty moderate. The instructions warn that the first time the printer is "Charged" there will be less ink available for use, but that it will be better when the next cartridge is inserted. I printed about 250 color 8x10 photos on 8.5x11 cut sheets plus a few 16x20 on roll before my black ink ran out.

I really like this printer with 3 exceptions.
1. It's extremely large and heavy. It came on a pallet, large.
2. Photo black and Matte black use the same slot so you'll have to swap and waste a ton of ink to switch back and forth. I do little matte (for now) so it's no big deal for me, but I think I will prob NEVER do anymore Matte until I get a big job that can cover my ink loss!
3. The bottom print margin on cut sheet is .55 inches!
So it cannot do borderless prints on cut sheet and most of the templates I used had to be modified to work around this huge bottom print margin!

This caused a huge headache for me. However, once I rebuild my own scripts and templates, I believe I can work around this.

Overall I really like the printer and one of the reasons I chose this printer over the 3800 is one that few people know about. The 4880 has this suction thing that will prevent the paper from curling up and hitting the print head. I had issues with this from time to time on my Canon i9900.

So far the printer has been relatively fast for me and I am so confident in the prints that I just let it print and print. If there is an issue, with my print, it's usually been a poor setup on my part (forgot to set proper profile, forgot about unusually LARGE print margin).

I won't give it 5 stars because I still want more for the price I paid for this printer. The .55in bottom print margin and swapping ink cartridges should be addressed before I can say that I would freely recommend this printer to anybody.

However my prints look great and come out pretty quick!

46 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sturdy and Reliable, August 22, 2008

By 

Robert Kaufman (Salt Lake City, UT United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Epson Stylus Pro 4880 Printer (SP4880K3) (Office Product)

I chose the Epson 4880 for several reasons: past experience with Epson products, my estimate of the printing cost and the quality of the samples I've seen. I have not been disappointed.

Let's start with the pros:
Epson quality. After nearly a thousand 8 x 10" (and equivalent) prints over the past three months, this printer looks and acts as good as new. No breakdowns, no degradation of print quality, nada.

Economy. I keep a close watch on consumables. I'd estimate that my per-print cost is around USD 0.75 - 0.85 per 8 x 10" page, excluding paper. This is considerably less than cheaper inkjet printers and with few notable exceptions, is unrivaled by same-class inkjets or most labs for that matter. My notable exception is the "minilab" class of device, which for an up-front investment of tens of thousands of dollars, can product 4 x 6" prints for under a dime.

Quality. This printer produces professional quality prints. I've had many compliments and never a complaint about the print quality.

Now, the cons.
Matte vs. Photo Black. If you want to switch between them, you'll burn about USD 40-50 worth of ink each time you do this. As such, I started with the more versatile Photo Black cartridge and intend to stay with it through the life of this printer.

Bulk. At 90 pounds, it's difficult to take to events. A custom Pelican case for this printer will run several hundred dollars.

All told, I'm very satisfied with my choice. Next time I'm in the market for a printer, I expect to purchase a descendant of this printer, perhaps one or two generations down the line.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Grea Printer!, March 28, 2010

By 

Chris Kelley (California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Epson Stylus Pro 4880 Printer (SP4880K3) (Office Product)

I've had this Printer for about three weeks now and I love it! However, It is a beast! Make sure you have a heavy solid stand to put it on. It does weigh 150 lbs! I have mine on a solid Oak coffee table. I am a Photographer, and So far I have framed a few 13" X "19 prints and they look stunning! I'm excited to make some larger ones. Very professional looking prints! I'm very happy with it!