melatic wrote: I'm in Florida, USA. Thanks for the input!
Regarding the Epson A3+ Workforce series, I was recently looking for one and pricing on the WF7610 and 7620 out here in Spain was very inexpensive but in conversation with one of my regular ink suppliers in the UK (I got my Epson 1400 from them several years ago and brought back to Spain and saved a lot of money) I was informed of several drawbacks to those WF AIOs, including the "not quite top photo output" and other technical problems they had encountered. Without revealing their (private to me) source here's a quote from very recent correspondence/discussions.
"... the WF7610 uses the new Precision Core print head, and we have seen quite a few problems with that technology in regards to blockages. I'm currently using a WF7110, which makes use of Precision Core technology in the office, and it is the bane of my existence! It blots ink, has a new paper sensing technology which is awful, cancels prints mid job even though it's hardwired, and is a monstrosity. In my experience avoid the Precision Core's like the plague".
So I did and bought an Epson 1500 (a later version of my 1400 - in the USA it's the 1430) before they get dropped in favour of their newer fairly inexpensive XP900 - great for prints but Epson new technology prevents using refillables unless new chips are fitted for every refill - hardly makes things inexpensive bearing in mind Epson's cartridge costs and in any event, I want to use Image Specialists pigment inks. I needed to replace a broken office DX7400 and decided the extra cost and facility of the 1500 was worth getting now. Hope this extra info on the Workforce series proves useful.
You say that your information on the WF7620 was from "...one of my regular ink suppliers in the UK..." --- do you mean a 3rd-party ink supplier, or supplier of OEM inks? If the former, do they mean with their own inks, or with the OEM cartridges? I ask, because my own and a friend's experiences are using only OEM cartridges, read on...
"...not quite photo output..." by your ink supplier, of course these are 4-ink systems, optimized for office use, but I occasionally print photos on photo paper and of course it is not like my 9-ink Epson P600 quality!!! But again, the quality of paper, if or not OEM inks, and printer settings can also affect the quality of the final print. And dye inks (my printers are all pigment inks) in lower-cost printers more easily achieve out-of-the-box 'brighter and more colorful' prints, but not always does this mean more accurate - kind of like how often color televisions in the showroom look 'so bright and colorful', but in reality in a normal room have contrast and color levels cranked way above what is normal and natural-looking.
I have owned my WF4540 and WF7520 for about 3 years now, don't know if that is the same head technology, but have had only seldom simple clogs to deal with (perhaps 1/ year average on each), in each case when I did not use any inks, or only B&W ink (color clog), for 2-3 months. One head clean cycle, and no problem. My friend has had the newer WF4620 for over a year, and no complaints of major clogs.
You quoted your inkjet supplier's problems with the WF-7110, which may or may not have the same paper feed and sensing as the WF-7520 and WF-7620 -- as far as I can tell, the 7520 and 7620 are the same 2-stack paper tray assemblies, whereas the WF-7110 is a 3-stack paper tray system -- also, note that the WF-7110 is NOT an all-in-one, it is a stand-alone printer. Just saying. Did your ink supplier's WF-7110 start having problems under warranty, did they contact Epson support? I just have not heard of such pervasive issues from the WF all-in-ones which I've been talking about.
Also, AFAIK the printers you are recommending are only A4 (letter, legal perhaps) maximum paper size, and are only printers, whereas the OP is looking for large format scan and print capabilities --- the ones I have been talking about - the flatbed can scan up to 11.7" x 17", and the paper trays hold up to 11" x 17" size, and will print 13x19" from the rear tray. And, they can both print and scan both sides of paper automatically. Finally, the high-capacity ink cartdridges do generally last a long time, for myself 3-4 times as much as the older model WFs I had before these.
I am not familiar with the two all-in-ones which the OP mentioned, one is a Brother. My daughter has a Brother laser printer for a few years, it's been great for her, and I've got a couple of Brother computer-driven label printers (one of them 14 years old) which have worked well for me. I'm expect that the OP has been reading as much online reviews as he can find on all of these...
