
I mostly use the Epson Ultra Premium Lustre paper, and with this paper (one of their highest quality) the R1800 will not print with black ink only. One big disappointment, though, is the fact that this printer will not print with black ink only on certain kinds of paper. But with more time, I'm sure I can get that straightened out. I haven't gotten it 100% tweaked yet in terms of having the prints match the screen - they look a tad orange.

The colors are saturated and the gamut is clearly wider than the 1280. Overall, I'm fairly happy with the printer, because when it does what it is supposed to do, the prints look very, very good. So I made the decision to get the R1800, after reading many positive reviews. Also, the R1800 can print on CDs and DVDs, and I have a need for that.

But I learned that it is necessary to exchange photo black and matte black cartridges prior to printing the different types of files (text on plain paper vs. The 2400 has K3 inks and I do some B&W printing, so I was thinking about that feature. I had a difficult time deciding between the 2400 and the R1800. The best results I was able to get were with Ilford Gallerie Classic Pearl paper, later sold also by Epson as ColorLife. And then because it was a dye-based ink system, it was not archival. The colors on the 1280 were good, but not as saturated as I would have liked.

There was some work involved with getting it to print accurate colors, along with decent B&W, but I got it there with help from camera forums and colleagues in the camera club. I had used a 1280 printer for several years, and overall I was very happy with it.
