A Baby Elephant Called P9000

At the risk of sounding like a Yo-Mamma joke, my new Epson SureColour SC-P9000 44-inch printer is so big it took five people to move it into place in the new gallery. Granted, one of them had the burden of overseeing and directing operations (I needed a strong cup of tea and a biscuit afterwards), but still, it demanded plenty of muscle.

The P9000 weighs the same as a baby elephant (which only makes me marvel at expectant mother elephants, quite frankly) and can drink as much. A single ink cartridge will fill a pint glass, leaving enough to fill almost half a half-pint glass. The printer takes 11 different colour cartridges in total: over 7.5 litres of ink.

P9000 thirst

It is the inks that make this printer special. My previous printer, the Epsom Stylus Pro 9890 only went up to nine inks. The P9000 goes up to 11. So it's better*. It has orange and green inks that give prints an extra sparkle. You can see it in the form of a wider colour gamut and broader dynamic range, especially in the shadows. As much of my work relies on shadow detail, this is an important consideration for me.

I've loved my 9890. It was the beating heart of my business. It has been the rock on which I have built everything over the past five years. A phenomenal printer I'll be sorry to see go. But as a businessman, I can't be sentimental. If you are in the market for a reliable 44-inch printing workhorse (with a recently upgraded print head), drop me a line directly at peter@petercox.ie.

*Especially for you Tapheads out there