EPSON Stylus Pro 3880 in action.

OK, so how well does the Pro 3880 perform, is it noticeably better that the Pro 3800? From here on I am going to look at the results from this printer, and as I also have my own Pro 3800 to hand I will be making some direct comparisons with the same images. Please bear in mind that the quality is not going to be 100% accurate as the images I publish here are scans of the originals, but both samples will be scanned using the same print and scan settings, so we will have a relative comparison. I will list the full specifications towards the end of this review, but if you want an overall background to the parts and installation of the Pro 3880, then I suggest you read our extensive interactive review on the EPSON Stylus Pro 3800. The printer parts and setting up are identical; I didn’t see any point in repeating the same information for this review.

One small difference is that the Pro 3880 cartridges have a white case as opposed to a grey case for the Pro 3800, not a major observation, but may help if you’re wondering why the magenta colours are not looking right. Once the ink cartridges have been fitted the printer takes just over seven minutes to prime the print heads. We are now ready to go.

The next step is to install the printer drivers, this is straightforward, just place the CD in the computers CD tray and follow the on screen instructions. I chose the custom install mainly because I didn’t want the manuals and other bits installed. I chose the Printer Driver (local) for USB, and ICC profiles. The other options include Network driver and utilities, Epson LFP Remote controller and Software downloader. With the local driver selected just follow the on screen instructions and connect a USB cable (not included) when prompted. The installation took approx 10 minutes. Once completed the Pro 3880 is set as the default printer. You can change this via the Control Panel > Printers and Faxes and right clicking on the printer you want to set as a default printer.

My review printer had Premium Lustre paper set as the default media, this caused a problem when I tried to print a test page using Plain Paper, I was presented with a paper jam screen. After setting the correct media the test page printed OK.