Quote:
OP stated he wanted something "more 'industrial'" and 'substantial' than "home printers, or office printers at best"
This rules out the Ricohs, are they are also printers aimed at the home/office markets. If he wants an "industrial" level printer, which is "more substatial" than his current A4, then he is seeming to want something from Epson's Stylus Pro range,which when starting with the A2 models, are not "large" format in terms of footprint.
Sorry Pisquee, but this is total rubbish. It does not rule out the Ricoh's at all. My 7000 is one of the originals back from 2007 and I have never had a problem with it and do not expect to. It does not cycle through cleaning and subsequently waste ink as you suggest and is one of the best sublimation printers on the market. Likewise I have a back up 3300 which until an hour ago was covered in a layer of dust. As a test I plugged it in and printed a sample out. Perfect print as I expected. The comments about wide format are valid, but they do not suit everyone and you do not take into consideration things like maintenance and footprint cost (the A2 Epson is considerably bigger than the A3 Ricoh). Plus if the guy is looking for an A4 does he really need a wide format and the associated hassle of having to cut everything down before sublimating?