Epson’s newest 44” P-Series printer is the SureColor P8570D. This new 5 color printer has been positioned as a high-speed poster and graphics workhorse. With a compact design, dual roll capability, an optional poster stacking unit, and the ability to print photo quality at 400 square feet per hour- the P8570D is purpose built for high production poster environments. But what if we told you that the P8570D will save you 40% on inks versus the Epson aqueous printers that you’re using now? And what if we could prove it? Watch the full video below to find out!
First a history lesson. We want to set the stage for how we got here and why this ink usage comparison and savings matters in the current landscape of the Epson poster printer market. We promise the ink usage evidence and payoff is coming!
Eight years ago, Epson launched the 44” P10000 and 64” P20000. This was the first generation of Epson printers to use their new massive 2.6” PrecisionCore MicroTFP print head. At that time the P10000 and P20000 were 3x faster than any previous Epson aqueous printers, and many customers adopted these revolutionary printers for their production environments. The P10000 and P20000 printers used a 9-color ink set across all different markets: canvas, framed art, posters, map printing, and many more. Because the printer was so much faster than anything else on the market the P10000 and P20000 became the go-to printers for a wide range of applications.
Three years ago, Epson came out with the 44” SureColor P9570. It again used the same 2.6” PrecisionCore MicroTFP print head but now with 2 additional color channels for an 12-color ink set, adding an orange and green ink. This boosted the color gamut to cover 99% of the Pantone library. Shortly after the P9570 was launched Epson discontinued the 44” P10000 printer. That meant that if you wanted the big, fast, 2.6” print head engine in a 44” printer for the last 3 years, you were buying the P9570. So once again the P9570 found its way into many applications where 12 inks were simply overkill.
In the last few months Epson has begun shipping the brand new 44” P8570D. The P8570D has an all-new design and brings several efficiency improvements targeted at high volume poster printers- BUT it still sports the same tried and true 2.6” PrecisionCore MicroTFP print head. As we mentioned, this printer has just 5 colors in its ink set, pulling back its gamut to serve customers that don’t need to reach 99% of the pantone library. For those customers that need an extended gamut the SureColor P9570 is still an active and popular printer today, being sold alongside the P8570 currently.
So why are we making this video about ink usage and why did we spend so much time talking about the history of these printers? In short, there are a lot of P10000’s, P20000’s, and P9570’s out in the field simply because they were the most productive printers available for the last 8 years. But now there is a new option in the P8570D, and simply put, customers that are using the P10000 or P9570 should take a hard look at whether they need 9 and 11 color ink sets or if they would be better off with a 5-color ink set that offers 40% ink savings.
40% ink savings is a bold claim, and we don’t throw around claims like that lightly.
Today we printed 4 representative photographic images on the Epson P20000, Epson P9570, and Epson P8570D. We printed on all 3 printers through the Epson driver using High Quality mode on Epson’s Ultra Premium Photo Paper Luster. We recorded the ink usage across all 3 printers and today we’re going to show you the printed output and show you the ink usage (please refer to video for imagery). We want to emphasize that we didn’t do any special profiling or ink restriction, this is using the out of the box Epson ICC profile provided in the driver.
First, we took a look at the Black and White images that we printed. For comparison we put the P20000, P9570 and P8570D prints side by side by side. For ink usage we used 3.96 ml on the P20000, 3.65 ml on the P9570, and 2.28 ml on the P8570D. Using the P8570D provided a 42% ink savings over the P20000 and 38% ink savings over the P9570. (4:28 time stamp in video)
Next, we have a family portrait. (Refer to 5:04 time stamp in video for imagery). We used 3.64 ml on the P20000, 3.44 ml on the P9570, and 1.86 ml on the P8570D. That’s a 50% ink reduction over the P20000 by using the P8570D and a 46% reduction vs the P9570.
Our third file is landscape photography. (Refer to 5:35 time stamp in video for imagery). For ink usage, we used 4.78 ml on the P20000, 4.51 ml on the P9570, and 3.33 ml on the P8570D. Using the P8570D offered 30% savings over the P20000 and 26% savings vs the P9570.
And finally we have a school portrait. (Refer to 6:05 time stamp in video for imagery). The P20000 used 2.46 ml, the P9570 used 2.6 ml, and the P8570D used 1.19 ml of ink. In this case the P8570D saved 52% and 54% in ink vs the P20000 and P9570 respectively.
So there you have it. Across all 4 print files we used 14.84 ml on the P20000, 14.2 ml on the P9570, and just 8.66 ml on the P8570D. That’s a 42% ink reduction by using the P8570 vs the P20000, and a 39% ink reduction vs the P9570.
These are pretty staggering concrete savings. We had heard from customers with P8570D’s that they were seeing meaningful ink savings, but it wasn’t until this testing that we verified just how significant the savings were.
So what can you do with this information? If you have a P10000 or P9570 and after seeing these outputs side by side you aren’t sure that you need all 9 and 11 colors, you should let us print some of your most popular images to compare. There is a very good chance that you will be able to provide your customers with print quality that still exceeds their expectations while reducing your ink cost by 40%. Some of our highest volume customers may be able to cover the $6000 cost of P8570D printers in just 1 month’s ink savings.
If you have more questions about the P8570D vs the P9570 or P20000 printers, please don’t hesitate to contact our sales team at 1-800-771-9665. We’ve been selling Epson photo printers for nearly 25 years, and we can help you decide which one is best for you!
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