I've got two A3 inkjets, an older Epson Stylus Photo 1410 with 3rd party ink tanks installed and externalized waste ink container mod, and a newer Epson L1800 with built-in ink tanks, at my workplace. Both are 6 color photo printers. I've kept them running for years with few problems. Long-term maintenance consists in keeping the nozzle clear of dried pigment, chaniging the rubber paper feed roller every couple of years, and keeping an eye on the ink levels in the tanks and the waste ink container. The 1410 had printed over 110,000 pages by now and is stil going strong. Printing with 3rd party inks is incredibly cheap, I use Korean Ink-mate ink with these two and it costs a fraction of a cent per page.
Now, it is true that inkjets are fussy and you need to keep printing with them to keep them operational, but I managed to clean out a very dry nozzle twice with nothing more than a pack of lint-free paper, some specialized cleaning fluids, a pack of syringes, and a thin rubber tube, simply using guides found on the Internet. And I haven't had any mechanical failures yet that weren't caused by the paper feed roller being worn out (which is expected) despite both printers being used daily for years.
Maybe I'm just lucky, or maybe Epson did really good with these two models in particular, I don't know.
I was recommended this ink by local printer servicemen. It turns out they really don't like working on broken inkjets (it's really messy and it's not guaranteed that a dirty nozzle will work even after ultrasonic cleaning), so they tend to give sound advice on how best to keep them running, including ink choice. It really depends on the printer manufacturer and model so YMMV.
Now, it is true that inkjets are fussy and you need to keep printing with them to keep them operational, but I managed to clean out a very dry nozzle twice with nothing more than a pack of lint-free paper, some specialized cleaning fluids, a pack of syringes, and a thin rubber tube, simply using guides found on the Internet. And I haven't had any mechanical failures yet that weren't caused by the paper feed roller being worn out (which is expected) despite both printers being used daily for years.
Maybe I'm just lucky, or maybe Epson did really good with these two models in particular, I don't know.