Hi JBH,
But I am disappointed by it's (R1800) premature aging, poor head cleaning process and options,
I'm a little surprised by this - you initially mentioned blocked jets yet myself with an R800 and Fred, on this forum with an R1800, have had really good experience with those printers and no real problems with blocked jets. Both of us are keen print makers, perhaps you are even more prolific.
I assume you used Epson inks, if not, that would be the source of the problem.
You also said
it states the printer prints great b&w prints (something the Epson R1800 can't do).
I'm not a B&W expert by any means, but the R800 does produce decent B&W prints which have done reasonably well in competitions. You do need a good custom profile though and the same would apply to a Canon printer. I would have not expect a B&W driver setting to do very well unless it was one of the more specialised printers.
Terry.