Digital BW, The Print

Drifting towards the digital darkroom, I joined this forum trying to 
find answers for basic questions: what to buy and how to start. The 
first I noticed was that the forum is quite Epson-centered. So, 
initially I had no doubt about purchasing some good ole Epson piece, 
specifically 1280 as it is dirt cheap right now.

Later I found that the printer has been on market for more than four 
years, which is outrageous IMO.
 If we had the same pace of innovations in digital cameras, we would 
still pay 2K for 3 megapixels. I personally attribute this situation 
to the lack of competition as Epson enjoyed a monopoly in that niche.

As a responsible photographer I have to support competition and, 
therefore, my next printer will be non-Epson. I think about buying HP 
8750 even though I clearly see the following possible drawbacks:
-less variety of paper;
-difficulties to build ICC profiles as PrintFIX doesn't support the 
printer yet;
-less variety of inks;
-no cheap RIP software available.

Being the free market adept sometimes means taking some sacrifice, 
but ... did anybody get some decent  print out of this printer?

Any feedback will be appreciated.
Thank you,
Lev