Digital BW, The Print

well, I for one, wanted to see and hear about peoples feeling about
the PRINTER called R1900, not an endless loop about the pros and cons
of light fastness from different labs.  I noticed that the R1900 is
not mentioned on any US sites, nor even the British site of Epson. 
DPReview sates the projected price for the new R1900 will be 400GBP,
which equated to about $817USD in todays conversion.  Thats a lot of
money for a simple upgrade from the R1800 to R1900.  The R2400 sells
for less than that.
So, my question is: How am I to justify the double in price for this
new printer?  Wouldn't I be better off to buy the old R1800 for $300
USD or the R2400 for $700?  Is there an R2500 in the near future?

Uncle Dannie