Hello Paulm,
BO prints from the R1800 running 3MK are my favorite inkjet BW prints. They don't look good through a magnifier, but up on the wall they have pop and luminosity that is wonderful.
Ditto your experience on keeping the printer running - it likes to print frequently, otherwise you are stuck putting time into it getting it unclogged and printing cleanly.
The last couple of years I've been mainly wet printing and found I wasn't using the R1800 enough to make it worthwhile. I'd keep it if, like my 3800, you could leave it sit for a few weeks and then use it without needing to clean it up.
So I'll be using the 3800 for digital BW from here out. I haven't done homework on finding another printer that could be set up like the R1800 for BO printing.
Glad your 1400 behaves well, I'll keep that in mind.
-Harlan