Which Printer?

[Wombat]

One of my co-workers has the 980Cxi. He likes it quite a lot.

[Booker]

You haven’t considered a Canon?

Have a look @ the S800. Very impressive photo printer

[Gurm]

The Canon photo printers use individual ink canisters. This sounds great until you realize that after a couple changes you ALSO have to replace the head, which is hella expensive. HP and Epson heads are built into the cartridges.

Now, Epsons print nice, but many/all are top loading. This sucks. Hard. Top-loaders are not only harder to calibrate and nearly impossible to align, but they break sooner.

That leaves, unfortunately, HP. The bad news is that HP models vary wildly in print quality, and there's NO way to tell short of asking people.

Example - the specs on the 940, 960, 980, P1000, P1100, and P1215/P1213 are identical except for print speed and paper trays. However, the P1215 prints MUCH nicer than the P1000 or P1100. Why? Nobody knows. Identical engines, according to HP. The 940 prints nicely, but wastes a lot of ink. The 960 prints just as nicely with less ink waste. So my advice is get a 960 or higher, or if you want the photo tray and/or media slots (my wife did) get the P1251 (P=Photosmart).

Additionally, HP's drivers, while big and clunky, actually work very well this time around.

- Gurm

[Wombat]

I would avoid Canon. I had a Canon, and it only lasted about 20 months.

[Booker]

The S800 has a fixed Print Head covered by the 12 warranty.

Wombat,
What failed on your printer? Were you using non genuine inks?

[Wombat]

I had the Canon 2600. I replaced the cartridges (all Canon cartridges), but it was no good.

Here's one thing that they don't tell you until it is too late: While the printer is on(standby), its heads are in a position that lets them dry out.

[Fat Tone]

Originally posted by Gurm
...HP and Epson heads are built into the cartridges.

Epson print heads aren't built into the cartridges (at least on the SC/Photo ranges), although historically from the pricing you'd be forgiven for thinking they were Things are better now with the T- range of cartridges.

Tony.

[Booker]

Here's one thing that they don't tell you until it is too late: While the printer is on(standby), its heads are in a position that lets them dry out.

Wombat this is incorrect. The head will park and cap in standby mode so the Print Head does NOT dry out. It will also perform a periodic clean.

[Fat Tone]

I find that on my Epsons. You HAVE to use them regularly, or its constant cleaning cycles which wastes HUGE amounts of ink

[Booker]

Yes unfortunately more use is better that none.
Just like a car, put it in the garage for a few months and it’s not going to perform 100%

[MK]

I vote for the HP deskJet 9xx series, especially for the models from the 950 on and higher (because of ink consumtion and speed).

I have a DJ 959C and I am extremely happy with it.

MK

[Snake-Eyes]

Can't get to your link on the 980 Paddy, but it's probably a decent printer (heck, my 950C is a good printer, so it's probably at least as nice )

And no Epson I've ever used has had print heads in the cartridges. They're all mounted in the printer. This is why they need to be sent off (err, assuming you can't tear it down and clean it yourself. A friend of mine did this. Unfortunately, after the first time, the frequency of needed cleanings is MUCH shorter). And yes, Epsons EAT ink when they're not being used much.

Photo print quality seems about equivalent, imo, between Epsons and HPS, with Epsons maybe a tad more correct without adjustment to the color prior to printing (on photo papers). On normal paper and card stock (um, this is probably the biggest use my HP sees, thanks to my wife- she loves to make custom cards for anything that she gets an excuse for), the HP seems to print better, more appealing color images, whether photos or illustrations.

Keep in mind that my last Epson was the Stylus Color 740, and things keep changing. For one, Epson has increased their output resolution. As far as I know, they still use the same basic technology they've always used though, so other than a higher resolution, overall saturation / etc. probably hasn't.

[Paddy]

cheers for the input Ace. That link works for me btw.

[Wombat]

Wombat this is incorrect. The head will park and cap in standby mode so the Print Head does NOT dry out. It will also perform a periodic clean.

No, Booker. I am right. It took a couple calls to Canon tech support trying to figure out why my picture was so bad, but one fellow finally helped me out. The 2600 only has one button, most stuff is done through the drivers. I had my printer set to turn off after an hour of no use. For that entire hour, the print head is out in the air. Only after the timer expires did the print head dock. I'm positive. They told me so, and once they did, I opened the printer and looked.

[Snake-Eyes]

Originally posted by Paddy [MU]
cheers for the input Ace. That link works for me btw.

No problem Paddy. Most likely the link didn't come up for me because I'm at work. I'll try it again when I get home tonight.

Good luck with your new printer.