Printer Recommendations Please

[Wombat]

Unnecessary waste? I've used Canon and Epson enough that I'm very thankful that the printhead is replaced every time.

[Dr Mordrid]

Originally posted by K6-III
With On the Canon, however, the printhead is replacable should it go bad, but is designed for the life of the printer. With epson, the printhead is build into the printer and is not replacable whatsoever...

Epson carts are replaceable, but not in a cost effective manner nor is it easy.

As for Canon printheads lasting the life of the printer; no way in hell. Mine last about 6 months tops (BJ 5100 11.7"x17").

Right now we're looking very hard at an HP cp1700ps (13 x 19);

HP cp1700ps

Dr. Mordrid

[Pace]

Talking printers? Does that mean that it says "Printing Started" when, well, you know

I had an old Mannesmann Tally that did that (GDI printer ).

As for inket experience, I've played with 2 x Epson440s, a 460, and HP 710, 720, 840, 880Cxi(?), 895Cxi, 950. All excellent (oh, also a 15th generation 610 - poor colour, but black was ok ).

And remember, just in case (strongly hope and doubt not) anyone is thinking about buying "alternative" cartridges...don't

If you don't wanna pay HP for their cartridges, then don't buy an HP printer. They go together.

And, btw, don't you's all just love HP Lasers? I sure as hell do (but then I've had the pleasure of repairing 2 Tally's constantly for the last 5 years).

P.

[seether]

I'm going with Doc about the printhead argument, but keep in mind that getting the heads FUBARed is the exception, not the rule - the cleaning cycle does burn a lot of ink though, but with moderately frequent use, that shouldn't be a big deal since epson's dye based printers don't USUALLY clog unless the printer has sat idle for several days/weeks, or if you frequenly use certain third party papers (epson is definitely finicky about paper, and if you ever see bronzing on photos then you can count on having a nice little puddle of ink drying into a a nice head clogging muck). I've heard endless epson horror stories, but my 1200, 1280, and 2000 have printed ~1,000+, 100s, 100+ (respecively)8x10, and A3/super B prints without any issues.

Really though, in your price range hp, canon, epson, lexmark, et al will do a fine job for you with a negligible (if even noticeable) media price defferential. Unless you're really serious about your photo prints, any of the brands will give you prints good enough for oohs and ahhs from the average friend and family member. HP uses (at least used to) a 150-300dpi layering process while epson and canon have their own dithering algorithms, so hp uses the most ink per page. The reality though, is that unless you are knocking out dozens of high quality prints a day, the desrepancy of ink prices really arent big enoug to be a deciding factor. Individual ink tanks sounds like a life saver, but more often than not you will be replacing one tank after only a few prints since you changed a different color, and at ~12$ a tank, prices start to add up as qucky as they do for just replacing a ~28$ epson cartridge. The big advantage canon has is in print speed - epsons are definitely not speed demons. For general usage, you'd probably be happier with text printing from hp or canon on plain paper. The advantages of epson start showing up with more serious photo work (more customizeable drivers, more in house and third party paper and ink profiles, etc...). But for a jack of all trades printer, it's more of just checking out some test prints someplace local and getting what you want.

[Pace]

About tricolour cartridges

I have one that only prints shades of green So I take it down to my Dads work and print stuff out there with that colour only. It's still good for business graphics, just brightens up a B&W page nicely

[thop]

[az]

What's that?

AZ

[K6-III]

Originally posted by Dr Mordrid


Epson carts are replaceable, but not in a cost effective manner nor is it easy.

As for Canon printheads lasting the life of the printer; no way in hell. Mine last about 6 months tops (BJ 5100 11.7"x17").

Right now we're looking very hard at an HP cp1700ps (13 x 19);

HP cp1700ps

Dr. Mordrid

It looks like you're running one of their older printers, to begin with. The current equivalent in the 11x17 printing is the S9000, which does a higher res printout with more nozzle density. I've has my S800 for about a year with absolutely no need to replace the printhead. Prints just as well today as a year ago....

What I really AM looking forward to, however, is the 7 color Epson 2200 with individual ink tanks...

[seether]

What I really AM looking forward to, however, is the 7 color Epson 2200 with individual ink tanks...

I saw a PR print of some blonde haired blue eyed woman from it a couple of weeks ago. You could see what looked like flash bounce off of her forhead, but absolutely no noticeable dithering in the tonal changes, so it looks like they finally got skin tones right. It's inks are pigment based like the 2000, but with greatly reduced metamerism (supposedly still there, but I saw no difference between flourescant lighting above the printer and looking at the print next to a window, although that's not really the greatest of tests I know ). Supposedly, the color gamut with their new inks is as broad as with the based inks too.

It still prints as slow as a.. well, as an epson though - the pic was on 8&1/2x11, and I had time to have a full argument with my friend about microdrives while it printed

I'm really interested in the two different black inks. I wonder what kind of results you can get for B&W printing if someone comes out with a driver to replace one of the light cyan, magenta,or yellow cartridges with the second black one. Getting quasi-neutral tones in black and whites is damn near impossible currently, and the quadtone setup for my 1200 cost more than the printer . $700 for the printer, $400 for the Parhelia - but it feels like one is wasted without the other( damn, I need to go find myself some rich sugar momma ).

Maybe epson and matrox can team up for some good PR, something like "pro caliber 2d deserves a pro quality printer" or visa versa. Maybe they can run a promotion - "buy the card, get e printer free"

[seether]

breezer .....

I apologize,

I gues we all kind of went off on a tangent and hijacked you thread, so sorry

Any specific questions, let us know

[breezer]

vwdrivrco no problem, its been intersting reading all of the comments this morining (after my dsl started working again grrr)

I went out this afternoon and purchased an epson 810, I nearly got a 895 but as i don't have a digicam I thought it would be wasted on me. The cost of the consumables was the deciding factor, I checked the prices of these before purchasing, £20 for 2*2 carts wasn't bad (i thought)

Now to actually using the thing......

Breezer

[Dr Mordrid]

Originally posted by K6-III
It looks like you're running one of their older printers, to begin with. What I really AM looking forward to, however, is the 7 color Epson 2200 with individual ink tanks...

Yes, the Canon 5100 is older but still very good for most purposes. The rub for it is that my wife plans on using 12.x12 printouts for scrapbooking pages, which the Canon can't do.

As for any Epson options, see my first few posts. I'll NEVER buy another throwaway printer again, and IMHO that is exactly what Epsons are.

Dr. Mordrid