So I'm thinking of buying this printer. (1 Viewer)

[Adam Bluhm]

http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/c...s&oid=22708394

I'm finally going to buy a printer. This is long overdue.

I'm not looking to spend an arm and a leg, looking for a simple inkjet, but I do play with my digital sometimes and would like some good quality prints. A friend of mine has a Nikon Coolpix 5000 and a "cheap" (paid ~$100) Epson printer and did a full 8.5"x11" in B/W and it looks absolutely marvelous. Now, I couldn't do this with my camera, but would like the headroom.

Any suggestions or things to look for in an Epson or other manuf? The 825 looks like a good buy. I don't need to be able to print when away from a pc, but the option isn't bad. I'm mostly looking for quality, quality and quality.

 

[Keith Mickunas]

Wow, they're ink cartridges are actually reasonably priced. I was going to recommend a Canon that uses individual cartridges for each color, but it costs more and overall the ink wouldn't be cheaper. That looks like a pretty good deal. See if they got a slightly cheaper one without the card reader that still uses the same cartridges.

 

[Adam Bluhm]

For whatever reason I didn't even think about Canon printers. It does appear that their i860 is a decent jobber that won't break my wallet.

More suggestions welcome!

http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_g...e505b83d98ad9a

EDIT .. I see that the < i9xx line of printers aren't considered "photo printers" by Canon..

 

[Michael Toguchi]

I just picked up a Canon i950, and I absolutely love the quality of the pictures that come out of it. It's fast and quiet as well. It's a little on the more expensive side of things though ($299) so it may be out of your price range. I already have a B&W laser printer, so I wanted something that was great at photos, but didn't have to be good at text printing.

 

[Keith Mickunas]

The i950 was the one I was going to recommend. If it's in your budget, I'd go for it. Everything I've heard about it is real good.

IMHO, avoid Lexmark and HP for inkjet printers. I've had so much trouble with my HPs, specifically the cartridges become bad somehow, they're not empty, but the thing refuses to print. I can't remember the model number I have, it's a few years old though. Anyways, even if it's just the color that is bad or empty, I can't even print black and white. I went through way too many cartridges while printing very, very little. It really ticked me off. And Lexmark has some patented chip in their cartridges so that no one can make cheap copies of them. Lexmark and HP both do stuff to foil refills and clones and the like. I don't know if Epson is like that, but at $19 for a color cartridge that ain't bad.

 

[Adam Bluhm]

Well silly me had to go doing more research and made myself foam at the mouth for more expensive printers. I reviewed the 960 from Epson and all it's capabilities. Now I'm looking at higher priced models.

What type of color cartiges does the Canon take and how much do they cost? The Epson 960 takes individuals (as I think the Canon does) and rounds out at $12/color at 5 colors! (plus black)

 

[Michael Toguchi]

The Canon i950 takes individual cartridges (BCI-6), which run about the same price as the Epson individual cartridges. I found the reviews at http://www.steves-digicams.com very helpful in my decision to get the Canon i950. And a plus is that it isn't $299 like I stated before, it's only $249.

 

[Max Leung]

The best inexpensive printers (when compared to the superb Epson 2200 and higher-end professional printers) are the Canon i950 or the Epson 960. Either one will make the best photo prints you'll ever see, period.

 

[Philip Hamm]

I used to have an Epson cheap color printer that cost only $89 and had real expensive ink cartridges. It produced beautiful output.

Then I broke it.

And I bought a Canon S530D which seems to print a lot more pages per ink cartridge. The quality is pretty good and the paper handling is fantastic.

I was going to recommend a Canon that uses individual cartridges for each color, but it costs more and overall the ink wouldn't be cheaper.

Funny, I have one like that and I've found that I tend to replace all three colors at more or less the same time anyway. Unless you are printing all magenta, cyan, or yellow pages, I don't think this is a real genuine advantage.

 

[MikeAlletto]

Or you can just shop around and find a really cheap printer that costs about as much as a bunch of new ink carts. When it runs out just toss it and go buy a whole new printer. Ink prices are absolutely rediculious.

 

[Thomas Newton]

I read that one vendor was saying that the interface between the cartridge and the printer was an access control mechanism. They were claiming that the DMCA made it illegal for a third party to sell compatible ink cartridges.

Guess who's on my "don't buy, and don't recommend to friends or family" list?

 

[Ken Seeber]

Funny, I have one like that and I've found that I tend to replace all three colors at more or less the same time anyway. Unless you are printing all magenta, cyan, or yellow pages, I don't think this is a real genuine advantage.

There's another advantage to separate color cartridges. Each cartridge tends to be significantly larger than the all-in-one cartridges so they last considerably longer. That probably isn't a universal truth, but I've owned HP, Epson and Canon printers and this has been the case for me.

I have the Canon i850, which prints pretty damned impressive pictures, especially when you consider the printer cost me less than $150. In the six months I've owned it, it has proven to be the most reliable and most economical ink jet printer I've ever owned.

The new i860 has two different black cartridges --- one is optimized for text, the other for photos. The i860 sells for about $150 and should do the job unless you're going to be doing very critical photo work.

The i960 would be even better of course.

 

[Adam Bluhm]

I won't be doing much critical work, but moreso wanting my digitals to be frameble without people asking 'is that from your digital?' I just want them to assume it's film.

I'll take a closer look at Canon. The general reading I've done has them ahead of Epson in ink handling. Epson apparently loves to use ink and has clogging problems which doesn't have a cut and dry solution.

 

[Joseph S]

I don't have clogging problems with my Epson 960 which I love. The SP 780 I owned before did have a terrible problem with it though. Either the i950 or 960 is a great deal.

Funny, I have one like that and I've found that I tend to replace all three colors at more or less the same time anyway.

While printing out a boatload of DVD custom covers for cardboard, boxsets, and snappers I found that one of the blacks, light magenta, and light cyan were used the quickest. I was able to get two changes of those per change of the cyan, yellow, magenta, and the other black.

 

[Adam Bluhm]

What is the replacement for the i850? Is it the 860 or 550?

EDIT.. looks like the 860 is the replacement.

 

[Ken Seeber]

Yes, the i860 replaces the i850, and the i960 replaces the i950.

 

[Adam Bluhm]

Looks like I'll be going for the i860 over the competitors due to two black inks/pigments, multiple color cartriges (which I see as a positive) and no apparent clog problems which I read about many times around forums and review sites.

Thanks for the help, fellas.

 

[Adam Bluhm]

One more thing...

Do Canon printers like Canon photo paper or will the good stuff from Office Depot/Max work?

 

[Max Leung]

Some people LOVE the office depot photo paper. However, using the official Canon paper that the printer is designed for will always give you consistent results.

I don't know if Kodak has cleaned up their act or not, but I had major problems with Kodak photo paper a couple of years ago because of streaking and ink separation issues. Get a bit of moisture on your Kodak print and you just lost part of your image!

If you have time, you can check out the Printer forum at www.dpreview.com for more detailed recommendations. I did all my Epson 2200 research there, and found the information extremely valuable.

 

[Adam Bluhm]

A quick thanks for the input, fellas. With the research I did and comments I read at dpreview and received here, I made my decision and purchased the Canon i860.

Thanks again! I'm sure I'll be happy with it.