Need suggestion for printer

anonymouscuban

I'm looking for a printer. My budget is $400 and I want to be able to print up to 8.5x11. Let me know if you need more info.

Thanks,

Alex

angevin1

anonymouscuban wrote: »

I'm looking for a printer. My budget is $400 and I want to be able to print up to 8.5x11. Let me know if you need more info.

Thanks,

Alex

Alex, I just bought the Epson Artisan 835 and so far so good. ask if you have questions. I got it so I could print onto Dvd's specifically. It does that quite well.

http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/jsp/Product.do?sku=C11CA73201

zoomer

I just started using a Canon Pixma 9000. $200. Was really easy to set up and the colors are correct first try....yay.
Does a good job.

kdog

I've had the Canon Pixma Pro 9000 (Same as Zoomer?) for several years and it's treated me well. I don't use it very often, but it's nice to have when you need it. I've compared the output with Bay Photo's prints and couldn't tell the difference. No drying out of the ink cartridges or clogging issues even when sitting for prolonged period of time. It prints up to 13x19 inches. Once you've printed at that size, you may not be happy with 8.5x11 any more. On the negative side, ink jet printers in general use a lot of ink and it's expensive. Your individual page costs are way higher than going through a volume printing service like Bay Photo.

KMpics

I have a business where I sell 5x7 prints from an inkjet printer for years. I use a $70 Kodak printer and HP photo paper. I have done the math and a 5x7 print is $0.30 for the ink and $0.11 for the paper. The funny thing about printing from home is that the paper is often overlooked in print quality tests... and certain inks just don't match well with other paper.

If you want to try out different printers... there are certain stores that have excellent return policies for you to find the right one for you

Sam

anonymouscuban wrote: »

I'm looking for a printer. My budget is $400 and I want to be able to print up to 8.5x11. Let me know if you need more info.

Thanks,

Alex

Yes Alex............more info needed.

What print quality are you looking for? Do you want to print on art / watercolor/photo rag / textured paper? Do you want dye or pigment ink? Do you plan on printing black & white? Are you sure you wouldn't like to print say 13X19?

This is for starters......:D

PS: Canon 9500 II is a good printer and has a $300.00 rebate going on which will make the cost $399.00.
Right in the budget.


Sam

pierce

I'd choose canon over epson myself. had several epson photo printers and found they were clog-monsters, I spent far more time unclogging them after a few days idling, and man that wastes a lot of ink. my canon (older i9900) has never clogged. and the canon is FAST, even on full glossy premium quality bleeds. and the colors always look perfect, without having to mess with profiles.

twice in the 5-ish years I've had it, I've popped the print head off to clean the surrounding plate of excess ink that was starting to streak on the bottom of the page. I need to do a full cleaning now, I think, the ink-suckers look pretty nasty, and the paper feed has started to squeak so it probably needs some careful lubrication. considering it was only about $300, I've certainly gotten my moneys worth and I probably should just get a new one.

now, the i9900 and newer 9000 are dye printers. color prints from my i9900 hung without glass in an office fluorescent light environment show noticable fading after 3 or so years. they still look good, they just are a little lighter than they were new. I discovered this when I had a photo tacked to the wall partially covered by another and moved the top one, I could see the ghost/shadow, about 1/2 stop worth of fade. Carts for my i9900 are $10 each, 8 colors, maybe a little less if you get the 6 or 8 packs (it uses 8 colors, but the red and green last longer, so I alternate 6 and 8 packs typically)

the i9900 I have is only -meh- as a B&W printer, the newer models greatly improved this by adding additional grey/black inks.

the pigment printers are far more durable (I believe thats the 9500 model), but their colors aren't quite as vibrant, and the ink costs are higher.

did I say how much faster the canons are?

Rocketman766

I recently made the jump to Epson Artisan 730 and I am very happy with them (bought 3). I use mine for printing at events (indoor events) and the prints look fantastic. I use the Epson 5 star paper and in one printer I load 4x6 and 8.5x11 and in the other I load 5x7 and 8.5x11. I bought a continuous ink system (ebay) for them and the prints are just as good, if not better, than the Epson ink printed images. As someone mentioned earlier, I also use mine to print directly on CD/DVDs and they also look great.

If you need them for speed, and you are printing 4x6s, then the Artisan 730 prints 4x6s in 10 seconds.... but that is only after the printer receives the data and starts printing.

The 730s cost $200 but I happened to luck out and stumbled on the Officemax website while they were on sale for $99 and the Epson paper was buy 1 get one free... I think I cleaned the local store out!

sara505

Sam wrote: »

Yes Alex............more info needed.

What print quality are you looking for? Do you want to print on art / watercolor/photo rag / textured paper? Do you want dye or pigment ink? Do you plan on printing black & white? Are you sure you wouldn't like to print say 13X19?

This is for starters......:D

PS: Canon 9500 II is a good printer and has a $300.00 rebate going on which will make the cost $399.00.
Right in the budget.


Sam

Love my Pixma Pro 9500 MKII (the day I bought it, the simultaneous purchase of my 5D qualified me for $700 worth of rebates). It's a great printer. I say, yes, go for the bigger print.

Bendr

Rocketman766 wrote: »

I recently made the jump to Epson Artisan 730 and I am very happy with them (bought 3). I use mine for printing at events (indoor events) and the prints look fantastic. I use the Epson 5 star paper and in one printer I load 4x6 and 8.5x11 and in the other I load 5x7 and 8.5x11. I bought a continuous ink system (ebay) for them and the prints are just as good, if not better, than the Epson ink printed images. As someone mentioned earlier, I also use mine to print directly on CD/DVDs and they also look great.

If you need them for speed, and you are printing 4x6s, then the Artisan 730 prints 4x6s in 10 seconds.... but that is only after the printer receives the data and starts printing.

The 730s cost $200 but I happened to luck out and stumbled on the Officemax website while they were on sale for $99 and the Epson paper was buy 1 get one free... I think I cleaned the local store out!

How does the ink hold up with the epson? Do you have any idea how much it is costing you per print for your 4x6's?

Rocketman766

Bendr, from what I can tell, the ink is holding up just fine. There is no difference in print quality when using the CIS ink, in fact, my wife and a few other individuals ( a couple photogs too ) could not tell the difference between which prints were with the Epson ink and which were printed with the CIS ink.

As for the cost per print, I have at least 700 prints (4x6, 5x7 & 8x10s) from the CIS tanks and I paid $20 for them. I am guessing I have about another 1500 prints left in them before needing a refill. For guessing sake, lets say I get 2000 prints out of this set up, thats $0.01 worth of ink per print + cost of paper. The Epson cost for 4x6s is $25.20 for 100 ( $0.25 per print ). So basically $0.26 per 4x6 print. Toss in the cost of my printer ( I got them on sale for $99 ) and I'm still at $0.73 per print for a 4x6!

Hope this is what you were looking for.

Lance.

Bendr

Rocketman766 wrote: »

Bendr, from what I can tell, the ink is holding up just fine. There is no difference in print quality when using the CIS ink, in fact, my wife and a few other individuals ( a couple photogs too ) could not tell the difference between which prints were with the Epson ink and which were printed with the CIS ink.

As for the cost per print, I have at least 700 prints (4x6, 5x7 & 8x10s) from the CIS tanks and I paid $20 for them. I am guessing I have about another 1500 prints left in them before needing a refill. For guessing sake, lets say I get 2000 prints out of this set up, thats $0.01 worth of ink per print + cost of paper. The Epson cost for 4x6s is $25.20 for 100 ( $0.25 per print ). So basically $0.26 per 4x6 print. Toss in the cost of my printer ( I got them on sale for $99 ) and I'm still at $0.73 per print for a 4x6!

Hope this is what you were looking for.

Lance.

Awesome Thanks, Sounds like a sweet setup, plus office depot has them for $100 right now. I pulled the trigger on one, and I figure I can always return it if I don't like it...