Printer decision
Airedrifter
Registered Users Posts: 253 Major grins
My latest printer (Epson WP-4540) lasted about 2 years. (Apparently the print head plugged and the tube from the yellow ink reservoir blew off and sprayed yellow ink throughout the printer. I guess I could disassemble it, clean it and see, but I already have a clock apart on my workbench. 
It won't work the way it is... even the paper path is blocked somewhere...)
I'm flummoxed with the choices.
Here's what I want, a printer that will sit there for 2 weeks unused and then all of a sudden, I may want to print a 60 page legal document or a screen capture. Once a month or so, I'll want to print some snapshots or 8 x 10s to give away.
I'd like the Canon PIXMA Pro 100, but that seems an overkill for simple printing.
What say you?
It won't work the way it is... even the paper path is blocked somewhere...)I'm flummoxed with the choices.
Here's what I want, a printer that will sit there for 2 weeks unused and then all of a sudden, I may want to print a 60 page legal document or a screen capture. Once a month or so, I'll want to print some snapshots or 8 x 10s to give away.
I'd like the Canon PIXMA Pro 100, but that seems an overkill for simple printing.
What say you?
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Comments
The Canon Pixma iX6520 originally sold for ~ $500 but when the new models were released the prices dropped to ~ $100 for old stock.
No bells and whistles though, heck, it didn't even come with a USB cable
But it prints up to 13" x 19" and at worst after sitting for a while I had to run it through two cleaning cycles.
Cheers, Don
Product Photography
My Acreage Bird Photographs
For images I have an ipf8300. Now not everyone has or needs such a large printer, but a smaller dedicated 13X19 photo printer is a great option allowing professional prints at a more affordable price point and not sacrificing top quality.
Sam
I've just recently switched to the Pro-10 pigment printer. So far so good on the ink usage and I've not heard any complaints about them clogging either. I think my strategy on this one is going to be to make a print every week whether I need one or not which will hopefully cut down on those dreaded cleaning cycles. One this is for sure, using inkjet printers intermittently like this is a worst case scenario for ink usage.
Link to my Smugmug site
I think it does automatically flush the head. I think all printers do. However, I certainly haven't had the experience you had. My ink usage is reasonable enough that I don't pay much attention to it any more.
Link to my Smugmug site
I had Epson for ages, finishing with my 1290 a couple of years ago as it was always clogging. I bought a Pixma Pro 9500 II which has never failed me. It always works and always gives excellent results. It uses a fair amount of expensive ink, but that could be the periods between prints (sometimes months). I'm using it more now and enjoying the process again.
My other Canon is a i4850 and is just as reliable and puts out pretty good prints. The ink usage on that is pretty good and it prints duplex if required.
I've let it sit for at least two weeks a few times with no trouble.
Now the kicker. We have a Canon MG-5420 for document printing, and go through ink tanks at least twice the rate of the 100. Granted, smaller tanks, but less color printing and most are at the fastest (read lowest quality) print level.
Presently I have 14 ( yes, fourteen) Canon printers in 3 different models and an Epson. I bought the epson for a specific feature ( which canon now has) and while I can't fault it's print quality although I don't think it's quite as good as the canons ( but admittedly one is doing 99 mph and the other is doing 100) I don't like the way it operates and the software near as much as the canons which I find far more versatile. It's quiet when it prints but sounds like there's a handful of gravel in the thing when it's going through it's pre print routine.
On all the printers I have Bulk ink systems. These are external tanks which hold 100-120Ml of ink instead of the 6-12ml in the cartridges. I buy the ink in 1L bottles and just fill the external tanks as needed. I can also do Cartridges if I don't want to take the ink tanks with me on small jobs.
I get over 500 8x12s per fill on the external tanks so even when I run the things flat out, I only need to top them up once a day.
I actually prefer the aftermarket ink to the canon ink. The aftermarket stuff produces far more ture to life colours rather than the screaming bright over saturated cartoon like images the OEM ink does. I use the Ilford profiles and have found they are good for any paper I have tried and would make an excellent starting point for any perfectionist to tweak from. The canon OEM profies aren't bad either but I don't like them with the OEM ink and think the Ilford profiles are still better.
I can't make any comparison to the Epson ink. I bought that machine from one place and called in to the ink place on the way home. The guy got me to bring it in and fitted it for me so the OEM cartridges are still round here somewhere.
The aftermarket Ink guys can supply Dye or pigment ink depending on what you want. I went for the cheaper Dye stuff and am totally happy with it. The OEM ink on the canons was costing me close enough to $1 per 8x12. The aftermarket ink costs me around .02C. If I played devils advocate you could call it 5c and have plenty of change when you went to buy the next lot. Given I can produce 2000 8x12's a week, the savings are massive for me. Even my father is his business has been complaining about what ink costs him so I'm taking him one of the older machines with a tank setup. At 75 years of age, its a sad realisation to think he'll never have to buy ink again in his life.
One thing the guy at the ink place said to me was to give the ink tanks a shake now and then if using the pigment because it can settle over extended periods. The epson I have is the model with the stationary ink tanks and apparently this has been a problem with infrequently used machines where the ink isn't changed for long periods.
I have heard a lot of Highbrow negative comments about aftermarket ink and bulk tank systems but I doubt there are too many of these gloom and doomers out there that have as many printers as I do or have ever bought printing paper by the pallett load and ink 10L at a time. With that kind of experience, the systems I have used have been brilliant and pretty much hassel free. The cost savings more than paid for the cars I have bought my kids in the last 18 months.
For anyone doing a lot of printing or just too scared to because of the ink cost, have a look at these bulk systems. I was very apprehensive about them at first but there is no doubt they have been the best and most profitable bit of gear I have probably ever bought.