Recommend me a printer please.

[Twigman]

Originally posted by Austin Canon also seem to care more for the older printers too, HP and Epson are so slow on this

I brough an HP660C in 1995 I think...I was still gettin newsletters from them (which I choose to recieve so it wasnt really spam), and out of the blue they said "You have had your printer for a long time, so we are sending you a free printer cleaning set". Ordered it online and came completely free few days later. This was litterally years after I had stopped using the printer (2001 i think...)

/me loves HP...lol

[Austin]

Yep the i450 has the quality of the i850 (4800x1200dpi inc 2pl droplets) but speed well below the i550. It also uses the combined smaller ink tanks so costs more to run than the i550 but we're still talking very cheap running costs. The i550 never came with a USB lead though, it had both parrellel and USB connectors so maybe that's why ... just be prepared in case the i450 doesn't come with one either. Twigman that's great news. I was more talking about continued support (ie drivers) for any printer non-current really but top marks to HP.

[Flibb]

Not sure if its true withh all canon prointers but many allow you to replace the print head if it become blocked. Consequently non original carts can be used without worry, epson printers are impossible to replace the heads unless its goes back to the factory and it aint covered under warranty.
Flibb

[Twigman]

Lol ok Austin...
http://h20015.www2.hp.com/en/softwar...bmit.x=0&cc=us
Drivers for the 660C from 3.1 to XP...sorry to rub it in but i *really* like HP printers...lol
I wont go on about it any more now...promise

[Areku]

Originally posted by Flibb
Not sure if its true withh all canon prointers but many allow you to replace the print head if it become blocked. Consequently non original carts can be used without worry, epson printers are impossible to replace the heads unless its goes back to the factory and it aint covered under warranty.
Flibb

For some of the canon printers you can get replacement print heads, but they arent exactly cheap. Im not too sure about their latest printers if you can get the print heads but I know that ones which use the BCI-21 black/colour you can get for roughly £35-£40. Most other printer makers (excluding epson) put the print heads on the cartridges which makes them more vulnerable and more expensive coughlexmarkcough

[Austin]

Having the print heads on the cart also makes it nigh on impossible for compatible carts to offer the same kind of quality as the branded ones.

Twigman the point is WinXP has been out for ages now. I had an Epson SC 640 which was the best printer for a LONG time. Good speed, great photo quality, cheap carts (before Epson went mad) but it took Epson over 18 months to come up with WinXP drivers and the Win2000 drivers (only other choice in XP) were a little quirky with XP. I rec'd Epson printers for ages as they were the best printers but I'd say HP and Canon have certainly surpassed them now ... that's not to say that Epson aren't good because they are. Before the 1440dpi Epsons it was HP who were clearly the best but now-a-days I think Canon have the lead.

[bigal13]

hi

so has anyone had any luck looking for canon i550 or i850 if so where??????????

[bigal13]

hi


found this http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...973848-1931622

canon bubble jet i560 £124.99

[Austin]

Unfort I've heard the i560 isn't anywhere near as good. IIRC Canon tried some new funky idea whereby they use the lighter colour inks (as found in true photo printers) but with the darker std ones. From what I hear they aren't good. I'm not sure about that but would advise sticking it out for an S750, i550 or i850 with the i450 being a very decent alternative.

[TooNice]

How many people have used the Jettec cartridge?
I might try to find alternatives to the Epson cartridges (from the sound of it, they eat ink pretty quick - although so far, I am still at "100%").

I know Jettec make Epson compatible cartridge so I might have a look at how much cheaper they are..

The Epson cartridge I use cost ~£20-25 for black (bigger cart then color though) and £12-13 (x3) for colour.

Come to think of it.. The cartridge cost almost as much as the printer
(I don't see it as a bad thing right now - as it suggest that I didn't have to pay much for the printer itself. But in the future...).

[pikacu]

I recommend Epson 895 or above. got the roller film and borderless features, cool!

[directhex]

replacement heads come with a complete set of cartridges, and cost about £10 more than the separate cartridges.

[Austin]

Jettec Epson carts are also very good. IIRC MMC are the ones to steer clear of as they are of inferior quality. I stick to Jettec, you should find them to be half the price of the branded (Epson or Canon) ones and just as good esp the Canon ones.

[bigal13]

Originally posted by Austin
Jettec Epson carts are also very good. IIRC MMC are the ones to steer clear of as they are of inferior quality. I stick to Jettec, you should find them to be half the price of the branded (Epson or Canon) ones and just as good esp the Canon ones.

hi

could you post a link to the site you get ink from please

[Austin]

I'm sure there are other co's that are just as good but I buy from ...

http://www.inkfactory.com

[Saracen]

There've been a lot of anti-Epson comments here, but I'd like to add a perspective of my own.

I have tested a LOT of colour printers, going back to the days when the ONLY way to get colour prints out of an inkjet, was to refill black cartridges with colour ink and use postscript separation software. That was, IIRC, 1991.

Also, I do a fair bit of photo printing, and over recent years, if your priority was photo printing, then nothing touched the quality of Epson injets for photo quality.

I have, currently in use :-

Epson Stylus Photo 2100 (A3+)
Epson Stylus Photo 2000P (A3+)
Epson Stylus Photo 950
Epson Stylus Photo 890
Espon Stylus Color 900 (NOT the Photo 900, different printer).
Canon i800
Olympus P-400 (dye sublimation)
Alps MD-1000 Microdry
..... (and a couple of lasers )

The ONLY Epson printer that has ever failed on me is one I lent to someone, and that for whatever reason, came back totally dead.

I have to say that recent Canon photo printers are very impressive, but to counter the anti-Epson comments here, the above list suggests where I put my priority for photo printing.

Make of that what you will