New Printer advise

[4HOLIDAYS]

I am planning to buy a new printer and am hoping for advise from the experts here. I print several pages of text per week-10 at most and maybe 3/4 photos per week. I have tried shutterfly/snapfish and found what I send and what I get back on prints really varies so would prefer to do at home.

My old HP photosmart c8180 finally died and I need to replace it. I was happy with it-most importantly the pics I printed but also the scanning, copying as well.

It does not seem that there is a similar new printer-def not from the reviews I have read. We have an Epson workforce for the fax, copy of school papers, invoices...things like that, but the quality is not good at all and especially for the pics. We compared them when we first got it with same papers on each, several dif types, and the workforce printer was not close.

So has anyone have a printer/copier/scan they like? The price does not seem to be an issue as most are inexpensive-well under 400.

I appreciate any thoughts and advise on these-there are so many that my eyes hurt from researching and reading!

TIA!

 

[boBQuincy]

It's hard to beat this deal:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/893738-REG/Canon_6228b002_Pixma_Pro_100_Photo_Inkjet.html

This photo printer can make beautiful prints, better than most labs but it does use a lot of ink doing so. This is a printer-only, no scanner. It is also large but can handle 13" x 19" paper.

 

[Gianna'sPapa]

I print all my sales photos at home on a dedicated printer, an Epson Stylus Photo R1900. Its a few years old, but produces beautiful prints. The newer models are the ones below:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/searc...&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ma&Top+Nav-Search=

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=epson+stylus+photo+r3000&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ps

They each have a $200 rebate, so final cost is $500 and $539. For my scanning and everyday printing I have a HP2510. Its a cheap printer, but for everyday stuff it works well. I have two other printers as backups, one is a HP Photosmart C3180 all in one and the other is an Epson Stylus Photo R800. Neither of those can print the 13x19 size that I need. The R800 (again its an older model) still prints beautifully when I don't need the larger format. The HP all-in-one doesn't do quite as well.

Its been my experience that the all-in-ones may do everything well but not any one thing great. Since I sell prints, I want the best quality that I can afford.

 

[4HOLIDAYS]

I saw the CanonPixma pro-100 at BandH also and thought what a great deal . I know that will do awesome for the photos but then I will have to either use the Epson workforse on other side of house when I print regular docs,just inconvenient.

I may just hav e to get it though. Love the idea of great photos at home!

 

[boBQuincy]

The Canon does well with regular documents like 8.5 x 11, especially in fast mode where it saves on ink and can complete a full page in about 15 seconds. It is probably about as economical as any inkjet but nowhere near the low per-print cost of a laserjet.

 

[photo_chick]

I've had an Epson R2880 for close to 5 years now. It's been a great printer, gallery quality prints, and I'm looking to replace it with a larger format model from the same line sometime in the next year simply because I want larger than 13" prints. I also had the older Epson R1800 and loved it so much that I wore the thing out.

High quality photo printers, at least the ones I consider high quality, are usually stand alone printers and can cost well above $400. (there are a few right around $400 that I'd look at) And a lot of the price depends on how wide you want to be able to print.

What I'd suggest is assessing your photo quality threshold. If you're willing to sacrifice photo quality then get one printer to do everything. If you're not then get a higher end photo printer and pick up a cheap laser printer for documents. My reasoning there is that the higher end photo printer ink is expensive (mine has 9 tanks at $15 each) and these printers drink ink.

Also keep in mind that big factor in getting a great quality print from any printer is using the right paper for THAT printer (not always the manufacturer's brand and not always what works best in another printer), understanding how to use paper profiles and understanding how to prepare a file for print are also important.

One more thing to add... printing at home is not cost effective. Don't go down this road thinking it will save you cash.