Best Printer

[rollazn]

Well for one of my school classes - I will need to find one of the best printers that will print clear color pictures. This is going to be mainly used for printing pictures. I don't need one of those all-for-one printers.

Price is no object. Basically I got a blank check to purchase the best printer that will print clear pictures.

 

[Matrixhasu77]

I've got HP's Deskjet 6840. It's a network printer but works extremely well. It prints photos fairly decently.

 

[amp88]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...value=949:13440,951:8304&bop=and&order=priced

 

[Sage]

It's hard to go wrong with many things on the market today (for example, even the lowest resolution printers these days are pretty decent for printing pictures) – lately, I've noticed it's been coming down to brand more than anything. For one, avoid Epson printers at all costs – they're absolutely wonderful when they work, but they get clogged beyond repair after about a year (we've gone through two Epsons in two years; conversely, we've had an HP Deskjet for about 3 or 4 years now). Epsons are ***t for long-term reliability.

HP is known for great reliability, but not the greatest color reproduction. Canon is a current favorite amongst many people (reliability + cheap cartridges), but I have no clue how they stand in the high-end market. Lexmark printers tend to be cheapie. And that's about the extent of my knowledge. Just avoid Epsons, and you should be pretty well off.

 

[emad]

for Lexmark, avoid 3rd party cartridges. Some work for me, some dont.

For epson, their 7-color printers are amazing, BUT and this is a big BUT, they print for crap on any glossy paper not made by epson. To the point where the ink doesn't even stay on the paper. It either runs or it smudges very easily. Of course, their paper doesn't come cheap either.

If you want uber crazy print quality, have you considered just dropping your stuff off at a local 1-hour photo lab? Better yet, since you have a blank check, buy their equipment

 

[amp88]

I've had my Epson C62 for about three years now and I've not had any problems with it clogging up. Of course, it's not one of the newest Epsons, nor is it anywhere near the top end of the printer market, but it's fairly decent for what I paid for it (£63 about 3 years ago) .

I totally agree with emad though, photo printing quality on any paper not made or recommended by Epson is very poor. On everything I've printed on non-Epson paper the ink has run badly on all the edges, and the resolution of the picture is poor in general. On Epson paper though, even for a 3 year old low/medium range printer it's good.

 

[VIPFREAK]

I got an Epson 1280 for school, large format 11x17

 

[Jondot]

If you're looking for printers that won't go all touchy, go for epson. I've had experience with lexmarks and hps, and both have been awful, and have wanted to print out 50 pages of strage characters when they ran out of paper mid print. The the two epsons i've had have been a different story though. The C20 was fine, as is the photo 830 i have now. It's not particularly good quality, but we got it a couple of years ago now for a pretty reasonable sum. I've heard that they do a lot better printers now.

 

[VIPFREAK]

I've never had a problem with any HP printer but the Epson I got only because everyone told me it was the "standard" for design mediums. "Standard" my ass.

 

[Matrixhasu77]

For one, avoid Epson printers at all costs – they're absolutely wonderful when they work, but they get clogged beyond repair after about a year (we've gone through two Epsons in two years; conversely, we've had an HP Deskjet for about 3 or 4 years now). Epsons are ***t for long-term reliability.

I definately agree. I received an Epson C84 for christmas last year and the thing didn't last more than 8 months. It got clogged by a yellow color cartridge and refused to work anymore. Epson may make decent printers but their reliability factor is absolutely horrid.

 

[VT]

I've had two epsons and two HPs and the epsons both stopped working normally after about 6 months.

This is the best photo printer I've seen in a while, and used to be my printer, until I dropped it a few weeks ago.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16828104342

 

[rollazn]

Well I am still looking for one - and I will try to avoid Espon - if it can't use regular 8 1/2" x 11" that isn't made by them.

Any particular models of the HP that is the best?

Edit:

Do you mean regular standard paper - or one of those glossy papers?

 

[emad]

Well I am still looking for one - and I will try to avoid Espon - if it can't use regular 8 1/2" x 11" that isn't made by them.

You wouldn't want to use their paper. Especially not if you plan on doing a lot of printing. They sell it in rediculously small quantities - we're talking packs of no more than 50 sheets and it typically costs more than the highest quality glossy paper made by a major paper mill like Hi-Tech. Actually, ignore the Hi-Tech bit - paper like that isn't easily available on a consumer level

Any particular models of the HP that is the best?

just go through their site - it's usually their most expensive model. Sometimes their (and other companies) most expensive model will have a color LCD and slightly lower specs - just watch out for that

 

[rollazn]

How is the Canon i9900 Photo Printer?

How about the HP Photosmart 8250 Printer?

How about the Epson PictureMate?

 

[VIPFREAK]

How is the Canon i9900 Photo Printer?

Friend has it and hasn't had any problems. I'd probably recomend it over an Epson but HP would still be my first choice. 👍

 

[chinko]

For one, avoid Epson printers at all costs – they're absolutely wonderful when they work, but they get clogged beyond repair after about a year (we've gone through two Epsons in two years; conversely, we've had an HP Deskjet for about 3 or 4 years now). Epsons are ***t for long-term reliability.

can't agree more. we have a Stylus Color 880, and when it worked, it was brilliant. fast, good colours, not too big, but recently it decided to clog, and it won't clear up at all. it can print black and white perfectly, but anything with any yellow colour and you're looking at a messy print, or a print with magneta and cyan but no yellow. ah well. if you upgrade often, then epsons are worth it. its definately worth paying the extra for epson cartridges too, as some cheap ones tend to mess up and you end up using most of a cartridge trying to get it to print properly 👎

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

I had my Epson 660 for about 4-5 years, but it did have problems with clogging. Now we have a Canon IP4000. It does print great pictures, especially for the price. I sure hope it doesn't have that clogging problem.

 

[Flame-returns]

We also had a Epson Stylus 880 and changing the ink was hell. When you open the lid of a normal printer the "cartridge caddy" moves to the centre so you can replace the ink. On the epson it stayed at one side and refused to budge. We immediately phoned epson for a replacement under warranty and they seemed to think it perfectly normal behaviour.

We took to prising the caddy out with a screwdriver in order to replace the ink, naturally one day someone prised to hard and the internal plastic workings of the printer snapped. We tried to get a free replacment but could not as Epson claimed we had deliberately damaged our printer, refusing to acknowledge that we had only taken to attacking our main printer because they would not fix the initial problem.

I am currently using an Hp deskjet 940cs and my day is using an Epson photo 1290. We are both satisfied although his printer is rather tempremental.

 

[Jondot]

I definately agree. I received an Epson C84 for christmas last year and the thing didn't last more than 8 months. It got clogged by a yellow color cartridge and refused to work anymore. Epson may make decent printers but their reliability factor is absolutely horrid.

Oh great, i thought te print quality was getting bad,now it's probably gunna go and die on me Oh well, come 6 months time i'll probably be spending more cash on a canon. *yay*

 

[chinko]

We also had a Epson Stylus 880 and changing the ink was hell. When you open the lid of a normal printer the "cartridge caddy" moves to the centre so you can replace the ink. On the epson it stayed at one side and refused to budge. We immediately phoned epson for a replacement under warranty and they seemed to think it perfectly normal behaviour.

We took to prising the caddy out with a screwdriver in order to replace the ink, naturally one day someone prised to hard and the internal plastic workings of the printer snapped. We tried to get a free replacment but could not as Epson claimed we had deliberately damaged our printer, refusing to acknowledge that we had only taken to attacking our main printer because they would not fix the initial problem.

I am currently using an Hp deskjet 940cs and my day is using an Epson photo 1290. We are both satisfied although his printer is rather tempremental.

...............i dont believe you did that....you hold the little button when the ink has run out and it goes to the left side....however you can't change it whenever you wish. you should have read the manual...

 

[rollazn]

I am currently looking at HP printers. Which HP printers would you suggest?

I am really considering the HP Photosmart 8250 Printer.

 

[VIPFREAK]

I'd say the 9800 That's what I would've got if I could sell my 1280.

 

[Jondot]

We also had a Epson Stylus 880 and changing the ink was hell. When you open the lid of a normal printer the "cartridge caddy" moves to the centre so you can replace the ink. On the epson it stayed at one side and refused to budge. We immediately phoned epson for a replacement under warranty and they seemed to think it perfectly normal behaviour.

We took to prising the caddy out with a screwdriver in order to replace the ink, naturally one day someone prised to hard and the internal plastic workings of the printer snapped. We tried to get a free replacment but could not as Epson claimed we had deliberately damaged our printer, refusing to acknowledge that we had only taken to attacking our main printer because they would not fix the initial problem.

I am currently using an Hp deskjet 940cs and my day is using an Epson photo 1290. We are both satisfied although his printer is rather tempremental.

You're kidding me, you hold down the button untill the cartiriges move to the middle! Epson lids are about as technical as a door. No connections whatsoever. That's why they thought it was perfectly normal behaviour, and that's why they wouldn't give you a free replacement too.

 

[VIPFREAK]

You're kidding me, you hold down the button untill the cartiriges move to the middle! Epson lids are about as technical as a door. No connections whatsoever. That's why they thought it was perfectly normal behaviour, and that's why they wouldn't give you a free replacement too.

I guess the reason they did that is so you could do things like this...

 

[Jondot]

I knew there had to be a good reason.

 

[VIPFREAK]

But at least the 1280 (I've heard and somewhat experienced) clogs, sucks lots of ink, and is tempermental of non-oem cartriges so it's kind of a waste to get something like that IMO.

 

[Flame-returns]

Pressing the button never worked either.

 

[VT]

Pressing the button never worked either.

Did you just press it or hold it for like three seconds? It was a three second delay on our Epson printers.

 

[VIPFREAK]

Both... Still don't know what it is...