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Any recommendations on Printers?

S

stuman19

Senior member
Hey,

I'm looking to get my mother a Printer for Christmas (aren't I a good kid?), but I"m into computer not printers so I really have no clue what model or what would be good. However, I do know that HP and Epson are probly the two best companies around as far as home use inkjet printers which is what she needs. She does have a digital camera and she uses it a lot. She needs something that would be a good all around printer with decent quality probly around the $150 range or so. Any suggestions? Thanks guys.

Stu
 
HP is known as very user friendly, and quality ($100 up) Epsons are known as slighty better quality.

I've been looking at the Epson C80. I think it's in your price range.

Kk
 
Canon. I was in your boat a few months ago, and after doing some research, they seemed to produce the best printers for the buck.



I was an HP man until I did a little reading. I know most people don't recommend 'em...heck, I didn't even consider 'em a few years ago, but just do a little research...
 
I have had 2 Epsons both print very nice.(a little noisy though)
I have an Epson c60 right now and it prints better than the last one I had.
 
I have a Canon S300. I have been pretty happy with it. The print quality is slightly sub-par unless high quality printouts are selected in the printer options area. However, for the price, it is a great printer. It is very fast if you don't need really high quality prints, and sufficiently fast if you do. The ink cartridges hold less ink. However, they are a lot cheaper than other ink cartridges (Only $8 for black ink). I did a little research before I decided on this printer, so compared to competing printers I found this one to be the best mix of features, price, speed, and quality.
 
I have a Cannon S600 and can't say enough good things about it. I used to pay $60 to replace my ink and now I only have to pay $40 to replace every cartridge. But the best part is if I run out of magenta all I have to replace is the magenta. I no longer have to throw away good ink. Also, this printer has never had clogged print heads or dried up ink in the print heads like my old printer did and the ink never smears. This has been the best printer I have ever owned.

Now stuman19 for your particular needs (or for your mother's needs) you mentioned in your post that she uses a digital camera a lot. If she needs a printer to print pictures you might want to get a printer that is predominately geared for pictures more than all around use or one that indicates it will produce good pictures as well as day-to-day use. They do make some printers that are geared toward printing pics.

Also, when you find one that might fit your needs, do a search for reviews online and see how it fairs.
 
It has to be a HP deskjet 5552 🙂

It is capable of 4800dpi, and PhotoRetIV with an optional extra colour cartridge. You can have black & colour, or colour and photo colour cartridge installed depending on what you need to print. Best thing about it is the price, over here in the UK it was like $100 😎
 
Originally posted by: Alkali
It has to be a HP deskjet 5552 🙂 It is capable of 4800dpi, and PhotoRetIV with an optional extra colour cartridge. You can have black & colour, or colour and photo colour cartridge installed depending on what you need to print. Best thing about it is the price, over here in the UK it was like $100 😎
Click to expand...
I have an hp 1115 with photoretIII technology and its awesome, and i've heard these are even better.

However on www.dpreview.com under Forums/Printers and Printing, people seem to love epsons...not sure which models tho.
 
Canon i850. $168 at SAMS. 169 at Best Buy after rebate. Great all around, great photos. i550 is slower for $119 but speed in an inkjet means a lot so go for the i850. Cartiridges (check e-bay) are cheap and easy to refill. if you do any amount of printing DO NOT get a HP. A few cartridge replacements and you'll know why and feel like a sucker. They will eat you out of house and home. Epsons? Depends on the model.
The i850 and i550 are 4800 dpi.
Mac
 
Alright I have an epson C80...I bought it because the Epson brand name is supposedly very good (not doubting this). I have to say some things piss me off about it:

1) Have to clean the print heads often, thogh I do print with it often, they still clog.

2) Quality of black text printing is sub par IMHO...

3) Printing on glosy photo paper has bad effects

As for #3, for some reason the guides on the C80 that look like little gears leave marks all over the glosy photo prints. This pisses me off because the actual picture quality on high detail for photos is very good with this printer. However when you have an image taken at night or something w/ a lot of dark colors in the background, the little white dots going up and down the print are anoying. On these pictures I almost have to print to bright white uncoated paper because the dots make the glossy prints look horriable. I don't know if it's poor design or what, but the ink doesn't dry fast enough to stop the guides from lifting it in these spots (creating vertical lines of white dots). They are very noticable w/ darker pictures, and somewhat less with lighter ones. However overall the picture quality is very good, if I could just get rid of these dam lines (plan to contact epson over the vacation).

Other than that I cannot say i'm upset at the epson quality, the printer is built well. I like the seperate inks as I only have to replace the empty one (nice feature). For the price I got this printer for I'm not going to say it was a bad deal, I think I paid about $80 after rebates. Still the problems that are occuring shouldn't be...

I would say look at Epson, Cannon, and higher end HP
 
Originally posted by: farmercal
I have a Cannon S600 and can't say enough good things about it. I used to pay $60 to replace my ink and now I only have to pay $40 to replace every cartridge. But the best part is if I run out of magenta all I have to replace is the magenta. I no longer have to throw away good ink. Also, this printer has never had clogged print heads or dried up ink in the print heads like my old printer did and the ink never smears. This has been the best printer I have ever owned.

Now stuman19 for your particular needs (or for your mother's needs) you mentioned in your post that she uses a digital camera a lot. If she needs a printer to print pictures you might want to get a printer that is predominately geared for pictures more than all around use or one that indicates it will produce good pictures as well as day-to-day use. They do make some printers that are geared toward printing pics.

Also, when you find one that might fit your needs, do a search for reviews online and see how it fairs.
Click to expand...

Ditto 😀

Cheers,
Aquaman
 
I am a former HP and Epson fan.

There are three brands of printer that I recommend for your mom:

Canon

Canon

Canon

Take your pick from the above three🙂
 
I like HP printers, mostyly out of first hand experience, never had a problem with them, good stuff.
Epson on the other hand...I've had a load of problems with them, but I should mention I've only had to deal with 3 or 4 of them, so it's not exactly a sample size big enough to base big decisions on 🙂

I've also heard lots of good about Canons 🙂
 
Thank you everyone, I went to Best Buy and got the Canon i850 printer. It was recommended by you so that is what I got. I think it was a solid choice and she will love it. Your knowledge sharing is greatly appreciated.

Stu
 
I like epson printers since you can get aftermarket ink carts for cheap. Don't buy HP because you can't buy aftermarket ink carts for legal reasons (hense no one makes them). I personally have an Epson 880 color printer and it's beem flawless 1 and 1/2 years running.

-psianime
 
Originally posted by: PeteyCPU
Epson c62, 80 after rebate, I got it...fast text, nice photos
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I just got my first Epson - C62 for $12.50 after rebate. Supposedly its resolution is 5760x1440 dpi. My old HP 842C (free after rebatge) with a 1200x600 dpi produces just as nice photos (but the Epson is decidedly faster).

I say get whatever is "on sale" in Hot Deals. 😉

 
http://www.tomshardware.com/consumer/20021223/index.html

I think thats a pretty good review. The Epson just doesnt do all that well and I would never buy one. I personally have a HP 3820 which I think is an awsome printer for $99 retail. And its a great printer, I print alot of text stuff for work, excel stuff etc.. and I dont need it to be GREAT quality, so I use draft mode and lowest ink setting and it still looks GREAT and uses very little ink.

It's not easy to decide who would be better off with the C62 rather than the Canon i320 or Deskjet 3820. These two do desktop printing much better, both in monochrome and color. In photo mode, all three are the same.
Click to expand...
 
I have an Epson C80 and loved it, except:

1) It needs print head cleaning often (as someone said before)

2) Just a few days ago I found out that there was this giant blob of ink sitting there on the side of the inside of the printer (maybe a leak?) and when my prints passed through, they would always get ink on the side and it would get all over my table. I don't know if this was caused by an error on my part or just a bad printer...

Having said that, I think the quality is very good. Prints photos up to 2880 dpi. (takes forever to print at that resolution though, and of course takes a lot of ink)
 
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