best sub-200$ photo printer right now?

[nny]

just got a Nikon 5200 for a birthday present, now i need a good printer. should I go with the epson r320, the hp 8150, or the canon 4000? the epson and hp are 199 retail, and the canon is 150 retail.

 

[JackBurton]

Canon i960 is freakin' AWESOME! You can probably get it now for ~$150.

 

[beatle]

Personally, unless I was spending BIG bucks or wanted to print questionable material, I wouldn't bother printing photos on a home printer. Reasons? Cost is one. The cost of glossy paper and ink (even generics for Canons) is more than taking it to your local WalMart or Sam's Club. A 4x6 is 18-20 cents if done at one of these places. Quality is another. Like I said, unless you spend a boatload on a high quality, you won't match a professional printer for quality and print longevity.

I have a Canon i850 and it works well for regular color pictures (maps, websites, etc.) but I don't waste my time printing photos on it.

 

[JackBurton]

I'll put up my prints from my i860 against ANY professional print. ESPECIALLY crap from Wal-Mart or Sam's Club. And the i960 is even better than the i860. Cost? ~$.40 per 5x7 print using Canon photo paper. Beats the crap out of waiting in line and driving to Wal-Mart. :disgust:

 

[joecool]

canon i850/i860 - price is great, quality is great. i960 takes a butt-load of inks, kind of expensive to replace.

 

[Anubis]

the Canon i860/i960 hands down

i have a i860 and it prints amazing quality on Canon Pro gloss paper, i sell 8x10 prints and people dont know they are not real photo prints

 

[Zepper]

Canon iP4000, 5000 or 6000 depending on your exact mix of printing and priorities - all of them can print photos very well. I really like my iP3000 - see my review here: http://www.techimo.com/reviews/ . See the review of the iP4000 on http://www.steves-digicams.com . There are probably reviews of some of the others out by now. There's just nothing else out there that really competes with the new Pixma line.

.bh.

 

[fkloster]

Originally posted by: JackBurton
Canon i960 is freakin' AWESOME! You can probably get it now for ~$150.

 

[Anubis]

the i960 prints a higher quality pic then the pixma 4000 because it has more inks, the i9900 is currently the only sub 500$ printer that can top it

 

[Zepper]

The iP6000D has six colors/six tanks - same res specs as i960, plus it has the dual paper paths/bins of the other Pixmas that retail for $100. up. Only $166. shipped from newegg.
. The iP5000 has higher res than any of them for under $200. - 9600x2400dpi! But only 4 colors - when you see its pix, you'd swear it had at least 6.

.bh.

:moon: Darn it sure gets dark early now...

 

[Anubis]

oh my bad i didnt know there was a IP6000, there is a IP8500 also

id have to see a review of the 6000 first but it is most likely the same as the i960 then, the 8500 with 8 inks looks impressive vut its like $350 and is limited to 8.5x11, id just get a i9900 at that price

so new recomendation is to go with the i960 because its has proven quality with 6 inks, or the pixma 6000D which seems like the new i960

and that ip5000 res spec confuses me because its higher then even the i9900

 

[Erasmus-X]

The Epson R320 also does a good job. It produces beautiful prints, has memory card readers and color LCD, plus it prints on inkjet-printable CD/DVDs (none of the US model Canons can do that).

A lot of Anandtechers bash Epson because of printhead clogging issues, but I've seen my fair share of Canons that have done the exact same thing.

Recommendations in the $200 range:

Canon i860/i960/i900D (if you can still find them; discontinued models)
Canon PIXMA iP5000
Canon PIXMA iP6000D
Epson Stylus Photo R300/R320 (the later adds color LCD)

 

[tart666]

Originally posted by: Anubis
the i960 prints a higher quality pic then the pixma 4000 because it has more inks, the i9900 is currently the only sub 500$ printer that can top it

people that compared directly said iP4000 is better than i960, even despite the extra cartridge in the 960...

 

[footbal07]

in my printing experience i have had a epson 640, a canon 560, and now the 860, and well the epson left a rather bad taste in my mouth, but both of the canons have been great printers. with photos the quality is great, but they are not exactly as durable as regular prints. the prints are more something i would put in a frame then carry in my wallet, if you get what i mean.