Epson or Canon???????/

[goodegg]

IF you wanna print a high quality picture to put it on to your T-shirts or cups. What would you go for?
Need an expert for this.

1. Epson 1280 printer --- 2880dpi x 720dpi

2. Canon Photo Printer S820 --- 2400 x 1200dpi

Time, speed, quality, and cost concerned.

 

[GTaudiophile]

I personally prefer Canon products. I like that they have separate ink tanks to keep costs down. Toms did a pretty good review of deskjet printers a little while back that might be worth checking out.

 

[Aquaman]

I have a canon S600 & I love it It's also really easy to refill the cartridges.

Cheers,
Aquaman

 

[bulldawg]

I've been well pleased with the "budget" Epson Photo 820 I just bought. Cheap and the print quaility is great. I've heard there can problems with Epson's print heads clogging, but I've not had that problem.

 

[nortexoid]

i'd grab the 1280 over canon....

for pictures, generally epson over canon...for some reviews on canon and epson photo printers, check out imaging resource and click on printers...or reviews then printers or whatever - i forgot the sequence of events....and causal relations between two random events of unpredictable nature.

 

[goodegg]

How about the ink?
photo quality?

 

[billyjak]

I have the Canon S800 Photo printer and my pictures look excellent on Canon Photo paper, I also use the Iron on transfers and they look extremely good.
I don't think an Epson will do better pictures than a Canon, I tried both and the Canon were always better.

 

[T2T III]

With the Epson 1280, are you subject to using the Epson-branded cartridges? It appears as if this printer has chips built into the cartridges, so the the ink could get a little expensive.

I've been using an Epson 860 for the past few years. I just hit a computer show this past weekend and picked up some ink cartridges (2 color and 2 black) for a total price of $15.00. I've printed some of my photos using this generic ink on Office Depot's glossy photo paper. The pictures turned out quite nice.

 

[randomlinh]

i have a canon s820.. very very nice. Epson's are good too. Either one you get, they are more prone to clogging than HP. So in this case, that service plan may actually be worth it (to me it would be... but that's only after i found that altho the canon printhead was user replaceable, it's technically running at $150.... or so i've heard. but that's mainly because it's so new and everything is currently under warranty).

Anyway, canon's are more picky on the paper type. Epsons HW matte works nicely (altho not HW enough for me). Redriver glossy/satin did not work well IMO from what i tried (haven't tried their matte yet, altho i'm not too concerned about it). The OD Premium Glossy Photo paper is a GREAT alternative to the expensive canon paper. Ilford pearl (smooth, have not tried classic) works well for satin.

In all, i am a very happy camper. inkwise, cost will be similiar in the long run i figure. If you want refills, there are some good places out there to try. check the dpreview forums for tips on that one.

Linh

blah, forgot to mention.. canon wins in speed, hands down and the resolution.... i don't think you'll notice between the two. and i realized you were looking more for the tshirts and cups stuff.. heh.. well, can't help ya there.. haven't tried it.

 

[arcas]

The issue of where the inkjet industry currently stands on quality has come up from time to time (including just last weekend) in the Audio/Video forum over at Ars Technica. You might want to browse over there before making your buying decision.

 

[MrBond]

PC Magazine just had their annual Service and Reliability report, unfortunatly I threw my copy out the other day and don't remember who was on top. Canon *may* have been rated pretty poorly, I don't remember for sure.

One thing you'll want to check out is the print quality rating. Someone (again, I don't remember who), flips the number around (instead of 720x2880 they report 2880x720). The first number is the better indicator of quality, hense the reason they'd switch it.

Here's a link to the article online.

Text

 

[goodegg]

Well, what about HP?

 

[randomlinh]

i'm a big HP inkjet lover.. quiet, fast, excellent on the text on virtually ANY paper. Here's the problem now tho.. they are raping you harder and harder on the ink. Altho the price of the new line of ink is a bit lower ($20 for black i think), they cut the amount of ink in there in half. I have an HP832 (well, it's the family one now), and it uses the no 45 carts... these were big, and worth the $30 IMO.. lasted FOREVER. Color did a good job too (no. 123 carts).

They all ream you on ink, but HP just seems really bad (no where near lexmark bad tho..). Anyway, check out the dpreview forums and see if anyone there has a bit more experience w/ tshirts and mugs

 

[stonecold3169]

Well, lets see what I can do here...

Canon pros:
1) SPEED!!! Much, MUCH faster then any epson model
2) Ink is significantly cheaper (the epson is about $1.45 for an 8x10 for just the ink alone...). The Canon printer has generic carts online which print nearly as nice as the real deal... not quite as nice, but nice.

Epson pros:
1) Prints just look nicer... this is very subjective, I know, but until you get to the S900/9000 Canon printers I think Epson wins for image quality
2) Not sure if this is relevent at all for your use, but the Epson ink is rated for 45+ years of photo fade resistance, the Canon is 25. For what you are using it for, this seems irrelevent.

Now, lol, one final perhaps irrelevant point. the Epson printer doesn't use exactly the same type of print technology that canon and HP use(those 2 use a primarily magnetic ink through parallel plate capacitors). I don't honestly know the exact way the Epson works, BUT I do know it is based around a thermal process which is why prints typically are much slower in Epson printers, but achieve perhaps more accurate results. I doubt it, but I do not know if iron on transfers or hot apply cup labels would have any bad effects on the ink or make it do weird things, you might wanna check into that.

If I had to make a choice, I would take the canon. you said you need speed and cost, and the canon delivers for sure on both (ink costs for the canon are about half or less then that of epson. The quality on the Epson will be slightly better but at a cost...

Anyways, good luck with the purchase

 

[Slogun]

After being an Epson user for the past 4 years, I went with Canon this time around for their S900 model.

Prints photos like you would not believe!!! Goes great with my Canon S30 camera.
Prints borderless (yes, right up to the edge of the page!) photos up to 8, 1/2 by 11.

Very impressed with Canon these days.

 

[Antoneo]

that canon and HP use(those 2 use a primarily magnetic ink through parallel plate capacitors).

Sorry this is incorrect. We are talking about inkjet printers yes? Well, inkjet printers are NOT magnetically charged nor are they pulled to the paper using charged parallel plates. You might have been thinking laser printers which does something to the effect of what you have stated. Canon and HP use a thermal process that heats the ink in its nozzle and as a bubble (hence the term "bubblejet") is created the ink is squeezed out.

I don't honestly know the exact way the Epson works, BUT I do know it is based around a thermal process which is why prints typically are much slower in Epson printers, but achieve perhaps more accurate results. I doubt it, but I do not know if iron on transfers or hot apply cup labels would have any bad effects on the ink or make it do weird things, you might wanna check into that.

I have to disagree with this statement as well. I have been an Epson user for the past 6 years and what Epson consumer printers are known for its their use of piezoeffect to spray ink droplets with precision. Not thermal which is otherwise known as "bubblejet" as Canon calls it and HP also uses the same technology in their printers.

Generally, Epson has better colors because the inks used do not have to be heated up (and there are few inks that can survive the heating part and still retain the desired color) but for text, HP usually wins. I'm not sure if this is true now but a couple of years back this was the case (check old PC World or the like if you don't believe me... they might not have the best reviews on computers but peripheral reviews were decent).

Sorry since I didn't really answer your question as I have not tried those sort of prints but just wanted to clear up some information.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: goodegg
Well, what about HP?

I am currently looking at the latest HP printers and only the low-end model (3820 model, I think - still 4800x1200 optimized dpi but slow printing) for $99 uses the older (big) ink cartridges.

Anybody know more? I am thinking of replacing my HP 842c.