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Recomendations on Inkjet Printer in the $200-$300 range?

L

LarryJoe

Platinum Member
My 890C is dead. Need something for general family use and the occasional picture. I upload most pics to odofo, by would like decent picture quality.

Thanks,

LJ
 
I have the canon s600. I like the printer, I also like the the fact there is a seperate ink cartrage for each colour. you should check out the review of printers at toms hardware
 
Epson 880 or 800 series if you can still find em. Fast, quiet and cheap ink.
C60 is really noisy......sounds like a thrashing machine.
 


<< I have the canon s600. I like the printer, I also like the the fact there is a seperate ink cartrage for each colour. >>



That's a definite plus, and I don't like how HP handled the support of Windows 2k in the beginning.
For example, right now, my 932c is low on cyan, I think. I will have to replace all the other colors as well.
 
HP Photosmart 1115 or the 1215, I have the 1115 and it is awsome! Will not buy epson anymore for past bad experiances!
 
I had 3 Epsons before my HP 970. I had enough of the clogged print head issues. HP has been flawless. Heck of a lot quieter, and doesn't have the long warm up cycle that the Epsons had either.
 
Thanks all. I really was trying to get away from HP. I have a 682C in my attick that always gave me trouble and now the 890C clunks at the beginning of a print job then dies. BUT, I'll take a look at the reviews anyway.
 


<< I had 3 Epsons before my HP 970. I had enough of the clogged print head issues. HP has been flawless. Heck of a lot quieter, and doesn't have the long warm up cycle that the Epsons had either. >>



I agree 100%. I have my c80 in the corner collectiing dust, and my HP 932C in action. The 960 and 990 use the same cartridges so you basically get identical quality.
 
No way will I ever buy an epson again. I would go for a HP like the ones these guys recommended over an epson.
 
I like my Epson C70 printer a lot it`s quiet and has seperate ink tanks for each colour plus there`re generic ink brands available real soon (few weeks time),yes the only disadvantage of Epson printers are that the print heads can get clogged,regular use will help prevent this.

My old Epson 600 I use to have lasted just over 3 years before my black ink head finally clogged,you can get special cartridge cleaners for the print heads but this may or may not fix the problem.
 
Agreed 100 %. Every Epson I have ever either owned or worked with has clogged it's jets to the point they would not clear out even running the cleaning 100's of times. With Epson that means the printer is shot unless you send it in to Epson. With HP the Jets are in the cartridge and just changing that will solve the problem. Your problem with your HP almost sounds like the Rails are dirty and jamming the printhead as it moves. I have seen that before and just lubing the rails on which the printhead moves has solved that problem. Other than that I have had no problems with HP's and have been using them since the 500 and 550c! Some epsons besides taking forever when you first turn them on to be usable and being very noisy, break and jam a lot too. I used to recomend Epson's to all my friends as they in the past looked so good when new but use them a while and they all mess up and some friends were pretty upset with me for raving about them. I will never recomend one again!!

 
I've owned Canon, HP, lexmark, was never really taken with them. I got an Epson Photo Stylus 785EPX now, great printer for pictures. If your digital camera support PIM (Print Image Matching) you're in for a real treat. Even without PIM the quality is amazing (6 color ink printer). Has a card reader built-in, comes with a pcmcia -> compact flash adapter. The color ink tank costs $13.89 at buy.com. You don't even need to turn your computer on to print out pictures.

Here is a review of the 785EPX
 
My experiences using (and selling) both HP and Epson(no particular models, just overall lines):

Epson:
-GREAT photo quality
-Lousy text quality (somewhat better with new models)
-Printheads clog if not used often
-Printer is worthless once printheads get really clogged(non-user-replaceable and no amount of cleaning helps)
-Cheap(er) ink
-Paper misfeeds after a while (result of top-feed mech. Mutiple pages come through, no page comes through, etc.)

HP:
-Good photo quality (alot better on newer models, but still behind Epson)
-Great text quality
-Printheads get replaced with every cartridge, so no incessant cleaning or worry about a useless printer as a result of printheads
-Slighty more expensive ink (goes back to printheads on cartridges)
-Very few misfeeds with bottom-load design
-Last almost forever

As you can tell, I strongly prefer HP, although I'd reccommend Epson if you're concentrating on photos and don't mind buying a new printer every year or two.
 
I have had a bad experience with Epson, like others here. I bought a PhotoSylus 820 a few months ago, and it's ability to make photo's, especially on high grade paper, was truly astounding for a $150 printer. Then I didn't use it for a few weeks. Now I get horizontal banding, because some of the heads are clogged. I have run the head cleaning program over 30 times in a row, just about exhausting a full ink cartridge. And I still can't get rid of all the banding. Is it worth it to send it to Epson to get it fixed? Probably would cost me more than it's worth, and would just do the same thing later on if I didn't constantly use it. This has soured me on Epson printers a good deal.

WebDude😛

EDIT: This thread inspired me to get off my *** and call Epson. They are sending me a new printer in an exchange (totally free for me). It turns out that I have a case of terminally dry ink clogging the ink heads. Why? Because I left the printer on 24/7 (as I have always done with my laserjet printer in my home office environment). Seems however that these printers have to be turned off when not in use. And you have to turn them off using the power button on the printer, not at the surge supressor. The power down makes the ink head retract and seals off the jets so they don't get clogged. If you don't do this, air circulates around the ink heads and drys out the ink there. If you leave the printer on long enough, you can get enough dry ink to basically disable the printer (which is what happened to me). Not such a great design, IMHO.
 
The guys above echo my exp/feelings on HP/Epson. Epson has great Photo quality, great price IF THE PRINTER WORKS. The clogged print head issue on all 3 of my Epsons convinced me to try HP. The 970cse I have now has been fantastic. I can actually use it for years instead of it being a "throw away" like an Epson.
 
Just a thought, maybe you should get a cheap laser & a medium priced inkjet... It'll cost a little bit more to start, but your b&w printing costs will be much less. In my opinion, even cheap laser printers always make nicer b&w output than an inkjet unless you use $1 paper, and even then, it'll still run & smudge if you get it damp or wet.

I admit i'm biased but IMHO it's worth it for people who do 90-95% b&w printing (i.e., practically everyone) to get a laser printer.
 
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