Originally posted by: DuffEnuff
How about comparing this to HP printers?
After years of HP love, I recently purchased the Epson (the waterproof ink thing excited me)
Man was I disappointed. The only thing it is quick on is going through ink. And this was the Photo 900 (~$150)
So I'm in the market again. Canon lovers, can you give me some comparison?
IMO, I think HP's are better in build quality. They seem to last and last and last. So if you do a lot of printing and this will be your only printer, go with HP.
As for print quality, I think black and white text prints are about the same as Canon.
As for color prints, it really depends on which HP model you're looking at. If you're looking at the high end HP Photosmart 7760/7960, then I think they're probably one of the best ones out there. If you also want good black and white/gray-scale photos, then the 7960 can't be beat. Canon's black and white/gray prints have a blue/silverish look to them.
As for Canon, the i960 and the i900D are both awesome. Then again, they're essentially the same printer except that the i900D has the card readers and is also slower because the i960 has a bigger print head (more nossles = faster print speeds).
If I was looking at an HP, I'd probably get the Photosmart 7760. If I was looking at a Canon, I'd go with the i960.
If you do a lot of color printing and ink cost is an issue, go with the Canon. I like that they have individual tanks (vs. the HPs tri-color cartridges) and you can actually see through the clear tanks to make sure they're empty. Everyone elses are opaque which sucks because you have no idea if there's still ink in them or not.
One drawback to Canon and Epson printers is that they every so often (when they're turned on and off) need to automatically clean their print heads by shooting ink through the nossles. That's a waste of ink. HP printers don't need to do this since you change the print head whenever you change the cartridge. I remember reading somewhere (not sure if it's true or not though) that if you turn a Canon or Epson printer on and off for about 100 times or something like that without doing a single print, it'll run out of ink just from the head cleaning. That's what my Canon i850 does all the time.
Hope this info helps. There are +'s and -'s for each manufacturer. What it really comes down to is how you'll be using it. My i850 is only my photo printer (got a laser for black and white prints), that's why I went with Canon.