The Best Photo Printers?

[kelcihedrick]

I'm in search of a high quality printer that can print out

documents, but mostly photos. I hate when a home-printed photo is

pixelated or linear looking, I want my photos to look close to what

they would look like if I took them to be professionally printed.

The problem is, I'm still in college and can't afford anything more

expensive than $225 or so. Any suggestions on the best printer to

fit my budget?

[david choo]

A refurbished Epson 1280 is probably your best bet. If you can find em, they sell em a $199 right now.

[p._neil_ralley]

Check out the Epson.com website, go to the 'clearance' section and you will find several perfectly good refurbished models for as little as $59 for an 820 including free shipping, a set of ink cartridges, no tax and a free cable which is pretty hard to beat. There are more upscale models too - $119 gets you a 925 and $199 gets you a 960. All come warranted for a year. However, you should budget quite a few $$$ for consumables like ink and paper.

[majid]

If I were you I would get an inexpensive personal laser printer for documents ($150 or so), and hand over my photos for printing by Costco/Wal-Mart or the like on a digital enlarger.

 

Laser printers are far cheaper to operate in the long run than inkjet printers because inkjet cartridges are incredibly expensive. Photos made on a digital minilab are usually cheaper and more durable than inkjet prints, as well as offering better quality than entry-level inkjet printers.

[chris1664876655]

Do not buy an Epson Stylus Photo 820 no matter how inexpensive you see one. The

picture quality can be EXCELLENT but it is a pain in the neck cleaning the printing

heads. You have to do it constantly. Drives me crazy.

[harry_akiyoshi]

For $225 you can get a Canon s9000 and print up to 13x19". It's an old model (the current one is the i9000d), but it's still faster and quieter than the Epsons. Quality is comparable -- I think the s9000 has an edge over the 1280 on glossy paper. You won't be able to see the dots. Actually, if you want a more in-depth evaluation of the quality, you should look at www.luminous-landscape.com, which has a full review.

[haziz]

A Canon i960 is under $200 new and in my humble opinion gives results comparable to any professional print. It is also very fast for a photo printer (>3000 nozzles with 2 picoliter droplets). However the maximum size it can handle is 8.5x11 or A4. It is a 6 ink printer (non-pigment inks).

 

Thanks.

 

Hany.

[rich_waite]

Hello,

 

I'd recommend (highly) the Epson photo 825 (or the 820 which is a little cheaper, lacks printing directly from CF card and uses a slightly more expensive ink cartridge, I believe).

 

According to Epson, the problem with the printheads clogging has been resolved by the machine capping them when turned off. Who knows. I've had my 825 for a month or so and have been in love and have had no problems whatsoever with the machine. Yes, it prints rather slow, and some may say a bit loud -- but the print quality is fantastic. I would say it is better than prints I've obtained from the lab!

 

Color cartridges for the 825 run about $19 from Walmart (I've done eight 8 x 10's, one 5 x 7, and numerous 4x6's and am still on the original cartridge, though it is getting down there!)

 

And the printers are cheap: $59 for a refurbished 820, from the Epson website, or $99 for a new 825 from Target, Wally World, etc.... Why spend more for a printer when you don't have to?

 

Good luck...

Rich

[kelcihedrick]

Thanks for all your advice. I think I've settled on spending a little more money to get a printer/scanner/copier combo; the one I've decided to buy is the Epson Stylus Photo RX500. Your comments definately steered me toward Epson and Canon, without you guys I would've probably settled on an HP or something of that sort. If you've got any comments or tips about the RX500, let me know!

 

Thanks again,

Kelci

[craig_gillette]

I don't know any particulars of that all-in-one but assume they are getting better (and don't know if it's a full photo printer - 6 or 7 colors versus 4). There is a risk with an all-in-one that any failure means all broken as well or at least loss of use while getting a section fixed.

 

The other thing I would consider, along the lines of what Mazel suggested, is that while an ink jet can be used for general purposes and a photo inkjet can be used for general printing as well, the consumables are pricey (both inks and good photo paper) and that if you need lots of text, a laser printer can be a cheaper alternative. FWIW, I used an Epson Photo 750 for general work but two different laser printers for most of my text while doing some graduate work. I had a separate scanner but seldom used it and have never really tried using the fax capabilities.