Seeking advice for a printer...

[dennisbarnett]

<p>I am finally trashing my Epson R2400 printer. I've had it for several years, and I am looking forward to replacing it. As a printer, it's done a fairly good job <em>when it works</em>. As a machine, I really think it's very poorly made, and has been unpredictable at best. Anyway, I'd like some opinions on printers that some of you have and would recommend. I print up to 13 x 19" in both color and B&W. I don't think I want another Epson so I assume Canon would be a good alternative. Please disagree with me if you like. Your input is much appreciated.</p>

[melmann]

<p>Dennis,<br>

I've been printing color and B&W on a Canon 9500 Mkll for about 4 months and am pleased with the results. Printing on everything from glossy to fine art rag. If you're a Mac user and haven't upgraded to Snow Leopard yet, and you buy this printer, don't upgrade your operating system until Apple and Canon get together on a driver that gives you control over the printing process.</p>

[bradley_rork]

<p>I've had real good luck with the Epson 1400 vs. all the other Epsons before this, and like you, was ready to give up on them. You can get this printer for a great price.<br>

I'm running MIS color pigments w/black eboni ink, it never clogs, and with QTR to print black only, and getting fine prints both color and b/w from it. <br>

The only issue is you have to turn it off when not in use every day, or the inks will be sucked down out of the carts...I mean from full to empty if not used over a few weeks, since I don't print all the time. And I am using 3rd party carts, which I bought a bunch of used, for the chips only. I haven't spent any time trying to figure out how to refill the OEM's, and don't know if anyone has solved this one either. Also I'm using the old Profiler Plus software for the color, which prints really good spot on color. <br>

And I actually threw away my R1800, rather than even give it away to someone...(it was a real feeling of relief when I saw the garbage truck drive away with that piece of crap.)</p>

[Ray House]

<p>Bradley, I have no experience with your inkset, I have read in other forums that adjusting the height of the carts can solve the problem of them emptying. Just thought I'd throw that out...maybe helpful.</p>

[gonzalomoreno]

<p>Dennis,<br>

I have a Canon 9500 MkII since december. I use it only for B&W and get very good results. I only use two papers: Harmann FB Al Glossy (it is not so glossy, so I like it) and Hahnemuhle Fine Art Baryta; for both of them I got custom made profiles altough Canon profiles are available from both vendores, which are not bad but I got a big improvement with the custom made ones.The printer is very good built, solid, easy to install (I use Windows and print from PS CS4) no clogging and does not use a lot of ink. I am happy with it.<br>

Best regards, Gonzalo</p>

[patricklavoie]

<p>Dennis, not to be arrogant, but the epson 2400 being one of the best printer of is class, use by many professional including me, i would say that if you didtn like it and find it very poorly made, and has been unpredictable at best.. you didtn know how to use it.</p>

<p>So what can i suggest? a epson 2880, a epson 3880 or bigger OR a Canon 9500 MkII also (i dotn like the Canon printer personnaly, but since many user have them, they must be good ; )</p>

[alan_goldhammer]

<p>I had an Epson 2880 which worked great for 18 months but my printing volume increased to a point where the ink cost was too much to cope with. I upgraded to a 3880 two months ago. I'm sorry to hear about your experience with the 2400; however, I've not had any problems with either Epson that I've had. The 3880 is a star with both color and B&W printing.</p>

[dennisbarnett]

<p>Patrick, you're not being arrogant. It has been an excellent printer for me when it works. The results have been extremely good. I just find it to be incredibly temperamental and poorly made as a piece of machinery. It will stop feeding for no apparent reason or will smudge, then it works fine without my touching or adjusting anything. I find my issues with it to be fairly common with many users. I think, in general, these machines are made very poorly (all brands); they're simply there as a delivery vehicle for the inks since there's a "captive audience." If we get a few hundred prints out of them, then we've probably gotten our money's worth.</p>

[brad_smith8]

<blockquote>

<p>(it was a real feeling of relief when I saw the garbage truck drive away with that piece of crap.)</p>

</blockquote>

<p>I hope you're joking. Printers contain chemicals and circuit boards that should not be placed in landfills. There's electronic recycling for that stuff.</p>

<p>To the OP; I understand that you're not happy with Epson, but many of us here swear by them. I managed to get a 2880 for $500, but as Alan said it has small cartridges (which is fine for my printing volume).</p>

<p>It (and all Epsons) has a 720x720 dot print head instead of 600x600. The color is stunning, but the B&W is just amazing - as neutral as you want it to be.</p>

[frank_skomial]

<p>You need to use Epson printers with Epson paint cartridges, and they work well and forever. Expensive ? - Yes.</p>

<p>Bradley says: "And I am using 3rd party carts," - here you go, you had to trash the othertwise excellent for color print 1800. Perhaps this will happen to your happy 1400 if you keep using substandard cartridges?</p>

<p>The only printers I had to trash for quality was an old Canon that was printing randomly bands of color lines and Canon was unable to fix it.</p>

<p>Also trashed an old Epson when Epson did not provide print driver for Vista or for Windows 7, but I could not keep Windows XP for other reasons.</p>

[jtk]

<p>Epson provided Vista print drivers for 2200 (I used mine with both XP and Vista, both with Epson's driver and QTR for B&W) ... its hard to imagine anybody wanting to use old non-pigment earlier Epsons after pigment became available.<br>

I love my 3800, have zero complaints. But then, 2200 was great too. Both are infinitely more paper-flexible than Canon or HP (reportedly), but even Epson can struggle with some papers...for example, some papers deposit coating on rollers, requiring periodic cleaning. </p>

[george_doumani]

<p>another vote for the Epson R2880. Nothing short of amazing output!</p>

[dennisbarnett]

<p>I'm curious; Did the 2880 replace the 2400? If not, which printer did replace it?</p>

[patricklavoie]

<p>the replacement for the 2400 was the 2800, then they release the 2880 same printer same ink, the just replace 2 color with the word vivid in front ; )</p>

<p>If you want to upgrade, i suggest you do it wiht a 3880.. thats a real upgrade IF you need to print a lot of image.</p>

[bradley_rork]

<p>"I hope you're joking. Printers contain chemicals and circuit boards that should not be placed in landfills. There's electronic recycling for that stuff."<br>

Yes, I was joking...actually the Icelandic Volcano fairy picked it up and flew away into the sunset, just to make sure the micro particles of the printer, (as compared with all the garbage you have thrown away over the years), didn't interfere with the business of the thousands of tons of particulates put into the atmosphere, by the Volcano Fairy.</p>