Best Printer

[bob_flounders1]

<p>Good Morning,<br>

I am looking to spend about$500 for a good printer...any suggestions?<br>

Thanks Bob</p>

[paddler4]

<p>I think you will get more helpful advice if you narrow things down more. A few questions:<br>

<br />1. How large do you intend to print?<br>

2. How frequently do you intend to print?<br>

3. How long do you want prints to last before fading?</p>

<p>The last two are related, I think. In general, pigment inks last much longer than dye inks, so if you want archival prints that will last for several decades, you would probably want to go with pigment. On the other hand, dye-based ink printers are inexpensive, and in my experience, infrequent use does not cause them to clog.</p>

<p>My printer goes unused for long periods of time, so I oped for dye, figuring I will use labs for any prints I want to sell. Alternatively, if I start selling a lot (no sign of that so far), I'll buy a pigment-based printer. I have had dye-based prints on my walls for several years, and only a few that got direct sunlight faded visibly.</p>

<p>If you want nice prints from a dye-based printer, you don't need to spend that much. Through the end of December, you can get the Canon Pixma Pro 9000 II for $138, after two rebates, from B&H. That is what I use. It's about to be replaced by a new one, the Pro 100, which will add wireless and I think may use a different combination of 8 inks. Both Canon and Epson make pigment printers, but I have no experience with either.</p>

[hjoseph7]

<p>The Epson Artisan is going for about $250 at staples. You can't go wrong with the Epson printers although the ink$ will kill you.</p>

[hjoseph7]

<p>Better yet, if you can scrape an extra $100 the Epson R3000 is selling for $599 on the Epson website.</p>

[joseph_krause]

<p>I recently purchased an Epson R3000 for $599 and it is a superb printer, producing excellent fine art quality prints with outstanding results in B&W. It delivers prints up to 13x19 but, as Harry states above, it guzzles ink: it uses nine cartridges which usually cost around $30.00 each using the Epson brand. </p>