Epson Printer

The 1400 I bought in '09 along with this trusty MacBook Pro is still plugging along. Ink is costly, though. What model Epson quit?

Dale

The main issue with Epson's printers is that they have a tendency for the print heads to clog if the printer isn't used regularly (and even if it is).

A secondary issue that I've run into is that the installed printer profiles (or those from other paper manufacturers like Ilford or Red River) don't always product accurate colors (often being WAY off). I wound up having to create custom printer profiles just to get a decent print.

Canon's printers don't seem to clog as much, and tend to produce more accurate colors out of the box. They include a utility to help tweak their supplied profiles.

Top tip to keep your Epson heads clean. Keep it powered on 24/7. The small amount of power is less than the extra paper, ink and heads you will buy.

Right now I have the last two Epson printers I will ever buy again. I have had several of these printers that I had to throw in the trash because of clogged heads I could not clean. In fact, one of these last two printers won't unclog its print head regardless of how many times I put it through the cleaning process. The other one still works as long as I clean the heads before I use it.

Anyway, about six years ago I bought a Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mark II photo printer. I only use this printer to print photos, since it uses 8 ink cartridges that cost around $15.00 each, but I haven't had a single problem with clogged heads nor anything else. I just turn it on when I need to use it, print the photos I want to print, and then turn it off for weeks at a time.

Now, I do have an Epsom flatbed scanner that has been of excellent quality, a Perfection V700 Photo. Like the Canon photo printer, it is an old scanner, but one I highly recommend.

R3880 - clogging?

WHAT CLOGGING!

R800, R1800 and now R3880 not one clog in about 10 years of very irregular use????

Maybe the Japanese lucky "8" is the cause

Owned one HP uk! printer to use for my professional print requirements - software rubbish, head fails (numerous), blockages (numerous) - Resale value non-existant!

Speak as you find.

I'll start out by saying that I hate going to labs for either printing or developing and prefer to do everything myself. However....

I purchased an Epson r2400 a number of years ago and not only was it one of the most frustrating printing experiences I've ever had but the ink was ridiculously expensive when compared to the total output of prints I was able to produce. I used to have to literally lick the edge of the paper in order for the printer to grab onto the Hahnemühle paper I was using - but getting paper to properly feed thru the oversize tray was a problem even w/Epson papers. All the miscues resulted in the printer heads cycling ink (even in you were only printing B&W it would cycle all the pigment and you could not print just the light grey, dark grey, and black , it required that all 8 cartridges be present w/ink).

Needless to say I now use a lab when I need to output print and it's been much easier on my wallet. Unless you're printing everyday or very frequently my understanding is you'll be better off outsourcing it. Maybe this is no longer the case but I'd love to hear otherwise.

Use Canon Pixma Pro1 that does A3+ 13x19. It does killer color and B&W prints. Never had a problem with a Canon printer.

MCAsan said:

Use Canon Pixma Pro1 that does A3+ 13x19. It does killer color and B&W prints. Never had a problem with a Canon printer.

Click to expand...

That Pro-1 is a beast!

I've got a Pro-10 on my Wish List for Santa this year (to replace my aging Epson R1900).

We got ours last year on eBay new for $575 delivered. I get genuine Canon ink on eBay for much less than via B&H or Adorama.

We previously had 9500II and it was very good. But the extra inks, especially the grays and blacks give the Pro 1 a huge edge in image quality...especially for B&W prints.

I highly recommend the Pro 1 if the budget allows.

Apple fanboy said:

Top tip to keep your Epson heads clean. Keep it powered on 24/7. The small amount of power is less than the extra paper, ink and heads you will buy.

Click to expand...

totally agree. occasionally, I do use a cleaning kit like iRemove in case I run into the clogged heads, and it works perfectly.
http://www.inkrepublic.com/iRemove.asp

Get a Canon Pixma Pro-1 that can deliver killer B&W and color images....and leave the clogging heads and black inks swaps to the other brand.

I owned an old Epson that was so temperamental with ink streaks, blobs and I had to hand load A3 sheets. I found a great deal on a new Canon Pixma Pro100 and am quite impressed. I haven't tried B&W image yet but the color prints are beautiful.

Working in press-press and design, every company that I worked for used Epson printers. The prints were great and they weren't much trouble because they were maintained by a 3rd party (plus the company bought the ink, which was expensive). My current office had a Canon and it was a great little printer but it eventually died (after years of service) and now we have two brother printers and they both work very well although the software isn't so good. At home, I've had two Epson printers and they both quit working in a short amount of time probably because I don't print things all that often. The ink was way too expensive (it was one of those 6 color printers). I feel it is a waste of money to buy another printer and so now when I want to print something, I just run up to the local 7-11 and print things off (using a USB drive). It costs me about 10¢ a page for black and white and 30¢ per page for color prints which seems expensive but considering I don't have to buy any inks and I don't have to worry about the print heads clogging, I feel it is worth it. I would recommend checking out Canon or brother but make sure to check the price of inks before you buy!