Prosumer Printer Epson/Canon ink/dye?? Please advise

[ProCreator]

Well after 6 years I am finally tossing my epson Photo Stylus 1200. I have been looking at reviews and I can not determine which printer I want to replace it with and pair up with my new MacPro.

What I hated about the Epson was that it clogged all the time, the print head alignment was off in cold weather and it was an inkoholic! I also hated the fact I could not run the printers utilities through my mac. I really should of ditched this printer years ago.

I am hearing good things about the Pixma9000 and the 9500. Any one have experience with these printers and how are they on ink resources? I am looking to spend <$500 and need the 13" wide format. If the Epson R1900 or Sp1400 is better I might be persuaded to stay with epson.

Further reading has revealed the introduction of the HP Photosmart Pro B8850 shipping in April. Anyone eyeballing this printer?

Any help deciding is always appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Makosuke]

I don't have direct experience with the Canon 9000, but I have used a number of smaller printers that use nearly the same engine, and the exact same ink tanks, and based on that it's the wide format I'd buy if/when I need one.

Canon's inkjets have been, and through the latest wave remain, remarkably thrifty on ink. It's still an inkjet, so it's not cheap, but significantly better than Epson and HP, and their tanks are generally cheaper and higher-capacity as well. (I like the fact that Canon doesn't try to tell you when it's empty--you can see visually how much ink is left and keep printing until nothing happens).

Second, they rarely if ever clog (in my experience with very infrequent OR constant use) which is a huge plus, and I've heard no end of horror stories about Epson's printers (at least their older ones). The print heads are a theoretically user-replaceable part, although I admit never having bought one (or needed to--the first time I ever saw one go out was last week, and that was a six-year-old, heavily-used S750).

Quality is certainly fine--I've sold prints from midrange Canon inkjets in art shows--but then all of the options at that level probably are.

I wouldn't even think twice about the Canon, although you can probably find HP and Epson fans as well.