Printers..which to buy. (1 Viewer)

headington7 · Oct 23, 2004

I have looked around the first few pages,cannot see the subject which printer (colour) would people suggest for a) use with my custom built Millennium Edition computer but not too expensive but reliable c) colour cartridges easily available and not too expensive.
Thanks,Mervyn.

scampo · Oct 23, 2004

We bought a Canon i865 a few weeks back as all the reviews put it top for quality - and it is. It's excellent for b&w and quite outstanding for colour. Separate ink tanks make it economical to refill, too.

We bought ours from Pixmania for less than £110-00 which was significantly less than elsewhere - and it arrived within a couple of days. I looked last week for one for my brother, but they seem not to be listing it now, but it is available elsewhere.

PS A quick look at Pixmania shows the new Canon Pixma 5000 - I wish I'd waited a month. Ah well.

walwyn · Oct 24, 2004

I have an HP-940c probably discontinued now which I bought for about £80.

Personally I don't use for a printer much, I print less than 20 sheets a year (including stuff at work). However, my wife likes to read from paper rather than from screen. We get the cartridges refilled at £15 a time.

My previous printer was a B&W HP-500 which cost about £600. Today it looks like printers are a throwaway consumer product. Colour output is probably adequate for club posters/leaflets etc with most makes/models.

Was looking at a printer thingy in Jessops the other day which printed to 'photos' directly from a digital camera memory card, could be interesting if the quality is better than laserjet.

davedorsey · Oct 24, 2004

I just picked up a Epson Stylus C66 and I like it. Only paid $68 for it. What I like the most is the seperate cartridges. It replaces a Lexmark X63 which I had trouble with since the first day. Cartridges were getting expensive also.

Geoff Brown · Oct 24, 2004

Scampo and I often seem to be on the same wavelength, and it would seem this now extends to printers. I too have the Canon model with separate ink tanks (six or seven, forget until I open machine up), borderless prints, and quick printing also. Needless to say photo printing is first class so look at the current Canon models.

scampo · Oct 24, 2004

Geoff Brown said:
Scampo and I often seem to be on the same wavelength, and it would seem this now extends to printers. I too have the Canon model with separate ink tanks (six or seven, forget until I open machine up), borderless prints, and quick printing also. Needless to say photo printing is first class so look at the current Canon models.

I usually scour the online reviews, Geoff, and, already having an Epson 890, which was amazing at the time but quite slow, I sold that to my brother and bought the Canon becuase the price had come down so much at Pixmania. I know now why as it was being discontinued - but what the heck, as you say, it prints utterly flawless photographs - and at such a speed it's hard to believe it's possible.

Have you tried out different types of paper on it? I haven't used it a lot since I bought it as school and family issues have occupied me too much, but it certainly prints well on Epson hi-gloss premium. I can't find a source of Canon paper locally and will probably order from 7DayShop.com as their price seems very reasonable.

rafiki · Oct 24, 2004

headington7 said:
I have looked around the first few pages,cannot see the subject which printer (colour) would people suggest for a) use with my custom built Millennium Edition computer but not too expensive but reliable c) colour cartridges easily available and not too expensive.
Thanks,Mervyn.

How many pictures and what sizes will you want to print Mervyn? I have an old HP 970Cxi which I use rarely. Most of my pictures are viewed on screen and I only want to actually print maybe a couple of dozen 10x8 or larger per year. With this in mind I haven't bought a better printer, I send my files over the net to Peak Imaging who return real photos (up to 40"x30"!) in a couple of days. I find this to be more economic than buying printer, paper and inks.

headington7 · Oct 24, 2004

Printer

To be honest,the vast amount I do,is black and white as colour photocopiers are not very common in schools.The black and white one I have is terrible,it is a Panosonic Laser KX-P6300,which,when I needed a refill was more problem than finding the Holy Grail ! Even the cartridge refill companies gave up after 3 months.Got one eventually,but the quality is awful ! Also had to go to the net to find a driver.I would need a colour facility,but black/white would be the norm.
Mervyn.

rafiki · Oct 24, 2004

headington7 said:
To be honest,the vast amount I do,is black and white as colour photocopiers are not very common in schools.The black and white one I have is terrible,it is a Panosonic Laser KX-P6300,which,when I needed a refill was more problem than finding the Holy Grail ! Even the cartridge refill companies gave up after 3 months.Got one eventually,but the quality is awful ! Also had to go to the net to find a driver.I would need a colour facility,but black/white would be the norm.
Mervyn.

In that case have a look at the new HP models just announced. They, and some of the Epson models, (Canon too perhaps??) have a grey cartridge to help with b/w tonal graduations and the drivers are also better at reducing the colour caste often associated with b/w prints from colour inkjets.

I've not tried Peak Imaging for b/w prints.

scampo · Oct 24, 2004

headington7 said:
To be honest,the vast amount I do,is black and white as colour photocopiers are not very common in schools.The black and white one I have is terrible,it is a Panosonic Laser KX-P6300,which,when I needed a refill was more problem than finding the Holy Grail ! Even the cartridge refill companies gave up after 3 months.Got one eventually,but the quality is awful ! Also had to go to the net to find a driver.I would need a colour facility,but black/white would be the norm.
Mervyn.

Another teacher on BF - hi! The best value laser (b/w) is the new Samsung at about £80-00. Refills are easy and cheapish. I would still consider the new Canon as the colour quality, should you buy a digital camera, is superb.

bob hastie · Oct 24, 2004

I recently got fed up with printers lasting just over the 12 month warrenty period and then dying, so when I saw Dell selling the 720 for £9.99 each I bought 2, one to use and one as a spare. The print quality is fine for everyday use but awful for photos. this is exactly what I was anticipating so is no great disapointment. My local photo shop does 10" prints from digital media for very little money, so its a trip down there for me when I have a few photos on disc to print.
Bob

Geoff Brown · Oct 24, 2004

scampo said:
I usually scour the online reviews, Geoff, and, already having an Epson 890, which was amazing at the time but quite slow, I sold that to my brother and bought the Canon becuase the price had come down so much at Pixmania. I know now why as it was being discontinued - but what the heck, as you say, it prints utterly flawless photographs - and at such a speed it's hard to believe it's possible.

Have you tried out different types of paper on it? I haven't used it a lot since I bought it as school and family issues have occupied me too much, but it certainly prints well on Epson hi-gloss premium. I can't find a source of Canon paper locally and will probably order from 7DayShop.com as their price seems very reasonable.

Up to now have only printed on Canon A4 Hi gloss photo paper as my local PC World had it on special offer a few months ago. Since then have purchased Canon Matt photo paper A4 from 7 day shop and have used a few sheets but must say that I prefer the gloss finish.

walwyn · Oct 25, 2004

Geoff Brown said:
Since then have purchased Canon Matt photo paper A4 from 7 day shop and have used a few sheets but must say that I prefer the gloss finish.

Focusing problems are more apparent on matt paper. Which is why film processing labs prefer you to have your prints on glossy and I prefer them to print on matt.

scampo · Oct 25, 2004

Geoff Brown said:
Up to now have only printed on Canon A4 Hi gloss photo paper as my local PC World had it on special offer a few months ago. Since then have purchased Canon Matt photo paper A4 from 7 day shop and have used a few sheets but must say that I prefer the gloss finish.

I bought a large pack of Epson matte and hardly ever used it. It's supposed to give the best quality, but give me that hi-gloss evey time. What is the ame on the pack of your Canon paper - they seem to sell so many types? I'll look out for it when I next visit PC World, although they are usually very pricey compared with the Internet except, as you found, when they have a specioal offer.

Geoff Brown · Oct 25, 2004

scampo said:
I bought a large pack of Epson matte and hardly ever used it. It's supposed to give the best quality, but give me that hi-gloss evey time. What is the ame on the pack of your Canon paper - they seem to sell so many types? I'll look out for it when I next visit PC World, although they are usually very pricey compared with the Internet except, as you found, when they have a specioal offer.

Think it was Canon photo paper plus glossy haven't seen it as cheap as it was a few months ago again in PC world. Perhaps they wanted to shift some old stock.

Printers..which to buy. (1 Viewer)

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