Which printer do you use?
 

Hello everybody,

This is my first post on this forum - it all seems very interesting so far!

I am currently looking around to buy a new printer - since my old one broke down. I used my printer for business cards, greeting cards and reproductions of my pastel portraits/pastel art.

Which printer would you all recommend? Which one do you use, and are you happy with it?

I've heard good reviews on the Epson 2200P, which is pretty expensive. Or what about the Epson C82 with archival inks, or else the Photo printers 1290, which does A3 size prints and seems to have a relatively good price/quality balance.

Any ideas, thoughts or advice for me?
Thank you very much!

Sophie

What I use.
 

The 2200 is the best out there. It uses seven inks which are pigment based so it's considered archival (with the appropriate paper combo).

The C82 is a four color pigmented ink printer. I use the C80 (the previous model) for my business cards (the ink is waterproof, but the gradations connot compare to the 2200). That said, my cards look pretty good.

Since I don't want to pay for the 2200 at this point in time, I am using a Photo 820 dye based 6 color pigmented printer by Epson (like the 1280) for portfolio page prints which look beautiful but are not nearly as long lasting as the ones using the pigmented inks. It came free with my son's flat screen imac.

When either of these break down I will spring for the 2200.

Thank you, Marvin, for your comments.

I am tempted by the 1290 because the print quality is said to be good - but the archival quality of the inks is about 25 years. I am still evaluating my art work to see if it is worth longer lasting repro's ;)

It's all about the balance between quality and lightfastness. The answer might be the 2200, but that would seriously 'outbalance' my wallet!

Thanks again,
Sophie

Time is not on my side
 

Twenty five years under perfect conditions, air tight, under glass and out of the sunlight. The odor of ammonia could make it 25 minutes.

Then consider a P2000. The P2000 is the earlier model of the 2200. The great thing about the P2000 is that it is wonderful, archival quality and you can actually get one. The P2200s are notoriously hard to get. I have a friend that is 3 months into waiting.

The improvement of the 2200 over the 2000 is in printing variations of gray. The quality of the 2000 is still just fantastic.

Thanks, I'll have a look around!

The printer Michael uses - Epsons 2200, was just voted printer of the year by Mac Addict

They say everything is great, the only down side was trying to find one in stock.

I like my Epson 1160, but I use a postscript ripping software with it.

2200 or bust
 

There is a reason the demand for the 2200 is so great. The resolution is much tighter and the subtle gradations are much smoother. The price difference is negligible. It's worth the wait. I have seen them at various stores in NY City. If you look around you can find them.

I've heard reports (from a fine art inkjet paper company in the UK) that the 2200/2100 gives problems with the colour calibration. Apparently there is a slight 'bronzing effect' and pigment inks do not seem to work very well on glossy papers.

The 2200/2100 and the C82 come with separate ink cartridges, which, to me, seems like a great advantage over a 4, 5 or 6 colour cartridge (more economical). Do you agree?

Thanks for all your comments so far. Much appreciated!

Sophie

Sophie, I forgot to say welcome to the forum.

I am sure Michael or Linda C. can answer your questions regarding the printer output.

I was hoping they could answer mine at the same time:

1. Because of the problem Sophie has heard about, do you have to use a certain paper?

2. What are the costs of the replacement cartridges?

Okie:

Well, I have a P2000. I do find that it prints much better on a matte surface than a glossy one. I do all my prints on watercolor paper, but have successfully used Epsons Archival Matte and Semi-gloss papers as well. The glossy I ran did not come out nearly as well so I switched to watercolor paper because it gave my work the best result - your results may vary.

I have never experienced problems with calibration or bronzing.

My P2000 comes with a single color cartridge and a single black cartridge. I get about 10-15 full sized (13x19) prints off a cartridge. I buy my replacements online and thus far have only bought OEM Epson cartridges. I do a google search and select the vendor with the lowest prices - same with my paper. There are continuous feed ink systems available now which are archival and appear to be much much less expensive. But I am leery of them at this point until I can read more about "how" archival their product is and how comparable to the output of OEM inks I would get.

Also, there are a number of other companies selling "compatible" cartridges. This is largely deceptive - most of these cartridges are NOT archival inks - Rhinotek for instance. I called them and they confirmed that their inks are not archival. They may produce an archival rated cartridge sometime in the future.

OK, prices.

I just did a web search and the best price I found for the Epson OEM color cartridge for my printer - T016201 was $28.55 from Buy.com.

The lowest price for the black cartridge is $24.75 from Buy.com.

The lowest price for my watercolor paper is $17.85 for 20 sheets - that's $.89 per 13x19 sheet.

You have to factor shipping costs in too. I have gotten free shipping on orders over $100 from time to time and that really helps the bottom line cost of your prints.

The cost of my prints range from $3 to $6 depending on what I am printing - how many images I get out of the cartridges.

I compare my prices at http://zdnetshopper.cnet.com/

Hope that helps! :)