Printers

[Trickee]

I used to work for a retailer that sold printers and yes it was true the cheaper the printer the more expensive the ink. we use to sell far more Epson printers and ink than other brands.
i have used an Epson R800 for the past 3 years and it does a superb job, it takes 7 individual colours and a gloss optimiser. The price of ink does vary and is cheaper online,far less than what those crooks at PC world charge.

calibration can be a challenge but once you crack it you just stick to the same work flow.

i have tried compatible ink and paper but have always gone back to the original for the best quality print.

[greypoint]

Well I've erred on the side of caution because I'm probably still going to get bulk orders printed by an online company so it did'nt seem worth spending a lot. Also I'll be using it a lot for printing out small photos for fridge magnets, key rings etc. and stuff on quality plain paper rather than photo paper. So I've got the new Epson Stylus Photo P50 which has a six cartridge system and uses their Claria ink with a no fading for up to 200 years for photos in an album....hmmm...Compatibles from the company we use for our works printers are pretty cheap - don't need the 200years for greetings cards! Just printed out a couple of A4s - pretty good quality wise - just need to sort the colour calibration now

[Sarasocke]

Sue, are you still happy with the P50 ?

I may have to go for a new printer and I'm thinking of either the P50 or the Canon Pixma iP4700.

[greypoint]

Yes - if you don't want to spend too much I think it's probably hard to beat. Cheapest I managed to find original inks was £31 for a full set off ebay - they're normally about £45. At the moment, because I've been printing notebook covers and various other stuff to make up for the charity I've been using compatibles - full set for £7!! I'm sure they don't have the 190 year life of the original but I have'nt noticed a difference in quality - using the 'bestphoto' setting. I've printed a few b/w that seem OK but otherwise it's been just dogs and birds so can't comment on skin tones etc.