Printer Choices

[cmckinney]

I would like to upgrade my printer to something that can print larger than 8.5 x 11. I currently have a Canon I860 that does an OK job, but is very limited in control and size. While Epson seems to be the printer of choice, I am able to get huge discounts on HP printers. This makes HP VERY attractive to me and my wallet. However, I don't want to be penny wise and pound foolish in my purchase. I want to be happy with the results. I am looking at the HP DesignJet 110 plus, the HP B8850 and the HP B8550. I am certainly not locked into these models, they are simply the ones that attracted my attention. Any comments, suggestions and experience information with HP will be extremely appreciated.
Thanks!
Cole

[sixpack]

Cole, I own an epson 2400 and am very pleased with it. I have no complaints about the quality of my prints. However, I do not like the that epson only has room for one black ink cartridge to be loaded at a time. Swapping cartridges between photo and matte black is a major inconvenience. I think this is short sighted and not very well thought out on epson's part. I used an HP B8850 and B9180 last summer during a 4 day workshop and gave the printers we were using a real workout. I printed dozens of 13 x 19 prints. These 2 machines are essentially the same machine, except the 9180 has networking capability and has the front LCD menu and status readout screen, which I found very helpful for managing settings, etc. The 8850 does not have these features. This workshop was Nikonians sponsored printing workshop and HP was one of the sponsors.

I looked on-line at the HP website and found that both of these printers got very favorable reviews. Although HP does not have the extended reputation that Epson enjoys, I found these 2 HP printers to be easy to use and got fantastic results. I think HP improved their quality and reputation dramatically with these two printers. I would definitely put them in the mix if I were in the market for a new printer.

Good luck with your decision and let me know what you decide to do.

Robert Weston

[cmckinney]

Thank you for your input - it is sincerely appreciated. I will let you know what I decide.
Cole

[journeyman]

I'd recommend the HP Designjet 130 over the 110. The 130 will cost about the same but is designed more for photographs. I had the DJ130 and loved the output from it.

If you want something that uses pigment inks then the Z series is great. (I traded in my DJ130 for the Z3100 and don't regret it.)

[greyowlstudio]

I'm currently doing some research on this issue as well. I've narrowed it down to four choices:

Epson R1900 Large Format Photo Printer $500

Epson R2880 Large Format Photo Printer $700

HP Photosmart Pro B8850 $450

Canon Pixma PRO9000MkII $450

All of them look good, sound good, and seem like what I would need, but nearly all of them have an extraordinarily high number of poor reviews on Amazon.com, which surprises me. Either they have a high lemon rate or there are a lot of whiners on Amazon.

If anyone else has any further insight into these printers, please feel free to post to this thread!

Thanks :)

Michael

[canon4me]

If I had to buy a printer today, I would seriously consider the Epson 3880. I like the wireless option. You set up your printer in one room, edit images outside on your deck with your laptop, when done just push print. It prints wirelessly. Check out the reviews.

[rhynetc]

I bought the Epson R1900 recently ($150 rebate convinced me to try it) and I haven't had any regrets. Using a calibrated monitor and proper ICC paper profiles you should be very pleased with the results.

[greyowlstudio]

Thanks Tom!

That one will move to the top of the list, especially since I like the fact that it does panoramics. Also, do you know if it's compatible with Windows XP?

If anyone else has any thoughts, let me know.

Thanks

[rhynetc]

...do you know if it's compatible with Windows XP?...

I have only used it with Vista.

[jaydubya2]

Hey Cole,

Perhaps this is not the way to present it in the forums arena but I have an HP Pro B9180 printer that is approx 18 months old ( probabably 100 prints total use) that I would like to sell. You cna check the specifications on the HP site. I don't print enough to utilize this much printer. $250.00 takes it along with a never opened pack of HP 11 x 14 Premium paper, the driver disc, and owners manual.

John Webb
JWebbPhotos@aol.com
864-420-8770 (daytime only)