Help me choose a new printer

Eee-Tee

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Hi, I'm after a new printer to replace my Epson Stylus Photo 810.
My requirements:

  • Affordable, preferable separate cartridges for each colour
  • Fairly quick printing times
  • For occasional (ie not everyday) use
  • Not to have a function like the Epsons head cleaning, which takes up too much ink
  • That preferably takes compatables without any problems

Any links/ advice/ recommendations greatly appreciated
 
Hi, I'm after a new printer to replace my Epson Stylus Photo 810.
My requirements:

  • Affordable, preferable separate cartridges for each colour
  • Fairly quick printing times
  • For occasional (ie not everyday) use

  • I]Not to have a function like the Epsons head cleaning, which takes up too much ink
  • That preferably takes compatables without any problems

Any links/ advice/ recommendations greatly appreciated

Just about any printer will 'take compatibles' ,it's what compatibles and the make that is the problem. Most really cheap inks will cause problems at some time or other.
As for Epsons head cleaning, it's there for a reason unless you never switch off your printer in which case it wouldn't clean the heads as it wouldn't be necessary. I used an Epson 810 for several years using only well known compatibles which cost a lot less than Epsons own make, with no problem until finally the whole track and head system gave up the ghost. It certainly 'didn't owe me anything' after all the printing it had got through.
I traded it in using Epsons own Trade in Scheme and obtained £100 off the price of the 1400. I didn't really need the 1400 as I already have a 1290,(used for up to A3 size for photographic work) but I couldn't resist such a good offer.
To do all my run of the mill printing on A3 plain paper ( and just the odd 1 or 2 prints on photographic paper) I use an Epson D78 not exactly expensive at the £30 it cost me (a little bit slow though) and I use a C.I.S. ink system which works out at a fraction of the cost of buying even compatible cartridges. So far I have put through it nearly four reams of paper with no problems so far (fingers crossed and touching wood). :thumbsup:
 
Hi Caralfa, and thanks for the PM :smashin:

I did have a go with compatables, and did find one make that worked, but was unable to locate them after a while, and since I got sick of havings duds about, I kinda gave up and stuck with originals. But now I have a definate make, that's worth knowing.

The issue that I have with the head cleaning system is that as an occasional printer, ie maybe once aday, every time its switched on, I see that inks used up, and after not being used for a while, i have to go therough the process a couple of times. I find this pretty time consuming, in order to get acceptable print quality. So what I'm looking for in a new printer, is one which will fulfil this need, ie that enables me to get printing with less of the fuss
So does this apply to the one's you mentioned?
 
Afraid that if you are doing so little printing you are going to find it very hard to find a printer to meet your needs and not 'waste' any ink. If not used any printer is likely to suffer from dried ink on the heads which then has to be cleaned off either by auto cleaning which will waste some ink and any make of printer will suffer from this or by manually cleaning which is not easy to do on most printers and again that will also waste some ink anyway, as recharging the heads uses ink.
Remember that most ink jet printers work by heating the ink at the heads to make it 'fluid' and switching off and on and off means that ink is being heated/cooled and heated again which like anything being treated like that will dry and harden up blocking the head nozzles. Ink jet printers like and need being used!
Depending on what it is you need to print out so occasionally and at what size and at what quality, another method of printing may be more suitable for you, in other words look elsewhere and not at ink jet printers. If nothing else will do what you require, I'm afraid that you will just have to put up with some ink wastage.
 
K. I was under the impression that other makes maybe more efficient, but I suppose all Ink Jets work in the same way. Where I'm looking now is for one that has separate carteidges for the colour, therefore I assume that when one runs low, you only have to replace that one, compared with my 810 which has only one color, one black. So my first Qu is would this be of benefit to me? I assume so, but maybe there's something I'm unaware of?
 
Have sent you another PM which I hope may help a little bit. I am not a 'professional' just an 'amateur -amateur' as the printing side of things has come about purely as a result of Digital Photography. My newly built and equipped photographic darkroom has been almost obsolete since it was completed three years ago, and my wife and I like a lot of people went Digital. :rolleyes:
 
Thanks for your PM Caralfa, some useful info there.
I will probably come back to the CIS when I've bought it, as that's another things thats new to me
I was wondering, where do you stand with All in Ones ( eg Epson DX-series)?
I always thought that they were a compromise compared with having a seperate printer/ scanner (My current scanner is the same age as the printer, so i expect I will be updating that soon).
I thought you may like to know the ones I have picked out at this stage: (all Epsons) Stylus Photo 1400, R 360, and R800. When I have chance I will look further into these, but if you know anything about them, fire away :)
 
Afraid I have always had and used separate Printers and Scanners. Have two Epson Scanners at present, 1 x Epson Perfection 2405 Photo is the more recent and most used and also two Nikon Slide and Negative Scanners which for about two years now have not even been switched on. (Thanks to Digital SLR's and Compacts making our 'Film' cameras gather dust)
Have an Epson Stylus Photo R1400 which is used if the 1290 is 'too busy', on the R1400 we run a Fotospeed Inkflow C.I.S. which cost I think it was about £90 complete with inks and therefore saves a small fortune in buying separate ink cartridges.
As for the R800 I have not personally used one, but have heard from a couple of people who have one for their A4 printing and they seemed very happy with it.
The R1400 is the printer I got as a result of trading in the 810 which had 'given up the ghost' and for which Epson gave me £100 allowance. Which was quite a bit more than I had paid for it new. :D
 

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