I Need A New Printer

[Richard A]

I have had my trusty old Epson Stylus Photo R2880 for about 15 years now & it’s been solid as a rock & I’ve always been more than happy with the results but I’m starting to have trouble getting some inks for it now. So, it’s probably time to get a new printer. I’d like to move up from a 13” printer to 17”. I’d like one of the new Epson ones but I don’t have the space or budget unfortunately. So it looks like the P906 (in Australia). There is a pretty good Epson cash back offer until the end of the month.

Is it worth looking at anything from Canon? Do they have any recent models?

Any suggestions or advice or experiences welcome.

 

[DaveC Oz]

I bought a new printer mid last year, and looked at both the Canon and Epson offerings. I ended up settling on an Epson ET8550. Not cheap, but a step up from other tank printers in that it can do A3+ borderless, and has 6 tanks.
I seriously considered the Canon G660 which is also a 6 tank printer, but is limited to A4 width, it can do prints of 210mm wide but 1.2m long for panorama shots.
Neither of these printers is "pro level", but I wanted a way to print some of my shots that was good quality but reasonably cheap. The consumables on the higher level printers was in the hundreds of dollars for a set. A set of refill bottles for mine is approx150, however having printed dozens of 6x4's, at least 10 A4 prints, and 2 A3 prints, as well as about 500 pages of plain paper documents, I've used about half a tank of most colours.
I did give consideration to a few other cartridge models, when I weighed the running cost didn't really see the value for me, but everyone has different requirements. Good luck with your quest.

 

[AlphaWorld]

The P906 is a very good printer (I came from a 3800). It takes up a bit less room than their previous 17" printers, and when not in use, it folds up to a neat box (about 20cm high by 37cm deep by rather wide!). In use the paper rack and paper output tray extend, of course. Takes 10 cartridges, and you have both matter and photo black loaded at once (yay!). All up, I was very happy using it, but I haven't been printing for a bit, so I lent it to a friend.

I managed to fit it comfortably on an Ikea table 100cm x 60cm (with the printer fully unfolded) - that's not too hard to find the room for.

I got a fairly surprising number of prints before having to change any cartridges (it ships with a full set of full size cartridges). I think the first one to go was one of the greys.

I like having the option to print A2.

If you can't afford the size / price of the P906, then its baby brother (P706) will take you to A3+ using the same inks.

I haven't used Canon printers.

 

[AlphaWorld]

Oh, were you aware there's a cash back deal on the P706 and P906 running until the end of March?

 

[Richard A]

Oh, were you aware there's a cash back deal on the P706 and P906 running until the end of March?

Yes. I am aware of that...

Does anyone have any experience with the Canon Pro 1000?

 

[Brownie]

One thing you definitely want to do is get away from cartridges and go with tanks. I bought a Canon last year that uses 6 inks. One set of ink bottles ($90 US) will print 3600 4 x 6 images. You can do some geometry and sort out production quantities in your sizes.

Colors are fantastic. When I first started testing I was soft proofing but found there's no need, the printer has a profile and understands the relationship to the computer.

Mine will only do 8-1/2" wide, so it doesn't fit your needs and I won't recommend it to you for that reason alone. Whether you end up with Epson or Canon, definitely look into tanks.

 

[Richard A]

I'm pretty sure none of the Photo A2 printers offer tanks. Having said that, they do have pretty big cartridges - 6 to 8 times the size of what I'm using now. So that would be a very big saving on what I'm spending now. Still way, way cheaper than getting a lab to print for me. Besides, I like making my own prints.

Anyway, thank you all for your replies so far. I appreciate it.

 

[iamdlewis]

If you don't already get a laser for the documents you need to print (good ones run around $250 USD and you never have to worry about ink drying) and then just use a service for the color. A good printer for images will run $1000+USD plus paper and however much ink you want to use. I can get an 8x10 glossy print, and these are good quality, from Amazon's print service for $2.09 USD which includes delivery and no minimum print size order. That service price means that I would need to print more than 700 images at 8x10 before the cost of buying a printer becomes cheaper.

 

[Richard A]

I do have a laser printer. I don't believe Amazon offer a printing service here but I'm looking at printing much bigger than 8x10 & to get a good quality print done would cost me more than I can do it myself. Anyway, like I said, I like printing my own photos. I have had a photo inkjet printer of one kind or another since 1997.

 

[Brownie]

I'm pretty sure none of the Photo A2 printers offer tanks. Having said that, they do have pretty big cartridges - 6 to 8 times the size of what I'm using now. So that would be a very big saving on what I'm spending now. Still way, way cheaper than getting a lab to print for me. Besides, I like making my own prints.

Anyway, thank you all for your replies so far. I appreciate it.

The quantity of ink in one set of bottles on my printer equals 15 sets of cartridges. I did a lot of research and comparisons of the cartridge/bottles before I bought. I'm going to bet that soon you won't even be able to find a cartridge printer in anything other than an entry level document for home office and school.

 

[Clide]

Yes. I am aware of that...

Does anyone have any experience with the Canon Pro 1000?

Hi Richard, I have owned a Canon Pro-1000 since 2017. Excellent printer. My only issue with it is when I turn it on it has to cycle thru each tank. The ink that is cycled is deposited into a Maintenance cartridge and when it gets full it has to be replaced. The cartridge is cheap, $18 US. I buy several at a time so I have them on hand. When I print, I try to have several projects ready to go so as not to turn it on for just one print. You might consider checking out Jose Rodriquez. He provides some good info and ideas on both Canon and Epson. https://www.youtube.com/user/cheo1949/featured

 

[Clide]

Hi Richard, I have owned a Canon Pro-1000 since 2017. Excellent printer. My only issue with it is when I turn it on it has to cycle thru each tank. The ink that is cycled is deposited into a Maintenance cartridge and when it gets full it has to be replaced. The cartridge is cheap, $18 US. I buy several at a time so I have them on hand. When I print, I try to have several projects ready to go so as not to turn it on for just one print. You might consider checking out Jose Rodriquez. He provides some good info and ideas on both Canon and Epson. https://www.youtube.com/user/cheo1949/featured

Another good resource is Kevin Raber's PXL; https://photopxl.com/

 

[Richard A]

Thanks Clide…

 

[Angus Cameron]

I've owned the Canon Pro 1000 for about a year. Great printer.

I looked at both Canon and Epsom and with the deals both offered there was no real difference in price.
The reviews for Epsom all pointed to it shipping with cartridges half full, this giving you enough ink to charge the machine with ink and spare for a small number of prints.
The Canon came with full ink cartridges, half used for the initial charge and half left for printing. Given the cost of half a set of cartridges (about 1/3 of the initial outlay) the Canon came out top on value.

By all accounts/review I saw there was little to pick n choose between on quality.
Another consideration is that the maximum size you can print on the Canon is 1200 x 420mm good for panorama printing if you have a need, the Epsom I believe you can add a roll feed to (extra cost) and this will allow Banner printing ( not something that I have call for).

Great reviews by Keith Cooper on both Canon and Epsom here - https://www.youtube.com/@KeithCooper


Hope that helps.

 

[Richard A]

Thanks Angus...

 

[AlphaWorld]

I've owned the Canon Pro 1000 for about a year. Great printer.

I looked at both Canon and Epsom and with the deals both offered there was no real difference in price.
The reviews for Epsom all pointed to it shipping with cartridges half full, this giving you enough ink to charge the machine with ink and spare for a small number of prints.
The Canon came with full ink cartridges, half used for the initial charge and half left for printing. Given the cost of half a set of cartridges (about 1/3 of the initial outlay) the Canon came out top on value.

By all accounts/review I saw there was little to pick n choose between on quality.
Another consideration is that the maximum size you can print on the Canon is 1200 x 420mm good for panorama printing if you have a need, the Epsom I believe you can add a roll feed to (extra cost) and this will allow Banner printing ( not something that I have call for).

Great reviews by Keith Cooper on both Canon and Epsom here - https://www.youtube.com/@KeithCooper


Hope that helps.

Epson stopped doing the "charging cartridge" game a while back - the P906 and P706 ship with regular cartridges.

 

[Angus Cameron]

Epson stopped doing the "charging cartridge" game a while back - the P906 and P706 ship with regular cartridges.

That's a good thing. Maybe they realised it was costing them sales.

 

[Richard A]

I have done some measuring up & I will be able to squeeze a Canon Pro 1000 in my space if I decide to go with one of those.

 

[Richard A]

After a bit more research, I'm starting to lean a bit more to the Canon Pro 1000 now.