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Author Topic: Need new printer  (Read 2939 times)

Ronny Nilsen

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Need new printer
« on: August 01, 2008, 03:41:01 pm »

I'm giving up on my HP B9180. When the printer works the prints are
perfect, but to me it's just to much hassle to keep the printer going
with driver problems and and HW troubles with this printer.

I'm looking at the Epson 3800, but this printer is getting old and
I'm wondering if it would be best to wait for the next model if that
is likely to be soon based on Espons release cycles..

I don't need a new printer immediately, but if no replacement is comming
I might as well buy it now.

Ronny
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Barry Butterfield

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Need new printer
« Reply #1 on: August 01, 2008, 11:44:56 pm »

Ronny,

I was in the same quandary and almost bit the bullet on the Epson 4880 a few months ago. I deep sixed that order and continued printer-less for several months until this past Wednesday when I received delivery of the Canon ipf5100.

Like you, I was initially sold on Epson. I still like Epson (in my mind and heart at least). In the end I was swayed by price and the possiblity of having a wide format printer.

There are some good deals on the Canon ipf5100 and I feel that for less than the price of the 3800 I acquired a machine that is capable and far more substantial compared to the 3800. And no photo/matte black switching woes. You will need a fair bit more space for the 5100. It's almost the same size as its 24" 6100 brethren and weighs over 100lbs!

Not sure if it is right for you but I invite you to have a look. None of these machines are perfect. So far, and dollar for dollar, I feel I have made the right choice for myself.

In a perfect world with deep pockets (or a solid business plan) I may have gone HP Z2100 24". I too anxiously await the next generation of Epson printers. In the meantime I have a printer and I'm printing!

Best regards,
--Barry

Quote
I'm giving up on my HP B9180. When the printer works the prints are
perfect, but to me it's just to much hassle to keep the printer going
with driver problems and and HW troubles with this printer.

I'm looking at the Epson 3800, but this printer is getting old and
I'm wondering if it would be best to wait for the next model if that
is likely to be soon based on Espons release cycles..

I don't need a new printer immediately, but if no replacement is comming
I might as well buy it now.

Ronny
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=212390\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
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Ernst Dinkla

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Need new printer
« Reply #2 on: August 02, 2008, 04:52:31 am »

Quote
I'm giving up on my HP B9180. When the printer works the prints are
perfect, but to me it's just to much hassle to keep the printer going
with driver problems and and HW troubles with this printer.


Ronny
[{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]


It doesn't look like the common experience with the HP B9180, could you be more specific ?


Ernst Dinkla

Try: [a href=\"http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Wide_Inkjet_Printers/]http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Wide_Inkjet_Printers/[/url]
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hsmeets

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Need new printer
« Reply #3 on: August 02, 2008, 05:30:11 pm »

Ronny,

Like Barry I like to suggest that you have a look at the 5100. Here in the netherlands it's price has come down to 1400 euro's only 50 euro's more then a 3800 and you get much more of a printer for it: roll feeder, no black ink swapping, up till now no clogging and when I actually saw both printers in the shop: 5100 is a much more robust machine. The downside is that it is much bigger and heavier....

No problems with drivers at all, I'm running win-xp, never crashes. Maybe one small advice: if you are able to: dedicate a PC for photography work and install only the bare minimum of software you need on it, don't play/experiment with other software like google/yahoo/.... toolbar's and all these other utilities as you don't really need them. User another PC or Laptop for surfing and fooling around with software.

Don't worry too much about a 3800 or other models getting older....these are pretty mature machines...

Cheers,
Huib

www.huibsmeets.com
« Last Edit: August 02, 2008, 05:37:19 pm by hsmeets »
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Cheers,

Huib

Ronny Nilsen

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Need new printer
« Reply #4 on: August 03, 2008, 03:15:26 am »

Quote
Ronny,

Like Barry I like to suggest that you have a look at the 5100. Here in the netherlands it's price has come down to 1400 euro's only 50 euro's more then a 3800 and you get much more of a printer for it: roll feeder, no black ink swapping, up till now no clogging and when I actually saw both printers in the shop: 5100 is a much more robust machine. The downside is that it is much bigger and heavier....

[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=212632\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Huib and Barry: I will look into the 5100, but I fear it might be a bit to big for me.
I have a limited space available to the printer, but I will see if it fits. The 5100 is
also more like 600 euro's more than a 3800 here in Norway. And after my B9180
experience I will not buy another printer over the net, I want a local dealer that I can
drive the printer to if there are troubles...

Best regards,
Ronny
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Ronny A. Nilsen
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Ronny Nilsen

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Need new printer
« Reply #5 on: August 03, 2008, 03:22:28 am »

Quote
It doesn't look like the common experience with the HP B9180, could you be more specific ?
Ernst Dinkla

Try: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Wide_Inkjet_Printers/
[{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Sure.

The one thing that bugs most with with the B9180 (at least with the Windows version
of the driver. I don't know about the mac.) is that it likes to reset settings when you
change other settings.

So you can set print quality only to have it change back to "best" when you change
something else, like the paper type.

Very frustrating, and even worse: you can never trust that what you set in the driver
is what you get! This makes it impossible to use the printer unattended by sending
several images to the printer and letting go at it.

As for me giving up the B9180 have more to do with the dealer I got the printer
from and my difficulties to get proper support and repairs when the printer failed.
I can probably get it fixed under warranty, but I'm nor sure if I want to spend
that much effort and time on this printer.

I have summed up the solution to some of the problems I have had with this printer
[a href=\"http://www.ronnynilsen.com/Essays/Articles/HP_B9180/]here[/url].

Best regards,
Ronny
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Ernst Dinkla

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Need new printer
« Reply #6 on: August 03, 2008, 04:41:36 am »

Quote
Sure.

The one thing that bugs most with with the B9180 (at least with the Windows version
of the driver. I don't know about the mac.) is that it likes to reset settings when you
change other settings.

So you can set print quality only to have it change back to "best" when you change
something else, like the paper type.

Very frustrating, and even worse: you can never trust that what you set in the driver
is what you get! This makes it impossible to use the printer unattended by sending
several images to the printer and letting go at it.

Best regards,
Ronny
[{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

To a degree a similar problem exists with the Z3100 but when you make Printing Shortcuts in the driver for some job settings you often use then it gets easier, less that can switch back to the old setting. I also use the custom size setting instead of of one of the default paper size choices and change the custom size every time per job, saving it then as Custom again. That will stay. Next I get some feedback from Qimage whether actual driver settings did hold like Best versus Normal is represented by the native resolution in Qimage.

It is something HP should address but as I understand it is not a new issue in HP printer drivers so when that will happen is another question. Meanwhile I'm used to the solutions I found.


Ernst Dinkla

Try: [a href=\"http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Wide_Inkjet_Printers/]http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Wide_Inkjet_Printers/[/url]
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