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Author Topic: Does anyone have a HP B9180 and are you happy with it?  (Read 5237 times)

peteh

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Does anyone have a HP B9180 and are you happy with it?
« on: May 28, 2009, 04:17:31 am »

I bought an HP B9180.It's in the mail as I speak.Are you happy with the printer or did I buy the wrong printer? What paper do you like to run thru it? I like glossy and HP pro Satin.How does the fine art papers run and with ones do you like best? It will be running on a MACPRO and on bootcamp under in XP Pro.I'm running OS X 10.5.7 and XP Pro with service pack 3 and all software is at update level.
Thank You.
PS I already have an Epson R 2400, the thing eats ink WAY too much and I have a HP Z3100 ps GP.Too big for the house right now.
« Last Edit: May 28, 2009, 04:19:07 am by peteh »
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colinb

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Does anyone have a HP B9180 and are you happy with it?
« Reply #1 on: May 28, 2009, 05:16:52 am »

Quote from: peteh
I bought an HP B9180.It's in the mail as I speak.Are you happy with the printer or did I buy the wrong printer? What paper do you like to run thru it? I like glossy and HP pro Satin.How does the fine art papers run and with ones do you like best? It will be running on a MACPRO and on bootcamp under in XP Pro.I'm running OS X 10.5.7 and XP Pro with service pack 3 and all software is at update level.
Thank You.
PS I already have an Epson R 2400, the thing eats ink WAY too much and I have a HP Z3100 ps GP.Too big for the house right now.

I did. I am. I get prints that I like. I mostly print A4.  I do toned B&W on Hahnemuhle Bamboo and some colour prints on Ilford FbAl. Its expensive to run. Colour management is a pain in the neck. Both statements appear to be true for all other printers alas. It hasn't broken, and it behaves consistently so long as I do. I run Lightroom on a Mac and I think the interaction of LR, OS X, and the HP drivers leaves a lot to be desired. I can't say if that story is better or worse with other manufacturers printers.

Re-reading what I just wrote I find that I've said something that could be summarised as, it can do good things but it isn't perfect and perhaps it isn't alone in that. YMMV IANAL FWIW &c.

I strongly recommend you to join the Yahoo group hp9100series. Its active and useful.

Happy Pigmentation

c
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Ronny Nilsen

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Does anyone have a HP B9180 and are you happy with it?
« Reply #2 on: May 28, 2009, 05:58:52 am »

Quote from: peteh
I bought an HP B9180.It's in the mail as I speak.Are you happy with the printer or did I buy the wrong printer? What paper do you like to run thru it? I like glossy and HP pro Satin.How does the fine art papers run and with ones do you like best? It will be running on a MACPRO and on bootcamp under in XP Pro.I'm running OS X 10.5.7 and XP Pro with service pack 3 and all software is at update level.
Thank You.
PS I already have an Epson R 2400, the thing eats ink WAY too much and I have a HP Z3100 ps GP.Too big for the house right now.

I have put up a page summarizing most of my experience with this printer here.

Ronny
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neil snape

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Does anyone have a HP B9180 and are you happy with it?
« Reply #3 on: May 28, 2009, 07:53:48 am »

Not only did I have good luck with the prototypes I had, but the production model although idle for a long time still spins out a perfect print every time.
If I were to print on matte paper I would consider keeping it around. Yet it's drawback is on photo material the composite ink needed to avoid bronzing causes colour or neutral shifts in various light. On matte it is not a problem.
I have only compared the 9180 to the older Epson printers not the 79+9900 . On matte paper it holds it's own, has a higher score in lightfastness than other printers, so is a good printer in it's price range.
I don't want to print in colour or B&W any longer as I have the 3200 currently. After using the 3200 the neutrals are so darn neutral, and Gloss Enhancer takes care of the gloss diff I will use it.
So it has been a reliable sturdy little printer, that has done what it needs , only the image quality is problematic on glossy surfaces in the long run.

It is only slightly lees on running costs over the small Epson by the way.If you can fill the carts from the 3100 carts you will print with a huge economy.
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Bo Koue Callesen

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Does anyone have a HP B9180 and are you happy with it?
« Reply #4 on: May 28, 2009, 11:35:15 am »

Running for approx. 1½ year here without a hiccup, using mostly HP Satin Pro and Harman Gloss FB Al, printing approx. 80% color and 20% B&W as the split between the print types. I like the Ilford Gold Fibre Silk, but this printer can't handle GFS, as I'm getting head strikes at the beginning and end of the paper, so I have given up on the Ilford.

Currently it's running on the Ethernet with LR2.3 as the main source, occasionally also using CS4 as the print engine. This under Vista x64 with 8GB RAM.

Highly recommended printer.

Br,
Bo
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tomm101

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Does anyone have a HP B9180 and are you happy with it?
« Reply #5 on: May 28, 2009, 03:22:33 pm »

I have 2 I am running at work, one get used constantly 20-30 8x10s per day, the oldest one has been going for over 2 years. I do prefer my Canon iPF5000 I have at home, but I have no complaints with the B9180. About ink costs, the cart are bigger but the ink costs the same per ml as the Epson. The auto head check eliminates clogs very effectively at the expense of using inks you don't use, still cleans those heads, with us that is matte black, we only print glossy. Matte black carts last 9 months or so. My other B9180 is at a satellite office and get used infrequently, no complaints there either.

Tom
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Stephen Lux

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Does anyone have a HP B9180 and are you happy with it?
« Reply #6 on: May 28, 2009, 03:39:31 pm »

Quote from: peteh
I bought an HP B9180.It's in the mail as I speak.Are you happy with the printer or did I buy the wrong printer? What paper do you like to run thru it? I like glossy and HP pro Satin.How does the fine art papers run and with ones do you like best? It will be running on a MACPRO and on bootcamp under in XP Pro.I'm running OS X 10.5.7 and XP Pro with service pack 3 and all software is at update level.
Thank You.
PS I already have an Epson R 2400, the thing eats ink WAY too much and I have a HP Z3100 ps GP.Too big for the house right now.


I bought a HP 9180 3 years ago and have been pleased with the output using HP professional Satin Photo Paper. I have tried other mfg. papers with less than outstanding results...ie Ilford Gold Fiber Silk. The output is a little too washed out using the canned Ilford GFS profile for this printer. The soft proofing in CS3 looks good after a minimal curves adj. but the print never matches and is washed out!

There is never a problem using canned HP profiles and paper, along with a profiled I Mac monitor and OS 10.4.11. It just works!

A few things to note: Before the recent firm ware update, you should be ok, the printer used way too much ink for its periodic cleaning. It was driving me to the poor house and after the first year, gunked up the innards so badly that HP replaced it under the extended warranty. This brings me to point 2. Get the extended warranty, at or after purchase. I am currently on my third printer under this warranty. Thank goodness, because with out it I would have spent twice what the printer originally cost me just trying to keep it clean, replacing print heads and in wasted ink.

This is the best printer I Have owned to date... and replaced my early Epson Pro 3000.

I really don't believe that the dependability of any of the printers out there are what their marketing departments like to claim. HP, Epson and cannon printers can make superb prints when new, clean and functional. The problem is keeping them that way, thus the extended warranty. I figure that if I can make prints with only a yearly printer replacement under warranty, then after 3 years of printing I will have it paid for and can move on to the next latest and GREATEST.
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DarkPenguin

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Does anyone have a HP B9180 and are you happy with it?
« Reply #7 on: May 29, 2009, 12:02:12 am »

A couple of tips.  When the printer is fucked try cleaning the NEDD.  And if you can't find the NEDD that means it is REALLY dirty.  If you have to run a cleaning cycle wait for a while afterward before you try printing.  (Last is true for any printer, I think.)

I don't know.  I love a lot of things about this printer but it is really cantankerous.  It is the best printer I've ever owned but the EPSON 3800 isn't all that much more these days.  So I'd get that.  Just for the bigger ink cartridges.

Edit:  Was going to ask if anyone else has seen this.  Sometimes the printer just wants to size things the way it wants to size them.  I have an image I was going to print 12x18 on 13x19 paper.  It was an old 6mp image so things are being resized.  The image prints full bleed and then some.  So not only is my 12x18 image printing 13x19 but it is being resized to something way beyond that.  This happens both with Qimage and Lightroom.  I believe I also tried printing to a file and then sending that through HP's own piece of crap software.

It doesn't do that all the time, tho. Not sure I've seen it do that outside of the one image.

It is cantankerous.  I have to assume current versions are better.
« Last Edit: May 29, 2009, 11:45:15 am by DarkPenguin »
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chilehead

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Does anyone have a HP B9180 and are you happy with it?
« Reply #8 on: May 29, 2009, 04:15:42 pm »

Mine is now a pile of parts on my patio.  I became so frustrated at the constant battle with the drivers, poor HP support, and the guzzling ink, that I took it out back and shot it.  (Not as satisfying as I thought--should have used the hollow-points.)

Mark
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xtranch

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Does anyone have a HP B9180 and are you happy with it?
« Reply #9 on: June 03, 2009, 02:48:40 pm »

Quote from: chilehead
Mine is now a pile of parts on my patio.  I became so frustrated at the constant battle with the drivers, poor HP support, and the guzzling ink, that I took it out back and shot it.  (Not as satisfying as I thought--should have used the hollow-points.)

Mark I purchased the b9180 8 months ago, my epson 2400 went belly up after three years. I had some initial problems printing borderless which was fixed by a download from the hp support page. it produces excellent matte prints. the colormatch printer driver has proven about as good as using paper specific profiles. so far I have not experienced the dreaded ink covered nedd, it is clean. I wish epson and hp would both have a better method of disposing of waste ink than dumping into sponges that fill up and overflow into the printer hardware. I am currently printing from qimage and have had some problems getting a good color match with paper profiles.
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DarkPenguin

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Does anyone have a HP B9180 and are you happy with it?
« Reply #10 on: June 03, 2009, 04:02:05 pm »

What issues were you having printing borderless?
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peteh

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Does anyone have a HP B9180 and are you happy with it?
« Reply #11 on: June 03, 2009, 04:41:17 pm »

Quote from: chilehead
Mine is now a pile of parts on my patio.  I became so frustrated at the constant battle with the drivers, poor HP support, and the guzzling ink, that I took it out back and shot it.  (Not as satisfying as I thought--should have used the hollow-points.)

Mark
Nice to know I just bought a piece of shit HP printer! Why me?
I think you should have used a shotgun with buck shot.......There would be nothing to pick up then.
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peteh

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Does anyone have a HP B9180 and are you happy with it?
« Reply #12 on: June 03, 2009, 04:45:04 pm »

Thank You everyone for the info.Nice to know the plug in only works with CS 2.Oh well.I have CS2 and CS 3 also.Seems the Matt black ink is getting eaten FAST!And that was BEFORE printing anything.
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DarkPenguin

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Does anyone have a HP B9180 and are you happy with it?
« Reply #13 on: June 03, 2009, 04:48:36 pm »

Quote from: peteh
Thank You everyone for the info.Nice to know the plug in only works with CS 2.Oh well.I have CS2 and CS 3 also.Seems the Matt black ink is getting eaten FAST!And that was BEFORE printing anything.

Initial start up eats a lot of ink.  See if you can find an issue with the printer and beat a new one out of their tech support.  Keep the ink.
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chilehead

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Does anyone have a HP B9180 and are you happy with it?
« Reply #14 on: June 03, 2009, 05:06:05 pm »

Peteh:  Hopefully, your experience will be different.  Much of my frustration came about because I had customers waiting to give me money, and the printer was making that very difficult, at least on a consistent basis.

I will say--after tearing the thing apart--I have learned that it is built very well--a lot of great engineering went into this printer's hardware.  I suspect the lack of a maintenance tank was more of a marketing or bean-counting decision than engineering, but then the Z-series does not have a maintenance tank either, so who knows?

Interestingly, the take up sponges everyone talks about are only the tip of the berg.  They actually dump themselves into a MUCH larger sponge at the bottom of the printer.  Mine was soaked, with a large pile of ink goo on top.

Mark
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chilehead

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Does anyone have a HP B9180 and are you happy with it?
« Reply #15 on: June 03, 2009, 05:21:26 pm »

xtranch:  

I always had pretty good results with Qimage as far as color.  What paper/profiles are you using?

Mark
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neil snape

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Does anyone have a HP B9180 and are you happy with it?
« Reply #16 on: June 03, 2009, 05:33:29 pm »

Quote from: chilehead
Peteh:  Hopefully, your experience will be different.  Much of my frustration came about because I had customers waiting to give me money, and the printer was making that very difficult, at least on a consistent basis.

I will say--after tearing the thing apart--I have learned that it is built very well--a lot of great engineering went into this printer's hardware.  I suspect the lack of a maintenance tank was more of a marketing or bean-counting decision than engineering, but then the Z-series does not have a maintenance tank either, so who knows?

Interestingly, the take up sponges everyone talks about are only the tip of the berg.  They actually dump themselves into a MUCH larger sponge at the bottom of the printer.  Mine was soaked, with a large pile of ink goo on top.

Mark
The Z series do have large pads that should take up the purged ink. Yes the 9180 has  too much build up on the wipers, the pads and especially the very device made to avoid head clogs. With the 9180 you have to clean the NEDD often after the first year then about every 6 months. I don't think this was counted on, nor would it be in the manuals. If you do the printer should be reliable , I know mine is.

The profiles on the 9180 are very good, you need only keep up on calibrations when there is any change in colour. It is automated and uses little ink, so I suggest doing this often too.
There have been more than enough problematic printers talked about on forums. Although HP replace these printers , never repair them on site, some of the causes are often repairable by the user . Things that do require an overhaul would be damage in shipping, faulty pumps, broken ribbon cables or switches.
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xtranch

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Does anyone have a HP B9180 and are you happy with it?
« Reply #17 on: June 04, 2009, 11:31:07 am »

Quote from: DarkPenguin
What issues were you having printing borderless?
when I first got the printer and tried to print a borderless 11x14 i got a truncated picture, both in the print preview and print. I was also having problems with the driver settings reverting to letter size by default. after talking to tech support I was directed to the hp9180 support page where I found a patch for the bordeless printing problem. I have had no problems since. I also click on "print" in the photoshop elements menu, then set the printer preferences each time I print to make sure it has not reverted to letter size. I am now printing from qimage but have had some color management problems. it seems that qimage and my profiles downloaded from the paper manufacturers are not always compatible. printing with the printer driver "colormatch" is more consistent.
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xtranch

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Does anyone have a HP B9180 and are you happy with it?
« Reply #18 on: June 04, 2009, 11:34:25 am »

Quote from: chilehead
xtranch:  

I always had pretty good results with Qimage as far as color.  What paper/profiles are you using?

Mark
the only profiles I had problems with were from inkpress, the built in epson profiles from hp worked ok                                                            
I have since the above problem received a tip from qimage tech support. I was reusing saved "jobs". I was told to delete the jobs, reset the printer driver in the quimage menu and redo the printing menu. I have done a couple of prints, so far ok. the prints look slightly darker than those made from photoshop. I guess I can expect some difference due to file processing by qimage. one issue is the light used for viewing prints, I have ordered a solux lamp to have a standard light souce.
« Last Edit: June 04, 2009, 04:00:55 pm by xtranch »
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peteh

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Does anyone have a HP B9180 and are you happy with it?
« Reply #19 on: June 04, 2009, 04:32:53 pm »

Quote from: xtranch
when I first got the printer and tried to print a borderless 11x14 i got a truncated picture, both in the print preview and print. I was also having problems with the driver settings reverting to letter size by default. after talking to tech support I was directed to the hp9180 support page where I found a patch for the bordeless printing problem. I have had no problems since. I also click on "print" in the photoshop elements menu, then set the printer preferences each time I print to make sure it has not reverted to letter size. I am now printing from qimage but have had some color management problems. it seems that qimage and my profiles downloaded from the paper manufacturers are not always compatible. printing with the printer driver "colormatch" is more consistent.
I printed from CS2 yesterday with the HP plugin and it chopped off some of the image.Not bad though.I will find the patch and try that.I should have resized the image but just did a quick and dirty one to see if the plugin worked.It was not too bad.Even from a non calibrated laptop screen.It was a close match.
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