Reviews & comparisons of current 24" printers?

[CUclimber]

There seems to be a lack of great reviews on the current crop of 24" printers that are on the market.  I'm going to be buying one in the next 6 months and short of the features list on B&H I'm at a loss as to the actual differences between a $1,500 iPF605, a $2,600 iPF6100, and a $3,600 iPF6300.

I'm going to be printing very high-quality line art on matte fine-art papers for the most part.  Some photos too, but that won't be the primary use and frankly I'm pretty happy with my Canon Pro9000 for the time being in that department.

Are any reputable sites reviewing these any more?  LL hasn't done a good writeup in a long time...

[neile]

The 61xx series printers are the previous generation with the older (but still good) Canon inks. The 63xx series printers are the newest generation with the latest, greatest, inks, and a completely revamped everything inside. They may look the same on the outside but they're really entirely new beasts.

My friend Ron has a good printing series up that looks at the latest Canon printers (the Epsons too): http://www.ronmartblog.com/p/printing-series-articles.html.

Neil

[John Hollenberg]

It isn't new, but probably still quite relevant:

http://www.on-sight.com/2010/04/25/canon-x300-printer-review/

Has comparisons with Epson (primarily) and HP.

[CUclimber]

Thanks, those are very helpful links.  The iPF6300 sounds stupendous.

One more question: is there any predictable pattern to the periodic rebates for printers like these?  A few months ago it looked like there were some nice big $500 rebates on Epsons, and I know Canon does them from time to time.  Is there any way to plan for them or do people just wait it out?

[neile]

Not predictable unfortunately I will say that Canon has been incredibly agressive lately with their pricing and if you can do it I'd wait a bit to see what comes up. It also pays to shop around. www.lexjet.com, www.shadesofpaper.com, www.dtgweb.com, www.colorhq.com, and www.itsupplies.com all agressively compete in this space. For example the 6300, even without rebates, is going for $2550. It often pays to call around to check on pricing and delivery costs.

Neil

[mburke]

I got my 6300 about a year ago from IT Supplies for around 1,700 with an extra set of starter inks and freight included. Their service is great. I love the printer. I print for myself and have just replaced my first cartridge.

Mike

[Scott Martin]

It isn't new, but probably still quite relevant:

It may be a year old but the x300, x900 and Z3200 series printers are still all state of the art! :-]

[Sensi]

There are some good reviews for the ipf6100 at: http://www.zdnet.com/reviews/product/inkjet-printers/canon-imageprograf-ipf6100/32474228