Pages: [1]   Go Down

Author Topic: which printer to buy  (Read 1682 times)

garjac

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 5
which printer to buy
« on: March 16, 2017, 10:18:52 pm »

I have an Epson 3880 and it is going bad.  want to buy a replacement and need suggestions from those who know, Canon or Epson.  would be looking at an equivalent to the current model I have now.

preferences?
Logged

Mark D Segal

  • Contributor
  • Sr. Member
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 12512
    • http://www.markdsegal.com
Re: which printer to buy
« Reply #1 on: March 16, 2017, 10:24:22 pm »

Have you read the reviews I did (and on Northlight Images what Keith Cooper did) of the two alternative printers and all the threads posted in this Forum on this very subject, with lots of good commentary from many knowledgeable members? I'm not sure how much more there is to say about this subject. In the final analysis it boils down to you reading about the options and deciding which feature set is most important relative to your own needs.
Logged
Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
Author: "Scanning Workflows with SilverFast 8....."

dseelig

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 596
Re: which printer to buy
« Reply #2 on: March 17, 2017, 03:33:13 am »

I would add one note Canon seems to suck more ink then any other printer when not printing then I have ever used.
Logged

Mark D Segal

  • Contributor
  • Sr. Member
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 12512
    • http://www.markdsegal.com
Re: which printer to buy
« Reply #3 on: March 17, 2017, 07:39:09 am »

I would add one note Canon seems to suck more ink then any other printer when not printing then I have ever used.

What evidence do you have to support this impression?
Logged
Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
Author: "Scanning Workflows with SilverFast 8....."

Eric Myrvaagnes

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 22814
  • http://myrvaagnes.com
    • http://myrvaagnes.com
Re: which printer to buy
« Reply #4 on: March 17, 2017, 08:25:57 am »

From all I've read Canon and Epson are very close, and your preference might depend on the minor differences.

In my case, when my aging 3800 died, I got an Epson P800. For me one big advantage of it was that using it was almost identical to printing from my old 3800, so no learning curve. Of course, I needed new profiles for all the papers that I use, but that would have been true for Canon also.

I've been delighted with my P800 so far.
Logged
-Eric Myrvaagnes (visit my website: http://myrvaagnes.com)

Endeavour

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 393
Re: which printer to buy
« Reply #5 on: March 17, 2017, 08:31:18 am »

What evidence do you have to support this impression?

I've had a canon Pixma Pro 9500 for a fair few years and that seems to deplete it's ink at the same rate over about a month regardless of whether or not I am printing anything.
Logged

Mark D Segal

  • Contributor
  • Sr. Member
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 12512
    • http://www.markdsegal.com
Re: which printer to buy
« Reply #6 on: March 17, 2017, 08:46:45 am »

From all I've read Canon and Epson are very close, and your preference might depend on the minor differences.
............

Eric, I think this is partly true, but in part one needs to be careful. Both of them make excellent prints and as I've noted previously from my "blind tastings" one can't obviously and reliably identify a print of the same subject being obviously from a Canon or an Epson printer. So in that respect your "very close" comment is correct. However there are feature differences that may not be so minor depending on one's usage requirements. I'm thinking primarily of paper paths and ink switching. The Epson has 4 paper loading options: Front Fine Art, Sheet Feeder, Roll paper and Poster Board. The Pro1000 does not offer the last two. For some people this is irrelevant, for others it may be a big deal. For people who frequently switch between MK and PK paper types, with the Canon Pro1000 there is no issue. With the Epson P800 each paper type switch requires an ink switching routine which takes time and costs about $5 worth of ink, depending. Some people would find this a real nuisance, while others wouldn't mind, depending on their paper choice habits. This is why I recommended to the OP, as you are also doing, that he/she will be best served reading about the feature sets of both printers and choose according to his/her own priorities.

Logged
Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
Author: "Scanning Workflows with SilverFast 8....."

Panagiotis

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 441
    • Fine Art Print
Re: which printer to buy
« Reply #7 on: March 17, 2017, 08:57:37 am »

I've had a canon Pixma Pro 9500 for a fair few years and that seems to deplete it's ink at the same rate over about a month regardless of whether or not I am printing anything.
I assume from the OP that the Canon model discussed in this thread is the IPF PRO-1000 (as a replacement for Epson 3880). What you wrote about the 9500 ink consumption is not the case for the PRO-1000.
Logged

Eric Myrvaagnes

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 22814
  • http://myrvaagnes.com
    • http://myrvaagnes.com
Re: which printer to buy
« Reply #8 on: March 17, 2017, 10:22:07 am »

Eric, I think this is partly true, but in part one needs to be careful. Both of them make excellent prints and as I've noted previously from my "blind tastings" one can't obviously and reliably identify a print of the same subject being obviously from a Canon or an Epson printer. So in that respect your "very close" comment is correct. However there are feature differences that may not be so minor depending on one's usage requirements. I'm thinking primarily of paper paths and ink switching. The Epson has 4 paper loading options: Front Fine Art, Sheet Feeder, Roll paper and Poster Board. The Pro1000 does not offer the last two. For some people this is irrelevant, for others it may be a big deal. For people who frequently switch between MK and PK paper types, with the Canon Pro1000 there is no issue. With the Epson P800 each paper type switch requires an ink switching routine which takes time and costs about $5 worth of ink, depending. Some people would find this a real nuisance, while others wouldn't mind, depending on their paper choice habits. This is why I recommended to the OP, as you are also doing, that he/she will be best served reading about the feature sets of both printers and choose according to his/her own priorities.
That's exactly what I was thinking, Mark.
I should have said "feature differences" instead of "minor differences."

Eric
Logged
-Eric Myrvaagnes (visit my website: http://myrvaagnes.com)
Pages: [1]   Go Up