My two cents: If you just want good paper profiles and are not so interested in the profiling process itself, getting profiles made by some experienced pro (digitaldog does them, for instance) is by far the cheapest method, even for a bunch of different papers. Such profiles work at once (if not, you can complain) and provide instant impression of "what is possible" on a specific printer/paper/ink combination.
In my experience, the learning curve to produce
really great paper profiles can be rather steep, takes some time and produces paper and ink costs until you get there. Well, that was true for me, YMMV.
Having said that, i1Studio (the former Colormunki) works fine, but uses larger (and less) color patches then i1Pro/i1Pro2. So it needs more paper/ink during the profiling process and produces less "accurate" profiles (well, the latter can be discussed, of course. More patches not always produce better profiles).
Yes, it's a gateway drug, but if you want best quality AND want to get into the rabbit hole, you are - IMHO - better off with getting a used i1Pro (rev D better E, non UV cut), or i1Pro2. Those work with smaller patch sizes than i1Studio and well with ArgyllCMS (Actually, I sell an i1Pro
here in Austria).
If you are looking for "best quality" and maximum control at less (but still some) time expense, get i1Pro2 Photo.
Wish you good luck!
