I need some printer recommendations. I have three classes, 105 students. My hope is to display their work (probably 8 x 10's) around school and in the community. I am going to collect $20 per student (well, many of them) and print 10 for each student, which means about 1000 copies a year. The printer will be shut down during the summer (I believe this is a problem with inkjets).
I have been considering the Canon Pro-10 and Canon R-3000. Is there a consensus about which is better? Is there a better printer for my needs? Obviously I am deeply ignorant. I would appreciate any advice.
My 2c. Determine your break even point and then go from there.
To do that - Check out the cost per print posted on the Canon 100 thread. While you will invest more (capital costs) for the 3880 (here in Ontario it is around $1400 before tax without rebates or $1000 with rebate which I believe is over for the time being) - your break even may not be that unattractive when you consider the cost per print is about half of the Canon 100 pro.
Below is an extrapolate of my calcs based on information provided to me by others here (posted on the thread link I provided)
If you are doing 1000 prints a year -and assuming that costs can be applied at the same rate on smaller prints - you would pay 40% more in ink cost on the Canon pro 100 then on the 3880 and if you check out that Red river price comparison on ink the Canon 10 is even higher.
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Epson Ink 80 ml cartridge $64.95 /80 ml = .811 cents per ml
9 x 80 ml cartridges = 720 ml of ink included on purchase x .811 cents = 583.00
Canon Ink 13 ml cartridge $19.95 /13 ml = 1.5 cents per ml
6 x 13 ml = $119.00 ink included on purchase
Net printer cost for Epson is about $400 with rebates (1000 - 583) in Canada vs $180 for Canon (300 - 119)
So for $220 more, I get a wide format, pigment printer which over time will cost much less to use.
Red River Paper has some analysis of this:
http://www.redrivercatalog.com/cost-of-inkjet-printing.htmlBrian A
A Canon 100 13x19 print is $2.70 based on ink cost of $16.99 per cartridge.
Canada pricing is $19.99 - so without pro-rating, I estimate 20% and round to $3.20 per print (excluding cost of paper)
The Epson is $2.00 per print based on ink cost of $54.99
Canada pricing is $65 - so rough prorating, that's 20% increase or $2.40 per print (excluding cost of paper) - less for non-matte.
Ink costs about 40% more from Canon.
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?topic=81853.20**********
ETA: While I don't own the 3880 - the feedback that I have read on this forum - some included in that link attached, indicates the 3880 performs well even with minimal use. Having said that, I don't quite understand why you cannot still leave the printer ON in power save mode over summer break (assuming the epson does what my canon 6100 does - perform routine nozzle checks and agitation while it sleeps).