IGExpandingPanda
Printing Ninja
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- Oct 2, 2008
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Ultimately this is your choice. I'm pleased with my second hand 1280, but paid nothing for it. If I needed to print banners, I personally would consider a used 1280 if it was $100 or less. In my neck of the woods I can get the 1520 for $50 or less used, and the 1280 floats at about $50 to $150. Ultimately the printer cost is trivial in contrast to the cost of ink.Tomas said:
I would say a used Epson, with an external waste tank and bulk ink feed is worth considering.
The HP is a thermal printer like Canon. The business jet line tends to have external tanks connected with tubes to replaceable print heads. The #88 for example is rated at 41,000 pages @ 5% coverage and runs about $60 each. .14c/page is the overhead for the printhead. The #11 is rated at 16000 pages @ 5% coverage and floats at about $25 each or .16c/page. While significant it works out since the ink for these models tends to be triple the yield of desktop models but only double the cost.Tomas said:
If you have a 4 color model, odds are at some point after 16000 or 32000 pages you'll have to replace the heads at $25 each, or $60 each depending on model.
Canon printhead lifespan isn't nearly so high. IIRC it's rated at about 5000 pages for the black, and roughly equal use for the color. Reality is higher. However, given the cost of OEM ink and the printhead, it makes sense to consider a new printer. I personally bought a spare mp830 for this reason, because I want bulk ink and want to keep it in service as long as possible. The printhead cost is trivial in contrast to the ink. Based on the Canon numbers, I worked it out to be about $1 per cartridge change, where end of life = each tank replaced 10 times.
In contrast, HP's cost for heads is a rather trivial expense. Canon works out to be about an extra hidden cost of about 1c/page until the head reaches "end of life". Reality is likely more like .25 to .50c/page. HP replacement heads tend to be mandatory when the printer complains about them, but the end running cost is lower than canon, more so since they you only replace the printhead that has reached end of life.
Epson on the other hand uses micropiezo printheads. They are not thermal and as such are not prone to burnout. However, since they don't use expanding gas, they are more prone to clog since they they don't generate the same level of force to spew ink as thermals do. This is rather why they employ pumps that literally suck on the printhead to do a cleaning. Most Epson clogs can be resolved with a mix of window cleaner and alcohol.
The obvious pro/can is the HP business jets and Canons you can throw money at them to resolve the major print issues, where the Epsons at times require maintenance. For my daily printing I use Canon. I find the ease of refilling and the low cost of replacement heads, as well as the fact that Epson doesn't offer a general purpose printer to fit my needs. For wide, I picked an Epson.
[Epson 1400]
It looks like the printer does feature a paper feed button, though I don't know how it behaves, as in does it load a sheet and get ready for printing when you hit it, or is it just there to feed paper though. That's one of the features needed for printing on rolls, getting the printer to feed the roll before printing.
Even my old photo ex, a standard a3 printer slugish beast, even that has a paper feed button.
While it doesn't feature a roll, everything I read suggests the 1400 will print up to 44 inches. In fact, even the sub $100 R200 and current r280 supports 44 inch max length. But it doesn't hurt to check with Epson on this issue.
