Thinking about a new lg format printer.....

[ssteve731]

but first, here are my criteria;

1) It HAS to be able to use after market carts.
2) I'm thinking about something in the $500 range (or less)
3) Of course it needs to be user friendly, and NOT be subject to clogging.
4) It has to be able to use roll paper, so I can do panarama prints, as long as I want them.

and 5) I guess it probably goes without saying, but it has to do REALLY nice photo quality prints.

One friend of mine has a large Epson, but I don't remember the model # (I think it does 13" x 19"s) and she really likes it. My other buddy has a Canon i9900, which does great prints as well..... But I'm so tired of problems with clogged print heads in my iP6000D (and my i960 before that), that I'm really starting to lean away from Canon.

Suggestions please,
Thank you,
Fish

 

[Smile]

What ink you use to refill? On what media you print?

Printing on plain paper tends to clog the head more than photo paper.
Bad ink or non OEM cartridge refills can lead to various problems. You can think you have a clog but you can experience ink feed problems etc. that look like clogging in the head.

 

[ssteve731]

I've been using Ink Grabber prefilled carts for more than 2 years now. Love the colors, and the price.... But yea' lots of clogging and leaking cart issues.

I use Kirkland Pro Glossy Inkjet paper for all of my photo printing, which is 80% of my printing..... and plain old typing paper for my text printing.

I'd love to use Canon OEM carts....... But they are so rediculously expensive, if that's all I could use, I'd have to quit doing home printing.

Peace,
Fish

 

[dan_uk_1984]

I'm in the market for an A2/A3 but will be buying one off ebay because I cant justify spending 500 on a new printer..... I would love a Canon, but there arent that many for sale, and the ones that are, are really expensive. This makes me think that Canon are the best for large format printing, however because of this very fact I will probably go for an Epson. I'm trying desperatly to avoid the HP 1220C even though its under 100 and having used it before it prints well. But I hate the #78 cartridge, anyone who's refilled large numbers of them by hand will know what I mean!

 

[mikling]

The criteria of using rolls, pretty much puts the Epsons at the front of the line.
The lowest cost one that will do that is the R1800 which is pretty much nearly phased out now to be replaced or being replaced by the R1900. There are lots of third party products for the R1800. The selection on the R1900 is pretty thin at the moment.
The 1800 is more of a serious hobby printer.
After that the Epson R2400 is also available and beyond that the pro printers.

 

[Trigger 37]

sSteve731,... I would make a suggestion that there are 1000's of successful people printing with Canon printers everyday of every year. Before you make you mind up about Canon printers, get some good ink carts with good ink and fill them yourself. I used G&G ink carts for a very short period and stop using them and threw away the remaining ink carts I had because of "Leaking carts", and clogged printhead.

I changed over to refilling my own ink carts since 1997, and for the last 1 1/2 years I have used PrecisionColors ink and only original Canon ink carts. I have worked on and repaired just about every ink jet print Canon has made since the i550 and I currently have about 20 different Canon printers. None of them have clogs. I use my iP6600d for daily work, my MP730 for fax and heavy document printing, and I own an Epson 1280 large format printer. As you mention you are looking for a printer that takes Roll Paper, and as far as I know, only Epson does that. As far as clogging, I've had some bad clogs on my Epson, just as bad as any clog I've ever had on any Canon. The secret is knowing how to take care of the printer on a day to day basis, cleaning it regularly, and of course, knowing how to clean out a bad clog. All of this information can be found on this web site.

I print professional pictures to hang is Art shows, and I print Panoramics on my 1280. I think they are fantastic. To my knowledge Canon does not have a Consumer printer that will take Roll paper, so I think you have just decided on Epson. I think your best bet is to find one on eBay. Hopefully it is still working. If not you can take it apart and fix it.

 

[ghwellsjr]

There a two problems with trying to use roll paper with Canon printers:

1) As far as I know, every Canon printer is limited to 23" in length.

2) When a Canon printer finishes a page of print, it ejects until it runs out of paper or until it decides there is too much paper to eject.

Both of these issues mean that you will want to cut off no more than about two feet of paper if you are getting it from a roll. I have done this with my Canons to print panoramas that are 23" long which is the only way I know of to get photo paper larger than 13" by 19".

But if you want to print banners or panoramas of any length you cannot use a Canon.