Help which A3+ printer HP, Epson or Cannon

Ahab

Ahab

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I have looked at mainly the Hewlett Packard B9180, B8850, Epson Stylus Photo R2880 and the Cannon Pixma Pro 9500.
Use per year would be approximately:-

30 black and white A3
40 colour A3
50 black and white A4
90 colour A4
300 or so 6”x 4”

Now I know some people would go for the D&P lab but I prefer to have total control. With the footprint been so big on these printers I may have to network (wifi would be nice) it to another room or get it out and plug it in when I print.
I would be printing may be once a fortnight which would mean the printer will be switched off for sometime. So I would have to recalibrate (I don’t know what the Epson or Cannon would use) the HPs which would mean a A4 sheet of photo paper + ink but I would like to know if the heads may be more prone to blockages because of this?
Also would this apply to the other printers I have picked out?

Help which one should I get?:help:

Any advice will be appreciated thanks
 
Hi

We bought an Hewlett Packard B9180 at Focus last year, Initially it was installed in a motorhome and got knocked about all over the place.

It has performed fantastically and I would recommend it. We have never calibrated the HP something we had to do with the Epson 7500 and Epson 7600 we had previously. WHen you first unpack the HP it takes over an hour to set itself up and the first print out was perfect and they still are, its a remarkable printer.

As to having it in another room you could look at getting a long usb cable. A usb cable can only work upto 5metres but you can join up to 5 cables using hubs. If it needs to be longer than that you might need to consider setting up a network

We leave inkjet printers on all the time. They are designed to send a small charge down the tubes to keep the ink fluid.

stew
 
Grab yourself a copy of Aprils Photo Plus they have done some testing of printers and some good reviews.

hope this helps
 
I used to have an HP B9180. It was brilliant. I absolutely loved it and the print quality was out of this world. But I've got to say, given the opportunity again, I'd probably pass on it (as a purely photo printer) and just use a lab/printers to do my photo printing. It's cheaper overall and I know I'm going to get outstanding photos from them. It would be nice to have a good printer kicking around for those occasions I need an immediate image though. Not sure what the other printers are like but the HP is a blinder.
 
scrag68 said:
Grab yourself a copy of Aprils Photo Plus they have done some testing of printers and some good reviews.

hope this helps
Click to expand...

Hi scrag68,

I have just popped out and purchased a copy thanks I will read it later.

Thanks for the help.:clap:
 
artona said:
Hi

We bought an Hewlett Packard B9180 at Focus last year, Initially it was installed in a motorhome and got knocked about all over the place.

It has performed fantastically and I would recommend it. We have never calibrated the HP something we had to do with the Epson 7500 and Epson 7600 we had previously. WHen you first unpack the HP it takes over an hour to set itself up and the first print out was perfect and they still are, its a remarkable printer.

As to having it in another room you could look at getting a long usb cable. A usb cable can only work upto 5metres but you can join up to 5 cables using hubs. If it needs to be longer than that you might need to consider setting up a network

We leave inkjet printers on all the time. They are designed to send a small charge down the tubes to keep the ink fluid.

stew
Click to expand...

Hi Stew

Thanks for the advice I understand it is best to leave pigment ink printers on all the time but how did you do this in a motorhome? The Hewlett Packard B9180 does have a network connection so this one would be easy to use in another room. Was your printer one with the HP Colorimeter (GP) version?

I have not purchased a colour monitor analyzer and wondered if it was better to get a seperate analyzer like the spyder 3 elite £147 or HP B9180 with Colorimeter (GP) version which is £150 more than the standered one.

Thanks once again (y)
 
JPS said:
I have the Epson R2880 and couldn't be happier, it's a great machine.
Click to expand...

Hi Paul
Thanks for the info how long have you had your Epson? I was worried about the reliability problems.

I enjoyed looking at your web site. (y)
 
artona said:
Hi

We bought an Hewlett Packard B9180 at Focus last year, Initially it was installed in a motorhome and got knocked about all over the place.

It has performed fantastically and I would recommend it. We have never calibrated the HP something we had to do with the Epson 7500 and Epson 7600 we had previously. WHen you first unpack the HP it takes over an hour to set itself up and the first print out was perfect and they still are, its a remarkable printer.

As to having it in another room you could look at getting a long usb cable. A usb cable can only work upto 5metres but you can join up to 5 cables using hubs. If it needs to be longer than that you might need to consider setting up a network

We leave inkjet printers on all the time. They are designed to send a small charge down the tubes to keep the ink fluid.

stew
Click to expand...

I have read some reviews of the HP B9180 that say it has fantastic photo quality but very unreliable. Have you had any reliability issues?

I am interested in the B9180 because it is easy to network into my router.

PhotoPlus have said that the color prints from this printer have an orrangy cast, what is your experience?

Neil..
 
I had the same dilemma but have just bought the HP9180, should be here in a few days :D
 
What type of Media will you be printing on? Matte, Glossy?

If your printing B&W on Matte the Canon Pro9500 is awsome, or if it will be more on Glossy then the Pro9000 is the best choice!

Neither need re-calibrating, but all printers will charge themselves if sitting for a fortnight or so, using a little (or a lot of ink) - Found the Canon to be pretty good in this respect.

Also, get an Apple Airport Express to network either printer wirelessly, works like a charm.
 
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