ink jet printers

[Happy Days]

Hi all,

I am having problems with my current printer printing photo's. I know they are not as good as profesional printers, but can anyone recommend a good ink jet printer which will print my already not perfect pictures. At present I have an Epson stylus DX6000 it has decided it is not compatable with Vista depite working ok for 6 months prevously???? Now it works but with very poor Quality.

Regards Bob

[Brian]

you can get good Laser Colour Printers cheap now. Only drawback is the cost of the cartridges, but if you dont do many colour prints, its not too bad.

[Pete]

Your current printer could be fixable. Firstly I'd try updating your printer drivers and secondly try replacing the print cartirdges, as they can become partially blocked if they're quite old.

Hi all,

I am having problems with my current printer printing photo's. I know they are not as good as profesional printers, but can anyone recommend a good ink jet printer which will print my already not perfect pictures. At present I have an Epson stylus DX6000 it has decided it is not compatable with Vista depite working ok for 6 months prevously???? Now it works but with very poor Quality.

Regards Bob

[Guest Hank]

Epson Printers are probably the best IMHO. if you are having probs with Vista it is almost certainly down to driver problems - Vista introduced a new method of printing which most printers cant cope with I believe there is a work around in vista to use the old method (sorry dont know how off top of my head) As Pete has already said it may be a problem with your cartridges. If you replace them buy the cheaper clones as they have been proven to be better than Epson originals!

[Guest]

Every one to their own, but I have always used HP printers.

Mainly due to the ink cartridges as they also contain their own heads, so when replaced you also replace the heads.

No cleaning required or gummed up problems.

[newf]

As Paul says each to his own but when I changed over from my PC to a laptop it came with Vista and although I had heard negatives on this o.s. I decided to stick with it, however my old H.P. printer would not cooperate and even Dell reps. could not find new drivers and so I had to accept the situation and bite the bullet and invest in a new printer. I went for the Canon MP610 multi type and must say I dont regret it, good quality photo printing , good copying, good all round really

[AdnamsGirl]

I run XP and had an Epson C64 for quite a few years .... great printer but it really ate the ink! I always used genuine Epson inks, although I did try a compatible once and wasn't very happy with the results. It died just before Christmas ... one of the jets became blocked and nothing I could do would unblock it!

After seeking advice over a suitable replacement, I plumped for a Canon IP 4600 in the end. It was slightly more than I had wanted to pay (£75 through Amazon) but I am seriously impressed with it. Stunning picture quality on photo printing, but the speed at which it prints is amazing! The old Epson used to take forever but the Canon just spits them out. At present it also looks as though it is going to be an awful lot more economical in its ink use too. The Canon IP 4600 has come out tops in quite a few reviews in computer magazines etc. and I can see why. The other bonus is that you can also print direct onto suitable CDs/DVDs ..... although I am still trying to fathom out how to do that!

[Happy Days]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for all your replies, I have always been a fan of Epson but this is a long term problem which I have tried allsorts of things to rectify including reinstalling the software & new cartridges. The printer has a built in card reader which gives the best reproduction of photo's however this is still blurred. Sandy has a one of these portable Epson photo printers which gives much better results however only to 4X6 so I am in the market for the most recommended printer with good quality resaonable print costs. Have taken note of the HP & Canon recommendations any others will be gratefully received especialy if being used with VISTA!!!!

Thanks again

Bob

[mbird]

Hi Bob

You might like to check out the Gadget show website on channel 5. I tend to watch it mainly for Suzy Perry (cos she's gorgeous), but in the last series they ran a group test of various photo printers. The Kodak was pretty well received, as being the only A4 size printer to feature in the top echelon (the rest were the 6" x 4" dye sublimation type like the Canon Selphy range. The link is "http://fwd.five.tv/gadgets/computing/accessories-2/kodak-esp-5".

I've always steered towards HP printers like Paul, but my recent bout of major Vista problems (documented in other threads) turned out to be down to HP's digital imaging monitor software that comes with most HP printers. It prevented Word, Adobe Reader and Autocad from opening, and then progressed to also knackering all my emails in Outlook and stopping me printing to my laserjet or A1 plotter too (not good on a business machine!). I found the problem purely by chance, and since removing the printer and all associated drivers etc everything has been tickety-boo. The driver was supposedly Vista compatible, but I have found scores of issues with the software on chat forums.

[Pete]

You might like to check out the Gadget show website on channel 5.

I don't know about this particular review, but I'd treat the Gadget show reviews a bit skeptically, as they seem to be biased towards a particular product. For instance they wanted to test typing speed.... the first laptop was one that the guy had been using for the past x years, the second he'd never used before, obviously he could typer quicker and better on the one he'd been using for all those years before.

[Guest]

I have found both Epson and Canon to give good results in A4 and A3 versions. I tend to stay clear of compatible ink cartridges as I have found them in the past to gundge up my print heads in addition to being somewhat oderous.

I have encountered problems with both these makers with regard to waranty repair. Epson's responce was to replace my A3 printer with a reconditioned (clearly second hand) printer, covered in scuffs. Canon's repair seemed to have very little impact on the quality issues encountered.

So in general I conclude that after sales (warranty) seems to be somewhat lacking, very annoying when you pay £300 + for a printer.

Good quality A4 printers are so cheap these days that it is not worth having them repaired when they cease to function.

[Brian]

offer today http://www.dabs4work.com/ProductView.as ... klinx=5F44

[Broadlander3]

Hi All

I too have two printers, both Epson..A Four ink DX4450 for everyday work and a 6 ink PHOTO R360 wich is self explanatory.

I must say that I am well pleased with the performance of both and would not hesitate to replace either with the same should the worst happen. I do use Epson inks as recomended by my local supplier and have to say that the Results that I get are amazing when considering the price of the printer's when purchased. However I do agree that the Epson Claria inks are not the cheapest, but for trouble free printing I can't fault them. EPSON for me...

Terry

[teadaemon]

Thanks to a very speedy dispatch and efficient courier (not often I get to write that), I now have something relevant to add to this thread. I finally bit the bullet and bought a printer that's primarily to help with my studies, but also for printing photographs. I had (if I'm honest) a non-existent budget, so printing costs were a big issue (all my other printers are old HP Laserjets and the toner cartridges last for years at the rate we print documents).

In the end, eBay proved my saviour, as I managed to get a brand new Epson Stylus PHOTO R285 with a continuous ink supply system (pre-filled with 100ml of each of the 6 inks, or the equivalent of about 15 sets of cartridges) for £75.50 inclusive of P&P. It arrived this morning, about 24 hours since I placed the order, and so far the results are very promising (with only a few ink stains on my fingertips, too), although I've yet to try printing a photograph, text on to 80gsm copier paper is very acceptable. It might be worth pointing out that my last experience with inkjet printers was an HP Deskjet 340 (I think, it was certainly the bottom of their range at the time) about 10 or 11 years ago, so I'm not that hard to please. Of course, it was a little bit of a worry to take the printer out of it's box and invalidate the warranty before I'd even seen it print a single page (it didn't come with any cartridges, just the CISS, which requires a couple of bits to be removed in order for it to be fitted), but everything seems to be working fine so far.

Now I just have to wait for the various different bundles of photo paper I ordered to arrive, as most of them are second class mail, this may take a while.

[teadaemon]

I've now had a chance to experiment with printing photographs, and I have to say that the results with the test pack of Epson Premium Glossy paper (and the compatible inks in the CISS) are generally very satisfactory, and where they've not been perfect as far as I can tell it's been my inexperience that's to blame, rather than the technology.

[VetChugger]

I regularly read PcPro and have quite a bit of faith in their "A list" and the way they review and grade equipment. The current recommendation for ink jet is the Canon Pixma iP4600. At around £70 its not a bad price but, as has been pointed out, the real cost is in feeding the thing!

Trevor

www.normanboats.co.uk

[Brian]

Magazines tests are a good way to go, Im a avid reader of T3. they provide loads of info for the modern day tech.

[goodall_m1]

I've now had a chance to experiment with printing photographs, and I have to say that the results with the test pack of Epson Premium Glossy paper (and the compatible inks in the CISS)

Once you've exhausted your trial pack of glossy paper you might find www.7dayshop.com useful.

They have always seemed good value for things like that, compared with picking it up on the High Street.

I haven't got any paper from them for a while as I've rarely been printing anything lately, but I do use them for other bits and pieces quite often.

They also carry both original and compatible cartridges etc so it may be worth your while comparing their prices with other suppliers. Prices they quote are (currently) inclusive of postage.