Best inkjet values?

Curious to know best inkjet cartridge values i.e. the ones with the most ink and longest printing life vs some that are ink hogs.
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Regards, D Forbes
Orange County, California

Well, the Epson 10600 used 500ml ink cartridges that would last forever, but I don't think that's exactly what you were asking.
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Webmaster and Tech Support guy at inkjetart.com and thebairs.net

Right, I was looking for a thoughtful answer. See, many of the latest carts are coming with 3 or 4ml each color; the i850 I'm using comes with 11ml on the colors. I think the mfgrs are gouging and forcing frequent cartridge replacement, but would like to get some feedback on that. Seems like they give the printers away for 50 bucks in the stores only to soak everyone a few weeks later for a set of inks.
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Regards, D Forbes
Orange County, California

Great prints at a great price. Manufacturer ink with longevity.

The cheapest print is 3rd party ink for Canon BCI-6. I don't think you can find the printers anymore. I bought a 6600D (I think that is the model), and didn't like the print quality with the 3rd party inks. I had a i850 before that, and it worked well.

Now I am very happy with the Kodak 5300.

This brings to mind something I was wondering about: Kodak 5X00 series and related. On the printer packaging inside WalMart I noticed Kodak has made big ink savings claims, saying that the consumer will save a lot by using this product, and that the inks are both cheaper and come with far more ink volume. I have been looking at inks on the shelves. About half the mfgrs are not stating ink volume on the package, and I thought this was a general FTC requirement in USA. Gee whiz, what's next? The different makers make certain claims but they are obfuscated in double talk if you read the words carefully.
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Regards, D Forbes
Orange County, California

I think I have had it with 3rd party inks. I used them with my Canon BJC 210 series with success until one day the red clogged up, and it was intermittent after that. I suspected the bogus inks. I used a Officemax clone in my newer i850 for yellow and it stopped up. Have wasted a lot of ink cleansing it with Canon ink. Now the printer works but the colors seem to have shifted a bit and I am having a little trouble with adjustments. Most work looks ok but a straight grey surface has a green cast. I would not advise anyone to use 3rd party inks now, think the printheads, with this microfine technology, are susceptible to contamination.
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Regards, D Forbes
Orange County, California

How big is your wallet and what quality of printer do you want?
...is what you should be asking.

You get what you pay for.
Knowing HOW TO PRINT WELL is another good question.
You can have the greatest/latest photo printer and get lousy results
if you don't know what you are doing as to editing photos and selecting
proper printing settings.

Shifter.

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Forbes said:

Curious to know best inkjet cartridge values i.e. the ones with the
most ink and longest printing life vs some that are ink hogs.
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Regards, D Forbes
Orange County, California

Click to expand...

I agree with this thinking completely. I always had compliments with my printing,

have studied paper textures, coatings etc for good performance, ran lots of tests and so forth. But for me it is lagely a novelty, I don't do much display printing, mostly fun little projects. Agree, editing is crucial as a part of this equation.

But my question still stands, i.e. if someone is looking for a lot of bang for the buck, what brand(s) are good for performance and ink mileage? Am getting an idea here that Epsons are preferred but I'm not in the $400 printer market.
Would consider a $100 - $150+ printer especially if the inks are reasonable.
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Regards, D Forbes
Orange County, California

You should definitely take a look at the Kodak EasyShare All-in-One Inkjet printers! The paper has a code on the back the printers read and adjust for what kind of paper it is... matte or glossy etc. The prints come out dry and last a lifetime (which I like for scrapbooking and crafts). I work at Kodak and take LOTS of pictures, so I especially like the price of the ink... $9.99 for a black cartridge and $14.99 for a color cartridge.

You can find out more about the printers at http://www.kodak.com/go/aio

or win one at http://www.brickfish.com/Lifestyles/KodakPrinter

I DON'T work for Kodak, but I agree that their all-in-one printers are worth a look. The latest firmware (xxxxxx86) has improved the printer significantly.

Thanks jaisney and dunhill for the Kodak endorsement. I would love to give some business to a printer company who doesn't continually shortchange the users on ink while charging ever higher prices for it. I have liked my Canons with individual ink tanks a lot, but might be willing to give that up if the carts contain more ml of inks. Question is, how do the Kodak printers hold up compared with Canon and Epson? How are the pictures from Kodak vs the pics from Canon and Epson? I can see myself going to a Kodak multi-unit in the future if the general results are pretty good.
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Regards, D Forbes
Orange County, California

Previous post, anyone?
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Regards, D Forbes
Orange County, California

Forbes,

I find my 3800 epson is pretty economical and a utility that monitors the ink usage on each print. On the 9800 I use the big 220ml carts that have good longevity.
My little Epson1800 consumes lots of ink.
Kevin
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Kevin P.

Well, if you're wanting to minimise print costs, stick to printers that have single ink cartridges (inks NEVER get used at the same rate) and pick one that actually measures the amount of ink left, rather than relying on a chip to count the number of dots - these typically overestimate the amount of ink used quite substantially.

Never mind how much ink goes into each cartridge, look for the ISO ink yield figures - this is a standardised procedure for measuring ink yield, and is pretty robust. Then look at the cartridge cost. That should tell you a cost per print - which is what we're after.

Forbes said:

Previous post, anyone?

Click to expand...

The best bang PHOTO printer that I can recommend is the Epson 1280.
Just two carts. One colour and one black. (I've got one 1280 still in the box
with one in use.)
It can print on any stock - glossy or matte.
It's strictly a PHOTO printer and not an everyday text printer. Great
value for the money and fine quality images. It's slow to print versus
newer printers these days. The dots are fine and almost impossible to see
without a loupe. The dye inks are very long lasting with this model.

I'm spoiled with a Pro 4800 next to it tho. 17" wide roll stock, high speed,
built-in cutter, 220ml inks, great prints on matte stock etc...

The 1280 would make a fine economical printer for serious hobbiests and
those sick and tired of buying all those individual carts. Don't know if the
1280 is still available?

Regards.

mattlittler said:

Well, if you're wanting to minimise print costs, stick to printers
that have single ink cartridges (inks NEVER get used at the same
rate) and pick one that actually measures the amount of ink left,
rather than relying on a chip to count the number of dots - these
typically overestimate the amount of ink used quite substantially.

Never mind how much ink goes into each cartridge, look for the ISO
ink yield figures - this is a standardised procedure for measuring
ink yield, and is pretty robust. Then look at the cartridge cost.
That should tell you a cost per print - which is what we're after.

Click to expand...

Guess that depends on whether your're a pro printing retail fine art
prints or just doing hobby stuff, matt.

Big difference.

The 1280 is a great printer. Unfortunately it is discontinued. I had been thinking of replacing mine, but realized that the image stability issues I was having were probably caused by my display method and the paper I was using. I have started to use better paper and will see how things last with that.

I can't complain on the quality of the prints my 1280 produces. I like glossy paper (currently Epson Premium Photo Glossy) and the gloss level is even across the whole print. I just printed several night time neon shots with very dark sky. There is no difference between the gloss of the pure black and the white border or anywhere on the print. I have gone a bit nuts printing 8x10's from my trip across Route 66 this summer. I had forgotten how great the larger prints look. I have also learned a lot about color management from everyone on this forum which helps a lot!

Shifter, I am undecided on the two cartridge issue though. The idea of throwing away magenta ink because the yellow runs out really bugs me. But then I have looked at the cost of the individual cartridges for the 1400 and I wonder how much I would really save.

BTW I just looked at 1280's on ebay and there are several. Everything from one that is totally as-is without the seller even seeing if it prints at $30 to a $500 buy it now. (I really don't understand that one.)

Matt

It is my only printer. I don't have any problem with the quality of text it produces on documents. Yes, there are probably better text printers, but I have always been satisfied.

FotoFan1959 said:

The 1280 is a great printer. Unfortunately it is discontinued. I had
been thinking of replacing mine, but realized that the image
stability issues I was having were probably caused by my display
method and the paper I was using. I have started to use better paper
and will see how things last with that.

Click to expand...

Any Epson brand paper gives great results with the 1280.

FotoFan1959 said:

I can't complain on the quality of the prints my 1280 produces. I
like glossy paper (currently Epson Premium Photo Glossy) and the
gloss level is even across the whole print. I just printed several
night time neon shots with very dark sky. There is no difference
between the gloss of the pure black and the white border or anywhere
on the print. I have gone a bit nuts printing 8x10's from my trip
across Route 66 this summer. I had forgotten how great the larger
prints look. I have also learned a lot about color management from
everyone on this forum which helps a lot!

Click to expand...

Sometimes it's better to just experiment and learn on your own.
The drivers with the 1270/1280 printers work well with properly edited
photos on Epson papers. Don't complicate things until you grasp the
printing and editing basics.

FotoFan1959 said:

Shifter, I am undecided on the two cartridge issue though. The idea
of throwing away magenta ink because the yellow runs out really bugs
me. But then I have looked at the cost of the individual cartridges
for the 1400 and I wonder how much I would really save.

Click to expand...

That's something you need to get over. Yup certain inks will be wasted
with the 2 cart printer. But, its nothing compared to the wastage using
an R300 printer for example! That thing is just pure evil as to wasting
inks and money down the drain. I got rid rid of that Epson dud.

FotoFan1959 said:

BTW I just looked at 1280's on ebay and there are several. Everything
from one that is totally as-is without the seller even seeing if it
prints at $30 to a $500 buy it now. (I really don't understand that
one.)

Click to expand...

I don't have much to say about buying printers on Ebay.
If it's un-used and still in the box, thats your best bet. Buying used printers
is a risky thing.

Regards.

Well I have one for you. I just got and installed the inks in an IPF5000 Canon. discontinued with a great deal on inks. What has me thinking is the fact that they want you to invert the tanks 7--10 times before you install them to mix up the inks (pigment printer here). Well at 130ml per tank in this baby, I am sure it is economical, but what happens three months out when I haven't inverted the tanks and shaken them up recently???

Maybe the small tanks are a result of even distribution of the dye components in the tanks? Maybe they manufacturers have discovered that if they sit stagnant for too long in the machines that there are glops that clog up more? or inconsistencies in output as one tank might become thicker than another?

I don't know if any of this is true, but it kind of made me wonder with the advocated shaking the tanks before installation and all....

BTW, the printer seems awesome...works like a charm, and so far is a very close match for my calibrated screens w/o a rip even....

price was $1268 delivered with 220ml of ink X 12 colors...should last awhile, and prove economical in terms of usage...and you can print 16x20 prints, or 17 inches by many feet as well.....simultaneous roll, sheet, and cassette feeding, and no black ink changouts needed.

It really is a LARGE printer, and I didn't quite appreciate that observation until I had in installed in my (now) printer room.....
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Richard Katris aka Chanan