Inkjet Art review of HP 9180

[Donald Cooper]

I don't see a post on this, but Inkjet Art has a review of the HP 9180 out.

http://www.inkjetart.com/news/archive/IJN_07-27-06.html

For an Epson outfit this is impressive. Seems like HP has a winner on its hands.

 

[CSharr]

The only negative thing that I can see is the size of the Ink cartridges at only 27mm. I know we have to compare it to other 13 inch machines, but it would be nice to have bigger cartridges than that.
--
Chris

 

[enduser]

I can't figure out why HP aren't starting pigment photo printing with a DJ130 size machine. That's definately the one the pros will be waiting for, I think.

 

[JLK]

There's a bigger market for the 13" wide printer than a 24" printer.

But I wouldn't be surprised at all to see fast follow-ons in 18" and 24" carriages.

--
Jim

 

[Donald Cooper]

From hints here and there the drift -- including from this review itself -- it does seem to be that this is part of a platform, not a one off. I wouldn't be surprised if there were larger versions as well as a smaller version.

There's a bigger market for the 13" wide printer than a 24" printer.

But I wouldn't be surprised at all to see fast follow-ons in 18"
and 24" carriages.

--
Jim

 

[Exul]

I would consider this printer the market test version, as the product evolves, the bigger printers will come forward.

It's nice to see that HP knows how to write a grayscale driver correctly.

--
Your mileage may vary.

Greg
Digital Rollei:

 

[colourgeek]

The cartridges I have are marked 28ml if that's any big difference. What is more important is coverage per ml of ink, cleaning cycle wastage and bleed to the dampers in the case of borderless printing. All of these have been addressed in ways that the competition is not even in the same league. That said in the A3+ printer sizes the 28ml carts are already 2.5x the size of anyone else's, and when empty they are really empty.
--
Neil Snape photographer Paris http://www.neilsnape.com

 

[colourgeek]

The 9180 is a pro as others in it's class. The 9180 is the start of an entire new adventure that is really great from the beginning and will only get better. Essentially they have no choice as Epson have such excellent printers that Canon and HP have to build better mouse traps if they want to win over the already won over Epson users. Don't think for a second though that Epson won't come up with something their users ask for even if it is thanks to the efforts of HP and Canon.
--
Neil Snape photographer Paris http://www.neilsnape.com

 

[colourgeek]

There's a bigger market for the 13" wide printer than a 24" printer.

But I wouldn't be surprised at all to see fast follow-ons in 18"
and 24" carriages.

--

Exactly right you are.

Actually for salable fine art prints, especially B&W the humble inexpensive 9180 will print archival fine art prints as good or better than any other printer out there regardless of price. For proofing it's a joy too. What will lead to larger models with the same inks will logically arrive after the 9180 ships. BTW I have inside info that they are already on skid pallets , thus they are ready to ship imminently.

--
Neil Snape photographer Paris http://www.neilsnape.com

 

[Birk Binnard]

The bottom line is not how much ink the cart holds, but how the printer uses it. It's clearly better for the end user if the printer puts more ink on the paper and less in places like the waste tank or non-productive cleaning cycles.
--
Birk Binnard
http://www.birkbinnard.com/photography

 

[Jeff Kohn]

Actually for salable fine art prints, especially B&W the humble
inexpensive 9180 will print archival fine art prints as good or
better than any other printer out there regardless of price. For
proofing it's a joy too. What will lead to larger models with the
same inks will logically arrive after the 9180 ships. BTW I have
inside info that they are already on skid pallets , thus they are
ready to ship imminently.

Any inside word on whether upcoming large-format models will use the exact same inkset, or maybe add a couple cartridges like the Canon? I'd really like to see the second gray and a green, personally.

--
Jeff Kohn
Houston, TX
http://www.pbase.com/jkohn

 

[colourgeek]

I would consider this printer the market test version, as the
product evolves, the bigger printers will come forward.

It's nice to see that HP knows how to write a grayscale driver
correctly.

I think this printer excels at B&W fine art printing. The screens are subjectively the most interesting and most photographic I have ever seen.

The only thing about the review I want to dispel is that when printing on Glossy and if you have dark areas, you have to print on MaxDPI otherwise you will have some density lines apparently due to drying. There are none on Maximum detail, nor on other than the glossy medias.

So the claims of speed can be correct if comparing huge and widely changing users interpretations of image quality vs settings. If you want the best from Epson or HP both are relatively slow compared to Canon , the only real slow down is using the Epson on the highest settings that show some but small differences to usually a drop looked at through a loupe.
--
Neil Snape photographer Paris http://www.neilsnape.com

 

[colourgeek]

Any inside word on whether upcoming large-format models will use
the exact same inkset, or maybe add a couple cartridges like the
Canon? I'd really like to see the second gray and a green,
personally.

The base inks are the same, same dilutions, same everything> one common base.
You will probably have your wishes come true and then your wildest dreams too.

Yet all good things are worth waiting for. Meanwhile for a good little well thought out A3+ fine art and proofer, the 9180 is a bargain.

--
Neil Snape photographer Paris http://www.neilsnape.com

 

[Jeff Kohn]

Any inside word on whether upcoming large-format models will use
the exact same inkset, or maybe add a couple cartridges like the
Canon? I'd really like to see the second gray and a green,
personally.

The base inks are the same, same dilutions, same everything> one
common base.
You will probably have your wishes come true and then your wildest
dreams too.

Sounds promising (and a bit vague, but I understand how NDA's work. )

Yet all good things are worth waiting for. Meanwhile for a good
little well thought out A3+ fine art and proofer, the 9180 is a
bargain.

Sounds like it will be a fine printer. I already have an Epson 2400 though, and plan to upgrade to a wide-format printer in the next 6-12 months so the 9180 is really only of interest from a technology standpoint rather than as a product I might purchase.

Regards,

--
Jeff Kohn
Houston, TX
http://www.pbase.com/jkohn

 

[cgng]

The cartridges I have are marked 28ml if that's any big difference.

Hi Neil, are you one of the beta testers of the 9180? I am thinking of making the switch from the 8750, which is pretty liberal with its ink usage. It's pretty exciting to see HP release a 13", pigment-based printer. Inkjet Art's review appears to be pretty positive.

I'd like to know what your opinion is on this new printer, assuming you have tried it.

• Jien

 

[Exul]

Speed kills! Give the paper a chance at soaking up the ink. Faster does not always equal better!

--
Your mileage may vary.

Greg
Digital Rollei:

 

[colourgeek]

The cartridges I have are marked 28ml if that's any big difference.

Hi Neil, are you one of the beta testers of the 9180? I am thinking
of making the switch from the 8750, which is pretty liberal with
its ink usage. It's pretty exciting to see HP release a 13",
pigment-based printer. Inkjet Art's review appears to be pretty
positive.

I'd like to know what your opinion is on this new printer, assuming
you have tried it.

the review is a fair reading of the advantages and practical observations on the printer.

I've had one since January or so. Hardware wise it's been flawless, a simple robust printer that is all I would want in a A3+ printer.

Software needed work at the coding level. The interface is straight forward and very simple for excellent ease of use. Coming from a 8750 ( I have one too) it is almost exactly the same, even though the driver was re-written from the ground up, (as is the hardware, a completely new ground up hardware/ink writing system).

The promise of clog free, economical fine art printing , with 2x or more the lightfastness with user based flexibility ( Ethernet card built in, hardware calibration, user changeable heads) make it a strong choice for those who need the options that pigment printing offer.

I'd dare say one will want to keep the dye printer for the added depth on Satin and Glossy. What I've always said is the pigment printers always look different than a dye or darkroom print. Yet HP was the only company to provide an understated archival dye system that works. Problem is it produces photo reproduction of this quality and archival / durability on two media types only.

The 9180 fills in between printing colour, proofing, and waterproof robust handling medias, and top notch matte paper fine art printing.

One thing the review didn't quite state well is ; all three blacks are used on all fine art media and any other than gloss or semi gloss photo type media. So even though Epson have three K printing all the time ( excellent of course) HP DO USE three K on all fine art media.

I see the 9180 as a printer to add to current users line up of printers , like yours , or to anyone moving up to a 13" printer , or to anyone that has a 13" or larger printer that is dying that prints with equal quality yet is much more economical than other A3+ printers and will outlast every one of them.

The 9180 is quite a bit better than the older Epson R2100. For more recent K3 Epsons the 9180 is an option and a printer to think about if and when they need replacing, or as I said earlier for economical reasons.

--
Neil Snape photographer Paris http://www.neilsnape.com

 

[cgng]

The promise of clog free, economical fine art printing , with 2x or
more the lightfastness with user based flexibility ( Ethernet card
built in, hardware calibration, user changeable heads) make it a
strong choice for those who need the options that pigment printing
offer.

The clogging was one of the biggest problems I had when I was under the Epson system. I did not have any problems with the dye, so being able to keep a pigment printer clog free is good news.

I'd dare say one will want to keep the dye printer for the added
depth on Satin and Glossy. What I've always said is the pigment
printers always look different than a dye or darkroom print.

Good idea.

One thing the review didn't quite state well is ; all three blacks
are used on all fine art media and any other than gloss or semi
gloss photo type media. So even though Epson have three K printing
all the time ( excellent of course) HP DO USE three K on all fine
art media.

Sounds like the printer only prints with 2 black cartridges for glossy media.

Neil, your post is very informative. Your in-depth comments are much appreciated. Thanks

• Jien

 

[fotografer]

Interesting review. Thanks for the link, Don.

--
fotografer

 

[newe]

Given that this HP looks like a good printer, and given tha tthe R800 is over 3 years old, does this perhaps mean that Epson has an R800 replacement coming perhaps? No news from Epson for a while.

Any speculation?