Printers

[coyotewhisper]

My workhorse HP Photosmart Printer, finally died. I want to replace it with an all purpose printer that will print photos.

I also would to have a printer with a dedicated photo tray. I'm looking for one under the $200 price. Any suggestions?

 

[rider4life]

I don't have a specific model to give you as they change
faster than anything else in IT, however, I'd recommend sticking with HP. They still make the nicest home photo printers that are also great at office documents. There's lots of pure photo printers that are better than HP, but not necessarily under 200 and definitely none that do as much as well.

Cheers

M.

 

[Herm2502]

I've got a Brother MFC-4510DW All-in-One that's not bad.

 

[Andy]

Another vote for the Brother printers, great workhorses that produce good photos

 

[Edcculus]

I cant give you a specific brand. However IMO (not worth much) don't go too crazy trying to get a photo printer. I personally don't really like inkjet prints. Larger prints off of larger high end inkjets can be good, but most home printers fall flat. By the time you buy nicer photo paper, and get your printer all calibrated etc, you would have spent the same amount of money to take your digital files to the store to get prints made. What I do with my family photos is collect the best ones through the year. Between my phone, my wifes phone and our DSLR. I compile them and use one of the many online printers like Shutterfly to print them into a book. IF you wait for the right time, you can get 20 pages free, and only end up spending $10-20 for a book of the years memories.

Again, just my opinion. I just personally find that I don't really end up printing a lot of inkjet prints at home.

 

[coyotewhisper]

I went to Best Buy, to look at printers. Found a HP (forget the model) that has a separate photo tray and a separate ink for photos. It fits my budget too, at $100.

 

[Endless Purple]

What do you mean by separate photo tray?


The advice on saving up and outsourcing if you don't print much is sound advice for many. From printing I have seen, Canon and Epson are the quality leaders by far for photo printing. I have a Canon Pro-100 that has spectacular results. It is also available for $140 after the $250 rebate at B&H (pricy up front, but you get most of it back). With the individual ink cartridges and 13 in paper feed, it is pretty versatile, also has CD tray.

 

[sarimento1]

My workhorse HP Photosmart Printer, finally died. I want to replace it with an all purpose printer that will print photos.

I also would to have a printer with a dedicated photo tray. I'm looking for one under the $200 price. Any suggestions?

fwiw, over the years I've had perhaps four HP printers and never truly happy.
and four epsons which all worked fine, at least for me.

Re cost, keep in mind that over time, the inks will cost you much more than the printer itself.

 

[coyotewhisper]

What do you mean by separate photo tray?


The advice on saving up and outsourcing if you don't print much is sound advice for many. From printing I have seen, Canon and Epson are the quality leaders by far for photo printing. I have a Canon Pro-100 that has spectacular results. It is also available for $140 after the $250 rebate at B&H (pricy up front, but you get most of it back). With the individual ink cartridges and 13 in paper feed, it is pretty versatile, also has CD tray.

It has a separate tray to place 4X6 photo paper. Which I have on my old HP. I have been reading great reviews on Epson printers and also Canon. I will have to continue researching before making a final decision.

 

[Endless Purple]

It has a separate tray to place 4X6 photo paper.

Had not heard that term referenced before. Only know people looking for specific 4x6 dye sub printers not a tray. Thanks.
Good luck with your research.

 

[ackvil]

fwiw, over the years I've had perhaps four HP printers and never truly happy.
and four epsons which all worked fine, at least for me.

Re cost, keep in mind that over time, the inks will cost you much more than the printer itself.

Two HP printers in my house, one an all in one and one regular, and both were dead within two years. The ADF on the HP went after one year. Their tech support is horrible. After two years the colors bleed on both printers. Other than that, they are fine. Recently, I bought an Epson Expression 830 and I have been very impressed by it. The graphics and text are superb. They also have two trays one for photo paper. The only downside after I have used it for a few months is the small paper capacity - which does not bother me. When I bought it it was on sale for $150 at Best Buy.

 

[coyotewhisper]

Two HP printers in my house, one an all in one and one regular, and both were dead within two years. The ADF on the HP went after one year. Their tech support is horrible. After two years the colors bleed on both printers. Other than that, they are fine. Recently, I bought an Epson Expression 830 and I have been very impressed by it. The graphics and text are superb. They also have two trays one for photo paper. The only downside after I have used it for a few months is the small paper capacity - which does not bother me. When I bought it it was on sale for $150 at Best Buy.

Thanks for the info. I have read numerous printer reviews the most reviewed printers are Epson and Cannon. There is no mention of HP printers.

 

[MarkM10431]

out of the hundreds of GB of photos i have take I have printed 3. one was for a flyer for a buddy, my Omni shot and the Sumatran tiger. i printed the flyer on an inkjet, but the other two were enlargements both i outsourced to Mpix.com

 

[imfallen_angel]

I've dealt with every common brand out there, and I always go with Epson.

HP, their drivers are crap now... heavy, and the photo quality is average at best. Ink is expensive as hell.

Canon, they are overall fine, but I never found one that made me look twice. Ink is a bit cheaper but not by much.

Brothers, very average, ink isn't the greatest and pricy for the quality.

Xerox, great for their solid ink, but prices went up for that, best quality on any regular non-photo paper.

Minolta, decent but expensive.

And Epson... I've had the r200 that I gave when I upgraded to the Artisan 820, which I had for many years but it eventually died after thousands of prints. I now have the XP-850, it's replacement and it's an excellent machine, much small but just about every option possible, including disk printing. The quality of the printing and the scanning is the best you can get from just about any printer out there, Epson printers are extremely hard to beat.

Very important note, if you plan to print regularly, before you settle on a model, go check if you can get a CISS or refillable cartridges for it. For the price of one set of cartridges, you'd have enough to match about a dozen sets. As long as it's decent quality ink, you won't see much if any difference.

 

[1kentj]

I have a Canon MX922 that I have been happy with so far.

 

[coyotewhisper]

I decided to go with Epson, I bought the 820 model. I'm very impressed how fast it prints versus the HP. Print quality is very crisp. Thank you everyone for your input