13" x 16" printers

[RaggedMagnet]

I've been looking at options for 13" x 16" inkjet printers, and the
following are in my range and seem attractive:

HP DeskJet 9600 Series ($399.00, up to 4800 x 1200 dpi)
HP Color Inkjet cp1700 Series ($499.00, up to 2400 x 1200 dpi)
Epson Stylus Photo 1280 ($399.00, up to 2880 x 720 dpi?)
Epson Stylus Color 1520 ($499.00, 1440 x 720 dpi)
Epson Stylus Photo 220 ($699.00, 2880 x 1440 dpi)

Is there any standout recommendation here?
Also - does dpi really mean anything when comparing image quality here?)

 

[RaggedMagnet]

Sorry - I meant 13 x 19!

 

[BobS]

Canon i9900

 

[Jim]

I've been looking at options for 13" x 16" inkjet printers, and the
following are in my range and seem attractive:

HP DeskJet 9600 Series ($399.00, up to 4800 x 1200 dpi)
HP Color Inkjet cp1700 Series ($499.00, up to 2400 x 1200 dpi)
Epson Stylus Photo 1280 ($399.00, up to 2880 x 720 dpi?)
Epson Stylus Color 1520 ($499.00, 1440 x 720 dpi)
Epson Stylus Photo 220 ($699.00, 2880 x 1440 dpi) You meant Photo 2200...

Is there any standout recommendation here? Photo 2200
Also - does dpi really mean anything when comparing image quality here?)

1440 or more.
Jim

 

[RaggedMagnet]

So the i9900 stands out as superior to HP and Epson printers in the
same price range?

 

[Craig McWalter]

I can't speak for the HPs but I have both the Epson 1520 and the 2200. If
you are after true photo quality the 2200 is far superior to the 1520.

DPI does count. Even at 1440x720 the ink dots are quite visible with the
naked eye on 1520 but invisible on the 2200 at 1440 and almost impossible to
see without a loupe at 2880.

Tonal transitions are much soother on the 2200 since it uses 7 ink tanks all
of which are individually replaceable where the 1520 uses a single combined
CMY cartridge and a black cartridge.

Both are extremely slow, especially at high resolution. I just printed some
13x19s on the 2200 at 1440 and they each took around a half an hour to
print, but I'm after quality, not speed.

Colors are more photographically accurate on the 2200 whereas prints from
the 1520 tend to be oversaturated with gaudy colors.

Hope this helps.

Craig

 

[measekite]

Canon i9900 is the best of the best for around $400

 

[Bob Niland]

HP Color Inkjet cp1700 Series ($499.00, up to 2400 x 1200 dpi)

I have cp1700. Some features to compare/consider:

* There is a duplex option (cp1700d or add-on C8219A).
It works on all supported paper sizes.

* There's also a "ps" model (PostScript), but it's
host-RIP, which in my opinion is not PostScript.

* It supports an extra paper tray.

* LPT & USB ports are standard. Several optional LAN
adaptors exist for the one LIO slot.

* Separate prinheads & individual C,M,Y,K ink ctgs.
Same ink as some DesignJets. On run-out, you can
replace ink mid-page.

Downside:

On both Win98Se and Win2Ksp4, fonts sometimes get
"forgotten" during long print jobs from Acrobat,
resulting in all pages after the event being printed
in Wingdings font. I never see this when printing the
same jobs to a LaserJet, in PCL or Ps mode.

Whether this is an Adobe, hp or MS problem, I couldn't
say. Driver & firmware updates have been applied, to
no effect.

Otherwise, I'm generally happy with the printer,
but I don't use it for photos, since the ink isn't archival.

Oh yeah, 13x19 "Super-B" paper is for some reason really
hard to find. hp makes a nice proofing matte in that size
(SKU Q1967A), but I found it very difficult to buy.

 

[Markeau]

I'm getting superb results with a Canon i9900 ... have printed over 80
12x16, 8.5x11 and 5x7 photos (those are all ~3:4 aspect ratio that my
Canon S400 uses, so very little if any cropping is necessary) - the
i9900 prints are indistinguishable from lab prints. I'm sure the
Epson's you list are also superb, but from reading posts/reviews they
seem to be more prone to head clogging so that's whey I went with the
i9900.

 

[BobS]

Let's just say that for $499 (retail) I think that after you read some
comparison reviews you'll find that Epson's answer is their model 4000 at
~$1,795. I'm certainly biased since I just purchased the i9900 after doing
a fair bit of research myself.

I've owned several of the earlier Epson photo printers in the past (still
have one) and I have two HP (non-photo) printer products in my office right
now - all good at what they were designed to do but after seeing the prints
from the i9900 and comparing them against several other brands - I went with
Canon this time. If you look at the true cost of ownership of the printer,
the HP will cost you the most, then the Epson and then Canon. Print quality
wise, I think the Canon has it over any comparable cost Epson print that I
saw but I certainly have not seen prints from their whole line. Epson makes
fine printers and so does HP - so go to the stores, do some actual print
comparisons if you can, weigh the pro's and con's from what you read here on
the ng - and then make a decision.

Bob S.

 

[Phillip Vogel]

I'll put in a vote for the Epson 2200. I've never had a problem with mine,
and the print quality is superb. You can replace ink in the middle of a
print, and there are separate cartridges for each color.

I can't say anything about the others because I have no experience with
them.

Phillip

 

[Arthur Entlich]

I can comment a bit on the Epson models.

The 1280 is probably going to be replaced soon, but it has been a
popular model. Many people outfit them with continuous ink systems to
save money on ink. They will work with pigment ink, although they were
designed for dye. Epson doesn't make a pigment inkset for them, so it
means either refilling or third party product.

The 1280 has been know to suffer from a premature head failure. This
was a greater problem with the 1270 and it's younger brother the 870 models.

The 1520 is a quite old model, although still sold. It is four color,
but the dot size is large enough that if you have very critical work
that people will scrutinize at very close range, it may appear too
grainy for their liking (or your). The cartridges, for a printer of
that size, are too small, and so if you don't refill it will become
costly. Again it is a dye colorant ink printer, but pigments could be
installed. I don't know of many people who did so however.

The 2200 is about one generation old now. It uses the Ultrachrome inks
which are pigment colorant. It uses seven colors (CcMmYKk) and has two
types of black ink that can be interchanged. One is designed for glossy
prints, the other black. Changing cartridges back and forth use up a
medium amount of ink. Most people are very pleased with the 2200. Some
put a continuous inking system on it, or use 3rd party inks.

Currently, the newest model is the 4000, which also uses Ultrachrome
inks. It is costly, and come in two versions. It has two head sets,
and can either be used with two repeating sets to make it very fast. or
can have red and blue and an extra black added. The printer is still
developing its market, due to the cost.

There is a new printer on the horizon. I understand it is already
available in Japan. It is using the same technology in the R800, an
system using red and blue inks, and a gloss optimizer to make the
pigment inks look glossier and more even relative to the blank paper
areas. Not yet available in North America, etc. The R800 (letter size)
had received very high praise from reviewers, but it has a high initial
cost and cost of upkeep is high (ink costs).

Art

 

[Arthur Entlich]

I missed your last question:

Dot size, or dot technology is more important than addressable dot
location, at this point. Back when printers were 200 and 300 dpi it was
a concern. Today all inkjet printers can place a dot in a well
described location, BUT, if the dot was to be 1" in diameter, it would
sure look bad. Some printers are now down to 2 or even 1 pico litre
(not visible by most eyes, unassisted), or use variable dot technologies
which mean the printer can determine how large the dot is depending upon
how many dots it will be laying down and how dense the area needs to be.

For some speed is also important, so you may want to make comparison of
that as well.

Epson printers using pigment inks have waterproof and pretty
non-fugitive ink (fade-resistant) however, the papers they can use
differ from dye inks, and some prefer one over the other. For
non-coated papers, pigment inks do better than dyes, over all.

Art

 

[Arthur Entlich]

Just one slight correction.

Your description actually tends to indicate that dpi doesn't count.
Both the 1520 and 2200 can print at 1440 dpi, and yet, as you state, the
2200's dots are invisible, while the 1520 are obvious. This is not due
to dpi, but due to dot size, and that is a valid concern.

The 1520 was not sold as a photo printer, but a plotter, and the drivers
were not nearly as sophisticated as those in the 2200. Four color
printers can be made to produce fairly accurate colors and good tonal
gradients, but require smaller dots and better drivers to do so.

Otherwise, I think you appraisal is quite accurate of the two printers.

Art

 

[RaggedMagnet]

One final question:

I noticed that the Canon i9900 has 80k for "Buffer/RAM" while other
printers in the same price range such as the HP DeskJet 9600 have
"Memory" of 16 MB. How will this affect print jobs? I will sometimes be
printing complex vector-based images and am worried that the print job
will crash.

Should I be concerned about this for the Canon i9900?

 

[Craig McWalter]

No, complex or large jobs won't matter. As long as it gets spooled up
properly, the driver just spits little chunks of the image at the printer
until the job is done. The advantage of printers with onboard memory is that
a large piece (or all) of the image gets downloaded to the printer
immediately which frees up the computer.

I came across this review of the i9900, sounds like a beauty:
http://www.creativepro.com/story/review/22375.html

Craig

 

[stewy]

I've been looking at options for 13" x 16" inkjet printers, and the
following are in my range and seem attractive:

HP DeskJet 9600 Series ($399.00, up to 4800 x 1200 dpi)
HP Color Inkjet cp1700 Series ($499.00, up to 2400 x 1200 dpi)
Epson Stylus Photo 1280 ($399.00, up to 2880 x 720 dpi?)
Epson Stylus Color 1520 ($499.00, 1440 x 720 dpi)
Epson Stylus Photo 220 ($699.00, 2880 x 1440 dpi)

Is there any standout recommendation here?
Also - does dpi really mean anything when comparing image quality here?)

Canon Pixus 6500i (4800x1200dpi) 37,800 yen or cheaper
Canon Pixus 6100i (2400x1200dpi) 29,800 yen or cheaper

I've been using the 6100 for a year now and can say it'll serve you better
than the Epson - they sell cheap printers and gouge you with ink prices.