Compare Canon i850 and HP Photosmart 7660 experience

[richmac]

I cannot decide between the Canon i850 and HP Photosmart 7660.
Perhaps current users can post their experience?

As a matter of fact I have already bought a HP, returned it, and bought
another one. Both couldn't install. Their "Senior Tech Rep" is supposed to
call within the next 5 days to fix it, so maybe I have on my hands a lemon.

With this hassle and with the HP being so expensive to run, I'm thinking of
getting a Canon i850 instead. Good idea? or bad?

Rich

 

[GeoSd]

Save yourself a load of money and get a printer that the ink's last for ages
not just weeks! and go for a Canon i860 this is just the best PRINTER I have
ever used and the cheapest to run..The Plus side is that the photo's it
prints are better than my local labs..And fast you wont believe the speed
and quality it's just amazing for the price..

 

[geocha]

i agree
Canon i850 is the best

Save yourself a load of money and get a printer that the ink's last for ages
not just weeks! and go for a Canon i860 this is just the best PRINTER I have
ever used and the cheapest to run..The Plus side is that the photo's it
prints are better than my local labs..And fast you wont believe the speed
and quality it's just amazing for the price..

 

[DF]

The i860 is a good choice too.

I cannot decide between the Canon i850 and HP Photosmart 7660.
Perhaps current users can post their experience?

As a matter of fact I have already bought a HP, returned it, and bought
another one. Both couldn't install. Their "Senior Tech Rep" is supposed to
call within the next 5 days to fix it, so maybe I have on my hands a lemon.

With this hassle and with the HP being so expensive to run, I'm thinking of
getting a Canon i850 instead. Good idea? or bad?

Rich

 

[SleeperMan]

I second that. If you want to double your printing expenses, then you go
with HP. Just look for cartridge prices for both models and see.
And since i have i550 and i can say that photos are excellent, then you can
imagine photos on i850...

(e-mail address removed)> typed:

 

[xNokia3390x]

I cannot decide between the Canon i850 and HP Photosmart 7660.
Perhaps current users can post their experience?

Gee, a lot of people seem to be pro-Canon. I have the HP Photosmart 7350
and am very pleased. I looked at the Canon i550/i850 at the time I was
purchasing it, and their quality didn't seem as good as the HP. On top of
that, if the print head gets clogged a few years down the line I'd have to
buy another one. My DeskJet 930c has been fine for the past three or four
years and I'm not about to switch brands.

With this hassle and with the HP being so expensive to run, I'm thinking of
getting a Canon i850 instead. Good idea? or bad?

How much are you planning on printing? I've had my printer for just about a
year. I've printed a couple 8x10's and around forty 4x6's. Color is at
about 25% and photo is at about 50%. Black is at about 85%. I print only
photos on it, and so far I don't have any regrets -- either on running costs
or reliability.

 

[Old Foggy]

You might want to look at this review of the 2 printers
http://www.tomshardware.com/consumer/20031124/index.html

Gus

 

[xNokia3390x]

You might want to look at this review of the 2 printers
http://www.tomshardware.com/consumer/20031124/index.html

I thought the review was fair, although comparing text and office stuff on
the HP was not. It only has dye-based black, which makes the text grayish.
It's a gross misrepresentation of the printer's abilities IMO. Other than
that though, it did say that the HP was the best at photos. If you need a
multi-purpose printer and can sacrafice a bit from the text/office documents
and the photo side, I would recommend the i860 hands down. If it's just for
photos (or mostly photos) I would definitely recommend the 7760

An error I noticed is that the writer of the article says that the black
cartridge for the 7760 will improve photo quality -- NOT true. It's for
printing text. My Photosmart 7350 came with this cartridge as an added
bonus, and I use it ocassional for photos if I want to use PhotoREt III
instead of PhotoREt IV for faster prints or more importantly, cheaper
prints.

 

[SleeperMan]

Gee, a lot of people seem to be pro-Canon. I have the HP Photosmart
7350 and am very pleased. I looked at the Canon i550/i850 at the
time I was purchasing it, and their quality didn't seem as good as
the HP. On top of that, if the print head gets clogged a few years
down the line I'd have to buy another one. My DeskJet 930c has been
fine for the past three or four years and I'm not about to switch
brands.


How much are you planning on printing? I've had my printer for just
about a year. I've printed a couple 8x10's and around forty 4x6's.
Color is at about 25% and photo is at about 50%. Black is at about
85%. I print only photos on it, and so far I don't have any regrets
-- either on running costs or reliability.

When i was buying printer, i asked around since i wanted cheapest one with
separate carts. Most of resellers told me that Canon ink is more than half
cheaper than that for HP. Sure quality is important, but if you look that
quality is, say 5 % better at HP and ink is 130% more expensive, then you
just don't have any excuse for getting HP. It's better to get more expensive
canon and then pay way less for ink than vice versa. And i'm not any canon
fan, those are just facts. And anyhead clogs are happening in any printer,
not just in Canon. Remember that i've had 2 Lexmarks before and ink for that
is just.....toooooooooooo much.

 

[GeoSd]

Go and get a Canon i860 and not the i850 as the i860 has 5 ink tanks and
photo quility is much better.

 

[SleeperMan]

Go and get a Canon i860 and not the i850 as the i860 has 5 ink tanks
and photo quility is much better.

True.
But, for now i'll just stick with i550.
Reasons?
Well, if i tell you that in my country i950 price was about 600USD, then i
guess i tell you all you need to know...

it would actually be almost half cheaper if i would order it in USA and let
them ship it overseas to me...but even then it would cost me over 350USD
(shipping, custums, taxes...)

my i550 was about220 USD.(6 months ago)

 

[*richmac*]

Sorry, I was down with the flu the last couple of days, so didn't see all
the posts in response to the question.

I went today and took a look at the i850.
Physically I thought the HP 7660 have these different size trays for photo
papers, which the i850 seems to lack.
Does this make any difference at all?
Does the i860 or other Canon photo printer have this feature of different
sized trays?
I ask because just in case I want to print one 4"x6" photo, for example, do
I have to put into the canon printer a full sized photo paper?

Rich

 

[Larry]

The i860 does indeed have a separate 4X6 paper cassette, which stays in the
printer all the time.

It has a big knob on it that you rotate to either use or not use the
cassette.

It does not interfere with the normal letter tray.

-Larry

 

[Bill]

I went today and took a look at the i850.
Physically I thought the HP 7660 have these different size trays for photo
papers, which the i850 seems to lack.
Does this make any difference at all?
Does the i860 or other Canon photo printer have this feature of different
sized trays?
I ask because just in case I want to print one 4"x6" photo, for example, do
I have to put into the canon printer a full sized photo paper?

Not at all...the i850 has an adjustable tray for various sized papers.

The i860 (newest version) has a separate tray for 4x6 paper in addition
to the regular adjustable tray.