Epson Photo 830 or Canon i550

[hm]

Hi, I am deciding between either a Canon i550 or an Epson Stylus Photo
830.

On the budget end I am looking at the Canon i320 and i450.

Can anyone offer some advice or comments on your own experiences with
these printers?

I am leaning towards the Epson 830 because the actual printouts from a
demo unit absolutely blew me away, i have to really squint to try and
see the dithering patterns. With the Canon i550, although the pictures
are indeed nice with beautiful colors, but if I hold the photo at
normal viewing distance, I can just make out the dithering and some
very slight banding.

I have listed out the pros and cons on each printer yet can't make a
final decision...

Canon i550
- higher initial printer price than Epson
- low running costs (inks)
- in my experience Canon ink fades too quickly
- quiet but paper feed is noisy
- large footprint
- prints borderless photos
- individual cartridges but only 4 color
- easily refillable cartridges though I don't intend to
- frequent head cleaning
- Exif 2.2 support
- USB and parallel
- economical on ink


Epson 830
- cheap printer but
- expensive inks especially black ink more expensive than the 5 color
cart
- 6 colors standard
- supposedly more lightfast than canon inks
- high running costs (inks) but gorgeous printouts
- large footprint
- quiet printing but very noisy clicketty paper feed/head cleaning
- nice silver black color!
- borderless prints
- Exif 2.2 support
- USB and parallel
- ink hog

i don't print all too much, if I did, I guess the i550 is a no brainer
with its low running costs. but then again, i read here that the epson
830 is prone to clogging if not used for more than a week??

an article i read on pcworld.com about counterfeit ink mentions that
they look like the real thing. maybe some of the epson ink head
clogging problem is as a result of having used counterfeit ink
unknowingly?

i want a printer more for photos and color as i already have a laser
printer for my text needs. i have a canon digital camera that i shoot
a lot with.

overall, i really loved the epson's photo quality but if head clogging
is a real problem as well as epson's suspect practice of chipping the
cartridges so they don't print even when still filled with useable ink
amounts, then...

decisions decisions decisions! if u were in my shoes, which would u go
for? i can't afford a canon i950 and even if i could, i still question
canon's lightfastness. what good is a gorgeous photo that fades within
a month? (i read a user comment that his canon photo pro print turned
yellow within just three weeks).

are epson's photos really that lightfast? i mean when stuck to a wall,
not under glass. i tried this with a canon photo and it fade sooner
than you could say canon! i was expecting at least a few months worth
of display! that photo was from a canon S300 on coated paper.

 

[Tony1thatmatters]

I have a lot of users with the 820/830 and one significant fact is that
colour cartridges outsell black 2 to 1. That raises the interesting thought
that they all print colour photo work or it is an ink hog. For that reason -
dare I suggest you consider JetTec (Lightfast) and save a bundle.
www.inkylink.co.uk
Tony

 

[Safetymom123]

Or could it be that the black cartridge contains more ink????

 

[Deathwalker]

the 450 has the same print head design as the i850 only it uses the bci 24
colou cartridge and teh bci black cartridge. retail at £12.99 which is
good. Quality is almost i850 but prints slower. well made machine though.
the 320 isn't quite as good uses 5picolitres instead of 2 and is slower
still. cartridge instead 4 bci3 tanks. the i550 is cheaper to run over long
periods but the i450 is between the i550 and i850 in terms of photo quality.

 

[Neil]

The prints out of an 820/830 are indeed very nice.
However, the 820/830 has a horrible nozzle clogging problem.
You will waste much time/money/ink unclogging the print head unless
you use the thing weekly.

Also, the Epson drivers suck. They have a bug that causes USB trouble with
some types
of system (mine of course). Fortunately the 820 also has a parallel port, so
it's
still usable.

I've been putting up with this problem because

1) The printer cost me only $50
2) Costco sells a two color - one black Epson ink set for $52. Even with
head clogs it costs me about $0.75 per 4X6 print on average. A value I can
tolerate.

However, I'm really considering ditching my 820 and you can be damn sure
I'm not going to replace it with another Epson. I've heard the Canon i950 is
quite nice.

Neil

 

[Troy Nagler]

I have a number of inkjet printers, including an Epson 830.

The only nozzle blockage I ever had, was, when I used non-Epson ink on my
Stylus 600.
I'm now only using original Epson ink and have no problems.

I use a small rainbow template picture 3cm x 3cm to print once every week,
when I'm not printing anything else, to keep the nozzles in use.

When I use the 830 for photo prints (that's what I bought it for), I'm very
happy.

To avoid fading colours, I now only use the original Epson Premium Glossy
Photo Paper.
Originally I quite liked the Kodak Picture Papers, although most of my
prints on those have now faded away to half-strength after about 6 months,
with the exception of Kodak's Premium picture paper perhaps.

My five cents worth : If you're using non-original ink on these fine
nozzles, you're asking for trouble. At the same time I acknowledge that the
prices for genuine ink are way over the top.

Good luck with your final choice,

Troy

 

[hm]

To avoid fading colours, I now only use the original Epson Premium Glossy

Photo Paper.
Originally I quite liked the Kodak Picture Papers, although most of my
prints on those have now faded away to half-strength after about 6 months,
with the exception of Kodak's Premium picture paper perhaps.

To Troy:

Have you tried Epson's economy photo papers, i can't find their
premium papers in any stores where i live. the economy papers are
quite cheap and i have tried printing on them and they r quite
beautiful too.

oh btw, i have another gripe about the epson 830, that's the fact that
it won't allow for full resolution printing (5880 dpi is it?) when
printing borderless. have u tried this mode and how much is the
difference in the photos in the different modes? i know the "fine" or
quick photo mode looks horrible.

 

[hm]

i'm curious, i read often that the epson 830 color cartridge runs out
far more quickly than the black and in fcat sometimes the black is
still full when the color is out. does the printer use the black
cartridge for text printing only and mixes the other colors for black
in photos? or...? if it produces black on photos by mixing the colors
then perhaps that is also why the colors run out so quickly! i mean i
know someone who has an epson 830 and he has just printed only 4 or 5
fullpage borderless A4 pictures and the color cartridges are already
almost halfway depleted as indicated in the driver.

 

[Safetymom123]

It doesn't mix colors to make black. If you are talking about the 1st
cartridge that one goes down faster but I have gotten 40 8x10's out of a
cartridge.

 

[Safetymom123]

You are not going to see much of a difference between 2880 and 5760. If you
really look you can see some but not worth printing at the higher number.

 

[Steven Thompson]

I've never been able to understand this dpi business. A lot of the digital
photo magazines I have read say that you don't notice any difference in
quality above 300 dpi and the pictures I have printed at this resolution all
seem fine to me.

Surely 2880 or 5760 dpi take ages to print?

Steven Thompson

 

[Safetymom123]

You will notice a difference between 300 and 720. Or between 720 and 1440
but it won't be very much. I usually always print at 1440 dpi and many have
admired the prints.

 

[Caroline]

Hi, I am deciding between either a Canon i550 or an Epson Stylus Photo
830.

On the budget end I am looking at the Canon i320 and i450.

Can anyone offer some advice or comments on your own experiences with
these printers?

I am leaning towards the Epson 830 because the actual printouts from a
demo unit absolutely blew me away, i have to really squint to try and
see the dithering patterns. With the Canon i550, although the pictures
are indeed nice with beautiful colors, but if I hold the photo at
normal viewing distance, I can just make out the dithering and some
very slight banding.

I have listed out the pros and cons on each printer yet can't make a
final decision... [snip]

i don't print all too much, if I did, I guess the i550 is a no brainer
with its low running costs. but then again, i read here that the epson
830 is prone to clogging if not used for more than a week??

All too true. If you're likely to leave it often for a week or more,
you'd be crazy to go for the Epson. Try calculating a price-per-page if
50% or more of the cartridge ends up going on head cleaning cycles.
Astronomical - not to mention wear and tear on the nerves. I think my
Epson has reduced me to tears of frustration more often than all my
other computer parts & software put together. I've been an Epson user
for 20 years, but the next printer will be (probably) a Canon - and
definitely not an Epson.

You're right about the print quality though..

Caroline


Caroline Picking, (e-mail address removed)
Milton Keynes, England.

 

[Troy Nagler]

to clarify the "skewing" of my infeed tray on the Epson 830:
the tray seems to be straight, but when the paper sheet gets kicked in, the
takeup roller races away with the leading edge on one side. My guess is,
that there is only one takeup roller instead of one on both sides, but I
haven't really checked it out exhaustively.

Troy

 

[Edster951]

With new ink cartiridges you get aroung 20-25 A4 Photos.

I have found the epson VERY thirsty on ink, I use my HP IIIP laser for
everyday use. Only use the epson if I really have to.

 

[hm]

hi all,

i've finally made the jump...

i bought the epson stylus photo 830. after much research online, i
find that both the epson and canon i550 have their own pros and cons.
what troy said is correct, it all depends on what we want the printer
for.

in my case, it is to print digital photos. i just couldn't risk my
photos fading in a few months or weeks with Canon. And Canon photo pro
paper is so expensive and hard to find in my neighborhood. also, i
just don't like getting distracted by dithering patters on photos from
a 4 color ink jet.

so far i have printed about 6 fullpage (A4) photos, 5 at best photo
setting and one at photo setting using Epson and generic glossy paper.
I've also printed a few smaller 3 x 5 and 4 x 6 photos (less than 10).

The color ink cartridge indicator is just a tad above the middle line
now. SO FAST! It truly is an ink hog but the pictures are just so
pretty! Totally cannot be compared to my older Think Tank Canon which
I sold off. True the Canon was cheap to run but its fast fading colors
really put me off! So now, I'll stick one of the Epson's print out
next to my PC and see if it fades in a month, the time it took for the
Canon photo to fade away. the black ink appears still full though,
just a tiny bit below the max line. i haven't tried any heavy text
printing, just tried a draft document and the printer spat it out so
quickly it flew off the tray.

sadly, it's quality print modes ARE SOOOOOOO SLOOOOOWWWWWWWW! I
clocked 28 minutes for a best photo mode fullpage A4 picture to print
on glossy paper. Needless to say, the photo was gorgeous, almost
identical to a real photo but with slightly blurred edges (the printer
warns of this problem).

Well...half a color ink tank for less than 10 A4 photos! Yikes!!!!

Safetymom, you mentioned you get about 40 8 x 10 prints from your
carts...are those printed at best photo mode borerless? how did u
manage that? what were your printer driver settings? and are the
printed photos almost like real ones or just good? because i just
can't see how in the world this printer is going to give me close to
40 fullpage A4 prints when ithe cartridge is already half empty (or at
least indicated as).

I will see if I can avoid the clogging problems. For one, I do not
plan on risking it with compatible carts, two, I intend to get cheaper
original carts from my network of dealer friends or large warehouses
like Tesco/Costco/Sams.

Next, I'll try some of the advice given here...specifically one about
giving the printer ink head thingy a nudge to the right when it is
switched off. I do find that it isn't really parked to the right!

Then, I'll also take Troy's advice about printing a small colored
print every now and then when I have not printed anything for a while.

We'll see in a few months time! and then I'll post here again.

But so far I am happy with the photo quality.

Just out of curiousity, if you're in the UK, why do u even bother to
print the photos yourself when you can get them printed at only 15p a
piece (albeit for orders of 40 and more) ??? That's dead cheap!!!

I just find that printing fullpage 8 x 10 or A4 sizes cheaper at home,
plus you can adjust the pictures, crop them etc. all the flexibility
is in ur own hands.

Cheers!

Mike

 

[Safetymom123]

First off your first ink cartridge will go down faster because it had to
prime the system. I usually only print at 1440 or sometimes 2880. I have
shown my prints many many times to the pros and they have a hard time
telling the difference. They are very impressed. Only several times have I
printed at 5760 just because I could.

I took pictures last year and printed them on premium glossy paper and just
had they laying around in my office. I printed off a new one to compare the
other day and they look as good as the new one.

To keep it from clogging just check after you turn the printer off using the
power button that the cartridges are fully parked to the right. Also make
sure you move the thickness lever back to the normal postion after printing
on thicker paper. Keep it turned off until you need to print and you will
save ink by not running long cleaning cycles. Try to print something at
least once a week and if you are going away run several cleaning cycles
before you leave.

As far as print speeds that never bothered me because I think of the time it
would have taken me to go to the store, wait to get them developed or
printed, get in my car and come home. This way I can print at all hours of
the day with no problems and if I don't like the photo afterwards I can crop
and adjust it.

 

[hm]

With new ink cartiridges you get aroung 20-25 A4 Photos.

I have found the epson VERY thirsty on ink, I use my HP IIIP laser for
everyday use. Only use the epson if I really have to.

you're right, the epson does guzzle ink like an old Volvo guzzles
petrol! also even with glossy photo paper i find that the ink amount
used is so much the paper feels soaked! but it dries up quickly and
curls if kept exposed. epson's photo paper isn't so bad though.

nevertheless i'm quite happy with the epson's photo quality (quality
comes at a price).

 

[Safetymom123]

Best photo RPM is 5760x1440. Best photo is 2880, and photo is 1440 dp. I
tried looking on the Epson site for those numbers but can't find it. I know
from previous Epson printers.

Try it for yourself because your tastes may differ from mine.

 

[Safetymom123]

I don't think my Epsons guzzle ink especially when I see the beautiful
output. I haven't had a problem with using Epson paper curling. It does
make a difference when you use the manu. paper.