Advice on best photo printer for moderate to low use

[Jenf]

Hello

I am a professional photographer looking to get back into printing and hopefully one day selling prints. For now I really want a high quality home photograph printer that can withstand periods of not being used. I understand it will need nozzle maintenance etc.. however in much of my printer review reading they recommend printing a couple times a week, realistically I wont be printing that much.
I am also getting overwhelmed with all the choices out there, I think I am set on Epson at the moment. Anyone have tips or advice to help me make a decision?

Thank you!

 

[k_mohr3]

I am also a photographer - I enter contests and I like to print 19x13 and 14x11size prints for framed photos that will be in gallery shows. So, I need to be able to print 13 inches wide. I had a Canon Pro-200 and liked it until it quit working at 15 months and 150 prints. Canon wouldn't help me out with it, so I went out and bought the Epson ET-8550. So far I love it, and it seems very thrifty on ink. I've already printed more on this printer and have only used a small fraction of the ink. On the Pro-200 I was already on my third set of cartridges. If you're not printing that much, I would just do a nozzle check every week or so. It uses a little ink, but not much.

 

[UpAndPrinting]

So funny thing about the entire ET line... They literally baited and switched the consumer printer market by showcasing the: "Pour your own ink!", "save money", "Big bottled ink instead of cartridges", "no pollution". etc etc But what happens when their CISS [ Continuous Ink Supply System ] fails? It's absolutely not a simple fix anymore. Plus, you're now dealing with Epsons new set of features* that are only there to prevent you from properly maintaining your printer so it lasts long.

Everyone that was sold an EcoTank was suckered into the idea of saving money while helping the environment, they didn't stop to look at what it could cost to repair or maintain it for years to come. When the lines dry up anywhere (and they will), it's notably more difficult to service. Most times resulting in the consumer dumping it to get a new one. This is just our opinion from experience working with this line of printers.

k_mohr3 was on the right track with a Canon Pixma Pro printer. The Pro-100 line would probably be the best for OP as it has the easiest maintenance to keep their printer running for a long time. And the most coverage. It's the best bang for your buck on prints in our opinion. After that, you'd go up to the Epson Artisan 1430 or Stylus Photo 1400 printers.

Generally, the older the printer is, the easier it's going to be to maintain and service. If you can find a printer with a lot of coverage meaning third-party or aftermarket suppliers and other topics on YouTube or elsewhere, even better. As long as you're not losing quality. Which these printers are fully capable of incredible prints.

*By features I mean sensors and other traps that will essentially brick your printer in record time if not maintained correctly the first time.

 

[k_mohr3]

So funny thing about the entire ET line... They literally baited and switched the consumer printer market by showcasing the: "Pour your own ink!", "save money", "Big bottled ink instead of cartridges", "no pollution". etc etc But what happens when their CISS [ Continuous Ink Supply System ] fails? It's absolutely not a simple fix anymore. Plus, you're now dealing with Epsons new set of features* that are only there to prevent you from properly maintaining your printer so it lasts long.

Everyone that was sold an EcoTank was suckered into the idea of saving money while helping the environment, they didn't stop to look at what it could cost to repair or maintain it for years to come. When the lines dry up anywhere (and they will), it's notably more difficult to service. Most times resulting in the consumer dumping it to get a new one. This is just our opinion from experience working with this line of printers.

k_mohr3 was on the right track with a Canon Pixma Pro printer. The Pro-100 line would probably be the best for OP as it has the easiest maintenance to keep their printer running for a long time. And the most coverage. It's the best bang for your buck on prints in our opinion. After that, you'd go up to the Epson Artisan 1430 or Stylus Photo 1400 printers.

Generally, the older the printer is, the easier it's going to be to maintain and service. If you can find a printer with a lot of coverage meaning third-party or aftermarket suppliers and other topics on YouTube or elsewhere, even better. As long as you're not losing quality. Which these printers are fully capable of incredible prints.

*By features I mean sensors and other traps that will essentially brick your printer in record time if not maintained correctly the first time.

I did like the Pro-200, but failure after 150 print cycles (15 months time), wasn't a very impressive track record. And Canon's reluctance to help me out, and their refusal to even repair the printer (even on my own dime) was a deciding factor on not rewarding them by buying a second one.

Just curious, what sensors and traps on the ET-8550 are going to brick my printer if not maintained correctly the first time? Other than printing frequently, what maintenance do you recommend?

 

[UpAndPrinting]

I'm not a fan of the Pro-200 either. I feel like they skimped out on A LOT of things. The funny thing is, the Pro-100 and Pro-200 share the same exact printhead. The Pro-100 was made so much better. We literally just serviced our last one today. It couldn't be easier to maintain.

I'm not able to specifically identify sensors that will fail eventually. However, if you've ever worked on your printer or tried to get more out of it in terms of lowering cost of prints etc. The newer printers are designed to be more complex when they don't have to be. With more advanced firmware and encryption that takes a long time for third-party releases like ink and chip resetters to happen. With newer printers including the EcoTank line, they're built to fail a lot easier than past models. And attempting to repair or fix them is practically gone unless you're incredibly into tech. All to make the consumer not want to bother trying to fix whatever goes wrong and purchasing a replacement instead. I look at them like a much more expensive disposable printer to be honest.