Printer help please.. is epson good?

[dearcharlie]

Hi.. im looking for a printer but i want something really good and reliable.. ive been using canon printers in the studio where i work.. but for my home im looking for a printer that has a good qualitly print for photography and the capibility to print on CD's is a definate must.. i have been looking at some epson printers and ive seen a couple i like.. does anyone have any info on what i should be looking at. ive had some people say epson printers suck but they not really a reliable sorce.. i want something good thats not too pricey

thank you

[pahowes]

We have an older Epson 2200 that works fantastically well. I highly recommend that you buy epson paper so that you can use their ICC profiles. Everything matches up really well. If you use third-party paper, make sure that it is compatible with the ink used by the particular model printer you buy, and that you can download ICC profiles for that ink/paper combination.

If you're looking to save some money and buy a more "consumer grade" printer, look at the 2880. It uses the same K3 ink as the 3880 and is currently $200 off, so it will cost your around $600. The 3880 is the cheapest "pro" printer epson makes and will cost your $1300 or so.

The 2200 "consumer" printer that we have is a workhorse. I would not hesitate to buy the 2880 instead of the 3880. The only feature that you sacrifice is the ability to print 17" wide. However, anything that large I generally send out to WHCC because they can do it better and cheaper than I can.

[dearcharlie]

thank you.. how is the epson 700w that the one im looking at now? and how is it compaired to canon printers when it comes to quality

[pahowes]

Avoid all-in-one printers. They try to do everything, but usually do nothing well.

I think Canon and Epson printers work equally well, but I see more Epson printers used in a production environment.

[ressalg]

I use the Canon Pixma Pro9500 and I'm really happy with it. I thought about Epson but past experience with them made me reconsider. I've had a couple (albeit much older models) that crapped out a couple of weeks after the warranty had expired.