Photo printer: My wife invested in a high-end Epson 7700 printer to avoid buying refills all the time. For about 6 months it was great and now is presenting multiple printing issues.

UTMike Loc: South Jordan, UT

My wife invested in a high-end Epson 7700 printer to avoid buying refills all the time. For about 6 months it was great and now is presenting multiple printing issues. She has gone online and no one seems to have ideas for remedying her issues.

Any suggestions for a good photo printer (preferably without the refill cartridges)?

Drbobcameraguy Loc: Eaton Ohio

UTMike wrote:

My wife invested in a high-end Epson 7700 printer to avoid buying refills all the time. For about 6 months it was great and now is presenting multiple printing issues. She has gone online and no one seems to have ideas for remedying her issues.

Any suggestions for a good photo printer (preferably without the refill cartridges)?

I have 2 cannons. Pro100 and a TS8220. Both are cartridge machines but I buy my ink from precision ink in canada. Perfect match provide icc profiles if you need them and I have used them for 5 years with ZERO issues. It cost me 130 bucks for enough ink to print more than most people do in a 5 year period printing photos 2 or 3 times a week. 8x10s aprox 7 to 10 a day. They also provide ink for Epson products and have several Epson trouble shoiting videos on utube

DWU2 Loc: Phoenix Arizona area

For Epson tech support, my records contain 2 phone numbers. Not sure which is the best:
562-276-7282
562-276-1305

My old note also shows they are available 6am to 8 pm Pacific time M – F &
7 am to 4 pm Saturday.

Robertl594 Loc: Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and Nantucket

Inkjet printers need to be used pretty much continually otherwise the heads get blocked. They can be cleaned and the Epson's do have a cleaning cycle, but they burn through ink. I had all of the pro Epson printers and had to scrap them due to lack of use and blocked heads. Cost more to fix than buy a new printer. Also cost about $1,000 to feed a printer. I started to use outside services for the prints I wanted. Better use of money, but you have to wait for your prints to arrive. All time favorite printers were the Fuji Pictography printers, which they do not make anymore. Sorry to see those go away.

yssirk123 Loc: New Jersey

Mike - check out the Canon series of printers. Canon uses a different type of print head which is far less susceptible to clogging than the Epsons.

tcthome Loc: NJ

There are videos on you tube. Does it print at all. have you done a print test page like when you first get the printer new. Anyway, Canon printers run a maintenance cycle every so often so they don't clog/. My Brother all in one does also. Good luck.

DAN Phillips Loc: Graysville, GA

I have used HP printers for many years, great quality. As a bonus, they have an ink supply system that is second to none. I pay a flat fee per month. The amount is based on how many pages I print, priced from $3 - $19. Mine averages around $10/month. If I ever need help or advice it's free. I've been with them for so long they even gave me a three months supply of ink for free. I have the Office Jet Pro 8710 model all-in-one model and it just keeps on going. Check it out!

lbivins Loc: Green Valley, AZ.

Drbobcameraguy wrote:

I have 2 cannons. Pro100 and a TS8220. Both are cartridge machines but I buy my ink from precision ink in canada. Perfect match provide icc profiles if you need them and I have used them for 5 years with ZERO issues. It cost me 130 bucks for enough ink to print more than most people do in a 5 year period printing photos 2 or 3 times a week. 8x10s aprox 7 to 10 a day. They also provide ink for Epson products and have several Epson trouble shoiting videos on utube

Could you supply a link to your ink supplier?

coolhanduke Loc: Redondo Beach, CA

What are the issue? I had an Epson 7900 for over 5 years. Very few issues.

GLSmith Loc: Tampa, Fl

Before buying anything, have you totally removed the software for the Epson & rebooted your computer (Do the installation as if it is a brand new install), or have you contacted the Epson tech support web page to see if there is a known issue, & lastly are your drivers up to date for that printer?

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

Robertl594 wrote:

Inkjet printers need to be used pretty much contin... (show quote)

I read that you can save a lot of ink by regularly printing a photo in draft mode instead of using the head cleaning cycle. I have several different photos in a folder on my desktop that I use for that.

Drbobcameraguy Loc: Eaton Ohio

lbivins wrote:

Could you supply a link to your ink supplier?

https://www.precisioncolors.com
Mike is his name. He usually responds to emails in a couple days. If you search utube for cannon printer video the guy who does then does videos for all pro model printers. His name is José and he has a video interview with Precision Colors. Great company but email response is a little slow but very consistent.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

gvarner wrote:

I read that you can save a lot of ink by regularly printing a photo in draft mode instead of using the head cleaning cycle. I have several different photos in a folder on my desktop that I use for that.

I've used "Fast" printing for years as a test before printing the good copy, and I also use it for printing something that isn't important - list a shopping list. It's fast, and it uses less ink.

sodapop Loc: Bel Air, MD

I have an Epson printer that has been dormant for months. Never a problem as described in this thread

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

sodapop wrote:

I have an Epson printer that has been dormant for months. Never a problem as described in this thread

Maybe I've just been lucky, but letting a printer sit for months has never resulted in printing problems - HP, Canon, and Epson.