Sidwalkastronomy Loc: New Jersey Shore

if you can't say something nice keep your pie hole close

cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

I must have missed something, because there was nothing in my response that was NOT NICE! For your benefit, this means, " Why buy a printer that prints good photos and then complain (and whine) about the cost of ink. Before I buy, I find out what the supplies will cost me. Just don't buy the printer and get your prints made outside your house and save your money.". But, thanks for your LESS THAN NICE comment, which you should have just kept to yourself! Geeeeez.

hrblaine

I don't print much these days but back in the day I printed quite a bit. I used a Canon Pro 100 (not a Pix) and was quite pleased with the output - plus to me at least, at a reasonable cost. I have no idea if this technology has been upgraded but if not, I recommend this machine highly. As I recall, I used aftermarket ink but at the moment the brand escapes me. I will say that it was d^mned good and less expensive than Canon! Harry

hrblaine

"As I recall, I used aftermarket ink but at the moment the brand escapes me. I will say that it was d^mned good and less expensive than Canon!"

I think I've got it <g> - Inkjet Mall's Piezuography! Dunno what's going on there these days but it was cheaper back then and pretty darned good ink. It made beautiful prints. I still have a very nice 13x19 print of a Sonoma beach pinned up! How old is it? Well. it was taken with a Nikon film camera before I switched to digital and printed shortly after I got back to Ohio! Harry

Robert Ley

I have been using a P600 since shortly after it was introduced and have used Precision Color from the beginning. It has been over 5 years and I have yet to have a clog that wouldn't clear with a couple of cleanings and that has only happened a couple of times. I initially bought Precision Color prefilled cartridges and a set of bulk bottles and they have worked great from the beginning. Check out their website, lots of information.

hrblaine

And I should have added - no debilitating clogs! I can't remember exactly when I switched but that print's been up a long time with no fading. Indirect sunlight, direct artificial. It's next to a breakfast nook with three sides glass, one (the long side, facing W) almost all glass. Harry

TomPhotographer

I have been purchasing my Epson ink and printers from LexJet. There prices are very competitive.

smussler Loc: Land O Lakes, FL - Formerly Miller Place, NY

Valid point none the less. When I purchase a new printer, first thing I look at is the cost of supplies - reason I switched from HP to Brother. Not printing photos though. Next printer, I'll probably look at those tank printers.
I say supplies, not ink, as my two printers are laser.

Just saw cjc2's response - made while I was keying above in, pretty much what he said . . .

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

boberic Loc: Quiet Corner, Connecticut. Ex long Islander

I have used ink farm for several years . But I only print for myself or friends and/or family. If I sold my work I would use OEM ink, pay the price and write it off. A pro should not do anything but the best for his client, as it pays in the long run

nikonbrain Loc: Crystal River Florida

I agree with you wholeHeartedly but talking to this group is like talking to a wall they have a mind set to using 3rd party ink . People crying over $13.00 for a color ink tank . I have 2 large format printers a IPF8300 a 44" printer And a PRO 4000 one takes twelve ink tanks $167.00 for a 330ml tank of Lucia ink .And $283.00 for a 700ml ink tank . The pro 4000 uses 11 colors now and a chrome optimizer . on either printer printing every day for customers on canvas and paper I may need 2 or 3 ink tanks a year . A minimal cost for Quality and longevity of the Printer . A 24" x 36" Canvas print at 300ppi and on max quality settings costs Me $15.78 or $2.39 a square ft . The new line of printers by Canon starting with the PRO 1000 do not use ink to do Nozzle checks or head cleanings it uses Glycerin . When the head comes to the capping station the ink in the head is drawn into the head and very little ink is lost the head under a negative pressure is placed into the Glycerin tank to keep the nozzles from drying out . of all the Canon lineup the Pro 1000 ink cost is more than My Pro 4000 per ML of ink they get more for the Ink Cartridges .Even Jose says to buy larger 700ML OEM tanks and Mine the tank of ink for use in refillable cartridges on the Pro 1000 . I do not use Third party ink and never will ever again . The bigger the printer the less the ink costs per Milliliter . PS If I owned a small Canon or Epson printer I would buy large Ink Cartridges from the dealers for bigger printers using the same ink and use the ink in refillable ink cartridges for the smaller printer and not use Third party .

bdk Loc: Sanibel Fl.

I love my ET printer , $12.00 for black ink and I printed thousands of pages.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

In general, printers follow the model which is reputed to have been established by Gillette. They gave away the razors and made their money on the replacement blades.

I got a Xerox ColorQube printer. It was a commercial model, designed for small office use. The total price was something like $1500, paid over 2 years. For that price you got a printer, and the payments went into supplies (maintenance items and ink but not including paper). I bought the printer in 2015. I am still using it, and I have ink supplies for another couple years. I don't do a lot of printing, but the color copies are reasonable but limited to 8.5x11 or 8.5x14 (other sizes possible but that's all I use). I am OK with spending $1500 for a printer that will work for 6 years without professional maintenance (paper costs are only $300-400). The model I had before that lasted me 12 years before breaking.

I kept track of what I did with the printer for a year and determined that full color pages cost $0.25-$0.40 each. Monochrome (black only was about $0.03-0.10 depending on how much printing was on the page. Charts and graphs are not much more than monochrome since there's a lot of white space on the page. Have not studied the cost recently (mainly because I haven't bought any ink for several years). The ink is in the form of wax pellets which the printer melts and uses like an ink jet. No messy fingers when replacing ink. The ink is waterproof (which was an advantage on a farm stand) but of course the paper isn't and will wrinkle, but the ink doesn't run. However, if prints are stacked up and subjected to high temperatures they could stick together, and color prints under glass could smear when the ink melts onto the glass.

It's my general purpose printer, for anything I want to print (including greeting cards -- will take 67 lb cover stock but not 120 lb card stock). When I have important things to print I send them out (there are very few of them).

Buying a commercial office printer may not be for everyone but I had a need for one to supply advertising and pricing labels for the farm stand.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

No, I seldom print photos. If I ever have a really nice picture that I want to frame, I'll have a professional company print it.

From PC Mag, "Photos looked good, too, with vibrant, accurate colors and vivid details."

https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/epson-ecotank-et-2760-all-in-one-cartridge-free-supertank-printer

joer Loc: Colorado/Illinois

There are alternative ink suppliers and most printer models are supported. I don't know if they are as good as originals but suspect that some are likely to be made by the same people.

I used some for years and had my share of problems but the same could be said for my experience with originals. The source if the issue is infrequent printing causing clogged heads...cleaning routines consume most of the ink.

Now I out-source my photo printing, bought an inexpensive B&W Lasor printer for occasional non-photo printing. No more hassles...now life is good.