Photo printer (Page 2): Not me. I had to scrap an Epson 4900 and 7600. The 4900 has auto head cleaning options to keep heads clear, but that burns through ink. Just letting it sit...

Robertl594 Loc: Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and Nantucket

jerryc41 wrote:

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

Not me. I had to scrap an Epson 4900 and 7600. The 4900 has auto head cleaning options to keep heads clear, but that burns through ink. Just letting it sit there doing nothing will burn through expensive ink. If you are going to use the printer every week, great printer. If you are going to let it sit for a month at a time, not so much. Other technologies may be better.

BobHartung Loc: Bettendorf, IA

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)?

If I am correct the Epson 7700 comes in varieties. The ET-7700 is an "ecotank" printer; the Epson 7700 also comes up as a dye sublimation printer. You have not specified which type you have so everyone is throwing darts in the dark.

It would help everyone if you would at least offer a cogent description of the problem and post 2-3 examples of prints made with the problem child.

Chico 1948 Loc: Cincinnati

Robertl594 wrote:

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

I am printing less since the Covid and my printer works fine after being idle for a month or so. Cannon P100

UTMike Loc: South Jordan, UT

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 want to thank everyone with suggestions as to how to address the Epson printer. However, the only reason I mentioned that printer was to avoid having anyone recommend it. My wife has spent hours online and on the telephone with Epson and the printer in issue is the second one (Epson having replaced the first).

My question is - what photo printer do you use or recommend?

UTMike Loc: South Jordan, UT

BobHartung wrote:

If I am correct the Epson 7700 comes in varieties. The ET-7700 is an "ecotank" printer; the Epson 7700 also comes up as a dye sublimation printer. You have not specified which type you have so everyone is throwing darts in the dark.

It would help everyone if you would at least offer a cogent description of the problem and post 2-3 examples of prints made with the problem child.

Please note that the original post did NOT ask for your help on the printer. Before complaining, try reading.

maxx466

I also have the Canon Pro-100.
It`s about 6 years old and have never had a problem.
I always use outside ink suppliers and never had a problem .

CamB Loc: Juneau, Alaska

UTMike wrote:

I want to thank everyone with suggestions as to how to address the Epson printer. However, the only reason I mentioned that printer was to avoid having anyone recommend it. My wife has spent hours online and on the telephone with Epson and the printer in issue is the second one (Epson having replaced the first).

My question is - what photo printer do you use or recommend?

Well, you are probably not going to want to go with another Epson but I use their P800. It has big ink tanks, can sit for months without any problem and makes beautiful prints up to 17"x25" (or longer with roll paper) I've heard complaints here about how much ink is wasted during head cleaning (on just about any printer). I think this is a nothing issue. It's not really much ink and its just part of the cost of a great print. Also the P800 has a removable overflow tank which I find a must living over 900 miles, by air only (no roads out of Juneau) to the nearest printer service center.
...Cam

one_eyed_pete Loc: Colonie NY

UTMike wrote:

Please note that the original post did NOT ask for your help on the printer. Before complaining, try reading.

You are going to get two camps of recommendations on here, Epson or Canon. Some had a bad experience with one brand and claim it's crap. Some had bad experience with the other brand. If you want to learn about photo printers I suggest you check out the JToolman videos on You tube. He is a Printer expert and can tell you the pluses and minuses of each brand from experience with both. Both Canon and Epson make good photo printers. My personal experience has been with Epson for 20+ years. Based on Jose's recommendations I now use "Qimage" maintenance scheduling to automatically print a small 5x7 maintenance sheet every 5 days or so to keep the nozzles clean. This use much less ink than Epson's manual cleaning cycles or Canons automatic cleaning cycles. When my wife's 5 year old all-in one Epson dies I plan to buy her an eco-tank printer because she is much less rigorous than I am about printer maintenance. Good luck!!

DJon41 Loc: Utah

Letting a printer go dormant is the best way to kill it. I'm struggling right now with an Epson all-in-one that prints a bad band every several passes. Cleaning the heads doesn't work.

one_eyed_pete Loc: Colonie NY

DJon41 wrote:

Letting a printer go dormant is the best way to kill it. I'm struggling right now with an Epson all-in-one that prints a bad band every several passes. Cleaning the heads doesn't work.

Sometimes it takes lots of cleaning cycles and perhaps a whole set of ink carts. Good think 3rd party ink carts are cheap for older printers. Then you have the potential of filling up the waste ink tank which is another problem. Stubborn ink jet plugs can sometimes be dissolved by injecting solvent and absorbing it on a paper towel underneath the head but that's a last resort.

aellman Loc: Boston MA

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 love my HP Envy Pro 6455. Just bought it a few weeks ago. Brilliant color and excellent monochrome. With the "Instant Ink" subscription you save money and the ink arrives in the mail when the printer gets low on it. Check out the different Instant Ink plans and printers on HP.com. If you buy a printer, make sure it is Instant Ink compatible. The less expensive ones aren't. >Alan

John Hicks Loc: Sible Hedinham North Essex England

Mike before you give up on Epsom I have an Epson photo stylus 1500W which will print up to A3 size photographs, it print extremely high quality prints and the secret for the heads not blocking is to use Claria ink, they have extremely small droplets and do not block the heads. I have had my printer for five years and never a problem, one other benefit of Clark's ink is that it not fade over time. So try an Epson printer that uses Claria ink I am sure you will be more than pleased with it.

yssirk123 Loc: New Jersey

Mike - I have both a Canon-100 (now superseded by the Pro-200) which prints up to 13"x19", and a Pro-1000 which prints up to 17"x47" (with the most recent firmware update). Both are amazing printers, and you can't go wrong with either. It just depends how large you want to print.

DJon41 Loc: Utah

Wow! A whole set of carts?? They cost almost as much as a new printer! I guess I can try the clean cycle a *few* more times than 4 or 5. I guess. I've long considered printers a disposable. I can't even remember how many printers I've gone through in my life!

Robertl594 Loc: Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and Nantucket

DJon41 wrote:

Wow! A whole set of carts?? They cost almost as much as a new printer!

Exactly!