Smart people NEVER buy an inkjet printer to save money. It isn't about that at all.

If you buy an inkjet printer, you want the following:

IMMEDIACY — You need a print RIGHT NOW.

PERMANENCE — You need ultimate print longevity with freedom from fading five times better than silver halide chromogenic prints from traditional photo labs, as tested by Wilhelm Imaging Research.

PRIVACY — You have subject matter that must be kept away from the general public. Maybe it's corporate trade secrets like the next iPhone, or maybe it's porn or spy work. Printing your own can keep the prints within a limited circle of confidants, whatever your purpose.

SUBSTRATES — You want to print on all sorts of different papers, canvas, art board, and maybe other surfaces.

COLOR and TONE — You manage your own color from end to end to make stunning art prints for sale or exhibition. There is no technology better than pigment inkjet printing for that purpose. It offers the widest possible tonal and color gamut when you print from 16-bit files, straight out of Lightroom Classic or Photoshop.

CONTROL — This is really a summary word. "Inkjet printing" are the last two words in the control freak's photo printing vocabulary.

Frankly, good pigment inkjet printing is the most EXPENSIVE form of photo printing most of us will ever do. IMHO, it is also the most satisfying.

I ran the digital departments of a major portrait lab for five years. Our inkjet prints were made on three 44" Epson printers. They were the highest quality prints we sold, and they were five times more costly to make and buy than silver halide prints. We made them only in sizes larger than 12x18 inches. Yet those printers ran 20 hours a day or more in peak season, printing class composites for senior classes, fraternities and sororities, sports teams, bands, and other groups, and for high school and college senior portraits. They were capable of subtle color and tonal gradations not possible with any of our conventional silver halide equipment, whether optical or digital.

Don't buy inkjet to save money. You'll be sorely disappointed in how costly it is, if you do.

One more note: DO manage color with proper tools. It can save you a fortune in inks, paper, and time consumption. Calibrate a worthy graphic arts monitor with a color calibration kit once a month. Test it to match your printer closely. Then enjoy the best prints you've ever seen.

burkphoto sums it up very succinctly, but I'm going to add my 2¢ worth:

Printing your own work will *never* - repeat - *never* cost you less. Please, do not by an inkjet printer for that reason.

When you have the 'control', as Bill states, if you're like most of us, you may print two or three or even more times before you get the results you want. When you find that happening to you, make sure you have a box or two of 4x6 or 5x7 paper (in each of your favorite flavors) always available - for making and critiquing "proofs".

But, nothing is more satisfying than to have made the print, from 'click' to 'PP' to 'print' yourself!

My philosophic ramblings aside - I have had a Pro-10 for about six years, with nary a mechanical problem or ink clogging issue. The Pro-300 is the pigment ink replacement for it. I would recommend it highly.

(And, a friend of mine makes his living servicing wide format [as in 24" to 60"] Epsons. He states that the most common problem is clogged printheads, and that they have to be run almost daily to prevent it.)

I'll agree with all of that.

Epsons produce incredible results, but they thrive on constant HARD use. They do not like to sit. More correctly, the INK does not sit well. Pigment settling is what causes head clogs. The pigment settles in the lines, the solvent dries out, and clogs happen.

The other thing that happens with Epson is when you switch from Epson ink to some third party inks, a precipitate forms in the lines to the heads and in the heads themselves. It is like superglue! DO NOT EVER run third party ink in an Epson after running Epson ink in it. It WILL clog. The only times we had a problem with clogging in the lab were after a week shutdown, and when the guy who ran the large format print area for me ordered some off-brand ink. $1730 later, we had new heads in the 9600... along with new ink cartridges and new feed lines to the print heads. When we shut down for a week, we did have to run a head cleaning routine or two to get things clear again.

I'll agree with all of that.

Epsons produce incredible results, but they thrive on constant HARD use. They do not like to sit. More correctly, the INK does not sit well. Pigment settling is what causes head clogs. The pigment settles in the lines, the solvent dries out, and clogs happen.

The other thing that happens with Epson is when you switch from Epson ink to some third party inks, a precipitate forms in the lines to the heads and in the heads themselves. It is like superglue! DO NOT EVER run third party ink in an Epson after running Epson ink in it. It WILL clog. The only times we had a problem with clogging in the lab were after a week shutdown, and when the guy who ran the large format print area for me ordered some off-brand ink. $1730 later, we had new heads in the 9600... along with new ink cartridges and new feed lines to the print heads. When we shut down for a week, we did have to run a head cleaning routine or two to get things clear again.