hdwolfe wrote:
Looking for a printer that will be used only for pics. Something that does a good job without breaking the bank either for the printer or the ink. Say <$600 or so. TYIA.
I assume you are talking about a 6 or 8 color printer specifically for printing photos.
I would toss out HP as having lousy build quality
Epson printers make great prints but unless you use them weekly they will clog.
Canon makes excellent hardware, and whether you use a lower cost dye based printer, or a higher end pigment printer, it will last a while. And many of Canon's printers have user-replaceable print heads.
Regarding cost of ink, it's a trade-off. Cheaper printers use small cartridges which have a considerably higher cost per ml than bigger printers.
The Pixma Pro 200 costs $600 and uses a 12.6 ml dye ink cartridges, and they cost $14, so cost per ml is $1.11 - it uses 8 cartridges - standard gamut
The Pixma Pro 10 costs $700 and uses 15ml pigment ink cartridges, and they cost $15, so cost per ml is $1.00 - it uses 10 cartridges - wide gamut
In contrast - the Pixma ProGraf Pro 1000 is a bigger, heavier printer capable of printing 17"x25.5" uses 12 color pigment 80ml cartridges (one is a chroma optimizer), that cost $54 for a cost of $.68/ml, or a little over half the cost of the lower cost printer.
Canon states that if you use Canon's media, the print longevity can be as long as 100 yrs with their dye inks and up to 200 yrs with their pigment inks. The dye ink trades off longevity for a little extra color saturation.
So if you aren't going to print a lot, the Pro 200 should be fine and it will make excellent prints. If you see yourself printing a lot, then at some point in volume, the Pro 1000 with the bigger ink carts will be more economical, though it will cost you a little over 2X the cost of the Pro 200. You'll have to dig around to see what the average number of prints you can get with each printer to be able to better determine which one makes more sense.
I've own all three brands - my Epson 4880 clogged, and it was going to cost me over $500 to have it fixed. I have an Epson WF-7620 multifunction printer sitting next to my desk - with clogged heads. My HP Z3200 24" roll printer snapped its drive belt in the second year of ownership and the estimate for repair was $1100. Lower end HPs always had paper feeding issues, and were very cheaply built with a healthy dose of planned obsolescence. My various Canon printers just worked. When the heads wore out I just replaced them. Very dependable, replacement heads were affordable, and excellent print quality.