Need help choosing a new printer.

[Hado]

Hi gang!

Our crummy old printer has finally kicked the bucket and I'm toying with the idea of spending a little extra money on a new A3 printer so that I can make a few prints to sell here and there along with printing out the usual family photos. I’m just having some trouble making up my mind...

Epson or Canon?

Dye or Pigment inks?

Being the frugal slickdealer that I am, I’m really leaning towards a Canon as there are quite a lot of them selling for cheap on Ebay and Craigslist due to folks snatching them up late last year to claim some hefty rebates. For instance, a brand new Canon Pro 9000 MKII can be had for as little as $150-200. (Which makes it awfully tempting!)

From what I gather, both types of printers have a few pros and cons..

Dye
+broader color gamut.
+cheaper inks.
- prints/photos last 25 to 30 years under the right conditions.

Pigment
+ prints/photos last 100 to 200 years under the right conditions.
- Need to be used on a regular basis to avoid clogging of the printer heads.
- Slightly more expensive upkeep

The printers I'm looking at are:

Canon Pro 9000 MKII

Canon Pro 9500 MKII

Epson 2880

(bought cheaper elsewhere of course)

Does anyone have experience with these or similar printers and can offer some input?

Greater print longevity sounds wonderful, but at the same time I’m thinking 20-30 years is probably plenty enough for a cheap $15-20 print.

Being able to print right from home sounds great, but will the cost of ink & materials outweigh the convenience?

Or maybe I should scrap the idea all together, and have prints made online. Hmmm.

My mind is boggled!

[Hado]

Well... I made an impulse buy the other night and scored a new Canon Pro 9000 MKII for the very affordable price of $120. I'm going to try and sell the bundled Photoshop Elements software to bring the price down on the printer purchase even further. If I can get $10-$15 each for them I'll be happy....and it'll most likely go towards the purchase of a new side table, because this printer is absolutely massive. 26 inches wide, baby!

Placed an order for a sample kit from Red River Paper this morning, so I'll report back with my findings once it arrives.

I'm still not 100% sure I made the right choice as far as printers go, but I figured with such a low investment I'll be able to re-sell and make back most of my money if I'm not satisfied.

[Pootivic]

I wish I could have helped you. I was monitoring this thread to try and learn something. Why did you want the printer? If it's for Giclee you should go to a printshop (I can reccomend a could in the Detroit area), it's the best quality for art prints.

[Hado]

Heyo!
I needed a new printer either way, so finding a cheap A3 printer just worked out to my benefit.

I've only printed out a few photos so far, and already I'm more than pleased with the quality. They're most definitely meeting or even exceeding the photo lab shots I've had made.
My sample kit from Red River should arrive tomorrow, so I'll see how it handles some digital artworks then.

Having prints made online or done locally isn't out of the question, I just figured I could kill two birds with one stone with this purchase. We shall see.

[garg]

Wow $120? How long do you expect the ink to last?