I'm looking for a printer

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vwalbridge:
I need to get a new photo Inkjet printer and I've been out of that game for a long time so I have no idea what is good anymore. Can anyone recommend a good photo inkjet printer under $150?

I know what some of you might be thinking...."Ha look at this guy, he wants a good printer under $150?!"

I know, I know...but I'm just not interested in breaking the bank over a printer right now.

The wife wants to print photos and I might want to print some Waterslide Decals.

For the record, I've never printed waterslide decals before so you are welcome to comment and/or make fun of me for that too. ;)

Typefighter01:
If you are in no rush, this printer http://t.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/jsp/Product.do?sku=C11CB53201&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.ca%2F comes up for sale on Epsons site at a pretty good discount every once in a while. It is a newer version of Epsons epic Stylus Photo 1400 which is now discontinued (even though the Artisan 1430 is its replacement, the 1430 is more like its little brother). I know at its current price it is exactly double your budget, but if you can get it on sale for $249.00, it is well worth the extra hundie. Not only does it do a fantastic job of printing photos, but it has an actual print area of 13" x 44", which means it can double for printing full width marquees and shallow CP art, which is a nice bonus. Also, but I am not postive, I think you can add a CISS or bulk ink system to this printer.

Sorry I couldn't link you a printer at $150, but I spent a good month researching printers last fall and this printer kept popping up. I found that to get a really good printer, $300 was kind of the minimum entry fee. I am sure there are good ones at $150, but someone else will need to chime in.

Not that it matters, but I ended up getting an HP Designjet T120. It's a 24" large format printer that normally retails for around $2000, but found a crazy sale in Toronto at some electronic store I have never heard of for $975. It was too good to pass up.

Keep us posted on what you end up buying :cheers:

EDIT: The store I bought the printer at was softwarecity.ca and I actually paid $784.69 (just checked my e-mail for original invoice, so it was a crazy good price for sure). Other than the box looking like it was dragged behind a humvee all the way from Fullujah Iraq, the printer was perfect. I see they have the Artisan 1430 on for $266 with $8 shipping if you are in Canada http://www.softwarecity.ca/item/C11CB53201.html

vwalbridge:

--- Quote from: Typefighter01 on July 08, 2015, 08:23:03 pm ---If you are in no rush, this printer http://t.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/jsp/Product.do?sku=C11CB53201&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.ca%2F comes up for sale on Epsons site at a pretty good discount every once in a while. It is a newer version of Epsons epic Stylus Photo 1400 which is now discontinued (even though the Artisan 1430 is its replacement, the 1430 is more like its little brother). I know at its current price it is exactly double your budget, but if you can get it on sale for $249.00, it is well worth the extra hundie. Not only does it do a fantastic job of printing photos, but it has an actual print area of 13" x 44", which means it can double for printing full width marquees and shallow CP art, which is a nice bonus. Also, but I am not postive, I think you can add a CISS or bulk ink system to this printer.

Sorry I couldn't link you a printer at $150, but I spent a good month researching printers last fall and this printer kept popping up. I found that to get a really good printer, $300 was kind of the minimum entry fee. I am sure there are good ones at $150, but someone else will need to chime in.

Not that it matters, but I ended up getting an HP Designjet T120. It's a 24" large format printer that normally retails for around $2000, but found a crazy sale in Toronto at some electronic store I have never heard of for $975. It was too good to pass up.

Keep us posted on what you end up buying :cheers:

EDIT: The store I bought the printer at was softwarecity.ca and I actually paid $784.69 (just checked my e-mail for original invoice, so it was a crazy good price for sure). Other than the box looking like it was dragged behind a humvee all the way from Fullujah Iraq, the printer was perfect. I see they have the Artisan 1430 on for $266 with $8 shipping if you are in Canada http://www.softwarecity.ca/item/C11CB53201.html

--- End quote ---

Wow! Thank you so much for your thorough answer. Yes, I'd rather be given the correct advice rather than the advice I want to hear. Printers are usually a "get what you pay for" kind of item. I'm not in a huge hurry so I'm going to keep watching the printer you suggested. And that would really be a bonus to have it print some arcade artwork.

--- Quote ---Other than the box looking like it was dragged behind a humvee all the way from Fullujah Iraq, the printer was perfect.
--- End quote ---
I about died laughing when read this part btw. :laugh2: It's always a great feeling when you get a smokin' deal like that. :cheers:

Thanks again for your suggestion. I'll keep you posted.

BadMouth:
All I have to say is that I'll never buy another consumre model HP. I swore off them before because of the bloatware, but caved when I came across an all-in-one wireless for next to nothing on black Friday. Despite printing very few color pages, I had to spend $60 on new ink cartridges annually. Finally I did some searching to find out why. In addition to wasting a bunch of ink to clean the print head, HP ink EVAPORATES. I came across that info on HP's own website.

Earlier this year I gave up on it and got a black and white Brother laser all-in-one.
I do miss being able to print pictures, but it isn't worth it if I have to buy new cartridges every time.

EDIT: I'll add that I had a first generation HP Photosmart forever and had no such issues with it.
Don't recall the model number of the newer one, but it takes the 920 cartridges and buying the XL ones seemed to make no difference.

JDFan:

--- Quote from: BadMouth on July 09, 2015, 12:08:21 pm --- I had to spend $60 on new ink cartridges annually.

--- End quote ---

Pretty much any brand of inkjet has this problem - the ink will dry out and clog the heads especially if you are not using it for long periods of time -- This is the main reason I have changed to laser printers rather than ink jet - sure the initial cost is a bit higher but since the toner cartridges are powder based rather than liquid you don't have problems with the ink cartridges clogging if not used for awhile.

Note : I do agree with you on the HP printer drivers and bloatware it installs - why would you ever need 150MB + worth of drivers for a printer ??

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