All in one

[Talvan]

Wife is looking to get an all-in-one printer/copier/scanner. Her big push for this is that she has a bunch of old photos of her parents that she wants to scan and print. I am considering HP and Epson so far and would love to hear comments either for or against either. I am leaning towards the Epson CX6600 over the HPs because of the individual ink tanks. The scanning resolution is a wash, they are all 1200x1200, atleast the ones I am considering. The only reason why I am still hesitant on the Epson is because I am not a big fan of rear feed printers. I know the early models of these printers where very prone to jamming, and loading paper skewed. I am surer I will be over joyed with the print qualities of either the HP PSC2355 or the Epson CX6600 since as of this moment I am still using my trusty old HP 720c that prints at 600x600. The one thing I dont like about HP is that they put all their color ink into one cartridge. M y worries about the Epson are that the heads will become clogged all the time driving up the ink cost. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

[marokero]

Funny you should mention this, I just got an all-in-one printer/scanner/copier/fax from HP, the Officejet 6210 I believe. I didn't care much for photo quality, just its ability to copy, print b&w and fax. But as for the rear feeding of paper, sometimes it's preferable to have that when using thinker stock. Other than that, you are right about the Epson getting clogged nozzles. My Epson 820 (yeah, really low buck printer, and I'm a photographer ) clogs very often, but that's because I hardly use it for printing photos... I send them to a lab these days. Anyways, I don't have any experience to add regarding the two devices you're looking at John, but good luck! Oh, HP inks are expensive compared to Epson (apples to apples comparison, ie. all-in-one color cartridges) - that's due to each of the HP's cartridges having their own nozzles, Epson uses fixed nozzles on all their printers AFAIK.

[JB]

I've used the 820 in the past and it was a pain in the ass. Clogged all the time like Alberto said. I then bought a 890. Much much better. No clogging. Even when not printing a document or photo for several days--weeks even....but of course you should do a cleaning of the nozzles if this happens in the Epson utility window. The 890 is even an "older" printer, so I don't know what the latest model is.

As far as HP, I won't recommend anything from them. Their drivers suck as well. I've had to be the "main man" when it came to installing their damn drivers over a network for printer sharing and it was a nightmare.

Maybe look at the RX600. It sounds weird, but Epson's base line products are always terrible. Purchase something one step up and you're in heaven.

[mattchase]

I haven't had experience with HP in a long time, but they have never been very high on my list of prefered companies. Epson is high on my list, at least for inkjet printers. I agree with what JB said, don't get the cheapest printer, get the next model up (or next next model up). It will cost a bit more, but should give you less trouble with things like clogging, especially if you don't use the printer that often. This is where any inkjet will become clogged, from lack of use, so if you find yourself not making a photo print once a week, be sure to at least run the cleaning maintainence each week.

[Vance]

Have to agree with JB and Matt.

I have the Epson 1280, and I've only had a couple times where it clogged. Once when I was using third party ink, and the next time was when I had let the printer sit for a week or two.

If I have a BIG print, say 11x14, I'll always run the cleaning program first, just to make sure it's ready. Nothing worse than starting an 8x10 and seeing half of it looking like some 60's throw back.

I'm really wanting to try a 13x19, but also having to justify using all that ink.

[SharpShooter10D]

Ok, I will give my 2 cents.

I guess I have just been lucky with HP that's all I have ever used.
For me at least the HP's have been real work horses since the late 80's I have only owned 2 printers both HP's.

Many years ago I considered Epson but two things swayed me away from them.

1. Clogging
2. Warping

What I mean by Warping is the print head itself, as we all know the print head on the Espon has a very tiny orface for the ink to come out. I can't speak for the Espson of today but back then they used heat to help the ink flow out of the print head.

This was fine it did indeed make the ink flow smoothly but it had a serious after efect as well. It warped the orface on the print head which degraded the accuracy and quality of the print.

Now I am sure Epson has long since corrected this problem and most likely uses a much better technique.

In most cases I have seen, Epson always seemed to have a slight edge in print quality but I think that edge no longer exsists.

Each brand has it's good and bad points I think it just comes down to which points are more important to you.

One thing about HP that I have always liked....YES!!! The INK is exspensive but when you think about why then it really doesn't seem so bad.

The reason the HP ink is expensive is because the print head is included with the ink. That means every time you buy ink you are also gettig a brand new print head.

Thats like taking your car to get the oil changed and they not only change the oil but the whole engine.

I would not hesitate to buy Either brand I think they both are great products you just need to find the one that best sui†s your needs.

Like I mentioned I have only used in my home HPs' and I have only owned 2 they just seem for me at least to work them selves to death. I have the HP 895CSE
and I print mainly photos at the highest settings and have only once had an issue with the printer which I solved.

You might want to at least take a look at this All in One from HP it really got good reviews.

http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,120683,00.asp

Bottom line......

I don't think you can go wrong no matter which brand you choose but like the rest I wouldn't get a cheapy no matter who made it.

Anyway thats my 2 cents.

Best of luck on the purchase.......If you can I would go to a local store that carried what you are lokking for and ask a salesman to demo a few.

That way you can see with your own eyes which will fit your needs and wallet the best.


Take care.

Have a great day

Randy

[Talvan]

Thnx guys for all the response.

Randy, that one is 50% more than what I am willing to pay. I looked at it, and it looked nice, but it was just too expensive.

I have decided on the Epson CX 6600, its not the entery model, and I went and looked at it today. seems well built, and man is that thing quite. Anyways, I am getting ready to install a new router. :-/

[Ballen Photo]

Sorry, I'm a little late here. I've used the older HP's P1000 printers with very good results. We had three of them set up for the Talent agency I used to work for. I had one at home, the graphics designer had one in her home office, and then we had one at THE office. They were bonafide work horses. We printed TONS of flyers and promo material with them. Matt is right about the software being a pain sometimes, but when they're working well, they work VERY well.
Lately, I've been leaning more towards Canon printers. I have one of the older now i70 compact printers at home due to the small confines of my work area, and it's VERY portable. I found that it's prints rivalled the old HP Photosmart printer.
-Bruce

[Cimager]

Geesh Just caught this post. Boy am I lazy. Well Tal the last two printers I've had were epsons. Currently the 2200 I can honestly say I've never had clogged head problems with either and there are times my printer has sat a week without printing. I don't run the head cleaning utility much due to wasted ink but I've still not had problems with prints etc. Good all around printer is HP I can't argue that. I had a few. Since I print mostly photo's I stay with the epson. If I did casual photo printing for myself or others HP would be it, but since I sell prints I needed the longevity of the prints.
Wish I could be of more help.

[Talvan]

Thanks Warren, I wound up buying the Epson CX6600 from Newegg.com for $187 with a $70 rebate. So far I am loving it. It does a good job of scanning(flat bed) and a great job of printing compared to my old HP 720C. It is alot faster and I cant even hear it printing.