Someone wants to sell HP.
When you install a new cartridge or do a head clean (rare, very rare)on the Canon, it uses up some ink. That ink goes into a well that, after a long period of use, needs to be cleaned out by a tech. I have my printer for at least a year and haven’t run into that problem yet.
FWIW, the Epsons do the same thing and one of the major complaints with the 2200 on is that, when you switch black inks, the machine self- cleans also using up ink.
No, it’s not a matter of wanting to sell HP. He’s a sort of machine guru for a large retail chain, and really thinks ink is wasted on the Canon each time it is replaced. I thought the best way to find out is to hear user experience.
And yes, the HP 9560 is a new wide format. Usually, HP is rated highly for color and beaten over the head for its speed.
I’m not in any hurry–I’d just like good, dependable color results for my scarce money.
What happens to warranty on the Canon if substitute ink is used? That usually is a no-no………
Supposedly, so long as the ink meets specs, they cannot deny warranty, and with an Epson 870 for which I tried MIS quad black inks, I had no difficulties with warranty service. They didn’t even ask.
Since HP also replaces the head with each new cart replacement, cleaning is moot, so he’s technically correct, but practically it’s a no-brainer.
Well, the problem you have here Marie is that…
1. You have a salesman that wants to sell HP’s because he gets bonus or something when he does.
or
2. You have a sales monkey that has no idea what he talking about.
That all said the HP printers are good printer. But, they are no better or worse in ink than Canon. The brand you need to beware of is Epson. First they do everything they can to keep you from refilling the cartridges. Now this is something I never do but I like to have that option. Second, the Epson’s clog and when that happens you have to run a cleaning cycle which does waste a lot of ink.
I have the i9100 and love it. I have had no problems with wasted ink or startup or cleaning. The prints are incredible and the speed of the printing is awesome. Now, if HP had had a large format PhotoSmart I might have went HP again. But, they don’t. Epson was out of the question as I don’t like their attitude or the clogging problem.
Just my 2 cents,
Robert
Marie~
I have been using a Canon i950 (the ‘letter-size’ sister of the i9100) for 6 months. I can’t compare it to HP inkjets (as neither I or any of my friends have owned one), but I can tell you that Canon’s 6-color ink cartridge system is economical (more so than the Epson system for sure). You not only have the luxury of replacing only the empty cartridge, the ink is pretty much consumed when you are alerted (that was not the case with my Epson printers).
I find my Canon i950 is much faster than my previous Epson printers and the colors (on Canon’s papers) are spectacular. However, therein lies it’s one shortcoming… Canon has a very limited variety of papers (compared to Epson’s offerings) and when you decide you want a use another brand of paper, most of them will require a custom ICC profile!
.. the ink is pretty much consumed when you are alerted….
I too have the Canon i950 and find that it works extremely well. I find, though, that the low ink warning comes well before the ink is actually seriously low, but I’d rather too soon than too late, I guess.
shecky~ After the alert, I typically have enough of that ink color to just print a few more letter-size prints, but the important message that I didn’t convey very well is that you can consume just about all of the ink in the cartridge whereas I couldn’t with my Epsons (which btw, also tended to clog-up when not used frequently).
The bad news about my i950 was that I had a lot of Epson photo papers left over, including my favorite, ‘ColorLife’, and was disappointed to find that when I tried to use them with my i950, I could not get accurate colors.
True, the Canon cartridges get drained very well, and I’ve not experienced any clogging so far at all.
My previous printer was an HP so I’ve never used Epson papers.
shecky~ Do you happen to use any photo papers in your i950 other than those by Canon? If so, how are they working out?
Nice comments! I was very attracted to the strong color qualities PCWorld gave to the i9100 and it’s great to see it validated by users.
I’m wondering about paper, now that it has been mentioned. I will make a trip to Canon right now and see what they offer. I have just a few "looks" I favor: high gloss, matt, and I’d like to find a light textured paper too.
What papers doesn’t Canon like?
Canon likes:
Epson Fine Art
Epson Enhanced Matte
Epson Premium Luster
Ilford Fine Art ($$$)
The key is to pick the right paper setting, and, believe it or not, the Matte setting works best for all the above.
Yes, a custom profile helps but is not as necessary as it seems to be in other printers. I use a custom to get neutrals right. It’s amazing that even in full color, if the neutrals are correct, the whole print feels better.
Canon doesn’t seem to like certain of the Lyson mattes, but really likes the Lyson Gloss and semi-gloss.
Marie: If you like a high gloss, nothing beats the colors that you will get with Canon Photo Paper Pro – absolutely spectacular! The only other paper-finish offered by Canon is their Photo Paper Matte (a somewhat lesser quality and lighter weight paper than their Photo Paper Pro)… it’s ok, but nowhere near as nice as the Epson/Ilford mattes (when I used those on my last Epson printer). 🙁
I still have a lot of HP premium plus glossy photo paper because the studio provided me with a full case earlier this year. So I use that and it works very well. Renders colours and detail exactly as I want.
A paper list is made and retained for future shopping! Nice to have a whole "case" of HP premium plus! That was one of my usuals—I always liked the weight and color results.
I’m really looking forward to edge-to-edge printing, and I’d like to try the Canon. Both the Canon and the HP are pretty expensive little toys, but I’d like to have something special for just photos with multiple color heads for a change. Makes functional and practical sense.
One thing I’ve liked from HP is the ability to have an extended warranty to 3years, and depending on the model a further extension if available. Not being familiar with Canon, that will be the next factor to check out.
I’m probably the only one who’d like this particular feature, but it bugs me to no end that it’s impossible to find a photo printer that offers a "banner" paper selection!!!! Yep, I know–the paper choices are nil too. I love doing them for various groups but I hate a one choice selection of size and finish. What a rip!
Why oh why is this such a short-sighted offering?
Hi Marie,
After asking the same question on this forum a few months back when trying to decide between the Epson 2200 and the Canon i9100, I bought the Canon. I had been leaning towards the Epson pretty strongly, too, but found the Canon was the better choice for me. I do bulk printing of portraits, etc., but also do some fine art and wanted something fast and versatile yet with excellent print quality.
You are certainly not stuck with Canon papers. My favorite is Epson paper, but the Red River Paper company has very similar papers for half the price, and a large variety to choose from. They did not last time I checked have ICC profiles for the 9100, but with just a bit of tweaking this way and that, the prints have been perfect. I have only tried Canon, Epson, and the Red River Papers so far. Also, refilling the ink cartridges on the Canon is so simple. Lawrence directed me to the MIS inks that he mentioned in this thread and I’ve been very happy with it. Top quality ink at a fraction of the price. I haven’t had any clogging problems and I’ve put this printer through some serious rounds.
~Cindy
Hi Cindy! Glad you are happy with my suggestions.
So far as Canon Paper Pro, spectacular yes, but when I purchased the printer, I ran a brutal test of the ink/paper combos by putting them in a south facing window in June. I left them there for a month. The Epson’s hardly changed at all; the matte showing a shift due to the whitener losing effect. The worst offender was the Canon Paper Pro. It shifted, a major shift, in three days!
Now, that shift was in the right direction, as it shifted from an overall green cast on a B&W image to a damn good neutral. It also lighened up a bit. So, one could consider it an ageing process. 😉
Caveat Emptor!
I just want to thank you all for this thread. Very informative and helpful.
Thanks all. I appreciate the info and personal experiences. I think this will be much easier than buying a computer…………..mm
Cindy
I’m just getting started. I just loaded CS last week without ever having used PS before…Canon i9100 shows up tomorrow. My camera club also recommended Epson & RR papers that you mentioned. Red River does now have 9100 profiles for a few of their papers… After spending 4 hours or so reading about "Print with Preview", I have few brain cells remaining. I don’t know which profile I’m supposed to use for Epson "Premium" Semi-gloss & Lustre papers. Or where to get the profile(s) if it isn’t already in CS. Or should I just ignore the profiles and control color thru some magical settings in the Canon printer software.
I’m fairly lost.
Doug
Marie,
However, I was steered away from it by a salesman I trust who said that 1/3 of the ink is lost because it’s used to "prime the machine", and you lose printing quantity making the HP a better choice.
Apparently HP is still up to their old dirty tricks in marketing. You "trust" that salesman? HP has spent a concerted effort over the years badmouthing Epson printers with that same story. I purchased my Epson Stylus Photo back in the middle of 1997. It was the first photo printer, so it didn’t get a number designation. I have been using it ever since with no problems and use it today. You would think that if my printer was wasting a lot of ink priming itself that I would be up to my neck in overflow ink by now (grin).
The printer uses a modest amount of ink priming itself. The priming ink is not caught in some kind of holding bucket that will overflow. It is absorbed in a felt pad, where it dries out. I suspect that your "trusted" salesman’s statement that the Canon uses 1/3 of its ink for priming is also grossly false. I don’t know how they do it, but HP reps have historically been effective at enlisting instore salesman to mouth their propaganda. Apparently truth is a concept they don’t grasp.
— Burton —
I don’t know, I have had really bad luck with Canon printers. I have owned 3 of them, none of which lasted over a year. The first 2 were always telling me that a ink cartridge was empty, even after a new one had just been installed.
My last, a 5100, I really hated to scrap since the wide printing area was so nice. But it died in about 10 months. Something happened to the I/O interface. I would have to turn it on and off a number of times to get it to respond.
Maybe it is just my bad luck. The HPs just keep running, even my old 4P laser. Take it for what it is worth.
Jerry
Jerry, I have exactly the same story. 3 canons in about 5 years. This thread was making me reconsider about the 9100, now I’m not sure again.
I switched to my first Canon way back when they offered 720 DIP over the HP 600 DPI. It wasn’t a good decision. After 2 of them, I went back to HPs (there are 3 ink jets here) and I have actually had to clean them a couple of times. They are still chugging away.
The Canon 5100 came along and I felt the need for 11×17 printing. The electronics just flat died on me.
My 10 year old HP 4P laser is still doing a fine job. A few months ago I started to get "paper feed" problems. After a lot of disassembly and careful watching the paper move, it turned out that the toner cartridge was the culprit. Replaced that and am back in business.
No, I don’t think I want another Canon printer.
My 10 year old HP 4P laser is still doing a fine job.
Gotcha beat. My 15 year old HP LJII is still chugging. Last year I started getting paper jams. One day last summer I was going into work on special garbage pickup day, beautiful sunny day (no rain) and saw another HP LJII sitting there on the side of the road (with 2 font carts I might add!!!<G>) took the front feed rollers out of that and put em in mine and it works like a champ! Still have one unopened toner cart. left. When I run out of that (I’m thinking years!) I’ll see about getting a color laser! 🙂
One great big plus for Epson and it’s something to consider in general – their customer service here in Britain is really top notch in my experience. My 1290 (1280 across the pond) started putting strange lines on the prints when it was almost 1 year old. No amount of head cleaning did the trick and I called Epson a few days before the warranty was out. No problem – they sent an engineer out to my house two days later and after a few minutes testing the printer, he gave me a brand new one which has worked perfectly ever since.
Epson 785 epx here and no clogging problems…only ‘excellent’ photo prints in the past 2 years. ya’ll need to keep in mind…ink purchased on sale or low rate off a re-seller on the net is generally old stale ink…and YES that will clog your print heads.
Just one complaint about HP printers. We have an HP 1220C (the HP 9650 replaces it) and it is very fussy about the paper it likes. It’s fine with HP papers of course, but try to put thick textured art paper (e.g. PermaJet) through it and it jams up. Just before Christmas we bought a Canon i9100 and it takes just about any kind of paper without any problems. The quality of photo prints on the Canon i9100 using Canon Photo Paper Pro is better than on the HP 1220C using HP Premium Plus Photo Paper, but not dramatically so. I expect the HP 9650 will be an improvement though, as it uses special photo cartridges. I’ve no idea yet how the Canon will stand up to the HP in terms of durability but the main reason we bought it was for its versatility with different types of papers.
Debbie Howard
I have a prerelease version of the i9100. It was sent to me for review. I have had it for sometime and have had no problems with it. I had one other Canon printer it was the BJC 600 or 6000 or something like that that was the printer from hell. I had to pull the ink cartridges out and bang them on the table to get the ink to flow again. I hated that sucker. The i9100 has been great.
Robert
BJC 600 or 6000 or something like that that was the printer from hell.
the last one to go kaput on me was the BJC 620. Sucker left me out 450 bux after 13 months. Yup, one month after the warrenty expired.
I bought an i9100 a few months ago and I really love it. I was considering the Epson 2200 but I just couldnt get over the high price and slow print speeds. I was upgrading from my trusty old Epson Stylus Color 3000, which was I think "The Slowest Printer on Earth!" 😉
But man am I impressed with this Canon. Its fast, fast fast. Super quiet and the quality is gorgoues. I’m also happy that I can use up my vast stock of Epson papers left over from my SC3000 as well. 🙂
I think for the cost and speed, you’d be very happy with this printer.
