Help selecting an all in one photo printer

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Help selecting an all in one photo printer

Postby BAD » Sun Oct 24, 2010 5:28 pm

I'm looking at all in one photo printers. I'm want to replace a Canon PIXMA ip8500 and a CanoScan i5000 with a printer that prints excellent photos and is a good scanner. I use Photoshop Elements and ProShowProducer to make slide shows. So I sometimes scan photos for use in my slide shows and often print some photos for family and friends. So I'd like to feel confident that the new printer and scanner will be better than what I now have. I don't need a fax and neither of these have faxes.

I've got my selection down to a Canon PIXMA MG8120 or an Epson Artisan 725. The Epson has a feature I really like. That is you can put in a special disc and it will print a label on it. This would be great for my slide show discs. The Epson also easily prints greeting cards. I've read a ton of reviews on both printers and I am going to go out and look and feel them. But I would love comments from you folks too!

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
Barbara
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Re: Help selecting an all in one photo printer

Postby GEQ » Sun Oct 24, 2010 5:50 pm

The big advantage to the Epson is the ability to print the label right to the disk. i don't recall the cost of the required disk, i don't believe it was much more then the disk and then buying labels. I switched awhile back and I'll never go back. I gave up on the Lightscribe as it took to long and I didn't care for the look. Some have had problems with paper labels, this alternative is a sensible choice.

Glen

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Re: Help selecting an all in one photo printer

Postby silverfox » Sun Oct 24, 2010 7:03 pm

Check out Epson.com Weekly special ....Epson Artisan 810 All-in-One Printer $169.00 this week regular $299.99 with free shipping 2 year warranty.

Epson Artisan 810 All-in-One Printer is a fantastic printer ... Built in WiFi .... Also, prints CD's - DVD's

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Re: Help selecting an all in one photo printer

Postby Ron » Sun Oct 24, 2010 10:49 pm

Hi Barbara
After you've done your homework you'll find many models are comparable these days & they're relatively inexpensive. How will it be used? After owning a few printers myself I've come to a few personal conclusions.
1)Direct on disc printing is the only way to go IMHO.
2) Compare the cost per page if possible (apples to apples)
If your going to use it heavily, especially for photographs, like I do, you'll be happier. This is where you will spend the big bucks. To me ink is the most overpriced item on the planet. These manufactures should be ashamed of themselves. Pretty soon you will get a printer with every ink set purchased. My Epson Stylus Photo R1900 drinks 7 glasses of ink per day :P
3) I also found that Generic ink is definitely a inferior ink compared to the manufactures brand. At least in my 2 Epsons I found that to be very true. Good Prints require good ink.
4) Consider it's footprint and will it fit where you need it to. Some of these "All In Ones" have a giant footprint.

"And thats all I have to say about that" :P
Good Luck
Ron
PS: I wanted 13x19 show prints and they look fabulous from the R1900 $$$ (Lab Quality)
My Epson RX680 is our everyday printer, scans well & prints well too & also expensive ink as well.
"Family over Friends" "Night over Day" "Nikon over Canon" "Gravy over Everything"

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Re: Help selecting an all in one photo printer

Postby bjquilts63 » Mon Oct 25, 2010 3:54 am

I have the Epson RX 680 and love it. Very easy to print on the disk. I watch for sales on the disc and buy them that way. Good quality pictures if Printed on Epson paper products. I have the Light Scribe but it takes longer and I like the look of the printed DVD's much better. I have had this one for a while and am looking to get a newer one and I think I will definitly stay with the Epson. Also having the individual ink cart. saves money because you only replace what is needed.
Barbara

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Re: Help selecting an all in one photo printer

Postby JimS » Mon Oct 25, 2010 10:59 am

Hi Barbara -

I have had an Epson Artisan 810 for about a year and am very happy with it. The disk printing is a nice feature and I have been using it. The program that comes with it for printing disks was easy to learn as it was similiar to Nero that I was using for "sticky" labels. The photo printing is very good, but like most printers is expensive. We do use the scanning and fax occasionally. It does not scan slides, though.

Two cautions - the footprint of this unit is quite large. And, initially I had some problem with splotchy looking pictures - after consultation with Epson and replacement of the unit, it turned out that it was the paper. It was HP paper and worked fine on my old Canon - switched to another type of HP paper and no further problems.

Hope this is some help Jim

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Re: Help selecting an all in one photo printer

Postby Patricia_C » Wed Oct 27, 2010 5:41 pm

My vote is for the Artisan 810. I got it some months ago and LOVE it!
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Re: Help selecting an all in one photo printer

Postby BAD » Thu Oct 28, 2010 6:06 am

I ended up buying the Epson Artisan 835. It was on sale at OfficeMax with an additional $50 off for turning in an old printer. Second reason . . . .the larger touch screen was much easier for us to read! It was easy to set up. Although it takes a while.

The only problem I'm having is printing from Photoshop Elements 6. I scanned a couple of pictures into PSE6 and they printed darker than the screen image. I'm using Epson photo paper. I had no problem scanning into PSE6 and printing to my Canon printer. So I have look into this issue. I recently ordered PSE9, so I'll install that and see if it helps. If not, I have work to do.

A scan using the Epson Scan software was very nice and true to the original photo.

Thanks for all your comments.

Barbara
Barbara
PSP 7/PSE14/Dell XPS 8900\Canon Rebel XSi Sony DSC-HX50V

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