Epson Photo 830 or Canon i550

Hi, I am deciding between either a Canon i550 or an Epson Stylus Photo
830.

On the budget end I am looking at the Canon i320 and i450.

Can anyone offer some advice or comments on your own experiences with
these printers?

I am leaning towards the Epson 830 because the actual printouts from a
demo unit absolutely blew me away, i have to really squint to try and
see the dithering patterns. With the Canon i550, although the pictures
are indeed nice with beautiful colors, but if I hold the photo at
normal viewing distance, I can just make out the dithering and some
very slight banding.

I have listed out the pros and cons on each printer yet can't make a
final decision...

Canon i550
- higher initial printer price than Epson
- low running costs (inks)
- in my experience Canon ink fades too quickly
- quiet but paper feed is noisy
- large footprint
- prints borderless photos
- individual cartridges but only 4 color
- easily refillable cartridges though I don't intend to
- frequent head cleaning
- Exif 2.2 support
- USB and parallel
- economical on ink


Epson 830
- cheap printer but
- expensive inks especially black ink more expensive than the 5 color
cart
- 6 colors standard
- supposedly more lightfast than canon inks
- high running costs (inks) but gorgeous printouts
- large footprint
- quiet printing but very noisy clicketty paper feed/head cleaning
- nice silver black color!
- borderless prints
- Exif 2.2 support
- USB and parallel
- ink hog

i don't print all too much, if I did, I guess the i550 is a no brainer
with its low running costs. but then again, i read here that the epson
830 is prone to clogging if not used for more than a week??

an article i read on pcworld.com about counterfeit ink mentions that
they look like the real thing. maybe some of the epson ink head
clogging problem is as a result of having used counterfeit ink
unknowingly?

i want a printer more for photos and color as i already have a laser
printer for my text needs. i have a canon digital camera that i shoot
a lot with.

overall, i really loved the epson's photo quality but if head clogging
is a real problem as well as epson's suspect practice of chipping the
cartridges so they don't print even when still filled with useable ink
amounts, then...

decisions decisions decisions! if u were in my shoes, which would u go
for? i can't afford a canon i950 and even if i could, i still question
canon's lightfastness. what good is a gorgeous photo that fades within
a month? (i read a user comment that his canon photo pro print turned
yellow within just three weeks).

are epson's photos really that lightfast? i mean when stuck to a wall,
not under glass. i tried this with a canon photo and it fade sooner
than you could say canon! i was expecting at least a few months worth
of display! that photo was from a canon S300 on coated paper.

I have a lot of users with the 820/830 and one significant fact is that
colour cartridges outsell black 2 to 1. That raises the interesting thought
that they all print colour photo work or it is an ink hog. For that reason -
dare I suggest you consider JetTec (Lightfast) and save a bundle.
www.inkylink.co.uk
Tony
--
aberdabadoo UK auction site with special
free sellers bonus setup - get in quick...
http://www.aberdabadoo.co.uk
"hm" wrote in message
om...
Hi, I am deciding between either a Canon i550 or an Epson Stylus Photo
830.

On the budget end I am looking at the Canon i320 and i450.

Can anyone offer some advice or comments on your own experiences with
these printers?

I am leaning towards the Epson 830

Or could it be that the black cartridge contains more ink????



"Tony1thatmatters" wrote in message
...
I have a lot of users with the 820/830 and one significant fact is that
colour cartridges outsell black 2 to 1. That raises the interesting
thought
that they all print colour photo work or it is an ink hog. For that
reason -
dare I suggest you consider JetTec (Lightfast) and save a bundle.
www.inkylink.co.uk
Tony
--
aberdabadoo UK auction site with special
free sellers bonus setup - get in quick...
http://www.aberdabadoo.co.uk
"hm" wrote in message
om...
Hi, I am deciding between either a Canon i550 or an Epson Stylus Photo
830.

On the budget end I am looking at the Canon i320 and i450.

Can anyone offer some advice or comments on your own experiences with
these printers?

I am leaning towards the Epson 830

the 450 has the same print head design as the i850 only it uses the bci 24
colou cartridge and teh bci black cartridge. retail at £12.99 which is
good. Quality is almost i850 but prints slower. well made machine though.
the 320 isn't quite as good uses 5picolitres instead of 2 and is slower
still. cartridge instead 4 bci3 tanks. the i550 is cheaper to run over long
periods but the i450 is between the i550 and i850 in terms of photo quality.

The prints out of an 820/830 are indeed very nice.
However, the 820/830 has a horrible nozzle clogging problem.
You will waste much time/money/ink unclogging the print head unless
you use the thing weekly.

Also, the Epson drivers suck. They have a bug that causes USB trouble with
some types
of system (mine of course). Fortunately the 820 also has a parallel port, so
it's
still usable.

I've been putting up with this problem because

1) The printer cost me only $50
2) Costco sells a two color - one black Epson ink set for $52. Even with
head clogs it costs me about $0.75 per 4X6 print on average. A value I can
tolerate.

However, I'm really considering ditching my 820 and you can be damn sure
I'm not going to replace it with another Epson. I've heard the Canon i950 is
quite nice.

Neil

"hm" wrote in message
om...
Hi, I am deciding between either a Canon i550 or an Epson Stylus Photo
830.

On the budget end I am looking at the Canon i320 and i450.

Can anyone offer some advice or comments on your own experiences with
these printers?

I am leaning towards the Epson 830 because the actual printouts from a
demo unit absolutely blew me away, i have to really squint to try and
see the dithering patterns. With the Canon i550, although the pictures
are indeed nice with beautiful colors, but if I hold the photo at
normal viewing distance, I can just make out the dithering and some
very slight banding.

I have listed out the pros and cons on each printer yet can't make a
final decision...

Canon i550
- higher initial printer price than Epson
- low running costs (inks)
- in my experience Canon ink fades too quickly
- quiet but paper feed is noisy
- large footprint
- prints borderless photos
- individual cartridges but only 4 color
- easily refillable cartridges though I don't intend to
- frequent head cleaning
- Exif 2.2 support
- USB and parallel
- economical on ink


Epson 830
- cheap printer but
- expensive inks especially black ink more expensive than the 5 color
cart
- 6 colors standard
- supposedly more lightfast than canon inks
- high running costs (inks) but gorgeous printouts
- large footprint
- quiet printing but very noisy clicketty paper feed/head cleaning
- nice silver black color!
- borderless prints
- Exif 2.2 support
- USB and parallel
- ink hog

i don't print all too much, if I did, I guess the i550 is a no brainer
with its low running costs. but then again, i read here that the epson
830 is prone to clogging if not used for more than a week??

an article i read on pcworld.com about counterfeit ink mentions that
they look like the real thing. maybe some of the epson ink head
clogging problem is as a result of having used counterfeit ink
unknowingly?

i want a printer more for photos and color as i already have a laser
printer for my text needs. i have a canon digital camera that i shoot
a lot with.

overall, i really loved the epson's photo quality but if head clogging
is a real problem as well as epson's suspect practice of chipping the
cartridges so they don't print even when still filled with useable ink
amounts, then...

decisions decisions decisions! if u were in my shoes, which would u go
for? i can't afford a canon i950 and even if i could, i still question
canon's lightfastness. what good is a gorgeous photo that fades within
a month? (i read a user comment that his canon photo pro print turned
yellow within just three weeks).

are epson's photos really that lightfast? i mean when stuck to a wall,
not under glass. i tried this with a canon photo and it fade sooner
than you could say canon! i was expecting at least a few months worth
of display! that photo was from a canon S300 on coated paper.

I have a number of inkjet printers, including an Epson 830.

The only nozzle blockage I ever had, was, when I used non-Epson ink on my
Stylus 600.
I'm now only using original Epson ink and have no problems.

I use a small rainbow template picture 3cm x 3cm to print once every week,
when I'm not printing anything else, to keep the nozzles in use.

When I use the 830 for photo prints (that's what I bought it for), I'm very
happy.

To avoid fading colours, I now only use the original Epson Premium Glossy
Photo Paper.
Originally I quite liked the Kodak Picture Papers, although most of my
prints on those have now faded away to half-strength after about 6 months,
with the exception of Kodak's Premium picture paper perhaps.

My five cents worth : If you're using non-original ink on these fine
nozzles, you're asking for trouble. At the same time I acknowledge that the
prices for genuine ink are way over the top.

Good luck with your final choice,

Troy

To avoid fading colours, I now only use the original Epson Premium Glossy
Photo Paper.
Originally I quite liked the Kodak Picture Papers, although most of my
prints on those have now faded away to half-strength after about 6 months,
with the exception of Kodak's Premium picture paper perhaps.


To Troy:

Have you tried Epson's economy photo papers, i can't find their
premium papers in any stores where i live. the economy papers are
quite cheap and i have tried printing on them and they r quite
beautiful too.

oh btw, i have another gripe about the epson 830, that's the fact that
it won't allow for full resolution printing (5880 dpi is it?) when
printing borderless. have u tried this mode and how much is the
difference in the photos in the different modes? i know the "fine" or
quick photo mode looks horrible.

i'm curious, i read often that the epson 830 color cartridge runs out
far more quickly than the black and in fcat sometimes the black is
still full when the color is out. does the printer use the black
cartridge for text printing only and mixes the other colors for black
in photos? or...? if it produces black on photos by mixing the colors
then perhaps that is also why the colors run out so quickly! i mean i
know someone who has an epson 830 and he has just printed only 4 or 5
fullpage borderless A4 pictures and the color cartridges are already
almost halfway depleted as indicated in the driver.

It doesn't mix colors to make black. If you are talking about the 1st
cartridge that one goes down faster but I have gotten 40 8x10's out of a
cartridge.


"hm" wrote in message
om...
i'm curious, i read often that the epson 830 color cartridge runs out
far more quickly than the black and in fcat sometimes the black is
still full when the color is out. does the printer use the black
cartridge for text printing only and mixes the other colors for black
in photos? or...? if it produces black on photos by mixing the colors
then perhaps that is also why the colors run out so quickly! i mean i
know someone who has an epson 830 and he has just printed only 4 or 5
fullpage borderless A4 pictures and the color cartridges are already
almost halfway depleted as indicated in the driver.

You are not going to see much of a difference between 2880 and 5760. If you
really look you can see some but not worth printing at the higher number.


"hm" wrote in message
om...
To avoid fading colours, I now only use the original Epson Premium
Glossy
Photo Paper.
Originally I quite liked the Kodak Picture Papers, although most of my
prints on those have now faded away to half-strength after about 6
months,
with the exception of Kodak's Premium picture paper perhaps.


To Troy:

Have you tried Epson's economy photo papers, i can't find their
premium papers in any stores where i live. the economy papers are
quite cheap and i have tried printing on them and they r quite
beautiful too.

oh btw, i have another gripe about the epson 830, that's the fact that
it won't allow for full resolution printing (5880 dpi is it?) when
printing borderless. have u tried this mode and how much is the
difference in the photos in the different modes? i know the "fine" or
quick photo mode looks horrible.