Home Printer recommendation
Currently have a Canon MG5220, which is ok, but I would like to have better quality printing pictures/photographs. My max budget is $400. It is overwhelming how many products are out there. Any suggestions appreciated!
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Spike99
I would agree with John: I have an HP 8600 series printer as well. It's a good quality printer that copies, scans and faxes, as well.
There is a feature gap between all-in-one printers and photo quality printers. There are very good all-in-one printers but I have not seen one yet that is truly photo quality. On the other hand, photo quality printers are generally targeted at printing alone and often lack scanner and fax.
If you want photo quality on a budget and are willing to wait for a bargain to come around again, the Canon Pixma Pro 1 has been available on-and-off over the last six months with a $200 rebate. Since it is around $250, that puts the cost down near a standard inkjet. Per the above it is a printer, not an all-in-one.
Also look at the Epson Artisan series.
Both Canon and Epson have online discount stores on their company web sites and frequently the discounts run over 50 percent.
I must respectfully disagree with the previous comments regarding HP printers. imo, HP ink is overly expensive and HP's effort to make it impossible to use anything except HP ink is counterproductive. Inserting a brand-new ink cartridge that has been stocked on the shelf waiting for use, then discovering that the printer considers it to be expired, is not a way to gain customer loyalty.
Side note on the above: HP supplies new printers with "starter" cartridges containing about 10% of the normal ink. Therefore you must buy a new set of cartridges very shortly after buying an HP printer.
If you are not in a hurry to purchase, watch the bargain sites such as fatwallet.com and slickdeals.net because printer deals come and go every few days.
If you want photo quality on a budget and are willing to wait for a bargain to come around again, the Canon Pixma Pro 1 has been available on-and-off over the last six months with a $200 rebate. Since it is around $250, that puts the cost down near a standard inkjet. Per the above it is a printer, not an all-in-one.
Also look at the Epson Artisan series.
Both Canon and Epson have online discount stores on their company web sites and frequently the discounts run over 50 percent.
I must respectfully disagree with the previous comments regarding HP printers. imo, HP ink is overly expensive and HP's effort to make it impossible to use anything except HP ink is counterproductive. Inserting a brand-new ink cartridge that has been stocked on the shelf waiting for use, then discovering that the printer considers it to be expired, is not a way to gain customer loyalty.
Side note on the above: HP supplies new printers with "starter" cartridges containing about 10% of the normal ink. Therefore you must buy a new set of cartridges very shortly after buying an HP printer.
If you are not in a hurry to purchase, watch the bargain sites such as fatwallet.com and slickdeals.net because printer deals come and go every few days.
@Dr. Klahn - You have not read my post.
1. I have already noted photo printer and general purpose printers are different.
2. You are misinformed about HP ink. Black Ink in the double sized cartridge for HP8500 and HP600 is about 1 cent / page (as I noted above). This is very inexpensive.
3. ALL HP salespeople have said "the printer comes with starter cartridges and you need to buy a set" No secret, nothing hidden.
If you don't like HP - fine. But the general purpose ones work great.
1. I have already noted photo printer and general purpose printers are different.
2. You are misinformed about HP ink. Black Ink in the double sized cartridge for HP8500 and HP600 is about 1 cent / page (as I noted above). This is very inexpensive.
3. ALL HP salespeople have said "the printer comes with starter cartridges and you need to buy a set" No secret, nothing hidden.
If you don't like HP - fine. But the general purpose ones work great.
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Dr K - I am not seeing the Canon Pixma Pro 1 in the $250 price range you reference. All the links I looked at (i.e. Amazon) have it up around $800-900? Am I looking at the wrong model?
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Went with the 8630. Thanks.
@snyperj - Thanks for the update and I was happy to help.