HP vs. Epson Printer

[audiodrome]

I need to get a new printer - I've had an HP DeskJet 960 for five years and I was very happy with it until it died the other day. I'm thinking of getting an Epson so I can have the option of CDR printing, but not at the expense of quality or reliability. I've read many stories about ink clogging and ink maintenance problems with Epson printers, something which was never a problem with my HP. If the HPs offered CDR printing, I would buy one in a heartbeat and I would hate to buy an Epson just for the CDR printing and give up the quality and dependability of my HP. I'm looking to spend in the $100-$200 range. Any help would be greatly appreciated - thanks!

[hoxlund]

i still have my epson r320, upgraded from the r300 only because it was free for me

you are not sacrificing print quality at all with epson

aviationwiz should say the same thing

but finding the epson might be kind of hard to do, we even stopped carrying the r340

http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/cons ... d=58654762

[aviationwiz]

I've got an R300, and have had it for quite a while. Print quality is top notch on everything from plain paper to matte to glossy. It prints great to it all.

At the time I bought it, I was also an HP fan, but the stuff of theirs that matched up to the print quality of the R300 was upwards of $400 at the time, so I got my first Epson, the R300.

You can get genuine ink at a good price from Amazon usually, and sometimes Buy.com is even better.

I'd highly recommend it. The only thing you'll need to remember is that like once a year, or maybe even every 6 months, you'll just have to clean the print-head, since those aren't replaced every time you get new ink, like it is on HP printers.

[redk9258]

I need to get a new printer - I've had an HP DeskJet 960 for five years and I was very happy with it until it died the other day. I'm thinking of getting an Epson so I can have the option of CDR printing, but not at the expense of quality or reliability. I've read many stories about ink clogging and ink maintenance problems with Epson printers, something which was never a problem with my HP. If the HPs offered CDR printing, I would buy one in a heartbeat and I would hate to buy an Epson just for the CDR printing and give up the quality and dependability of my HP. I'm looking to spend in the $100-$200 range. Any help would be greatly appreciated - thanks!

I had an HP that I replaced with an Epson R200 because I thought I liked the idea of having 6 cartridges instead of 2. I hated replacing the color cart because one color run out. Now you basically have to replace all five color at once! Everytime you change a cart the printer charges itself with ink from all carts. This takes 5% of the ink from every cart! If you change them one at a time this will waste tons of ink from the other colors. Also, it will say it's out of ink before it really is and will not print anymore until replaced (there is a class action lawsuit for this www.epsonsettlement.com). My HP would print until dry! My next printer will be a Canon. Ink is cheapest and it prints as good as Epson. BTW I have to replace ink twice as much as my old HP! The Epson is an ink hog and expensive!

[audiodrome]

Wow and I thought my HP was an ink hog!

[audiodrome]

After doing alot of research, it seems the only Epsons that are currently available in that price range are the C88, R220, R320, and R340. Consumer Reports rated them all excellent for PHOTO printing but unacceptable for anything else. The current HPs were rated good overall for printing but the negative ink and software issues cancel out any positive aspects. The other problem with the HPs is that they vary wildly from model to model, even within this price range, in regards to quality, ink system, software, etc.

So maybe I need to find some old stock...

[redk9258]

After doing alot of research, it seems the only Epsons that are currently available in that price range are the C88, R220, R320, and R340. Consumer Reports rated them all excellent for PHOTO printing but unacceptable for anything else. The current HPs were rated good overall for printing but the negative ink and software issues cancel out any positive aspects. The other problem with the HPs is that they vary wildly from model to model, even within this price range, in regards to quality, ink system, software, etc.

So maybe I need to find some old stock...

Don't get me wrong. I love the quality of the prints. I just wish the ink were not so expen$ive and there was more in a cartridge. I should also be able to keep on printing black even if one color runs out!