Thanks to quarterly work bonus, I have a new tool arriving tomorrow. This time it's an Epson ET 8550 Photo Printer. It does 13" x 19" prints, and uses Eco-Tanks instead of cartridges, so it's very cheap to run compared to a standard inkjet printer. It uses 6 different colors - pigment black, and dyes in black, grey, magenta, yellow and cyan. A full set of ink bottles is about $110, but a single bottle is equal to around 100 normal ink cartridges. Or so Epson says. It gets very good reviews. It is not quite at the quality level of an Epson P700. The P700 is about $130 dollars more. However, it uses $40 cartridges, and there are 10 of them, so a full refill of cartridges is $400. And the cartridges don't last near as long as a $17 - $19 bottle of ink for the ET 8550. Granted using 10 different colors makes better prints, but it also makes much more expensive operating costs.
I considered the equivalent Canon photo printer. I am a Canon guy, after all, and we like our current Canon printer. However, the Canons are getting bad reviews, especially when it comes to overflow ink pads. Apparently, on the Canon printers, they fill fairly quickly, and then the printer has to be sent in for service. The Epson has owner replaceable pads contained in a "maintenance box". You can replace the box for $15-$20 dollars, and reset the service warning yourself. No need to send it in.
All in all, I'm anxiously waiting for this printer to show up.
I considered the equivalent Canon photo printer. I am a Canon guy, after all, and we like our current Canon printer. However, the Canons are getting bad reviews, especially when it comes to overflow ink pads. Apparently, on the Canon printers, they fill fairly quickly, and then the printer has to be sent in for service. The Epson has owner replaceable pads contained in a "maintenance box". You can replace the box for $15-$20 dollars, and reset the service warning yourself. No need to send it in.
All in all, I'm anxiously waiting for this printer to show up.