Epson R300 or... else.

  • Thread starter Thread starter latet
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L

latet

Hello,

I'd like to buy a printer for photos.
I've seen some prints from R300 and they looked great.
But before I buy R300...
what other printers should I consider ?
I mean - are there any ofering the same (or better) quality
and possible to get for the same (or less) money?

Thank you,

latet
 
latet said:
Hello,

I'd like to buy a printer for photos.
I've seen some prints from R300 and they looked great.
But before I buy R300...
what other printers should I consider ?
I mean - are there any ofering the same (or better) quality
and possible to get for the same (or less) money?

Thank you,

latet
Click to expand...

If you don't need the card slots then the R200 is a 300 with no slots. Its
quite a bit cheeper and uses the same heads ans carts.

Peter.
 
I have compared many printers before I made my choice. The two
finalists were the Epson R300 and the Canon IP4000. I chose the Canon
IP4000. I had the privledge at Fry's of speaking to both the Epson and
Canon reps at the same time. Both were in agreement that Epson goes
through some ink priming cycle every time you turn it on and uses ink.
They said that the R300 uses less than previous Epson Printers.

Overseas both of these printers can print on CDs but not in the US.
Canon does not offer that feature in the US and if that is a must you
should buy the Canon but you will loose much of what the Canon offers.
Besides, my friend's primary purpose was to print on CD surfaces and
bought an R300. He had on replacement during the warranty period for a
malfunction of the CD feed system and now after a 6 months the
replacement acts up. Epson printers in general are ink hogs and
substantially slower than Canon.

The IP4000 is fast, does great on photos and a decent job on business
documents, has 2 paper feeds and prints in duplex more automatically.
It does better on ink and the cartridges cost less. Of all the Canon
printers the only other one to consider if you want narrow format is the
IP8500 but is costs more than double. Also the wide format i9900 is the
best of any under $500 printer.
 
Peter Seddon said:
If you don't need the card slots then the R200 is a 300 with no slots. Its
quite a bit cheeper and uses the same heads ans carts.

Peter.
Click to expand...


======================

In the UK the price differential ibetween the two is now down to about £15 -
and the R300 is much more robust than the R200 (better quality plastic,
nicer design, more solid control panel, etc) so it's worth paying the extra
to get the 300 even if you don't need the card slots and LCD display.

I picked up a 200 for £50 in the January sales - and, at that price, it was
worth having as a backup to my 300, but having seen the difference in
quality I certainly wouldn't pass the 300 for the sake of £15.

Don't forget that, whichever model you choose, compatible cartridges are now
down to £2 each (price on local Sunday market) - I've used about a dozen
sets so far with no clogging and print quality that is only fractionally
lower than genuine Epson ink.
 
U¿ytkownik "Pinky & Perky ham it up said:
Don't forget that, whichever model you choose, compatible cartridges are
now down to £2 each (price on local Sunday market) - I've used about a
dozen sets so far with no clogging and print quality that is only
fractionally lower than genuine Epson ink.
Click to expand...

How about water-resistance?

I won't be using direct printing (CF card--> printer)
but it's nice to have some slots in case a friend visits
me with his/her strange cameras. I won't get R200.

R300 is my favorite type right time,
but maybe some HP machine would give me comparable
quality for less money? I don't know...

Another thing:
with R300 - do you need to scale (down) big pictures
yourself (to get better sharpness) or the printer's software
does it good enough?

Thanks,

latet
 
latet said:
How about water-resistance?<
Click to expand...


Same with genuine and non-genuine iks - they're not waterproof, i.e., wil
smear if rubbed with a wet finger, even weeks after printing.

-----------------
I won't be using direct printing (CF card--> printer)
but it's nice to have some slots in case a friend visits
me with his/her strange cameras. I won't get R200.

R300 is my favorite type right time,
but maybe some HP machine would give me comparable
quality for less money? I don't know...
Click to expand...

Even using refill kits for HP you would still be paying far more for your
ink than with an Epson

-----------------------------
Another thing:
with R300 - do you need to scale (down) big pictures
yourself (to get better sharpness) or the printer's software
does it good enough?<
Click to expand...

I actually print relatively few CD's (mostly A4 brochures on 160 gsm paper).
but I have printed some demo CD's using my own designs. However, the photo
CD's that I've done using Print CD were automatically resized by the
software (including the photo that I used for the business card CD) and gave
excellent results.

I've never used the Canon CD printer but that is also supposed to be good.
However, the proven quality of Epson and the ready availability of cheap ink
makes me more than happy to stay with the Epson range.
 
Most of the threads in this forum where people have had problems with
clogging have been with cheap ink. That goes for all brands of
printer. At least with the Canon IP4000 you can remover the print head
and clean it or install a new one. They are user replaceable.
 
Another thing:
with R300 - do you need to scale (down) big pictures
yourself (to get better sharpness) or the printer's software
does it good enough?
Click to expand...

It does pretty good at this. I have printed an 8.5"x11" and a 4"x6" (inches)
from a memory card and it will auto-crop to fit the paper. You do have a
choice with "Advanced" turned on to custom crop - you select which of several
crop settings look best.
Lynn
 
It does pretty good at this. I have printed an 8.5"x11" and a 4"x6" (inches)
from a memory card and it will auto-crop to fit the paper. You do have a
choice with "Advanced" turned on to custom crop - you select which of several
crop settings look best.
Lynn
Click to expand...


Can anyone confirn the statement made in this thread that the
R300 has better build quality than the R200 ?
 
Al Dykes said:
Can anyone confirn the statement made in this thread that the
R300 has better build quality than the R200 ?

--

a d y k e s @ p a n i x . c o m

Don't blame me. I voted for Gore.
Click to expand...

yup R300 is more robust than the R200, R200 remids me of low end lexmark
build quality
 
I read a review about the R200/R300 and it said the two printers was the
same. the R300 just had the photo slots and you could print without a
printer.It is of the same quality.
yup R300 is more robust than the R200, R200 remids me of low end lexmark
build quality
Click to expand...

--







* Magic Is Believing In Yourself*

*if you can do that*

* You Can Make Anything Happen *
 
latet said:
Hello,

I'd like to buy a printer for photos.
I've seen some prints from R300 and they looked great.
But before I buy R300...
what other printers should I consider ?
I mean - are there any ofering the same (or better) quality
and possible to get for the same (or less) money?

Thank you,

latet
Click to expand...
I just bought an R300, I had it narrowed down to the Canon pixma 5000,
HP7760 and R300. Each had a feature I liked that the others didn't have,
but in the end it was the price that did it The R300 had 50C$ off at the
till and a 30US$ rebate, bringing it down to 150C$, the best price I
could get on a Canon at the time was 239C$ and I think I could have
picked up the HP for about 170C$.
As well, any reviews (that I read) put the R300 slightly ahead of the
others in photo printing quality, and I found it strange that the pixma
5000 with its 1 pico and much higher res. rated lower in photo quality
than the pixma 4000.

In any case, I figured that the differences between the three would have
been so subtle they would have been hardly noticeable anyway, so it was
price that decided it in the end.

I have almost spent my first set of cartridges and am so far very happy
with the results, I printed an 8X10 from a negative scan that is
virtually indistiguishable from a lab print, and it does a very passable
job on black & white prints as well (the HP's stong point).

hth
 
John H. said:
I read a review about the R200/R300 and it said the two printers was the
same. the R300 just had the photo slots and you could print without a
printer.It is of the same quality.
Click to expand...
The ink carts and heads are the same I can't comment on the build quality, I
run an R300, got it before the 200 came out. I've been very satified with
it. I pay £1.49 +vat for carts BUT you only get a small quantity of ink in
them, not the 30 ml of a genuine Epson, but it still works out cheaper, just
not as cheap as you think.

Peter.
 
John H. said:
I read a review about the R200/R300 and it said the two printers was the
same. the R300 just had the photo slots and you could print without a
printer.It is of the same quality.
Click to expand...


---------------------

The print quality is exactly the same - but the construction is very
different. The 200 is flimsy and creaky in comparison to the 300

I know, I've got both of them.
 
Peter Seddon said:
The ink carts and heads are the same I can't comment on the build quality,
I run an R300, got it before the 200 came out. I've been very satified
with it. I pay £1.49 +vat for carts BUT you only get a small quantity of
ink in them, not the 30 ml of a genuine Epson, but it still works out
cheaper, just not as cheap as you think.
Click to expand...
 
Peter Seddon said:
The ink carts and heads are the same I can't comment on the build quality,
I run an R300, got it before the 200 came out. I've been very satified
with it. I pay £1.49 +vat for carts BUT you only get a small quantity of
ink in them, not the 30 ml of a genuine Epson, but it still works out
cheaper, just not as cheap as you think.

Peter.
Click to expand...

30ml? Sure about that? I've seen 13ml as the capacity of the Epson's...
All the compatible carts I've seen have the same or slightly more capacity -
16ml or 18ml.

I'm trying the IMJET carts at the moment in my R200 - and apart from the
rather alarming gurgle of ink when the air seal tape is removed they seem to
work fine, and at less then £10 for a complete set they're a bargain.

I've not handled an R300 to comment on the build quality, but the R200's
outer case is decidedly cheap and cheerful. Its quite alarming the first
time you switch it on and have the whole of the top flex down half an inch
as you press the on/off button. I'm guessing the mechanics are the same -
the R200's innards look like typical Epson construction.. just a hell of a
lot quieter than they were 2 or 3 years back.
 
Sorry to enter the conversation, but I just bought a R300 and I'm wondering
what is the brand of the compatible cartridges you're using that are so
cheap? Can you tell me that, please?

Thanks,
TJ
Click to expand...


If you go to pricewatch.com and search for the part # for
a cartridge you'll find some "generic" inks, cheap.
I'm not interested in them. YMMV.

I suggest you check resellerratings.com before you do
business with any online vendor for the first time.

newegg.com has the real thing for about $9 each.
 
Don't forget that, whichever model you choose, compatible cartridges are
now
down to £2 each (price on local Sunday market) - I've used about a dozen
sets so far with no clogging and print quality that is only fractionally
lower than genuine Epson ink.
Click to expand...

Sorry to enter the conversation, but I just bought a R300 and I'm wondering
what is the brand of the compatible cartridges you're using that are so
cheap? Can you tell me that, please?

Thanks,
TJ
 
Al said:
If you go to pricewatch.com and search for the part # for
a cartridge you'll find some "generic" inks, cheap.
I'm not interested in them. YMMV.

I suggest you check resellerratings.com before you do
business with any online vendor for the first time.

newegg.com has the real thing for about $9 each.
Yeah plus 4.99 a piece for shipping
Click to expand...

--







* Magic Is Believing In Yourself*

*if you can do that*

* You Can Make Anything Happen *
 
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