Posted by Peter Barritt on January 18, 2007 at 12:04 PM
anyone got any useful views or reviews as to which is better? My 1290 has finally clogged up after 7 years faithful service. I don't print a lot, but mainly they are for customers when I do. I need A3+ printing.
Posted by John MacTavish on January 18, 2007 at 12:26 PM
Hi Peter,
Everyone with an Epson will say the 2400 and everyone with the Canon will say the 9000.
They're both good printers and will both do the job for you.
I like the Epson Ultrachrome inks, but they're not so good on glossy paper...not a problem for me as I don't print too much on glossy papers anyway.
If I were buying another printer it would be an Epson, simply because I've never had any problems with the ones I've got.
Posted by Sean Bolton on January 18, 2007 at 1:40 PM
Hi Peter
I had an Epson 1290 and last year I upgraded to the Epson R1800. The R1800 is a big improvement over the 1290. Faster and quieter, better inks, better colour gamut, etc. The R2400 is the other choice in the Epson A3+ range. Advantages of the R2400 are additional black inks for B&W printing (although you have to swap the black cartidge for matte or glossy prints which is a very bad design flaw in the R2400 and other Epson printers).
The R1800 is generally regarded as producing 'better' glossy prints due to the use of the gloss optimiser ink. The R2400 is regarded as 'better' for B&W prints and matte paper prints.
Both printers use the same size cartridges so are approximately equal on ink use and cost.
The other new option from Epson is the 3800. This is a desktop sized A2 printer so if you want to produce 24x16 prints this is the way to go. Basically a bigger R2400 except now with all black cartridges installed at the same time so less hassle when switching media. The 3800 also uses bigger ink cartridges so the cost per print is less. In fact if you print a lot, the bigger printers pay for themselves in the inks so a 3800 or 4800 will pay for itself quite quickly over a 1800 or 2400, even if you hardly ever print bigger than A3+.
My experience with the R1800 is it produces superb A3+ colour prints on all media types, gloss, lustre and fine art paper. I was also impressed with the Black and White prints from the R1800. I didn't expect such good results for B&W, but I saw no discernable colour cast and the prints had good black/grey/white tones.
I can't vouch for the Canon printers although I think all the current models from HP, Canon and Epson produce superb results and there is not a lot to choose between the makes.
So my advice from the Epson range would be ;
1. The R1800 if you print mainly colour, mainly glossy, and A3+ is big enough.
2. The R2400 if you print mainly on matte or art paper, want top notch B&W, and A3+ is big enough.
3. The R3800 if you want to go bigger than A3+ or you print so much that the ink cost savings justify the R3800.
As always I recommend Vincent Olivers printer reviews on Photo-i
The site also includes reviews for the Canon and HP printers.
Peter if the R1800 interests you I would be happy to print a couple of sample images from you and send the prints to you. Just email/PM me if this would be helpful.
A different tack, and maybe a controversial one...
For stuff to A3+ why bother buying a printer at all? Save the money you'd spend on ink, paper and the printer and use an on-line printing company instead - usually much better looking prints and non of the hassle of clogged nozzles/lines, banding etc etc. Most companies now can turn stuff around for next day delivery without it costing a bomb either.
I've barely touched my inkjet printers for nearly two years now.
Hi Peter
I had the same decision recently after my old Epson 950 packed up.
After always using Epson printers, I have just got the Canon pro 9000,
Wow ! fantastic printer, superb results.
I have no regrets.
Posted by Peter Barritt on January 18, 2007 at 7:34 PM
Discussion
5 repliesEveryone with an Epson will say the 2400 and everyone with the Canon will say the 9000.
They're both good printers and will both do the job for you.
I like the Epson Ultrachrome inks, but they're not so good on glossy paper...not a problem for me as I don't print too much on glossy papers anyway.
If I were buying another printer it would be an Epson, simply because I've never had any problems with the ones I've got.
I had an Epson 1290 and last year I upgraded to the Epson R1800. The R1800 is a big improvement over the 1290. Faster and quieter, better inks, better colour gamut, etc. The R2400 is the other choice in the Epson A3+ range. Advantages of the R2400 are additional black inks for B&W printing (although you have to swap the black cartidge for matte or glossy prints which is a very bad design flaw in the R2400 and other Epson printers).
The R1800 is generally regarded as producing 'better' glossy prints due to the use of the gloss optimiser ink. The R2400 is regarded as 'better' for B&W prints and matte paper prints.
Both printers use the same size cartridges so are approximately equal on ink use and cost.
The other new option from Epson is the 3800. This is a desktop sized A2 printer so if you want to produce 24x16 prints this is the way to go. Basically a bigger R2400 except now with all black cartridges installed at the same time so less hassle when switching media. The 3800 also uses bigger ink cartridges so the cost per print is less. In fact if you print a lot, the bigger printers pay for themselves in the inks so a 3800 or 4800 will pay for itself quite quickly over a 1800 or 2400, even if you hardly ever print bigger than A3+.
My experience with the R1800 is it produces superb A3+ colour prints on all media types, gloss, lustre and fine art paper. I was also impressed with the Black and White prints from the R1800. I didn't expect such good results for B&W, but I saw no discernable colour cast and the prints had good black/grey/white tones.
I can't vouch for the Canon printers although I think all the current models from HP, Canon and Epson produce superb results and there is not a lot to choose between the makes.
So my advice from the Epson range would be ;
1. The R1800 if you print mainly colour, mainly glossy, and A3+ is big enough.
2. The R2400 if you print mainly on matte or art paper, want top notch B&W, and A3+ is big enough.
3. The R3800 if you want to go bigger than A3+ or you print so much that the ink cost savings justify the R3800.
As always I recommend Vincent Olivers printer reviews on Photo-i
Photo-i R2400 review
Photo-i R1800 review
Photo-i R3800 review
The site also includes reviews for the Canon and HP printers.
Peter if the R1800 interests you I would be happy to print a couple of sample images from you and send the prints to you. Just email/PM me if this would be helpful.
cheers
Sean
For stuff to A3+ why bother buying a printer at all? Save the money you'd spend on ink, paper and the printer and use an on-line printing company instead - usually much better looking prints and non of the hassle of clogged nozzles/lines, banding etc etc. Most companies now can turn stuff around for next day delivery without it costing a bomb either.
I've barely touched my inkjet printers for nearly two years now.
Food for thought....
I had the same decision recently after my old Epson 950 packed up.
After always using Epson printers, I have just got the Canon pro 9000,
Wow ! fantastic printer, superb results.
I have no regrets.