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CaseCom · Nov 10, 2003, 06:43 AM

For Christmas I'd like to buy an inkjet photo printer for my dad, who currently uses a four-year-old HP DeskJet 812C for all his printing at home. He's become somewhat of a digital camera hobbyist, so I want to get him a printer that does well with photos, but could handle text and Web-page printing as well. I'm looking to spend maybe $200. The research I've done so far is mostly at Consumer Reports and CNet.

Here's what I'm looking at:

Canon i960: $200. Everyone raves about its photos. Six-color.

Canon i860: $150. Photos maybe a notch below the 960, but speed and text quality are better. Four-color.

HP Photosmart 7960: $300. Good photo quality, but slow, and on the expensive side. Eight-color.

Epson Stylus Photo 900: $200. Good photo quality, not so good with text. Epson inks less susceptible to fading? Six-color.

Would the 860 be the better all-around choice than the 960? Or would the 960's better photo quality be worth the extra 50 bucks? How important is the six-color printing for photos?

Thoughts? Thanks.

bergy · Nov 10, 2003, 07:08 PM

You can't lose with either Canons. I've had numerous Epson printers and none have come close to the i850 I own at present. It is a cut above in every way ... quiet, smooth, ... and looks cool!

Footy · Nov 10, 2003, 07:16 PM

Can't go wrong with either Canon. Maybe even consider the i850 since I think it can be had for under 150 now. I love mine. Great photos and extremely fast. Well fast compared to any Epson I've ever owned. Don't buy Epson!

X-Ray · Nov 10, 2003, 07:28 PM

If youre dad uses the printer mostly for photos with occasional text printing get a Canon. If he prints alot of text with occasional photo output get an HP.

Timo · Nov 10, 2003, 07:34 PM

Got the Canon i950 at home. Happy with it.

mbryda · Nov 10, 2003, 11:43 PM

After waiting for 3 8x10's to spit out from my trusty Epson 875DC printer last weekend, I decided it was time for a new printer. Looking at Epson's current offerings (as I've had very good luck with my 2 Epsons), none were speedy (all the reviewers commented on this), I started looking at Canon (the only real competition) and heard the i960 was fast and with the same if not better quality than my trusty Epsons.

Came home with the i960 and it's truly amazing. FAST is an understatement. It will pop out an 8x10 in around 2 mins. from iPhoto and does some neat tricks that all printers should do...

Auto power on/off - Set up the printer to power off after whatever time of non-use. When you print the printer will power back on again. I used to just leave my Epson on 24/7, but this should save on the electric bills.

Quiet mode - You can automatically tell the printer to go into quiet mode from, say 10pm to 8am. Anything you print from then will have the printer make less noise.

Auto head alignment - print 1 page, pick the densest swatches and the printer will do the rest.

There's many more, but to say I'm impressed would be an understatement.

I would have bought another Epson, but the speed just wasn't there.

Landos Mustache · Nov 11, 2003, 02:10 AM

Anything BUT an Epson, HP or Lexmark.

CaseCom · Nov 11, 2003, 04:54 AM

Well, I think I'm going shopping for a Canon

Thanks.

tooki · Nov 11, 2003, 09:29 PM

The i850/860 is a better all-purpose printer than the i950/960: the i8x0 has pigment black ink (in a larger tank, too) that prints better plain-paper text at lower cost.

The i860 specifically actually holds both kinds of black ink, one optimized for photos, plus pigment black for text.

The i9x0 has only dye black, which is great for photos, but pale on plain paper.

Also, the i8x0 is appreciably faster at non-photo tasks.

My hunch is that for your Dad, the i860 is the perfect fit.

Don't get me wrong -- I think the i9x0 are great printers, but one needs to keep in mind that they are optimized for photos to the detriment of non-photo printing. The i8x0 are designed as general-purpose printers that happen to print outstanding photos.

(Note also that the new i560, which retails for $130, is an i850 with a plastic lid instead of metal. It has the exact same specs.)

tooki

P.S. I have an i850 and absolutely love it.

CaseCom · Nov 27, 2003, 03:17 PM

I just wanted to check back in to let you know I went with the i860. Thanks for your help.

Of course, his initial reaction will be "But I already have a printer."

But I'm betting he'll love it once he starts using it.

Thanks again.

neilw · Nov 29, 2003, 11:51 AM

Can't go wrong. Let us know how he likes it!

CaseCom · Nov 23, 2004, 03:45 AM

Originally posted by neilw:
Can't go wrong. Let us know how he likes it!

I just talked to him today, and he likes it.

Yes, believe it or not, he hooked it up 11 months after I gave it to him.

He wanted to use up the ink in the old HP before he got rid of it.

11 months later, here we are. Maybe he'll actually start printing more photos now that he has a good printer.

Parents ... sheesh.

bbales · Nov 23, 2004, 10:51 AM

I didn't notice holw old the initial post was! I was going to suggest a Canon Pixma. I just got one and love it. (I'd never had a photo printer before.) I regard it as one of my most favorite toys.

I'm glad you went with the Canon. I just swtiched, for the photos at least, from Epson. Tired of buying ink every tie I turn around. The canon is just better.

OldCodger73 · Nov 23, 2004, 04:05 PM

<< I was going to suggest a Canon Pixma. I just got one and love it. >>

Which Pixma did you buy?

3gg3 · Nov 23, 2004, 11:28 PM

Originally posted by CaseCom:
I just talked to him today, and he likes it.

Yes, believe it or not, he hooked it up 11 months after I gave it to him.

He wanted to use up the ink in the old HP before he got rid of it.

11 months later, here we are. Maybe he'll actually start printing more photos now that he has a good printer.

Parents ... sheesh.

Funny � sounds like my son. He also likes to hang on to letters etc. for a couple of days before opening them. But printer-wise, he got talked into an "inexpensive" Xerox MultiFunction thing by some cheesy salesman. He complains the ink dries up too fast, but only turns the thing on about once a week, at most.

chris v · Nov 24, 2004, 12:32 AM

Originally posted by OldCodger73:
<< I was going to suggest a Canon Pixma. I just got one and love it. >>

Which Pixma did you buy?

Funny that this thread floats to the top today. I just got home with a Canon Pixma ip6000D and have been playing with it for a couple of hours. I went with it because of the six ink colors, mostly, and didn't need 11 x 14.

Short review: For $169.00? Very nice. Great shadow saturation. Detail is great, no visible banding, even under a loupe, pretty fast, good drivers and utilities.

Cons: fleshtones and neutral highlights are all a tad pink, no matter what profile I use, but believe it or not, for Glossy, good old Adobe RGB (1998) works best. Provided Easy PhotoPrint software is pretty crap. It does what it's supposed to do, but it's an interface disaster.

For consumer level, up to 8x10, I'd reccommend it heartily. Beats the crap out of my dying Epson C80, which I am not going to miss.

bbales · Nov 26, 2004, 06:56 PM

Originally posted by OldCodger73:
<< I was going to suggest a Canon Pixma. I just got one and love it. >>

Which Pixma did you buy?

sorry I didn't respond sooner1 I was the chef yesterday and was kind of busy. I got the 4000, which when I got it (about a day after it came out) was the top of the line. I believe there are two "higher" pixmas, now. I'd have gone with the 5000, I think it is, had that been available, b/c it has a small LCD screen that facilitates camera-to-printer printing.

But what I have works great.