printer question

[perfectpixel]

Hi All,
this might be the wrong forum so please bear with me.
I'm considering purchasing a used Epson Stylus 2200 on ePay. Now ink usage aside, is this foly to purchase a used inkjet printer. I mean assuming heavy use, what wears out in a printer?

[tpinchback]

Post processing and printing

[wolf]

Hi All,
this might be the wrong forum so please bear with me.
I'm considering purchasing a used Epson Stylus 2200 on ePay. Now ink usage aside, is this foly to purchase a used inkjet printer. I mean assuming heavy use, what wears out in a printer?

From my experience it is usually the print head that goes and they are very pricey to replace.

[ron chappel]

I would say it's complete folly to buy a 2nd hand printer -even though i'm a tightass stingey bastard:) Unless you are looking at a great model from someone you know and trust i'd pass for sure

New printers are soooo cheap .Ink and printheads are where the dollars add up!
Paper is a cost too but nowhere near ink prices

I just did the whole research thing recently to buy my very first photo printer-here's what i learned if it's any help at all-

The cheapest in the range do pretty well if you use great paper but (i think) won't quite come close to the smoothness/glossiness of film prints

I think now that even the lowest in the canon range can print A4 (8x11) so going up the range to get multiple ink tanks and longer lasting heads is probably the first priority

The 2nd one up the range should be quite good and would be what i recommend as an absolute bare minimum for decent photo printing

As you go up the range from there it's a matter of increasing speed,multiple ink tanks for economy,CD/DVD printing,ability to use paper rolls and do panoramas),6 ink tanks to do highly acurate colours,etc,etc

I chose an i560 (now replaced by the is3000?)
It has multiple tanks but for photo printing they tend to run out together anyway:confused:
With the savings one can make by getting the tanks refilled,i'd likely get something further down the range if making the choice again

One thought on inktank refilling-the local shop says they use inks that are as good or better than manufacturers specs.I'm not sure how truthfull this is but because inks are not the critical aspect of print longevity (the paper is) then i'm not too worried.I will be annoyed if the print head clogs though

[dhbailey]

Ron said: "One thought on inktank refilling-the local shop says they use inks that are as good or better than manufacturers specs.I'm not sure how truthfull this is but because inks are not the critical aspect of print longevity (the paper is) then i'm not too worried.I will be annoyed if the print head clogs though"

Inks can fade, can't they? I seem to remember Epson making a big todo about their archival quality printer (was it the 8000?) where they stated that their INKS will last up to some huge number of years, so that when used in combination with archival quality paper, the pictures will still look as good in that many years (can't remember if it was 125 or some huge thing like that.)

Was that just marketing hype, or do inks matter, too?