Seeking opinions (or even facts) about Canon 9500 II printer

I am interested in user feedback about the Canon PIXMA Pro9500 Mark II printer which currently has a $300 rebate offer going in combination with a sale price which results in an after-rebate price in the vicinity of $300. This has led me to consider it as a replacement for my trustworthy Canon i9900 as my primary photo printer. I am very satisfied with my i9900 and would keep it as an all-purpose printer for use with use with our other computer (the old printer on that computer is dying an agonizingly slow death). I was all enthused about getting the 9500 II until I read a few reviews and owner comments and saw some frequently mentioned things such as:

• It uses lots of ink compared to other printers.
  
• It wastes a lot of ink with its self-cleaning cycle.
  
• It takes a very long time for the printer to get ready to print.
  
• It takes forever to print a 13 X 19 print
  
• The driver imposes some significant restrictions on print size if using fine art papers ... basically creating huge margins. I primarily do large prints.
  
• Apparently bronzing is a problem with some types of matte paper.
  
• Lucia pigment ink has a very limited shelf life (I have no problems with even three year old BCI-6 dye ink for the i9900).
  
• The paper options are somewhat limited. I use mostly non-Canon paper -- Ilford, Red River, and Inkpress.
  
• If not printing frequently, the nozzles can clog necessitating lots of wasted ink going through cleaning cycles.

I have the 9500 and can answer some of your questions.
-This is my first "fine art" printer so I can't answer this one.
-It doesn't seem like a lot of ink is wasted.
-Just a couple of minutes (a lot of sounds come from it as it gets ready).
-About 4-5 minutes for a 13x19
-Yes it does not print full bleed 13x19 on fine art papers.
-Have not seen bronzing on matte paper (I did see some bronzing using Canon Premium Pro once).
-I print enough that my ink won't last that long.
-So far I've used Hahnemuhle, Red River, Epson, and Canon
-I've had mine sit for 2-3 week stretches with no nozzle clogs.

I love mine so far. The colors and B&W look superb with calibrated setup

Steven,

I thank you very much for your reply. I have read many owner reviews on sites such as B&H, Adorama, or blogs, but I take all of them with a grain of salt because I realize that people sometimes vent their frustration when they get a piece of equipment that is a bit more complicated than they are prepared to handle. One owner review stated that it took 25 - 30 minutes to make a 13 X 19 size print -- that sounded rather long and perhaps the person had a computer that was bogging down with background processes or a really slow processor.

Perhaps the bronzing was on gloss paper now that I think about it because I saw several comments that indicated that the printer works best with matte paper.

Right now, I still have a huge supply of inks for my i9900. For several years I bought sets of 8 cartridges whenever they were on sale. Now, I have a lifetime supply of red and green ink because those are hardly ever used. Now, I just buy an ink cartridge when I am about to run out so that I can eventually get rid of this abundant supply. I would hate to be stuck with all this ink if this printer suddenly died.

Bill,
Glad to help out. I print from Lightroom 4 through a MBP and have never had a print take that long to print out. Good luck with your future decisions. Steve