ok my hp printer has gone up the wall

well my printers died on me (hp photosmart 7550) ok it was old but did the job. so im on the market for a new printer
with xmas comming up and just spent my cash on a 100-400L lens i cannot afford the epsom 2440 i was looking at so at the mo an A4 printer will have to sufffice.
i will have about £300 to spare and not really looking at hp agian(unless the quality is great what options do i have in this range (ive heard the cannon pixma series are good) any input would be great im looking at photo quality so cd/dvd printing etc does not come into it! just the quality of prints.

I've got the Epson R1800 which I really like. I don't know what model numbers correlate to those available in the UK though. Here, the R1800 sells for about $500.00 and prints to 13"x19" (B3?). The quality is outstanding. The R800 only prints to A4 and goes for $350.00 here, but it uses the same archival inks and produces equally fine prints.

If you want an A4 pigment printer, I think the Epson R800 is the only show in town. For A3+, the contenders are Epson R1800 and R2400, HP B9180 and Canon will eventually release the Pixma Pro 9500.

The HP B9180 may be worth a look; it's a new model, it's reviewed well albeit with a few glitches at the moment (mainly software/firmware related) and it's not much over the budget you set. Tecno (Jessops' "no frills" brand) have it listed for £365 - see here - though the folk over at photo-i are wondering, as am I, whether that's a pricing mistake and that they use their terms and conditions to dishonour orders at that price.

(The B9180 was in the Warehouse Express printed catalogue that was mailed out in the past week at £149 - though that was a mistake, as Warehouse Express actually want £440 for it).


I'm probably going to go for the B9180, but I'm sitting on the fence a little longer. There's a review here.

David