Inkjet printer recommendation

[Panama Red]

Looking to buy a new inkjet printer for general color printing and photo's. Won't get a lot of use as I have a laser printer for general B&W stuff. Don't want clogged nozzles if it sits for a week and don't want to use up all the ink doing cleaning. What brand/model would you recommend for this type of printing ? Why did you choose it? (Price, a review, someone's recommendation, etc) On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being best) how would you rank your recommendation?

[speeddude2000]

how much are you looking to spend? ive always bought HP's and theyre great. try the deskjet 5000 line.

[icallmedan]

One thing you might want to try is going to an Office Max or Office Depot or something and test all the color printers. I have always bought HPs and have been very pleased with them. The price of ink is uncalled for though...lol...but you will find that with any printer.

[pc master]

i would reccommend an epson c60

[Brown Hornet]

this printer surprised me,plus the ink tank's(2) cost like 28$$ for both.
pair it with a nice digi cam and your set.my fuji is only 2.0mp and the photo
quality is great :)

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=28-102-121&depa=1

[icallmedan]

You could also look at one of those printers with 5 or so ink cartrdiges so you only have to replace one color is something goes wrong, which would be cheaper than spending $30-40 for an ink cartridge.

[glc]

From a reliability standpoint, I have had the best luck with HP but keeping them in ink is an expensive proposition. Epsons have the best print quality, but they can be mechanical nightmares and are very subject to ink clogs. However, the new Canon line bears a close look - the ones with separate color tanks can save you a lot of money on ink. They also appear to be a lot better made than they used to be. There are no other brands worth looking at in my opinion - Lexmark makes excellent lasers but their inkjets are trash in my experience.

[Redfallon]

HP deskjet 5650 - 10 out of 10 - Prints superb photos, especially on photo paper. I use mine for printing alot of black and white apps, and the black cartridge is over 7 months old. We use HP's exclusively in our office, have had others, but we print a decent amount of photos on our inkjets with plain paper, and have found HP to be the best balance. We have alot of year-2 year old deskjets, just recently bought a batch of three 5650's. I also use HP's at home. Haven't had any complaints with them, although Canon is not to shabby now a days. I pretty much concur with glc, don't look at lexmark. Top 3, in order, IMHO: HP, Cannon, Epson

[icallmedan]

Didn't lexmark have very good printers? Thats what I thought...has their quality dropped?

[Redfallon]

I've never owned one myself, but I've known people who were dissatisfied, or got poor prints or shorter than expected lifespan. I am strictly talking inkjets also. Kinda like AMD, never owned one, nothing against em, just stick with what hasn't let me down in the past ;)

[glc]

As I said, Lexmark makes an excellent laser but their inkjets are mediocre. They were also the first manufacturer to "chip" the ink cartridges to try to prevent them from being refilled. Note that Xerox uses the Lexmark engine for their inkjets, and Compaq inkjets were rebadged Lexmarks. I *think* Dell printers might be Lexmarks too.

[Panama Red]

Thanx for all the input. I did my research and based on cost per page and seemingly low failure rates (unlike the clog-prone Epsons), I decided to go with a Canon this time. Ordered the i560 last nite from EBuyer.com. Same price as Sam's Club, but no cash out of pocket til next month! Lexmark has some of the lowest price printers available, it's just that there ink cartridges are high priced. Cheaper to throw the printer away and buy a new one.

[icallmedan]

Dells are Lexmarks....at least they used to be when they first came out.

[RayH]

Be sure to shut down the printer correctly. The correct way actually seals the cartridges.

[icallmedan]

I never realized that before. Thanks for the fact...