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HP B9180 Printer Experience


barjohn

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Anyone have any experience with this printer. How does it compare to Epson 2800 or Canon Pro 9500? Which do you think is best and why? How about customer support, how do they stack up. I'm leaning toward the HP due to its built in calibration, pigment inks, lower price with high build quality and HP customer service. Your thoughts?

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I bought one in early January. Had it about 3 weeks and every time I lowered the SMT (Special Media Tray) I got a paper jamb error even when there was NO paper anywhere in the printer. Once I closed the SMT and jumped through some hoops it would clear itself some times and I could print from the standard tray but never the SMT. It also had the older firmware on it which was known to have problems.

I called HP TS and the original TS person was going to replace the printer ONLY, no new ink cartridges or print heads, with a refurb unit. I asked to speak to a upper level TS person or supervisor and demanded that they send out a NEW unit with NEW ink and print heads.

Tha is exactly what they did. In about 3 days I received a new printer and a shipping label to send the old one back.

So far the new one has worked perfectly and produces great prints. I also bought a HP 3 year extended warranty for $40.

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i recently got one and love it, no problems at all, initially got it for B&W but now also use it occassionally for color, my color machine is a Designjet 130NR

 

from day one with both my 2200s and the 2000 i had clogging issues, the hp works first time every time. if one looks at ink usage on paper it is a bit more expensive than epson, but factor in cleaning cycles and i find the 9180 to cost about 60% LESS to run.

 

bill

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Bought one 2 weeks ago.

 

Have had no trouble, and I am very pleased with the calibration and the way the PS plugin works.

I use it as a network printer, and it is also easy to set up with Office and other apps.

There was one driver update for the HP, and the driver has some neat options for printing greeting cards etc. - which the family rather like.

 

 

Previously I had an Epson 935, which always needed the heads cleaning and spread ink on the rollers after only 1 year. The HP also produces real edge - to -edge pictures, which the Epson couldn't do.

I use a Mac. Maybe the Epson driver is OK on PCs.

 

The HP gets rave reviews from me. The HP has easier and better color control than the Epson.

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got one in january and really like it. replaced an epson 2200 which had many problems. had a problem with one of the print heads, called hp tech support, they answered the phone in about five seconds, were helpful in sending me a replacement head along with a full set of ink cartridges for my trouble. great service and great, easy to use, network printer. only thing i don't like is if it gets turned off (which they don't recommend) it takes a long time to cycle up.

 

john

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Lot of teething troubles - Printer #1 did not initialise at all and made horrible breaking gearbox noises. HP replaced within 6 days even with Easter in the middle. They seemed very familiar with the problem - the printer screen showed printer carriage stalled. #2 arrived, initialised OK and then spat a tiny paper feed guide roller out the front with the first sheet of paper that I put through it. Phoned HP up again - profuse apologies and another new printer delivered to me by taxi the next morning. They have then phoned up twice to check that all is well - superb service.

 

I am now very pleased with the printer. I am mostly using Ilford Smooth Pearl and Heavyweight Matte A3+ (13" x 19"), with Ilford's own ICC profiles. You need to increase saturation just a tiny bit for the Smooth Pearl and then it is as good as I have seen from a domestic printer. Black and white is excellent with the two blacks and a grey. I think it is a good way ahead of my previous Epson R800, consumes a fraction of the ink plus the ink tanks are twice the capacity for the same price. Highly recommended just for the service alone.

 

Wilson

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i recently got one and love it, no problems at all, initially got it for B&W but now also use it occassionally for color, my color machine is a Designjet 130NR

 

 

bill

 

Bill,

Intersted in how the 130NR performs for you. What do you use it for ? Do you use it with Mac or PC ?

Any comments would be welcome as I am currently considering this for colour linework.

Thanks

 

Harry

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The feedback has been great. How well does the printer work from a Mac? More specifically from Lightroom and Photoshop CS3? Does the plug-in work well. Are there tricks one should know and pitfalls to avoid? Thanks.

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John,

 

The only niggle I have come across on a Mac is the utility (ink levels, head condition, etc) does not work through a Macally powered hub even though the printer does. You have to plug the USB cable direct into the Mac to access this. It would be interesting to see if it worked on the Ethernet connection but my router is in a narrow corridor, too small to put the 9180 in and still be able to walk past it. Interesting, I have the same problem in the UK with our system printer, which is an HP Business InkJet 1100D plugged into the airport express wireless router - no utility available.

 

I don't think in general, Mac printer interfaces are as good as Windows; it is really the only thing I have never liked about Macs. Disappointingly the plug in does not work with PSE4; it needs a full version and I am still waiting for my son to get the student version of PS10-CS3 for me. However I think if you wade through the various levels of the print menus, there is is nothing you can't do without the plug in. Perhaps when I see the plug in working, that would answer my criticism of the printer interface.

 

Wilson

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John,

 

The only niggle I have come across on a Mac is the utility (ink levels, head condition, etc) does not work through a Macally powered hub even though the printer does. You have to plug the USB cable direct into the Mac to access this. It would be interesting to see if it worked on the Ethernet connection but my router is in a narrow corridor, too small to put the 9180 in and still be able to walk past it. Interesting, I have the same problem in the UK with our system printer, which is an HP Business InkJet 1100D plugged into the airport express wireless router - no utility available.

 

I don't think in general, Mac printer interfaces are as good as Windows; it is really the only thing I have never liked about Macs. Disappointingly the plug in does not work with PSE4; it needs a full version and I am still waiting for my son to get the student version of PS10-CS3 for me. However I think if you wade through the various levels of the print menus, there is is nothing you can't do without the plug in. Perhaps when I see the plug in working, that would answer my criticism of the printer interface.

 

Wilson

 

i have mine on an ethernet network with macs and the utility works perfectly.

 

john

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i have mine on an ethernet network with macs and the utility works perfectly.

 

john

 

John,

 

That is interesting. I think I may therefore go and buy a 15m long 10/100 class 5 Ethernet cable, as apart from anything else, it will free up another USB port, of which I am a bit short and keep having to unplug and replug peripherals.

 

Wilson

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I was planning on putting it on ethernet so the USB hub problem shouldn't bother me. I tried to download and install the drivers and it won't let me install the plug-in even though I have the full version of CS-3. It says I don't have a valid copy of Photoshop and even when I point the installer to the CS-3 folder it refuses to recognize it. It doesn't give you access to the plug-in separately from the installer so you can't just drop it in the plug-in's folder. Anyone found a solution for this problem?

 

Any thoughts on how it compares to the new Canon 9500?

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I was planning on putting it on ethernet so the USB hub problem shouldn't bother me. I tried to download and install the drivers and it won't let me install the plug-in even though I have the full version of CS-3. It says I don't have a valid copy of Photoshop and even when I point the installer to the CS-3 folder it refuses to recognize it. It doesn't give you access to the plug-in separately from the installer so you can't just drop it in the plug-in's folder. Anyone found a solution for this problem?

 

Any thoughts on how it compares to the new Canon 9500?

 

That is the same message I got on PSE4. Maybe it is a CS2 plug in only or Windows only.

 

Wilson

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Well, chaps

 

I spent an afternoon yesterday testing a B9180 with every intention of purchasing it, but both the retailer and I found it impossible to get a satisfactory B/W print on gloss paper. We tried a variety of media, including HP Advanced glossy, Ilford Smooth Gloss, and Crane Museo Silver Rag. All of them produced a print with a horrible pink sheen when held against the light, and in fact the HP paper was the worst. I have not seen this problem mentioned in any of the reviews I have read. B/W prints on matt paper looked absolutely fine. I print only B/W, not colour, and this issue is a very serious one. Any advice you may have would be much appreciated.

 

John

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Well, chaps

 

I spent an afternoon yesterday testing a B9180 with every intention of purchasing it, but both the retailer and I found it impossible to get a satisfactory B/W print on gloss paper. We tried a variety of media, including HP Advanced glossy, Ilford Smooth Gloss, and Crane Museo Silver Rag. All of them produced a print with a horrible pink sheen when held against the light, and in fact the HP paper was the worst. I have not seen this problem mentioned in any of the reviews I have read. B/W prints on matt paper looked absolutely fine. I print only B/W, not colour, and this issue is a very serious one. Any advice you may have would be much appreciated.

 

John

 

John,

 

I have not had this problem either with Ilford Smooth Pearl or Heavyweight Matte. You have to use only the Ilford Galerie papers on this printer as a lot of the others are designed for dye based inks not pigment. The other essential is to use the Ilford ICC profiles when you select the printer colour profile and then follow Ilford's instructions for setting the other parameters. I have then saved these as presets. I have just gone and looked again at an A3+ B&W print I did a couple of days ago on Heavyweight Matte and there is not a trace of any tint on it at all. Just one final thought - HP warned me not to cut short the initial auto profiling, which takes about an hour or I was told the colours come out all wrong.

 

Wilson

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Wilson

 

we didn't have any problem with printing on matt papers, either. The results looked wonderful. It was gloss that was the problem. When I got the test prints home the first thing that Kate said was "Oh, but they look all pink!". My money went back in my wallet :)

 

John

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John

 

I printed my first prints in B&W on my new printer using HP Advanced Gloss and there is no trace of color in it. You dont say how you were printing. I am printing from Photoshop and selecting let the program manage the color. I have not tried letting the printer manage the color yet. Both B&W and color on the HP paper are nearly identical to my coor calibrated monitor. Some programs will try to create B&W from color so you have to be careful that it is using the black and gray inks and not the color inks as you may very well get a color cast. With matt paper you are using the photo matt black rather than the photo black ink. Others that have had the printer much longer than me rave about the clor and B&W. Either a defective printer, maybe a clogged head or out of photo black ink or the wrong software set up.

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Wilson

 

we didn't have any problem with printing on matt papers, either. The results looked wonderful. It was gloss that was the problem. When I got the test prints home the first thing that Kate said was "Oh, but they look all pink!". My money went back in my wallet :)

 

John

 

A pink or magenta cast is usually a sign of double profiling in the printing workflow. You must either color manage in Photoshop (or other app) or use printer color management, but not both.

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Well, I'm still riding the Epson 2200 bandwagon, somewhat out of stubbornness, and partially due to a large investment in Epson papers, which I've always found excellent. That said, the next time my Epson printer head clogs will be the last time I use an Epson.

 

Anyone use papers like Epson's Heavyweight Matte on the HP (or Canon)? How were the results?

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