What is the best A4 printer for M8 B/W ?

[carstenw]

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For just a bit more, you can get the R2400, so I would not recommend the R1800. The 2400 has the newer K3 inkset which is much better for B&W.

[DaveB]

I just picked up an HP B9180 through amazon.com and it was delivered yesterday.

 

Got it up and running last night and did some test prints with the leftover HP advanced glossy paper that is used for initialization and calibration.

 

Using default settings from the M8 through to the printer, my first impression is that print quality is outstanding.

 

I'm looking forward to experimenting with nice art paper for B&W. The amazon.com promotion includes a "free" pack of Hahnemuhle Smooth Fine Art paper. Using the glossy HP advanced stock, which to my eye resembles Canon Photo Paper Pro, it yields inkjet prints that are already much better than any 8x10 wet process I've gotten from my lab.

[wlaidlaw]

I just picked up an HP B9180 through amazon.com and it was delivered yesterday.

 

Got it up and running last night and did some test prints with the leftover HP advanced glossy paper that is used for initialization and calibration.

 

Using default settings from the M8 through to the printer, my first impression is that print quality is outstanding.

 

I'm looking forward to experimenting with nice art paper for B&W. The amazon.com promotion includes a "free" pack of Hahnemuhle Smooth Fine Art paper. Using the glossy HP advanced stock, which to my eye resembles Canon Photo Paper Pro, it yields inkjet prints that are already much better than any 8x10 wet process I've gotten from my lab.

 

Dave,

 

May I recommend you try Ilford Galerie Smooth Pearl A3+ with the B9180. You should use the Ilford icc profiles you can download from their website and follow their setting instructions. You end up with an exceptionally "optical" looking print. Skies are very smooth and fine detail is excellent. You may need to play around a tiny bit with fine tuning of lightness and saturation at the final print level for personal taste.

 

Wilson

[luigi bertolotti]

Luigi,

 

I really do mean it on the ink costs. The Epsons only use about 65 to 70% of the ink in their carts and the carts are small anyway. You have the added expense of the chips in the carts. I always seem to be replacing the carts in the Epsons. I have had the B9180 since April and I have printed I would guess about 80 A3+ prints and lots of A4. I have still have not replaced all of the original carts that came with the printer, which I expected to replace in the first few weeks, as normally, the original set arrive half full.

 

HP service is superb. I had a faulty one delivered on the Thursday before Easter - it would not intialise at all, making broken gearbox noises. HP apologised that due to Easter holidays, they could not get me a replacement immediately. One arrived on the Tuesday after Easter. This one worked but spat out one of the tiny paper guide rollers on the first print. I phoned up, now somewhat irate, even though the printer seemed to work without the roller. They delivered a second replacement by taxi the same day.

 

When I was having a problem with the roll feed on my R1800, the engineer who called, wrecked a whole roll of 220mm wide 260gsm paper - not cheap and then said it was not his problem. It took four months and lots of phone calls to get Epson, with very ill grace, to replace the paper roll.

 

I think the big Epsons 9800 etc are a totally different kettle of fish. They are very good and I gather it is a wholly different service operation that looks after you in comparison to the idiots who look after the R800/1800/2400.

 

Wilson

 

Thank you Wilson... I was well disposed towards HP also for the service and You confirm it... very probable that I go for a 9180.