I try vry hard not to be overly enthusiastic about new products I am evaluating, certainly not before I have put them through a full shakedown cruise but in the case of the HP B9180 printer I am going to throw caution to the winds. This printer is just a solid joy to work with and, so far, produces outstanding results. This is HP's entry into the photo printer market to challenge the Epson 2400 and from waht I have seen so far it is a clear winner.

I first used the printer at our last Scanning Workshop at Midwest a few weeks ago. Jim Andracki set the printer up with no complications and the very first prints we made with no attempts at any heroic adjustments were excellent. During the workshop we tested the printer head-to-head against an Epson 3800 printing two black and white and one color image on both printers ... same file, same size, same paper, etc. Looking at the prints side-by-side there was absolutely no visable difference. Looking at them through an 8x loupe you could see slight subtle differences. Just differences, nothing that said this one is beetter than than just tiny differences.

Since then I have been running a lot of paper through the printer,mostly 8x10's until recently to check how the results looked versus proof prints I have on file for prints that were eventually printed 11x14 or larger on my Epson 4800 or on an Iris printer. Again, excellent, solid images. Black & White prints show solid deep deep blacks and images hold detail well into the darker shadows. I have been using Ilford Pearl, Hanemuhle Fine Art Pearl, Hanemuhle Photo Rag Smooth and HP's own Soft Glossy (manufactured for them by Hanemuhle I am told). I will also be testing the printer with some Red River, Crane and Moab papers over the next month. The printer has an 8 ink pigmet ink set with no changes from matte to gloss required. Also, different from Epson, the print heads (one for each two colors) are user replacable. Finally the inks are slightly less expensive than Epson inks

My initial impressions are that this printer is built like a tank, far more solid and precise than I have come to expect from consumer printers. My only complaint so far and it is a minor one is that some heavier papers that use the single sheet 'specialty tray' have to be loaded from the back of the printer and pulled through. No big thing, but not documented by HP.

HP has said they are going after Epson head on and if this printer is an example of what the larger Z3100 wide format professional printers can do then they are doing it right. Saving the best for last, the B9180 sells for as low as $505 (Amazon) or $544 from B&H (and it was 506 from them last week so who knows what's next). Midwest will have them in stock next week. This is the same price as the Epson R1800 and some 230 to 270 less than the 2400, WOW. At a price like this it is a real Epson killer. Given that, in our quick tests, it preformed on a par with and is built better than the 3800 I'd say it is competes well with this machineas well ... as long as you can live with the smaller output (no, it doesn't have a roll feeder either).

I'll keep posting bits and pieces as I continue to work with the printer and the full review will be in the May-June issue of View Camera. I also have a Canon 5000 in the studio now and will say something about it in the next few weeks. An HP Z3100 will be arriving for a 4 month shake down cruise in 3 weeks or so and then I can look at the Canon v. the HP v. the Epson wide formats.

For the moment I strongly recommend that anyone thinking of purchasing a 2400 or an 1800 or a 3800 (unless they need the size) think hard about this new HP printer.