Looking to buy a 44" printer

[Ted Harris]

Bruce, sorry for the late night typing. The point here is I am not an attorney. AFAIK, you aren't either so neither of us is qualified to give advice on this subject. However, in my reading of Title 15, Chapter c.1 and c.2 the manufacturers may have a case if the third party product is formulated differently and the manufacturer can demonstrate that it adversely affects the operation of the product. What I said was, " I think they will have a case to deny coverage." Such a statement is in accord with the Title. Ididn't say they would pursue it, I didn't cite any court cases that said they had either been upheld or denied .... it was just a warning, a simple warning. FYI, I have talked with two of the three manufacturers on the subject and they both take the unofficial position that each case is handled individually. Officially, they stick by the wording of the warranty. This is as far as any of us can go unless 1) warranty language changes or 2) there is a class action law suit that sets some precedent. Without going into a legal jungle that neither of us is competent to enter ... at least I know I am not ... I am just giving a cautionary alert. Further, that alert is coupled with a suggestion that the issue may well be moot, at least for HP printers, based on the composition of their black and white inkset. Of course, if someone sees special advantages in one inkset over another they are welcome to use it. I don't see a need given today's technology and further have not seen third party inks priced low enough to make a switch. Always willing to here more though.

As far as an article goes ... one on all the variables beyond the printer ... inksets, RIP's, etc. is on the drawing board and has been for months. In fact I asked for suggestions here some 4 months ago. I would love to have your input on the subject so please send me an email with a couple of sketchy details and we can begin a dialogue.

[Bruce Watson]

You are right about one thing. I'm not a lawyer and don't pretend to be. But you don't have to be a lawyer to read Magnuson, and you can read Epson's warranty and see that they don't require that you use their inks.

That said, they can and do everything allowed them under the law to get you to use their inks. Why wouldn't they?

The curious thing to me is why anyone other than the printer manufacturers would want to discourage the use of third party inks. It is the desire by the market to print decent B&W, to the extent of abandoning the Epson inks and using third party inks for that purpose (aka voting with your wallet), that has driven Epson to create printers and inks that allow us to make better B&W prints. First the UltraChromes with one gray, then the K3s with two grays.

Third party inks are good. Competition is good for the consumer. It drives both Epson and the 3rd party ink makers to make better products. The end result is better prints, both B&W and color. And that is what we all want, right?

[PViapiano]

...and don't seem to have any magenta as do the Epson K3 inks.

Who has noticed color casts with K3 inks?

I'm curious...

[Doug Keyes]

What recommendations would you make for a 44" wide printer? I would probably default to the 9800, but I have also been hearing good things about other brands.

Thanks.

~Joel Belmont
www.JoelBelmont.com

Joel,
You can see what people are saying about the z3100 and canon printers on Luminous Landscape forum http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/. I'm an owner of the z3100 44" and have been using it since Feb. I've been very happy with the results compared to my 9800 prints. Some papers, especially the HP Pro Satin, look like c-prints. The gloss ink really eliminates gloss differential in color prints using the satin and glossy papers. People have been very happy with the neutral B&W tri and quadtone prints from this printer on gloss, satin and uncoated/fine art papers.

Making paper profiles is very easy and is one of the main reasons I bought this machine. I can calibrate the printer, make a paper profile and store it in the printer and computer in about 40 minutes. It takes three clicks on the simple HP print utility to do all this. Open up Photoshop and soft proofs are ready to go.

It prints on the highest/finest print setting at the same speed the Epson 9800 printed on bi-directional 1440 (epsons faster speed/lower quality setting).

As you can see, I'm a fan of this printer. But as others have mentioned, image quality is similar across all the brands. The general consensus is the Epson has an edge in shadows/darker colors, Canon in some bright/saturated colors like red. HP is good with blues/ greens and light colors. Of course I've shorthanded alot of info but this may give you a starting point. HP has been very commited to quality improvement and is watching the forums to find out what issues are coming up. They have solved some issues with color and performance since I purchased my machine only 3 months ago. (two firmware and one driver update already)

Good luck with your search.
- Doug