Decided to fire up my Pro 100 the other day and was welcomed with the alternating flashing of the power and error light. Tried the power button hack to no avail. Then called Canon and was told it’s likely dead. So, now I’m in the market for a “photo printer” of some kind. I know this is somewhat vague but looking for a good, better, best suggestion. Only real requirement would be to have the ability to print borderless 8x10’s. Appreciate the feedback!!
Suggest you spend some quality time digging into Keith Cooper's website and video reviews. If you want to stay in the Canon world, current choices are Pro-200s (13", dye ink), Pro-310 (13", pigment) and Pro-1100 (17", pigment + much larger ink carts). Keith has reviews for all. He is also rather chuffed with the Epson ET-8550, as an all around.
I also have a Pro 100 but never fully bonded with the beast. Despite my best efforts, was never entirely pleased with the output on any matte papers I trialed, color or B&W. In addition, I was never thrilled with the B&W output on any media. In reflection, I will chalk 50% of my issues up to inexperience, and another 50% to ink type. Ended up with a used Pro 1000, which uses pigment inks versus the dye inks on the Pro 100, and now have fantastic B&W and matte paper results.
I don't have enough printing experience to offer comprehensive advice. However, I will advise you to choose a printer that can be switched between matte and glossy black inks without having to flush one to use the other.
Also, it's cheaper to buy a larger printer than to buy a smaller one and replace it soon afterwards with a larger one. So, are you confident that you won't want to move up to a 17" printer ? Current Epson 17" printers are about the same size as the older 13" printers were. A potentially significant benefit of a larger printer could be that inks are cheaper per mL in the bigger cartridges.
The ability to print borderless on anything except 4x6 would not be on my list of preferences. I have a guillotine paper cutter that will make anything borderless. A guillotine paper cutter can be the price you are willing to pay from cheap to very high end.
Appreciate all the feedback thus far. At the moment I’m leaning towards the 8550. I got my Pro 100 back when I worked for Canon so I got a pretty good deal. Always hated the ink cost/yield math on the 100 even with my discount.
My pro-100 and pro-10 finally stopped- full maintenance tanks.
I have been using the epson 8550 for almost 2 years.
Terrific printer. I just finished printing 600 note cards- without any issue at all.
Print quality is decent.
Does it replace my 12 ink pigment printers-- no.
But the prints are pretty good.
The 8550 is sensitive to paper profiles- but with a decent profile the images are fine.
gary
