[thunderbrick]

Problem #1:  Wife likes cheap stuff

Problem #2:  She has gone through FOUR damned HP desk-top photo printers in five years, including one last week, with one problem after another. 
Problem #3:  Now she is REALLY pissed, because I suggested (bad move) when doing benefit Santa photos, I TOLD her the people wanted the photos via email, not some crappy 4x6that will quickly get lost.

Problem #4:  She forced the last HP printer on me, and even out right of the box we spent 2+ hours of screwing around with it still gave us lots of white lines through the photos.

Now, has anyone had any GOOD experiences with the kinds/brands of desk-top photo printers?  Canon?  Brother?  Crayola?   

[Æ]

Problem #1:  Wife likes cheap stuff

Problem #2:  She has gone through FOUR damned HP desk-top photo printers in five years, including one last week, with one problem after another. 
Problem #3:  Now she is REALLY pissed, because I suggested (bad move) when doing benefit Santa photos, I TOLD her the people wanted the photos via email, not some crappy 4x6that will quickly get lost.

Problem #4:  She forced the last HP printer on me, and even out right of the box we spent 2+ hours of screwing around with it still gave us lots of white lines through the photos.

Now, has anyone had any GOOD experiences with the kinds/brands of desk-top photo printers?  Canon?  Brother?  Crayola?   

I went through a series of cheap (inexpensive) printers, several different brands, one after the other. It seems that you get what you pay for. I finally stepped up (more $) and it's been good for me ever since. Probably cheaper in the long run too.

[thunderbrick]

I agree, but re-read Problem #1!     

What brand/model/price did you step up to?

[kip_]

I have a Canon IP4700 printer, with 6 ink tanks that prints very nice photos, and is reasonably fast, but the cost of ink ($60) is now more than the cost of the printer (~$45 on sale from frys.com) so I am not going to refill the cartridges anymore once this set runs out. I'm planning on outsourcing all my photo printing needs to Costco and using my Samsung laser printer (got it for $39.99 on Black Friday) for everything else.

Edit: The newest model of this printer now appears to be the IP4920.

[thunderbrick]

I appreciate the comment on the Canon printer, but it was a little over $100 to replace the HP "starter" cartridges, which wouldn't have done Saturday's "Santa" shots.  Fortunately the problem surfaced before we broke into the high-dollar inks.

Are ink-jet photo printers susceptible to drying out and clogging from lack of use?  It is a systemic problem?

It does piss me off to spend as much on ink as it does a new printer, but it's flat out stupid to keep throwing out printers for that reason.  If the damned things worked I'd rather replace the ink than trash another piece of junk.  That's bad for all, even in a disposable economy.  Can you imagine people 30 years from now hunting down 2000-era printers because they sound print better than the 2040 HP models?   

[Æ]

I agree, but re-read Problem #1!     

What brand/model/price did you step up to?

One of my neighbors was laid of, in fact the company he was working for closed their doors. Anyway, he came home with (free? stolen?) all sorts of office equipment etc. I ended up buying a used HP 6540 from him along with a whole bunch of brand new ink cartridges and even a gold plated USB cable too, all for $25. Downloaded the software from their website. Not a bad deal considering that the cartridges all by themselves were worth at least $75.

Current I have no need/desire to print photos, but the printer has worked flawlessly and I'm happy with it, having printed maybe 1000 sheets. All I would need to do some photo printing is a 4 or 6 color photo ink cartridge and of course the appropriate paper.
I read a review of the printer, apparently my purchase was a good decision.

Previously I'd been using inexpensive Canon and HP printers, this was the first time I actually stepped up to a more expensive model. So far so good.

[nathanm]

Are ink-jet photo printers susceptible to drying out and clogging from lack of use?  It is a systemic problem?

YES!!!

This is the biggest hole in the printer marketplace IMO.  You can get a print that looks great, lasts for hundreds years and is reasonbly priced, but you cannot get a printer that works great in January and that still prints great in April without lots of TLC along the way.  The side effect of having prints that dry instantly is that the ink also dries nice and fast inside the print head.  If you don't run a nozzle check periodically you will be courting trouble.  If I were you I would farm the prints out to a pro lab or online service.  At the very least I would switch brands.  Ink jets work great when you run them hard on a regular basis, but that ink does not like to sit idle.  Think of them like fresh fruit, if you don't eat it shortly after bringing it home from the grocery store they go bad.  Maybe not the same life cycle as a banana, but close.

Things don't necessarily get better if you spend more money either.  I have a 24" Epson and I made sure to do periodic nozzle checks when I wasn't using it actively.  All was fine up until a small plastic part broke on the head assembly and it sat unused for awhile.  $1700 in repairs later *ouch!*  and now I've got a NEARLY-perfect print head.  Just sitting for a few months caused many of the heads to plug up and it required many many cleaning cycles.  It's pretty good now, but if I wanted it perfect it would be yet another $800.

So I would look into non-inkjet printers, or if you just print occasionally, let someone else do it for you.  I did this when my own printer was down and the results were great.  Printers are generally a real pain in the ass.

[Æ]

I have a 24" Epson and I made sure to do periodic nozzle checks when I wasn't using it actively.  All was fine up until a small plastic part broke on the head assembly and it sat unused for awhile.  $1700 in repairs later *ouch!*  and now I've got a NEARLY-perfect print head.  Just sitting for a few months caused many of the heads to plug up and it required many many cleaning cycles.  It's pretty good now, but if I wanted it perfect it would be yet another $800.

So I would look into non-inkjet printers, or if you just print occasionally, let someone else do it for you.  I did this when my own printer was down and the results were great.  Printers are generally a real pain in the ass.

I don't think the OP is willing to spend $1700 or even $800 on a new printer.

[randytsuch]

FYI, consumer reports likes the canon Canon Selphy CP780 (amoung others), for photo printers.
This is a the cheapest recommended photo printer, but it is not inkjet.  Ink cost is a quarter for a photo, all of the printers they like are the same ink cost.

I actually am using an inkjet, but it really doesn't do photo's well

Randy

[srb]

I don't think the OP is willing to spend $1700 or even $800 on a new printer.

I don't think the OP is looking for a large format printer like nathanm's 24" wide Epson.  If he was, he would be certainly be outside the realm of cheap disposable printers no matter what brand or model he got.
 
Steve

[thunderbrick]

I don't think the OP is willing to spend $1700 or even $800 on a new printer.

For that money I'd buy some new lenses!  I have no use for desk-top printers at all, and defer to pro labs when I need prints.  Remember, I'm just bitching.  It's She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed/If Momma Ain't Happy, Ain't NOBODY Happy/Don't Shoot The Messenger/It's Not My Fault, But I AM Gonna Get Blamed/The Love of My (current) Life, that all this is centered around.   

A lab I know went under, and I am not ruling out getting a wide-format printer from them.  At least the prints will look good.

[nathanm]

I don't think the OP is willing to spend $1700 or even $800 on a new printer.

Yeah I know, which is why the anecdote in my post was illustrating how troublesome they are even if you did spend more. My actual advice to the OP which I gave twice was more like:

If I were you I would farm the prints out to a pro lab or online service.
So I would look into non-inkjet printers, or if you just print occasionally, let someone else do it for you.

[skunark]

I would definitely look into using an online lab.  iPhoto/Elements/Aperture/Lightroom all make this easy to do.      At 12 cents for a 4x6 plus shipping (shipping $2.99 qty of 1 or 999) vs about 50 cents if you printed at home.  I have an old dye-sub printer that is at least two OS drivers out of date and haven't even bothered re-ordering ink and paper or see if there are still drives for it (doubtful).