HP5550 or i850 Canon
Lou
down to these two. I've spent too many hours trying to get the HP 932 to
print. One day it works and the next day it doesn't, and I've had
it!!!!!Time for a new printer. Anyway, I've decided to just buy a fairly
cheap printer as they are evidently to be treated as disposable. I always
need to adjust my digital camera pictures anyway before printing, so there
is no need to buy a printer with a card reader, but print quality is
important. I think I print a little less than 2000 documents a year. Text
printing needs to be sharp and black and I want to print photos and
graphics. I keep going back and forth between these two because I know I
have to use Canon paper for the Canon printer and I have on hand LOTS of HP
photo paper I stocked up on which I won't be able to use on the Canon
printer. But if the Canon printer prints better and lasts longer, it would
still be the better bargain. I have never seen a print from the Canon i850,
and the one print I got from the HP5550 isn't impressive, especially the
text. But, maybe it had the photo cartridge installed and used regular
paper, and that would account for the poor quality. I don't know what
cartridges were in it. It didn't look as good as the sample of the HP 6122,
and wasn't even as good as the HP 932 prints, but the paper could account
for the difference. I've called around to stores in towns close to me and
visited different ones. Some stores don't even carry Canon printers, and
those that do don't have them hooked up to print samples. The Canon is
supposed to print fast and the HP is noted to print very slowly. I wondered
if I would notice the difference in text on the Canon which doesn't use
pigmented ink. Please help me decide between these two. Has anyone seen a
side by side comparison? I need a new printer really soon. Thanks.
Graham
on HP Everyday paper & HP Matte premium plus photo paper. I haven't used
the 58 photo cart or PhotRetIV yet. I need a computer with more RAM to
do higher than 1200 dpi.
joe_tide
"Lou" <nospam@home> wrote in message news:v2g2b9b...@corp.supernews.com...
Lou
another question? How does the Canon print on plain paper? I know that the
HP has pigmented black ink for text printing and with my HP 932 the text is
black and crisp, so how is the Canon i850? I know the Canon only has dye
based ink. Also, do you have to use any special settings for the Canon if
you use HP photo paper? Other people have said that it prints terrible on
HP and Kodak paper. Sorry for so many questions, but I tried to use my
printer again today to print photos and the mechanism jammed about half way
through. Yesterday it worked. I'm desperate to get a printer soon. Do the
colors on the Canon printer run more than on the HP? Sorry to ask so many
questions, but you are just who I am looking for - someone who has both
printers. I just wish I could compare both of them but I think there is a
conspiracy in this area not to sell or not to recommend Canon printers. I
don't know if they get more of a percentage to sell HP printers or if HP
representatives are better at setting up the demos versus Canon. Thanks so
much!
"joe_tide" <joetide@#charter.net> wrote in message
news:v2glrrd...@corp.supernews.com...
Lou
"Graham" <Rice...@rogers.com> wrote in message
news:3E284880...@rogers.com...
joe_tide
Do you have a Sams Club near you? Get an i850 there and give it a try. If you don't like it, take it back. Just ask beforehand if they will take it back if you don't like it.
Just a suggestion.
"Lou" <nospam@home> wrote in message news:v2gv71q...@corp.supernews.com...
Lou
membership. Once in a while I go with friends. Closest Best Buy is 60+
miles. Amazon.com has them for $173.79 with free shipping, no tax and Canon
is offering a $30 rebate. Sounds pretty good to me. I put it in my
shopping cart there, but haven't completed the order yet, waiting for
comments on my question. I don't know Amazon's policy on returns, but
according to the Canon warranty I can send it in to them if I pay the
postage and have instant exchange for a year. The postage is probably as
cheap as driving 80 miles to return it for repair and then driving another
80 miles for picking it up after being fixed. Hopefully it won't be DOA.
"joe_tide" <joetide@#charter.net> wrote in message
news:v2h2gpm...@corp.supernews.com...
Ralphy
really liked but were plagued with stopped up heads and they made alot of
noise. The Canon is VERY quiet and VERY fast. I find it a pleasure to use
and does not use alot of ink... that I can see. I printed an 8 X 10
yesterday on their glossy paper and it looked very good. Also, the programs
that come with it are decent...
"joe_tide" <joetide@#charter.net> wrote in message
news:v2h2gpm...@corp.supernews.com...
nhoj
You asked for text quality and speed on normal paper. Joe and Ralph
are talking about photo quality on premium paper. Perhaps you should
take their advice with a grain of salt.
HPs are renowned for great text quality, especially on cheaper paper.
HP also print pretty nice pictures on regular inkjet paper (very
economical). Canons and Epsons seem to always require Canon or Epson
special premium paper to get good printouts (as such, they are known
as photo only printers). Canons and Epsons look very unimpressive on
normal paper. Canon and Epson's text quality and speed is also not
as good or as fast as HPs using draft (fastest) mode.
Some may disagree but you and I agree that printing on cheaper inkjet
paper is important for one's budget as premium paper is very costly.
Also, asking for good text quality from an inkjet printer is not too
much to ask for.
Question: When you received you HP 5550 printout, did you make sure it
was printed on inkjet or multipurpose paper? Sometimes, the office
supply stores put cheap copier paper in the printers which do not
absorb ink very well resulting in splotchy printouts. You can ask
them to put in multipurpose or inkjet paper to test the print quality.
A month ago, I was also thinking about getting a Canon i850 just to
check out the long term use and text and photo quality but was
hesitant due to concerns about the slow and subpar text quality
("slower than the 750" and "text sharpness not very impressive") that
I read on website reviews and epinions. Also, I hear that the i950 is
coming out which is better (6 colors vs 3 colors).
However, a few weeks ago, I fixed my workhouse HP 890 (6 years and
going on strong) so I can now wait till the better Canon i950 is
released. I also operate 2 HP 930s. What exactly is the problem with
yours?
If you do get the Canon i850 or HP 5550, please post your text quality
results. I and many others are curious with unbiased reviews.
Mike Pasik
thought the pictures I printed on that printer were great but after seeing
the output of the Canon, there's no comparison. The Canon is a lot better.
Also, I've found that Jet Print Photo professional photo paper works great
with the Canon. And, you can get (120) 8.5 x11" sheets for under $30 from
their web site. Hope this helps.
Mike
--
"Ralphy" <ralp...@juno.com> wrote in message
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Lou
the month. I will definitely post back about the text quality on normal
inkjet paper. It was a hard decision. I have used HP printers for 10 years
and I know nothing about Canons except for the user reviews which I think
are more trustworthy than a paid reviewer. I hated to give up the pigmented
black ink for text but the deciding factor for me was when I saw a couple of
user reviewers mention the paper jams and carriage slamming into the side on
the HP5550. I have a lot of HP supplies and photo papers, but I felt like
maybe it was time to try something different anyway and cut my losses. I
have really enjoyed the HP932 regardless of what any review said about it.
It did wonderful pictures and great text and graphics and text was really
good on plain inkjet paper, but it was plagued by constant paper jams and
picking up several sheets of paper at a time, and it was slow! It seems
like it could crumple the paper very easily for no reason. It really has
been annoying having to unplug the printer and take the back off of it
because of this problem. I have to consider the cost of the wasted inks and
papers from these problems. I kept the printer covered with a dust cover and
used it every week, if not nearly every day. When I put paper in I would
flip through the papers to make it easier to pick up, but it still jammed. I
plugged the printer into an outlet instead of the surge protector and I
powered it off with the power button. I have treated this printer as it was
supposed to be treated. I have a teen age son that thinks nothing of
printing a whole game manual off the internet, plus I have a digital camera
and make most of my own cards and posters. I even make posters for friends
sometimes. It was used frequently.
You asked what kind of problems I am having. Rather lengthy to explain, but
I'll try. It has been a multiple of problems starting before Xmas when I
wanted to print XMAS cards. I think the color cartridge went bad first. It
started printing dark and light colors in graphics. The color wasn't evenly
distributed even though it was supposed to be the same color and not
variations on a color. I couldn't get it to work right, so I had a new
cartridge I had on hand for a long time that I had bought when cartridges
were on sale. (outdated now) and no more stocking up in the future! I tried
it and multiple cleanings wouldn't make it print at all. That was one of
the "A" cartridges, not a "D." It doesn't pay to buy ahead. So I bought a
new color cartridge and installed it. It briefly fixed the problem, then I
got a message that there was a problem with the black cartridge so I
installed a new black cartridge. It printed but I had trouble getting the
black cartridge to have good quality and it obviously needed to be cleaned.
I tried to get it to clean through the printer driver and through pushing
the right sequence of buttons on the printer itself. It would start and
then go to the left side and the carriage would jam there and have to be
manually moved. I gave up on the cleaning and printed the XMAS cards
because I got the black cartridge to print right by taking it out of the
printer and putting it in a little hot water and blotting on a towel. I
think if the cartridges were sealed in an airtight bag like they used to be
instead of just stuck in a box with a piece of tape across the bottom that
they would be better quality. The printer printed the cards, then a new
problem developed. The text would be one row darker than another and some
of the letters were slanted and blurred. I d/l the latest driver from HP,
installed it the right way by unplugging the USB cable and everything. It
just didn't help at all. The pictures on the page instead of the sides
being straight on them, it was like the pictures were wavy. I tried
printing from a different software program and was able to do that for the
one project even though I had been using the first program successfully with
the same printer for a long time. Then the printer started giving me the
message that the carriage was unable to move and to check for an obstruction
or a paper jam. I turned the printer upside down, sideways, looked in it
with a flash light, checked to make sure the rollers were moving, and
anything I could think of. No obvious visible problems. Then I told my
husband to work on it because I had nothing to lose. I was considering
putting it on the floor and jumping on it a few times to adjust its
attitude. Saturday afternoon you know, and I wanted to print some posters
for church Sunday. He took part of it apart and looked it over, but
couldn't see anything and decided to put it back together. The carriage
wouldn't even move out of home position then. He gave it a good healthy
thump and it started working, so he put light oil on the bar it moves across
even though you're not supposed to. He says it's sticky. I don't think
that is the problem. It printed a couple of pages, then back to the carriage
can't move routine. This whole last week that has been the message I have
been getting. Actually I got it to work again yesterday and think it will
print text now. The 8 x 10 picture I printed had dark and light blue
vertical bands in the sky part, but at least it printed which is an
improvement. I took some cleaner to the bar and the same cleaner and q tips
to what I could reach in the carriages home position. I now think it is
possible that there is a build up of ink on some of the pieces where the
cartridges normally rest. Maybe it doesn't allow some kind of sensor to do
what it's supposed to do. I tried to clean the docking position parts as
best I could. I also think it must have a paper feed problem. It acts like
it isn't mixing the color ink right, because in the light colored bands you
can see the dots and the darker colored bands are fine, but the text looks
great again. But it is printing now and the text is OK so maybe I will just
use it for text printing and the new one for photos. I know I haven't
explained the problems very well. I have cleaned under the cartridge holder
with a q tip and anything I can reach. It remains to be seen if that is any
of the problem. The only place the printer is dirty is where it collects ink
in that place where the carriage normally sets. I sort of thought maybe the
printer was an every other day printer, one day it works and the next day it
doesn't. But I am just tired of it. I thought maybe the separate ink tanks
would be nice on the Canon printer. I did think about waiting for the Canon
i950, but that whole series of printers haven't really been out long enough
to see what the long term results will be and the i950 will definitely be
much more expensive than the i850. I had friends that had a Canon 6000 and
it never lasted them very long, so I am a little skeptical and a little
nervous about a fixed printhead, although that wasn't their problem. I
don't want to pay $400 for something that is trash in a year. Sorry for the
long post. I just hope the Canon prints decent text on reasonably priced
paper.
Your other question. It looked to me like the Hp5550 was printed on inkjet
paper and not on plain paper, but my question was as to which cartridges it
had in it. If it was the photo cartridge and not the black pigment
cartridge, that would account for the unimpressive text quality, but not for
the unimpressive graphic quality. My HP932 or the HP 6122 that I picked up a
sample of both printed better quality graphics and text. I don't understand
why because obviously the HP5550 should print better on both. I don't think
the samples in the store are a real indication of the quality of a printer.
You must go to better stores than I do if you can even get someone to wait
on you and answer your questions. I've found the store clerks more
interested in visiting with each other than waiting on potential customers.
"nhoj" <nh...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:8fdl2v4r48rk73omq...@4ax.com...
joe_tide
<You must go to better stores than I do if you can even get someone to wait
<on you and answer your questions. I've found the store clerks more
<interested in visiting with each other than waiting on potential customers.
That made me laugh. I must go to the same stores you go to.
I bought an Epson C82 a few months ago and it made such a racket while feeding the paper I was sure it was defective. I went back to the store and *finally* got the attention of a clerk. He said his C62 (or whatever) made the same noise and it's normal. I mean this thing made a LOUD noise. I was afraid it was going to break. I asked him if I could see a sample from their C82 sitting on the shelf and he said "It's not plugged in", and walked away. I returned the Epson to that store and went elsewhere to get my i850 as well as my HP 5550. So far, in the last month, they have lost about $900 in hardware sales from me.
BTW, I print a lot of text using my i850 on plain copy paper and it's fine. I might not want to submit a resume to a hottie tottie company using plain paper, but for menial tasks, newsletters, etc. it works OK. The HP 5550 is a good printer also, but for photos, the i850 wins - in my opinion.
I don't think you'll be disappointed.
Lou
have even tried calling the Best Buy store first to see if they have what
I'm interested in before I drive 60+ miles. I heard one clerk say one day
(a long time ago) in the background to the other clerk that they weren't
going to take any more phone calls because they didn't have time. My
opinion was that it took them less time to walk over and see if they had
something in stock than it did for me to drive to the store and back if they
didn't even have it. I very seldom call and I was offended, believe me. I
called a Office Max Store 25 miles away just to find they don't even carry
Canon printers. That would have been a wasted trip. The Staples store in a
different town 50 miles away has a whole aisle of printers, but none hooked
up to run and no friendly salespeople. I live in a town of 10,000 people and
I would like a little service when I go to a store. All I have is a small
Wal Mart store to shop from. After all I must be interested or I wouldn't
be driving that far to look at something. Some friends were going to pick
me up a i850 at Sams Club Saturday, but the store was out of them! I order
lots of items through mail order because of these problems. I feel like I
try to buy from a store but they make it hard for me to do so. Enough
ranting on my part.
"joe_tide" <joetide@#charter.net> wrote in message
news:v2mu9rj...@corp.supernews.com...
joe_tide
"Lou" <nospam@home> wrote in message news:v2nu52a...@corp.supernews.com...
nhoj
It sounds like your printer needed a gentle cleaning and re-oiling.
I would have cleaned the carriage bar and the carriage detector strip
with a water damp tissue and then dried them. Next, I would have
re-oiled the whole carriage bar with light oil (I use musicial
intrument oil, others recommend 4-in-1 but I don't own that). Last, I
would clean the paper rollers with a cloth dampened with nail polish
remover (or warm water).
I would also remove the ink cartridges and very gently clean them with
Q-tips dipped in rubbing alcohol and then blotted them dry and gently.
Then I would re-insert the ink cartridges. Turn the printer on and
off and on again and try printing. If this doesn't help, you should
get a new printer.
Word of advice: don't bash printers until you know they are really
dead. : )
Lou
stripes down the edge of the photos on the left side. Another question,
what is the carriage detector strip? I try not to touch things unless I
know it is OK to do so.
Thanks.
"nhoj" <nh...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
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