Canon Pixma Pro 100 or Epson SureColor P400?

MangoDew

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UGH! So I am trying to decide which of these printers I should purchase. Does anyone own or has worked with one of these printers? If so, can you please share your experience? I know Epson printers are still having printhead issues (after all these years) but some people have had success with them. Also, I am looking for a printer that prints borderless 12x12 since this is the size I will be using the most. Can you please give me some pointers? Thanks so much!
 

The Hat

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@MangoDew, No printer is going to print 12 x 12 size borderless, so you’ll have to compromise, I reckon the Pro 100 is the printer to get..
 

MangoDew

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I don't think that is entirely true. Epson has printers that are programmed to print 12x12. I watched a video on YouTube and the guy bought an Epson Artisan 1430. Looks as if it did a good job with the 12x12 prints. Here is the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCzGBi57Kxg

It's pretty long, so if you fast forward to 7:40 you can see the 12x12 sheets he printed out. Let me know what you think.
 

MangoDew

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@The Hat No problem! I'm here to learn too. That's why I joined.
 

Ink stained Fingers

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Both the Epson P400 and P600 use 2 types of black inks - optimized either for matte or glossy paper, you can print either black ink immediately with the P400, it is automatically selected by the paper type you choose, the P600 needs some switching time between these inks. The Artisan comes with one type of black ink. It is correct that the Artisan 1430 uses some very good dye inks with a good longevity - but pigment inks like those in the P400 or P600 or Canon Pro-10s last much longer - the impression of longevity you may get from the word 'archival ink' is relative to other dye inks on the market of which some are not that good. Epson is not comparing here their Claria dye inks with their own Ultrachrome pigment inks. You mention that you print primarily on matte type papers, I would recommend in this situation the use of pigment inks over dye inks. Typical printers on the market are the Epson P400 and P600 and the Canon Pro-10s. Don't be confused by the number and color of inks - it is the job of the driver , the program you are using to print and some paper specific parameter file - an icc-profile - to put the right mix of inks onto the paper. And don't be confused that you operate most likely with RGB color files - with 3 color channels but the printers have many more inks.
I recommend you to read some test reports on the internet for the mentioned models, each test report highlights some features or things missing or not so good. No printer is perfect, one may have a more flexible paper handling, another may offer you more format choices etc. The P400 and P600 would allow you to use roll paper for arbitrary formats just to mention one of those differences. If you print on matte papers the gloss/chroma optimizer is not used .
 

stratman

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@MangoDew

Your question about which printer is better is comparing apples to oranges. Both are tasty yet different.

The Canon is dye-based ink and the cartridges are easily refilled with quality aftermarket ink if you would like. There is no native 12x12 borderless printing.

The Epson is pigment-based ink and may have a different color saturation appearance compared to a dye-based printer. I have no idea if you can refill them on your own to save money, so someone will have to inform us of this potential. The Epson does have native 12x12 borderless printing out of the box. Also, the Epson can use rolls of paper giving you another flexible printing option.

A suggestion is to go to a store that has these printers on display and take an image on a flash drive and some paper you would like to use and make print outs so you can compare the output.
 
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Ink stained Fingers

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is this 12x12" paper pre-cut ? Is it coated for inkjet usage ?
 

Ink stained Fingers

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I installed the P400 driver, you easily can create a custom format 12x12" borderless in the driver
P400.jpg
 

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