Epson Artisan 1430 or Epson Surecolor P400?

[MangoDew]

Do any of you own or has played with one or both of these printers? Can you please share your experience?

Also, what is a gloss optimizer and what is the purpose of it? That is the driving factor that is preventing me from purchasing the P400 because it not a color.

One more thing-I know many people have had success with their Epson printers, but are they still having printhead issues to this day? I figure I'd ask. Thank you all!

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

do you plan to buy such a printer ? What are you planning to print - fotos - graphics ? Do you have a preferred
paper type - matte, glossy or something in between ? And what is happening with the printouts - are they going to an exhibition or on the wall at home or are they for sale ? All printer companies like Canon or Epson or HP are offering printer models with a gloss optimizer/chroma/color enhancer which is a clear type of overprint over the prints with pigment inks. Pigment inks tend to show particular effects on glossy papers like bronzing or gloss differentials, and these effects get very much reduced/eliminated with this gloss/chroma optimizer. Some people don't see it, it depends on inks and papers used and the viewing conditions. Printers with dye inks like the Canon Pro-100 or the Artisan 1430 don't show such effects at all, so it goes back to the questions above - it depends on your plans and intentions with such printer. Printhead problems are not so much a printer/hardware issue but relate much more to the type of use - refill problems - 3rd party ink problems - handling problems in this context

 

[MangoDew]

I am so sorry! I am running from forum to forum with different things.

I am a paper artist, so I will be printing out scrapbook layouts and digital designer papers (like the ones you find in Michaels or Joann). I will be printing photos too, but the main thing is what I just mentioned. Customizable sizes are a must, and I REALLY need a printer that prints borderless 12x12. I posted another question about the Canon Pixma Pro 100 but I need to go in and delete it; tech support from Canon confirmed that this printer does not print borderless 12x12, so I am looking exclusively at Epson. Dye or pigment ink does not matter, and there has to be at least 6 or more colors. I like the Artisan 1430 because it is archival dye ink (according to Epson), has 6 colors, and is programmed to print borderless 12x12 (yay!) The SureColor P400 looks promising but one of their 8 colors is a gloss optimizer, which I have a little knowledge about when it comes to photo printing (this is fine since I will be printing photos as well). It seems as if the P400 has more red when it comes to the ink (orange, magenta, red), and I think those are for better skin tones; please correct me if I'm wrong.

As far as the paper type-mostly regular matte paper,, but I will also be using glossy photo paper and vellum. Basically, whatever the printers can handle I can use. I like to work with different types of paper and Epson said their printers can work with many paper types, even those that are non-Epson.

There will be no art displays for the cards and 3-D paper art I make (lol). I like doing invitations, cards, 3-D, and pretty much what I can do with paper.

Thanks for explaining the purpose of the gloss optimizer.

So as you can see, I still have a lot of learning to do. Thank you for replying.