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Epson's commodity desktop inkjets are notorious for clogging unless the printers are used very frequently. Any comment on that issue for the two more specialized models noted here?

The number one reason that Epson inkjets get clogged heads is that people never turn them off. When the printer is turned off, the heads are "parked", which protects them to some extent from drying out. I've been using Epson printers for more than 20 years and can't say that I've had any more trouble with clogging issues than owners of any other brand.

The big advantage of Epson printers (besides their excellent print quality) is the cheap generic ink cartridges are readily available.

alansky, on 30 November 2009 - 10:53 AM, said:

Turned on or off, they clog anyway, in my experience. The only thing you can do is to print several times a week, not giving the heads a chance to clog.

Epson are the main reason I use Canon printers now.

Serious amateur photographers know well that Epson photo printers do indeed clog up MUCH more than do Canon or HP printers. It's the design of the printhead, which sprays ink in a different manner. Excellent print quality, but Epsons are FAR more susceptible to clogging out unless the room they're sitting in has at least 30% humidity -- and some pros supplement this by tenting their printers when not in use with plastic sheeting, and putting damp sponges within the plastic tent.

Lots of pros will acknowledge this, like Andrew Darlow from imagingbuffet.com

If you only print occasionally, take a look at photo printers other than Epsons. If you print at least 3 times/week the Epsons should be fine... but seriously pay attention to the room's humidity level. (In winter, some rooms can have levels as low at 5%.)

alansky, on 30 November 2009 - 10:53 AM, said:

When I had an Epson inkjet I turned it off daily. Given that I rarely printed more than one or two times (events, not sheets) per day, I typically had it turned off any time I wasn't actively printing. Still clogged.

The analogous part on the Canon that replaced it hasn't showed any signs of clogging and if it ever does it's a user-replaceable part, unlike the Epson's. And I have no trouble finding generic ink for it.

I had a hard time giving up my Epson, too, but the HP PhotoSmart with multiple inks has produced better color, particularly the blacks.

Turning off the printer is never going to happen in my house. I keep everything powered up all the time.

I still don't like the high price for HP inks, but it prints just as fast as Epson and the replacements are easy to order on-line. HP also auto-sense paper before printing - I'm not a aware of any other line of printers that do that.

Unfortunately, HP has choose to change ink carts yet again, much to my dismay! They went back to the 3 ink carts.

HP has really poor software, however, particularly for Mac OS. It doesn't do much better on my Windows PC.

Canon hasn't made a printer I can live with. They are the most expensive inks and hardest to find.

Just echoing a couple of the above comments:

1. HP ink is excessively expensive. They should be investigated under the RICO act . Not just HP--ALL the big inkjet makers. It's a racket. I'd pay very well for a rugged smart user serviceable photo printer that would last years if the ink and paper were reasonably priced closer to cost of manufacture and distributing with a reasonable profit margin. But $ 30 for 1/3rd fluid ounce ( tri-color)of dye ...that's extortion.

As a lifelong photographer, nobody has yet to satisfactorily explain to me why a sheet of 8.5 x 11 white inkjet paper costs almost the same as 8 x 10 color chemical darkroom printing paper which had multiple layers of complex silver based dye emulsions. 100sheets of Fuji RC color darkroom paper currently sells for $ 35.00...what did that last package of 100 sheets of 8.5 x 11 glossy Premium inkjet paper cost you ? B & H Photo in NYC lists HP PRemium Glossy inkjet paper fr the exact same price as the Fuji color darkroom glossy stock! Inkjet stock just a nice white buffered paper with a single chemical in it to prevent inkjet dot spread...nothing fancy. But wh the outrageous price ??????

2. HP printer software ( and scanning, for that matter) is not friendly to Mac OS-X . It's the only software I own that gives me " issues".

Nobody has made my Mac-friendly photo printer yet, and none seem willing to sell the expendable supplies at anywhere near a fair price. We're trapped in Inkjet Hell and don't even know it.

I've been using aftermarket ink suppliers, and (other than being sent an empty cartridge once) have had no problems, for both an Epson and a Canon.

While the Epson ink tanks can't be refilled without also using a chip reset tool (to "fool" the printer into thinking it's a new tank) I've been using refill kits on the Canon since I've owned it. Once you do it a couple of times, it's neither a messy nor particularly time-consuming process. I figured that each refill costs about $11 total for both the color and black tanks. I'm not certain that all Canons can be refilled, but both of the ones I use can.

As long as there are aftermarket ink suppliers, there won't be any anti-trust suits against the printer manufacturers ;^)\

Canon inkjets, at least the two I have, turn on and off automatically. So the heads are always properly parked. Why wouldn't Epson also have such a cheap, easy, convenient solution to the head parking problem? Epson's cloggers certainly need it.