| A question people frequently ask is "which | | | | with their collection of Stylus Photo |
| brand of printers is the best?" The main | | | | printers. With Epson printers, you are going |
| manufacturers for inkjet and laser printers | | | | to find a large selection of photo machines |
| are Hewlett Packard, Epson, Canon, Brother, | | | | and a good amount of entry level and high end |
| Lexmark, and Dell. Without picking one clear | | | | machines. Epson has a limited number of |
| winner, here is a rundown of each one and | | | | multifunction inkjet printers, but the models |
| some pros and cons of each: | | | | that they do have are usually pretty popular |
| | | | and well-received. Based on customer feedback |
| Hewlett Packard - there is a reason that this | | | | over the years, we have found that some Epson |
| name is synonymous with inkjet printers, | | | | printers can require a little more |
| laser printers and inkjet cartridges in | | | | maintenance than their counterparts in |
| general. HP has long been the leader of the | | | | regards to running cleaning cycles for the |
| printing industry in terms of size and | | | | print cartridges. So, this is something to |
| selection of their machines and printer ink. | | | | consider when buying an entry level model |
| But just because HP is the biggest does not | | | | from Epson. One downside with Epson is that |
| mean they are the best. Something that has | | | | you are unable to refill their ink |
| grown in popularity is individual printer ink | | | | cartridges. |
| cartridges for each color. From both an | | | | |
| environmental and an economical standpoint, | | | | * Pros - good photo printing, individual ink |
| people like the idea of just replacing one | | | | cartridges |
| individual color when it runs out instead of | | | | |
| having to buy a whole new cartridge. This is | | | | * Cons - some maintenance issues, can't |
| something that HP was slow to adapt and they | | | | refill cartridges, machine may not last |
| just recently introduced it on some of their | | | | forever |
| Photosmart printers. At the same time, HP has | | | | |
| also been decreasing the amount of ink in | | | | Canon - Typically, Canon users are the most |
| their cartridges. Their previous printer | | | | loyal to their brand. There was a period when |
| cartridges held anywhere from 20-40 ml of | | | | Canon had a relatively small selection |
| ink, while their newest cartridges hold as | | | | compared to other major brands, but the |
| little as 5 ml in some cases. The cost of | | | | inkjet printers that they did have were |
| printing can still be low for HP users who do | | | | always very popular. Most of the time, the |
| their own refilling, but it will mean more | | | | top photo printer on the market will be a |
| frequent refills for customers. So, as a | | | | Canon model. For a while now, Canon has had |
| trade-off for a vast selection and other | | | | individual ink tanks for their machines, and |
| benefits, you must consider the long term | | | | in general they have the lowest overall cost |
| costs of operating an HP printer before | | | | per page. Although their selection of inkjet |
| buying. | | | | and photo printers has grown recently, Canon |
| | | | still seems to prefer quality over quantity. |
| * Pros - availability, dependability, name | | | | So just know that although you might see a |
| recognition | | | | limited number of Canon printers in your |
| | | | local stores, what is available is likely of |
| * Cons - no individual ink cartridges on | | | | top quality. One downside is that there are |
| almost all models, long term costs | | | | some Canon inkjet cartridges that cannot be |
| | | | refilled. So for the newer machines the only |
| Epson - along with Canon, Epson spearheaded | | | | product available is Canon brand ink. |
| the do-it-yourself photo printing movement | | | | |