Thanks to all for the responses on the 800 vs. Photo 700.

After much surfing, it appears that the short list of "which printer to buy" is down to the Epson Photo 700 vs. the HP PhotoSmart. I'm going to try and find one of each to print some of my own sample images on, but I like to hear about any experiences, good or bad.

Of particular interest is cost per page, whether anyone has done ink refills and ethernet capability.

thanks again - Frank

-- Frank Terhaar-Yonkers (fty@cisco.com), July 24, 1998

Answers

This won't help with a comparison, but we just got a PhotoSmart printer in for evaluation. We'll be doing a fairly extensive "Digital Photo Studio" article in the next month or so, but will probably hook up the HP printer next week. I've seen one sample print done on both the original Epson Stylus Photo, and on the HP (provided by HP, so take this with a grain of salt), and the HP definitely looked better - richer colors, more "photo-like" appearance.

When we do our testing, we'll try to keep track of ink usage as best we can, and report back here. That may not be for a few week though...

-- Dave Etchells (detchells@imaging-resource.com), July 24, 1998.

For what it's worth, if you purchase an Epson 700,replacement cartridges refined down to 1/2 micron of purity, will be available as of Aug 1st-98 for the price of 21.95 which should be about 1/2 of what orginals are at the present time. E.mail above for more info if interested.

-- Al Barcelow---JRInk of Azusa CA. (ajb@tstonramp.com), July 25, 1998.

Have an Epson Photo Stylus 700. Not yet through the first set of cartridges. Just ordered paper and cartridges from FirstSource. 20 4X6 glossies are about $4.75 so that's less than a quarter apiece. The color cartridge (Epson--you can get the non-Epson for this printer cheaper but don't know if they are as good) for About $14.50. Black cartridge is about $17.50. The 20 letter-sized glossies are about $11, so about ? 0.60 each? Probably close to a bucks worth of ink to print an entire letter-sized page of color? Maybe less at these prices for cartridges. I'm keeping track of everything I print, resolution, square inches, etc. When I get through the first color cartridge, I'll post that information. My friends are really amazed at the quality of the prints I get using my CoolPix 900 and also from pics from the Kodak DC260 that I've downloaded. It's pricey to print good color, no doubt about it but the flexibility is great. A few days ago I took a picture of some coworkers right before lunch and at the end of the lunch hour there was an 8X10 photo quality glossy hanging on the bulletin board. (6X8 printed area). --Rick

-- Rick Fleming (Montanan1@aol.com), July 29, 1998.

Hey Rick,

Did you say *$14.50* for color cartridges?! That sounds *really* cheap! Who/where is First Source? I'm still using an OLD Epson Stylus Color II, will be upgrading soon. Meanwhile, that would certainly save me a bunch of $$ on ink if they have genuine Epson stuff that cheap.

Thanks...

-- Dave Etchells (detchells@imaging-resource.com), July 29, 1998.

That's right Dave. Since I posted that I've received them in the mail. They are the actual Epson brand, looks just like the ones that came with the printer. They were $14 something. I think it's FirstSource.com but in any event you can go tho shopper.com and search on, say, CompactFlash 24MB and it will bring up FirstSopurce and give you their 800 number. I didn't have any luck trying to order online so I called the number. I guess they are a little more expensive if you order by phone but they gave me the online price because I couldn't get through. (system locked up three times on two different computers).

-- Rick Fleming (Montanan1@aol.com), July 30, 1998.

I had a terrible experience with firstsource.com, so watch out!

They lied to me every time I called about an order I placed back in May, I ended up getting multiple incorrect charges on my credit card, and I am still waiting, 2 months later, for a final credit to show up.

Their "Sales & Marketing Vice President" John Walsh has never replied to my complaint about their disasterous service, and I hear their voice mail jingles in my sleep from the hours I spent on hold.

Be careful!

-- Dana Schwartz (schwartz@his.com), July 30, 1998.

Right Dana. What I didn't mention was that I ordered (and paid extra for) 10 items on Tues to be shipped 2nd day express. On the second day (Thurs) I received the two color cartridges and that was it. Spent ten minutes on hold and was told that everything else went out Wednesday and will be here Friday and they gave me the tracking number. Will keep everyone posted. Have had negative experiences now with BuyComp, CMP Express, FirstSource and someplace called CNSave or Netsaver or something like that. Good (i.e. no negative) experience with Battery City and Norman Cameras.

-- Rick Fleming (Montanan1@aol.com), July 31, 1998.