printer purchase PRINTER- Canon PIXMA G640 or Epson EcoTank L3550? Need Help Deciding! (Today)

[Denis_Twin]

Hi, I plan to print on trading card prototypes, I use proxies to test quality for my own game design, so that being said I have been into a lot of pain lately trying to decide between the two models, I came to realize pigment is very bad for gloss and mediocre for matte, at least the epson ones we have here, so something sub 300 euros will be okay, I have other tools ready and I plan to first print on thick-ish glossy paper (medium quality), so I need some printer experts help,

I tried in the past a L3251 and it was causing marks before the inking process (spraying process), that was likely from the feed,

The Inks here are harder to find for Canon at least after market ones, the total cost of inks for a full refill would be 78 Euros for canon while the total cost for a full refill for the epson would be 28 euros (cheapest I found while avoiding after market or fake inks).

That being said, I care about cost of consumables as much as for the paper to not be damaged, it may or may not be polymer but I also tried with Epson on the Epson one, needless to say I DOA it and got the money back to get one of the above printers, currently I preordered both and they are ready to pick up, but I have to decide today.

I will also print photos, family photos and scan/copy, print of documents etc, an all-around machine.

The G640 comes with their store/franchise warranty for 4 years, and the cost is 280 euros, the epson is at 230 euros without the warranty because I ordered it from another shop.

Key questions: Does the Canon also cause such harsh wheel marks as the ecotank ones? if so, is it possible to find a cheaper ink for the canon printer if I decide to go for that?

I noticed the epson is faster also, according to its specs, if anyone owns or knows both machines, please help me make an educated decision, money is not an issue at this price range as I want to keep it and enjoy it, it is a hobby and I want to make it count, I will also print n' play a lot, so consider that if you can.

Anything will help, I need to decide today which is why I write this post.

THANKS A LOT IN ADVANCE!

[jaslion]

The et 3850 is about 50€ more and a WAY better printer than the l3550. We use them in our bussiness for prototyping prints with aftermarket ink

 

As for the cartridges well basically proprietary ink is irrelevant as you can just buy aftermarket better stuff for less.

 

The pixim has GREAT picture quality but has the sneaky thing of once your printer head cleaning foam "expires" its dead. I havent found a way to reset this without replacing the not full ink absorber so thats a added cost every 5k pages or so.Eithr way the ls3550 is a worse pribter than both and not ußer serviceable in a good way

 

 

[Denis_Twin]

1 minute ago, jaslion said:

The et 3850 is about 50€ more and a WAY better printer than the l3550. We use them in our bussiness for prototyping prints with aftermarket ink

 

As for the cartridges well basically proprietary ink is irrelevant as you can just buy aftermarket better stuff for less.

 

The pixim has GREAT picture quality but has the sneaky thing of once your printer head cleaning foam "expires" its dead. I havent found a way to reset this without replacing the not full ink absorber so thats a added cost every 5k pages or so.Eithr way the ls3550 is a worse pribter than both and not ußer serviceable in a good way

 

 

I did a lot of research before coming here, firstly the et 3850 I bought, its superior version actually, and I returned it as the Black Ink is terrible in the sense that their firmware will not print, its not BK but PB meaning purely pigmented black (while the other three are a hybrid) which means it sits on top of the paper even if you print with it.

Now for the pixma, the bug was fixed on the printers released later such as G540 and G640, so I looked it up and I am only curious about whether or not the PIXMA would leave marks before the spraying process, because the ET ones do that sadly, that is one amongst many questions here.