Buy Plotter Printer

Review by J. Dorman:

We purchased this printer for the school district that I work at and I am the primary user. I love this printer!!! I have printed school marketing posters with full photo quality and it looks as though we hired a professional. I am not sure what a previous reviewer was talking about not being able to get paper anymore because we can still get it right from the [...] website. It has a variety of media it can print on from regular heavy paper, glossy photo paper, and even Tyvek. We use the Tyvek for our outdoor signage. It isn't a "super" fast printer but I can't imagine anything printing in this large a format printing very fast anyway. We have had local professional photographers come in and want to see it and look at samples and now they are considering getting one!!! This is a great printer and I would recommend it to anyone professional or to anyone just wanting to print out large format pictures. The WOW factor will never go away!!!

UPDATE: One of the previous reviewers talked about there being 12 ink cartridges to replace and although they are in fact correct about the 12 part they are not all actually cartridges. There are 6 cartridges: Cyan, Light Cyan, Magenta, Light Magenta, Yellow, and Black. This six ink system is what HP has switched to for any printer with photo quality output like its higher end Deskjets and most anything named Photojet. Although this sounds like a money making scheme to require more cartridges it is what some companies have been doing for years now and that is not requiring you to switch out a complete cartridge when only one color might be low. The other 6 "cartridges" are in fact print-heads that must be changed for each color as well. However, this is not required every time you change the ink but does make a great deal of difference in the quality of the printing if you don't change it when required. As far as I can tell from the system monitor it is every three or so cartridges however, I tend to think its based more on the amount of full page printing you do. We do a lot and we are no where near needing to change them yet. This is also becoming standard on these same 6 color printers as well because now with the 6 color cartridge it is no longer possible for the print cartridges to "travel" back and forth across the page with the cartridge chassis inside the printer. You know what I'm talking about the sound you could hear from most older printers was the sound of the ink cartridges and the ink-jets moving across the page. Now the ink is delivered in tiny tubes that allow only the six print-heads to move while the ink cartridges are stationary. So yes you must replace twelve different consumables but not at nearly the same rate as usual. There are monitors on the small LCD screen on the side of the printer and it will indicate the level of remaining ink in the cartridges and quality of the print-heads. Can't say enough good about this printer it is a sure bet.

UPDATE SEPTEMBER 2009: As you can see from my previous post about this printer I was a huge fan. No doubt I still am a fan but with one word of caution now. About 3 months ago while printing a poster we were mid way through a roll when it must have caught the edge of the paper??? Well I canceled the job and pulled out the paper re-cut the edge and re"threaded" the paper roll. Since then about every three jobs it would align incorrectly after it cut the previous page and sometimes jam up again. I was annoyed but continued to use it and made an appointment with the local HP service office. When he showed up to look at it he couldn't figure it out, then he said it just might be some switches that help align the paper in the back where the roll comes in. He took it to his office and told us he would call when it was done. He called a few days later and said we were now the proud owners of a HP paper weight!!! He told us that he replaced everything he usually does with paper timing problems and then when that didn't work he called HP directly. They said it was on par with other users of the Designjet 130 after about 3 years and it means the roll feed system is no longer good. When he asked about replacing the roll feeder they said it was built into the printer and irreplaceable. They told him that they considered the Designjet to be like any other printer they have and it will reach the end of it usable life in a few years. WHAT!!! It has been two years and the printer costs 1200.00 Dollars!!! Ours was almost 2000.00 dollars since we bought the printer with the network card (designjet 130nr) Just beware all of you out there who are buying this with the thought that this printer is full of replaceable parts. This is like an expensive version of their normal deskjet printers and just like most of us wouldn't repair those we would just buy another, HP thinks you should do the same thing with this printer too. Ouch!

Review by Izzybee:

I purchased this item in November 2004, Perfect printer for the digital artist! It prints amazing photos all the way up to 24"x36"! I print my pictures from my Olympus C8080 8 meg. Camera, Unbeliveable Quailty this HP designjet 130 will do! This printer puts Epson to SHAME!

Review by Lon J. Seidman:

I am a very happy owner of an Epson Workforce 600, so I was excited to receive this wide format printer for review. Like other Epson Workforce series printers, the 1100 has a fast printing mechanism and quality that rivals laser output (depending on the paper stock).

Is this printer for everyone? Definitely not. First it's big (although not as large as a wide format laser), so those with tight space may want to think about whether they really need to print on paper wider than 8.5 inches. It also lacks a network interface, so it must be tethered to a computer or a compatible third party print server.

Epson is not marketing this product as a photo printer. While the image quality of the 1100 is excellent, those looking for wide format photos should consider a photo printer designed for that purpose. Photos will print on the 1100, but there are better printers on the market that will produce more vibrant photo prints.

The Workforce 1100 is great, however, for businesses looking for a little more flexibility in the size of prints they can make without having to invest in expensive hardware and consumables.

PROs

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1. As fast as an entry level to mid-range laser printer.

2. Excellent print quality.

3. Uses standard epson ink cartridges.

4. Very reasonably priced.

CONs

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1. It is disappointing that a printer marketed to business lacks network connectivity.

2. Not designed for photo printing.

3. USB cable is not included.

4. Mac Snow Leopard users will need to download device driver software before installing.

Review by Kenji Bear:

I was a bit sceptical when purchasing this printer as it has no reviews, but in the end the only comparable model was an HP with bad reviews so I went for it. I ordered off Epson's site and was shocked that the printer got here the next day. I don't like the size, going from a normal printer to this...well it took me a hours worth of cleaning to find room for this 24*15 inch printer. After I got it all set up(it was a breeze) I printed one of my scrapbook layouts out. It printed much faster than I imagined and I didn't even have to wait for it to dry before I could get my hands all over it. The quality is so much better than my old Canon i850, and I loved that printer. I love the ease of use and ability to go to online support(or to order ink) straight from the software.

The ink is very affordable even from Epson's site. When choosing a printer I now always look for the separate color ink tanks and love the fact that this printer came with not only 4 cartridges but 5. I also like that even from Epson you can order high capacity or standard cartridges.

Now to the part I don't like. I have tried a few different brands of printer paper. And all of them gave me a reflective black which I personally can't stand in my photos. The only two brands which didn't do this(of my tests) were Print Works High Gloss and Epson. I mainly use Matte finish which looked great with all the brands I tested.

The final scoop. I recommend this printer to anyone. I paid 125 dollars for this printer(used a coupon) and I know that I will get my monies worth out of it. I find it great for scrap booking(beats sending spreads out for 1.99 a piece) The problems with non-epson paper gripes me but all in all I find the purchase and up-keep on this printer very affordable.