Photo printer recommendations

[stephenpassmore at mac.com]

Hi Chris,

How about the Canon i865, which I'm saving my pennies for?  It seems to 
be many reviewers' favourite right now and is priced less than your 200 
euro limit.

I've attached below PC Pro's review (www.pcpro.co.uk - it's their A 
list premium A4 inkjet right now).

Let us know what your final choice is as I'm having to make the same 
choice.

Cheers, Steve


"Canon Bubble Jet i865

VERDICT: Versatility, superb speed and amazing quality at an affordable 
price. The i865 storms the Labs this month.

  Canon's i865 isn't going to steal any hearts by looks alone, with its 
bland blue and grey chassis being rescued by a brushed aluminium lid 
and a translucent stripe. Its other visible features are similarly 
sensible, with a sturdy out tray that tucks away into the chassis, 
while the in-tray folds over to keep dust away. On the front, two 
buttons control power, paper feeding and job cancellation, and there's 
a PictBridge-ready camera printing port. More mundane USB and parallel 
connections adorn the back.

It's when it comes to quality that the i865 excels. Normal text was 
almost laser like and appeared at a speedy 5ppm. Draft text suffered a 
tiny amount of feathering and faintness despite the great 10.6ppm rate; 
only the i560 could produce such quality so fast. We were also pleased 
to see the Streetmap page in just 21 seconds.

What's more, this page's quality was excellent - plain paper printing 
caused few problems for the i865, with only Epson's DuraBrite pigment 
ink being more vibrant. And on coated paper, it was unrivalled. Our 
presentation document sported crisp, black text, photos were excellent, 
the white on black was superb, and the slight feathering on coloured 
fonts was only visible close up. That such quality could appear in just 
two minutes was remarkable. The i965 alone did better.

Our mono quality document was also fantastic. Contrast was excellent 
and blacks were black. Fades looked stunning, with only minor grain 
visible up close. Overall, with the i965, it was the best on test.

The i865 sports a large BCI-3E black cartridge in preference to the 
i965's photo cyan and photo magenta tanks. This actually seems 
advantageous. Differences in photo quality were practically 
indiscernible and the BCI-3E is better for text than the i965's BCI-6 
black (which the i865 also sports). Our 6 x 4in colour photo was superb 
with accurate colours throughout. Only a minuscule amount of noise, on 
our model's hand, detracted from the image. The mono print was also 
excellent and rivalled HP's 59 photo grey cartridge for contrast, 
saturation and detail. Producing such quality in just 77 seconds (half 
the time of the 7960) was sublime.

Finally, the photomontage appeared in a second-fastest 196 seconds. 
Detail and fades were again exemplary. Our sole qualm was that skin 
tones looked a little oversaturated.

The i865 costs over £90 less than the i965, yet photo quality is near 
identical. While it can't match the i965 for photo speed, it makes up 
for this by printing faster and cheaper text. Both also print CDs. Such 
unparalleled speed and quality at an aggressive price make the i865 an 
easy winner."