Epson 1280 Printers

[apshaitwister]

So a screenprinting acquaintance who has been in the industry for some 25 years once told me that for printing transparencies at home, the Epson 1280 printers were a good, inexpensive way to go. I don't doubt that he knows what he's talking about, but does anyone have any recommendations to add to that? Or some different information? Maybe I'm just not looking in the right place, but it is ridiculously hard to find someone who will print good transparencies. Again, I bet I'm just not looking in the right places. But I know I'm going to need to get a printer someday, so it might as well be sooner than later.

So...Epson 1280. Good way to go, or not? Are there better CHEAPish options?

[vastagh]

i've been using one for the last 5 years. love it.

only downside for me has been tiling the 18"x13" films to print 16"x20" posters.

[edwardo_machino]

Epson 3000: sometimes free! It prints up to 17" wide.

[vastagh]

Epson 3000: sometimes free! It prints up to 17" wide.

BUT, no drivers for MAC's running OSX.

[guybur]

The 3000 drivers work nicely with OSX up to 10.4.11 Tiger but nothing newer.

xoxoxo

<logout>

[thenewyear]

I had some issues with my 1280 when I upgraded to Snow Leopard(or maybe it was another OS, I can't remember). I couldn't get a driver to have the same controls I had prior to the OS upgrade. It's been a while since I looked, so maybe it's been resolved.

[edwardo_machino]

BUT, no drivers for MAC's running OSX.

If you can get one for $50, or free, though, wouldn't be difficult to find a ten-year old computer with XP to drive it.

[standard]

yeah, 1280s be gettin old.

[the hipoisie]

My 1280 is still doing OK after about 6 years. A little streaking when I'm not printing seps, but I probably just need to clean it.

I also had a problem with Snow Leopard. It wouldn't do the auto install of the new driver. I finally deleted the printer from System Prefs, and when I added it again everything worked right. Software Update is telling me there's a new version now too, but I haven't installed it.

[apshaitwister]

Thankfully I'm not running a Mac OS I've got Windows Vista . The printer's specs don't mention running with anything above Windows XP, so that concerns me a little.