I buy the all in one printer that has the cheaper ink cartridges. Right now it's Kodak. I think I paid about $70 for it on sale at WalMart. It is an all in one and has wireless connection. I can print from any computer in the house. I will use it for a year and get another one. Printers are always being updated so I wouldn't spend a lot and feel like I had to get several years of service out of it to justify the purchase. Unless you need professional printing, no use buying an expensive one. I will probably buy this one next even if it is more expensive to buy, for one reason- $5 ink cartridges : http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/lexmar...artridge/29164

I have the HP photosmart premium and if I had to buy a new one it would NOT be another HP!Talk about eating up ink....man...this thing goes through ink like crazy!

HP has a limited number of DesignJet printers that use pigment based color inks, the rest take dye based colors. Black ink is frequently pigment based. This site has a list of cartridge numbers for different types of printers that are pigment based. http://www.oddparts.com/ink/faq19.htm
Here's some general info: http://www.castleink.com/_a-printer-inks.html Keep in mind, these sites are talking about ink on paper, not fabric. The reason color inks are dye based is so they are smooth, thin, blendable, flowing, and cheap to produce...iow, water soluble, what you don't really want for washable fabric use.

There is a great article by Gloria Hansen, a quilt and mixed-media artist, on the subject of inkjet printing on fabric. http://www.gloriahansen.com/articles.php?p=1&ID=3 See if that helps answer some of your questions. Please note, it was written in 2003.

I have used Lexmark for years. A lot of people complain about them. But my three previous (to the Epson I have now) were real workhorses. My real problem with them was ink usage. Ieven tried the cartridge refills at the office supply places and Walgreens, but it was still steep. And you were never guaranteed that the person who refilled them, reset the chips. The chips are really important. Almost all printer ink cartridges are measured by the page counts - not weight of the cartridge (which would make sense). The chip resets the counter and it goes so many pages of printing for which ever cartridge you filled.

When my last Lexmark was fried by a lightening strike (DH thought that it was protected because it was on a surge protector - but the lightening struck through the phone line - not happening again) I started looking. Like you, I have a 'business' that I run also - rescuing small animals. So I needed more than just the 'basics'.

I have the Epson WorkForce 310. And I love it! I was just saying to DH how much I love all of the bells and whistles yesterday. 4-in-1, great copying and scanning - even with the fabrics to go into EQ7 - really nice colors. I use it to print some quilt labels and pictures and have had no issues.

One of the reasons that I purchased my Epson was that I discovered that Epson was one of the manufacturers that has non-OEM cartridges with the reset-able chip available. I purchase my ink from an independent dealer and the first purchase - which included the refillable/reset-able cartridges and bottles of the various colors of ink - cost me less than $45, including shipping. And that original order of ink lasted me almost as entire year. The black supply had to be refilled after about 10 months, but I expected that. And I just purchased more ink - 5 100ml bottles (2 blacks, 1 blue, 1 yellow, 1 red) - and that total cost was less than $20. LOVE THOSE PRICES. The inks are the pigment dyes which are the ones you want for fabric printing. OH and refilling the cartridges are really easy to refill. These are designed to be refilled, unlike some refill kits where they have YOU drill a hole in your cartridge and then fill with a needle and syringe. These have a color coded rubber stoppers and the tip of the bottle fits in the hole exactly. SO EASY!!!!!

And the other really huge thing for me with the Epson, is that the paper track is straight and through - no bending and turning and stuff like my Lexmarks. The direct feed is SO much better. I can handle just about anything without having paper jams - photo paper (of all sizes and the pictures are fabulous), fabric sheets, cardstock, transparancies and labels. The only think that I have had problems with fee issues where the Christmas card stock that I tried to use this year. It had a pebble finish and the rollers just didn't want to grab it and go.

Sorry for the 'book' but you asked [shrug]. I know that you are in Canada so your prices will vary, but the model that I have can be picked up just about anywhere - Staples, OfficeMax, etc. - for less than $100. I found it on sale when I bought it and it was $85 two years ago. Hope this helps. Let us know what you decide.

once you said individual color cartridges, that limits your choices... call the stores and see what they have available... there are only one or two on the market... i have taken the other route... my library has a color printer for 15 cents per page... it is cheaper (color ink is expensive when you figure out how many pages you get from one cartridge)... and simply more convenient for me to save my quilt work in a word doc and then email to myself, go to the library and print out anything i want for 30 or 45 cents.. my printer will print color, but it ends up being very expensive... and you should know... if you use your color cartridges to make black pages, it eats them up at a rate that would stun you.... and of course, we all run out of black in occasionally... i print black at home, color at the library...

We have owned HP printers now going on over 10 yrs every couple of years we upgrade not because there is anything wrong with the printer, like this current purchase was because it's a wireless printer so no matter where I'm sitting in the house I can hit print and it's gone to the printer. We find the ink cartridges we get a pretty good usage out of them we can go several months without needing to change anything. Our printer gets used almost daily as DH prints off work documents at night so I can proof read them for him.

Our HP can print, fax, scan, photocopy, it does pictures, the patterns come out really nice and sharp. I'd highly recommend HP to anyone, we've had Canon's, Lexmark printers before and always ended up going back to HP hope this helps.

I purchased a HP all in one 4550 is the number from Sam's Club about two months ago and with the rebate it was only 59.99. It has been wonderful so far. I also have a ColorSmart printer I received with my labtop I purchased in 2008 and it works great as I can just plug my camera into and print photos. I bought the newer one as I could set up things wireless so I don't have to plug my laptop in to print all the time, and I needed a scanner.