i’m away to buy a printer & was in PC World and there was a rep from epson there giving me all the spiel on there R265 & R340, i was also in comet and was looking at the IP5200, there was also a canon rep there giving me all the spiel about it, so deceided on the canon ip5200, they went to check how many they had left…
NONE
so i came home empty handed but before i did i gave the canon rep a bit of a stirring up.
but in saying all that, which would be the better printer?
HP makes one now too if it’s available in your area. The spiel they post about it sounds good but so do the new Epsons with newer ink tech, maybe either one is water proof now.
I have a R200 and I’m pretty happy with it, printed disk look great, just sometimes I have to fight with the tray to get it to feed, and i did get the updated tray.
thats what the epson rep was on about.
how does the canon compare to the epson?
I have heard a lot of positives about the Canon printer and a lot of negatives about the Epson printers (clogged heads, etc). Most of the issues people had (see amazon.com reviews) started after a year or so. You can always trash the printer after 1-2 years and buy a new one though.
I have had excellent results with my Pixma IP 3000. It also comes with a CD printing tray outside US. In US it can be had from eBay.
Edit: Quality wise, both are excellent, you cannot go wrong with either of them.
I have the canon iP4000 that I got out of England and also the Epson R200; both do a fine job, however I prefer the canon. With the canon I find the ink dries quicker (like in five minutes) and it seems to have less ink waste. The two CDprint softwares do about the same thing, nothing to fancy but enough choices to allow some nice labeling.
I read that the new HP D5160 being CD/DVD direct print capable but that the software provided was poor at best. I have not been able to find any reviews of it so I can not say from first hand experience.
this is what the epson rep was trying to explane to me about, there new ink system, that the ink doesn’t dry up the same at the printer head.
thanks for the replies about them 
, i think i’ll go with my gut feeling and buy the canon IP5200
Hi Bj,
I’ve just returned my iP4000 to the shop for a warranty repair. I’ve been very happy with it for about a year and don’t really know what went wrong. I’m guessing a power spike damaged the control unit or something. I purchased that model specifically because it’s the last series without a chip in the cartridges, so they’re very easy to refill (I was still using the originals when it failed though). Pixma x200 and new x300 would still be my choice if I were buying new, but as it happens I came across an R340 on sale for €99 (suggested retail around €200), so I’ve been using this for about a week. It probably prints slightly better than the iP4000 (it’s a newer model and uses 6 colours vs. 4 for the iP4000), but the new Canons use more/better inks as well (Chromalife). In short, the R340 is an impressive machine, though I find it’s ugly and still not as fast as Canon. Refilling the Epson cartridges is a bit of a pain as well (and you’ll need a resetter) - not sure how it is with the newer Canons.
Hi Cressida,
so do you think the better one for prints was the epson ?, the epson rep said to me when i compaired speeds with the canon, your better with a bit slower print speed & better quality to speed of print, is this what you say aswell ?
Thanks for the heads up on the canon 
ps, i found a site for compatables, price seems ok.
http://www.ab-inks.co.uk/cat--Canon-IP5200--canon-ip5200.html
Not too sure about the speed thing. My Epson (Stylus Photo 830U) was dawg slow at best settings - but my Lexmark (X3330) at best settings is a heck of a lot quicker, and to be honest I can’t see much difference if any between either prints.
If my Lexmark died, I’d grab a Canon.
Yes, the Epson Stylus Photo units are really good at photo/image printing, but the Canons are faster indeed. It’s one of these debates where it comes down to personal preference and/or convenience of purchase in the end. Both are so good now that the manufacturers can’t even differentiate themselves on the highest print resolution, but have to shift their marketing to the quality/longevity of their inks. So not really a consideration, unless you plan on paying for original cartridges.
If you’re a perfectionist, the Canon CD-LabelPrint software has a limitation of 118mm on the outer diameter, whereas Verbatim printables are 119mm. If this bothers you, you can switch to Nero or Surething though.
I have the Canon IP3000 and it has been great for almost 2 years.
Personally I would not buy any other brand.
I would never buy anything form canon since the canon printer I had when xp came out was not any good form then on. It seems that canon did not want to come out with a new drive for xp they wanted me to buy a new printer. I told them I would be buying another printer but it would not be canon. I did what I said I would do my printer is epson and nothing else in my house has or ever will have the name canon on it.
I’ve used a Pixma IP5200 and I have to say it’s very nice. It has a lot of features for the price and I would recommend it. The quality is very good, and what I found good about it over HP printers was the fact that you could change ink cartridges individually rather than all 3 colours at once.
I had the same problem with my Epson scanner. They produced a driver (singular, never been updated to my knowledge) for XP, but it didn’t work very well.
I gave up and used the Win98 drivers with no problems at all.
I’m a huge Canon fan, IP3000 and IP4000 running right now. I’ve bought a couple of HP products lately, but no printers, the HP drivers and software are pretty poorly designed. I find Canon drivers and software to be very stable and functional. I’ve also had decent support from Canon, but mostly I just love their economy, I refill ink and can run these Canons all day for pennies. I just invested in new print heads for them so I can keep using them forever.
The only time I’ve seen the Canon 118mm limitation on disc printing be an issue is with Verbatim discs, which called for 119.
Thats too bad, they also make great Cameras! 
Thats not a Canon-issue.
I can print even 120mm full-face discs with my IP3000 using Nero Cover Designer.
It [I]is[/I] a Canon CD-LabelPrint issue.
I have had them all still have Primera, Epsons and now I have the new HP’s! I would have to say the canon are great even better then the epson in my book, but of course you can’t bet the pro ones like primera, but after using the HP for a few it is very good I would have to say for the quality of print and ease of use it is next to the canon. As well it is also great because of the very common ink carts it uses! If you want a good one with CIS possible added bonus go for the Epson. The HP’s I bought were around 100US which is a great deal. Anyways all 3 do the job they all can have issues HP, Canon and the Epson are all close priced but as for the quality of print I see better in Cannon and HP, but the Epson does great to and as for its issues reported I have not ran into any and have had a few of mine for over 2yrs and many, many 100’s of prints from them. Be sure to get the updated Epson tray if you get one there are still many out there being sold that come with the old version tray. I have many that still function no issues but with the new ones are a no worry deal.
Luvs Jenni 
Just did a review of the Epson R265
Personally I would go for the iP4300 or iP5300, depending on the money your willing to spend. Slightly faster and slightly quieter.