HP Designjet Z Boston MA

Reader Score: 8.23 (out of 10)

Review: "The recent introduction of pigment printers from both HP and Canon have finally added much needed competition to the market, which has been owned by Epson for some years now. Not being content to merely catch up to Epson though, HP has taken a large step forward with the new Z3100 and Z2100 photo printers. Both printers, available in 24" and 44" sizes, use the new Vivera pigment inks first seen in the B size HP PhotoSmart Pro B9180 printer. In fact, the Z2100 uses the same 8 ink set as the smaller B9180 which I have reviewed elsewhere in depth. For this report, I'll focus on the HP Z3100 printer, which is a 12 ink -11 colors and a gloss enhancer - version.

If you're serious about printing, the HP Z series is impossible to beat. Canon and Epson have a strong competitor now, which is great news for all of us. The gloss enhancer included with the HP Z3100 makes it possible to print outstanding gloss and satin prints with no bronzing or gloss differential to detract from the print. And, with an archival life of 200 years, our work will be around long after we're gone. I do wish the inks came in larger sizes than 130ml, especially for a 44" printer, but the ink use is very light compared to other large format printers I've used, helping to mitigate the smaller size of the cartridges. The initial price tag may put some people off, but given the inclusion of a spectrophotomet...