As an aside, these days you have to watch. If you intend on keeping an inkjet/bubblejet long term, it's a good idea to have it cleaned every 2 years or so (usually wiping the rollers down with strong rubbing alcohol, and having the ink sponge and trap cleaned (this is where all the print head cleaning ink sprays to). I have never cared for the idea of individual color tank printers as they get pricey to maintain. The inks for epson switched over to archival / water resistant back in '02. The only real standout issues were failed units coming from specific countries. I used to sell them at staples when I worked there. HPs, my Dad has a Canon, ink-jets don't seem to last, if you get 5-years out of them they are doing pretty well. Holding my breath when we approach the 3-year mark with it though. It's been running for about 18-months now, and seems to be better than the 1400 was. It handles thicker stock well, my wife runs watercolor paper through it for some of her art work. It's nice to have a printer that can print up to 13-inches wide, and also can print on CD-roms, if you need it. It takes the same inks, and the cost of the new printer as not unreasonable. With a healthy investment in ink in the house, we looked for other options, but the 1430, seemed to be the answer. After a web search we found it's a semi-common occurance with them. It suddenly bricked up one day, shortly after buying new ink. We also used it for everyday printing, my son's homework, etc. Never had much of a clogging issue with it. We had a 1400 for about 3-years, and it worked pretty well, it was our only printer, my wife makes greeting cards from her artwork, she runs a fair amount through it, in volume, but sporadically. PERSONAL MESSAGING REGARDING SELLING OR BUYING ITEMS WITH MEMBERS WHO HAVE NO POSTS IN FORUMS AND/OR WHO YOU DO NOT KNOW FROM FORUMS IS HEREBY DECLARED STRICTLY STUPID AND YOU WILL GET BURNED.I have experience with both the Epson 1400, and the 1430, 'I think the idea of art kills creativity' - Douglas Adams What are your viewing conditions for judging the print? That is, if the print is viewed under the right conditions (so not a dim desktop lamp ) My monitor is at about 100 Cd/m^2, and a print off my Epson R2800 compares very close to the softproof on screen. I'd not judge it to judge 'brightness' of a print though. If you interpret the histogram well, it could give you an indication of the tonal values in the image. Plus Ive always worked with my histogram and I think that has a bigger say in how bright the picture is. Rene, I have read your post and I have checked my monitor and it's not too bright.

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