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Re: [OM] Alps MD-5000 Printer

Subject: Re: [OM] Alps MD-5000 Printer
From: Terry Mair <tmair@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 14 Jun 1999 09:10:04 -0600
Chip:
     Thanks for the reply, I  looked at one of these beastys at the local (30 
miles
away) comp usa and dang impressed with its quality, but had heard about its 
banding,
the guy at compusa said it was slow, about how much do the cartridges coat and 
about
how long do they last I have a HP that I have been using to print my Oly prints 
(Oly
content) so I would use it for documents, the guy also said that they will not 
fade
or run is this your experience?
Thanks
Terry

Chip Kinkead wrote:

> Terry Mair wrote:
>
> Are you happy with your Alps? I have heard that it has a problem with
> banding have you experienced this? and about how long does it take to
> print an 8X10?
>
> Terry,
>
> I couldn't be happier with the printer.  Of course, it's not for
> everyone; I know very few people that put up with them. Those of us
> that do are kind and gentle people.
>
> The printer is a neat looking black monolith box with a flat top for
> storing magazines and drinks rather it's running or not.  It doesn't
> seem to vibrate so much when it's holding food.  It's foot print is
> smaller than most printers.
>
> Without fear of contriction, I can state that it is the dead slowest
> printer Ive ever seen or even heard of since the earth cooled; I speak
> of experience as I drug home one each of Epson, HP, and Cannon fancy
> color printer prior to the Alps for trails.
>
> How long for an 8X10 to print ?  I really don't know. I leave the room.
>  I plan on doing errands or vacuuming after I load one up.  It's like a
> pot of boiling water.
>
> It's a photocentric printer.  It can print grat quality text and graphs
> but you're not gonna want to unload and reload ribbons and wait for a
> one page letter.
>
> But when it comes to pictures, I don't know of it's equal (with the dye
> sub kit installed).  The "banding" you mentioned is probably the glossy
> finish that can be applied over the color.  If you stick your nose righ
> in the picture, you can see banding trails in certain reflected light.
> You can go for the matte finish (no glossy coat) and not have this
> issue.  You don't notice any banding at normal viewing distances.
>
> You can use laser paper for run-of-the-mill photos; never inkjet paper.
>  Alps printers (especially the MD-5000) can't run on inkjet paper at
> all; liked leaded gasoline.  At any one time, mine has $40 to $75 worth
> of little odd cartridges inside and the roughness of inkjet paper will
> rip them up.
>
> It wants very flat paper as it doesn't spray ink (inkjet); it applies
> color....  For photo-realistic pictures, a special paper is available
> at about a buck a sheet.
>
> I put a the dye sublimation kit into mine; it now works in continuous
> tone (CMYK) and does beautiful work. This was a dramatic improvement in
> fine detail and tone for another $100.  You can't let money bother you.
>  It is an expensive printer to buy and operate.
>
> It eats cartridges (four cartridges at $12/ea. for dye sublimation).
> It eats expensive paper ($1/sheet for the one kind of paper to go with
> the dye sub mode).
>
> It also sounds like you're standing at the rear of a Gleaner combine
> when it fires up and checks its ribbons; very mechanical thing.
>
> Mine has never had a problem and I run it a lot.  Incidently, ALPS
> support is 24/7 with a warm body answering the phone at no charge.
> They are very good and so is my printer.
>
> ===
> Chip Kinkead
> St. Louis, MO  USA
> chipkinkead@xxxxxxxxx
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