Max width
13 in (13 x 19 sheets, 13 in roll)
Inks
10-color UltraChrome PRO10 pigment (incl. violet, gray, light gray)
Cartridges
25 ml
Blacks
Photo and matte black both installed, auto switching
Roll paper
Yes, 13 in roll on 2 in core
Thick media
Up to 1.5 mm via front path
Display
4.3 in touchscreen
Connectivity
Wi-Fi, Ethernet, USB
Pros
- Roll feed for long prints and editions
- 25 ml cartridges, nearly double the Canon's
- About $123 less than the PRO-310 at the time of writing
- Violet and two grays for strong color and B&W
- Front path takes board up to 1.5 mm
Cons
- One black prints at a time; switching papers costs a changeover
- No gloss optimizer
- Amazon stock has been inconsistent
For a print business, the P700's advantages are the boring ones, and boring is what you want. Roll feed means you can print a 13 x 39 panorama or a stack of 13 x 19 editions without babysitting sheets. The 25 ml cartridges mean fewer interruptions mid-run. And at about $576 when we checked, it undercuts the current Canon.
The ink set is the other reason. UltraChrome PRO10 uses ten pigments including violet, gray and light gray. Epson's grays are why photographers print monochrome on Epsons, and painters reproducing graphite, charcoal or ink wash benefit the same way. Color is excellent; the Canon's Chroma Optimizer gives it an edge on glossy and luster papers, where it evens out gloss and reduces bronzing in the blacks.
Cost per print tendencies: Red River Paper's testing (reported by Printerville) put P700 ink at about $4.00 for a 13 x 19 in high quality mode. Small-cartridge printers, Canon included, cost more per milliliter than the 17-inch models; the P900's 50 ml cartridges cost about 45 percent less per milliliter in the same testing. If you print large volumes, that is the argument for going to 17 inches. Our best home printers for art guide ranks the full range.
Our Pick
The P700 wins for an artist selling prints because it does three practical things the Canon does not: it feeds 13-inch roll paper, its cartridges hold 25 ml against Canon's 14.4 ml, and at about $576 at the time of writing it costs roughly $123 less than the PRO-310. Its 10-color UltraChrome PRO10 set, with violet and two grays, is excellent for both color and black and white. The one caveat is stock: it was unavailable on Amazon earlier this month, so check before you plan around it.
Buy the P700 if you print editions, panoramas or long runs on roll paper, if you want fewer cartridge swaps, or if you print a lot of black and white. It is the 13-inch printer we would put in a studio that sells prints every week.
What we don't like
Epson installs both photo and matte black, but only one black prints at a time, so jumping between glossy and matte papers costs a short changeover. There is no gloss optimizer like Canon's Chroma Optimizer. And Amazon stock has come and gone this year.
