[Leica] Second printer? Talk me into/out of it. . .

[pklein at 2alpha.net (Peter Klein)]

For the last couple of years I have been a printing on an Epson 1280.  Had 
to replace the print head once due to a clog that wouldn't clear.  I'm very 
pleased with it now, with some anxiety about future clogs.  I've mostly 
printed  B&W with MIS grayscale inks.  I recently upgraded to the best 
solution I've used yet--the "Ultratone 2" hextone inks.  Haven't yet tried 
this with semi-gloss or glossy paper, but matte is great.

Lately I've been getting more of an urge to print some of my color 
work.  Especially now that I have the Olympus E-1, which does really nice 
color right out of the camera.  Color will not replace B&W, though--I'll 
probably print substantially more B&W.

I rarely print bigger than letter size, but having the 1280 is nice for 
that occasional 11x14 or 13x19.

I am not interested in going to a RIP-type workflow for B&W.  If I were to 
get a printer for both color and B&W, it would have to have some sort of 
grey-ink ability, like the Canon  7660.

So, what to do?  Some possibilities:

1. Get an inexpensive printer like the Epson C84 and use it for color right 
now.  It would even do B&W later with the above Ultratone inks, if the 1280 
died.

2. Go for a newer printer, either just for color, or for both B&W and color 
(the Canons).

3. Go have a nice glass of wine, forget this dual printer nonsense, stick 
with what I have for B&W.  Take my best color pictures to a local lab with 
a good printer on CD, CF card or "jump drive."  It might be more economical.

It strikes me that the next couple of weeks might be a good time to buy 
something if I'm going to, since a lot of businesses will want to clear 
unsold Christmas stock, and there may be rebates as well.  It also strikes 
me that having two printers might be having three times the worries.  If I 
do it, I probably should keep them the same brand so as not to have to 
stock two different brands of paper.

Any thoughts, suggestions, gentle questionings of my sanity. . . ?

--Peter