Digital BW, The Print

Is the venerable Epson 860 printer (small carriage version of the popular
1160 for Black & White) still a desireable printer for Black & White?  Is
the none chipped cartridges for this printer a major plus?

I have one which I bought new old stock about a year ago and first tried
Lyson Quad Black inks, which I found to have a lot of metamorph.  I went to
Lyson Small Gamut and the tones were better, though still not nearly
perfectly grayscale.   But I think the Quad Blacks had slightly better tonal
separation.  I went back to Quad Blacks and they are just way too magenta.
Doing a few Black & White tests on my 870 (6-color) the BW prints look very
sharp but of course have metamorph.  I need to print on glossy paper and so
have to use dye inks.

I'm thinking of selling the 860 and getting ???.  Open to all ideas for a
dedicated BW printer.

Rick Schiller
www.rickschiller.com