Thanks for all the help!
Dayvid, Ill definitely check out 5 star..I ve been looking for somewhere good and local for quite a while..

oh yeah ink costs are ridiculous, I bought a printer and found out it only had a demo cartridge had to pay another chunk to by a new cartridge and my budget went to the printer, lol. I think I got like 16 prints maybe.
-B

Posted by Eric Gunther: 
I’m currently using an Epson 1280 – haven’t been ever very impressed, but my clients have always been really happy with the outputs.  I agree with Sandy, the 2200 is fantastic from the samples I’ve seen, and also – don’t ask me why, but lot of my friends swear by the quality they get from the large format Canons.  I’ve seen the price of the Canons show up lower more than the Epsons.  The key thing for me was that I could get Epson ink cartridges at a great discount through a friend.  I swear, it’s the cost of the ink that after three months you’ll be looking at come tax time, more than the printer itself.   

I've had nothing but negative expirences when outsourcing my fine art prints to outside companies, and, because of that, I invested in an Epson 7600 and an Epson 4000 so I can do all my own printing.   The 4000, for anyone looking to move up in size from the Epson 2200 is very much worth the 1,800$.  Takes the same 110 or 220 ultrachrome archival inks, but they last a good long time I'm finding out.

But anyone looking to print up to 13x19, you should pick up a 2200.  Fantastic "small" sized printer.

the r1800 is replacing the 2200

but my 2 cents... $ for $ its cheaper to have a pro lab do your prints, and they will be a true photographic process, not inkjet

I use the Epson 2200  - vivid color and high quality!