The Designjet 130 is an economical large format printer. The basic printer is available for Approx $1200 (Summer 2007) and prints up to 24" wide. It uses a 6 color system with seperate Ink cartridges and seperate print heads. 6 printheads and 6 ink cartridges will run you approx $35 each so take that into account if buying a used printer. I have printed close to 300 'D' size engineering plots (such as pwb layouts) and still have over 50% of each ink color left. That works out to (0.5 * $35 * 6) or  $105 in ink for an ink cost of <$0.35 per 'D' print (22" by 34") ! A printhead is good for 6 sets of cartridges for an estimated cost of $0.05 per 'D' sheet. I ran a couple of large format Photos and was impressed. For engineering plots, the time for a 'D' print is about 5 to 8 minutes. A bit on the slow side but not bad at all for a $1200 plotter. I added a roll feeder which includes an automatic sheet cutter after I had used it for a couple of months and it is a handy option for $400 or so, especially when you do batch plots. The lower paper tray holds 8.5x11 to 11x17 for auto feeding. For 'C' (17x22) or 'D' (22x34) you either manually feed each sheet or use a roll feeder.

The only problem I have had was the initial color calibration. (Which is automatic and built in). Whenever the print head is changed, (or the initial powerup) an automatic calibration routine is performed. After the printer shredded 10 'B' size test prints, I finally tried a standard 8.5x11. It appears that you MUST use 8.5x11 paper to calibrate. Although not a professional photographer the photo prints were at least as good as Epson R200 or R260 prints

UPDATE (1 year later)

I have now used this printer for a year now and I can now say that the roll feeder option is VERY irritating at times. So much so that I now use it in single sheet mode. It sometimes takes 8-10 trys to get the paper to load and at random times it will unload the paper and force you to start all over again. Of course this only happens when you are trying to get out a 10 page print job with a short deadline. This is still a great printer for large format work if you are patient. I have had no issues with loading single sheet paper. The Ink life is fantastic. At about 500-600 'D' size plots, I have yet to replace one of the $35 ink cartridges! I have been running standard bond paper with standard ink density!!