I agree with Duke, it is an excellent printer albeit with a real fading issue. Some of my prints from 6 months ago already suffer from hue shifts and fading. The ones that are properly framed behind a glass are OK so far. But I personally dislike having to put a glass in front of the beautiful gloss prints coming out of this printer, it is a shame really.
Asher, the web sites of Tetenal, Ilford and MOAB all have canned profiles for this printer in combination with their papers. I use them and they deliver very good results. Basically, that is why I stick to using only these papers since they come with profiles. Prior to that, I have tried profiling the printer using the now infamous PrintFix device (the original) from ColorVision/Pantone, but it has delivered terrible results so I've stopped using it.
I have also printed for a year or so using cheap 3rd party inks for "unimportant" prints. I stopped doing so since the color was inconsistent and fading was worse. Besides, the canned profiles are all based on the original Canon inks. That is why I now use original Canon inks only. I use, like Duke has mentioned before me, mostly black, photo cyan and photo magenta inks, followed by magenta, cyan and yellow. The red and green inks have only been replaced once in the last year or so. In the 2.5 years since I have bought the printer, it has never ever refused work or has had a clogged print head. I have had some very long periods of inactivity (three months or more) of not printing anything. I'd then switch it on, and after a cleaning cycle it would print as if no time has passed at all.
All in all, it is an excellent printer. The only problem I can mention is the print longevitiy issue. Mind you, I do not print B/W extensively. If I would, I'd probably choose the Epson 1800 or 2400 above the i9900.
Cheers,
Cem