I was thinking of asking Santa for an edible image printer for Christmas. I know nothing about them but I have had several requests for images on cakes lately. Any suggestions as far as brands to buy or NOT to buy?
Thanks in advance!

First you need to research which printers take edible ink.

http://www.photofrost.com/CartridgeChart.php

http://www.kopykake.com/documents/PrinterInks-Xref.pdf

Then go shopping for a "new" printer. I was lucky to find a new Canon ip4600 on Craigslist for $40. then I just bought the ink. After a few tweaks on the settings (likes picture quality setting) it works beautifully. I have some pic in my photos.

You cannot use an edible image printer and switch out between edible ink and regular ink, it will not be food quality safe. So I keep my ip4600 solely dedicated for edible images.

You can also buy edible rice paper in 100 sheet quantity for around $20-23 ish. My local cake supply store sells 4 sheets for $4.00!

I have an Epson nx415 $75.00 like poster above said once you tweek the settings (print on photo setting) it works great.. I made the wine label on my cake I did today with it and was really happy with the way it came out.. the other thing I like about it is it has a scanner so I can scan photos and print I find I am using it more and more.. I purchased the paper online from the same place I purchased the ink. You will love your printer.. and yes be sure to keep it seperate for food safety.. Oh I also read to take out the ink cartridges when not in use and store in a zip lock bag.. Just read that yesterday Thought I would give that a try it makes sense.. good luck.. & Merry Christmas!