68lb. UltraPro Gloss 2.0

Not many manufacturers make 17x25 paper. So choices are limited. Before finding out about Red River, I purchased another brand that is very well known in photography circles. The paper was twice the cost of Ultra Pro Gloss. Granted, it was a much thicker paper and it felt good in the hands. But since my prints will eventually be mounted on a matboard under a frame, no one is going to feel the thickness anyway. So it came down to how the image appears on the paper and the ease with which I can work with the paper. The more expensive brand -- being thicker -- was curled up on the corners and edges. So I needed to roll it to undo the curl, which never really flattened out completely and would curl back again within a few days. As that paper went through the printer, the curl on the edges of the paper picked up the ink and the paper came out smudged. Moreover, I wasted close to half the box of paper because I had to experiment with different printer settings to get a good print. The thickness and the curling resulted in head strikes across the image. With Red River UltraPro Gloss, however, the print came out perfectly the first time. No paper or ink was wasted. No time was wasted experimenting with printer settings. And the Red River website had easy instructions for installing their ICC profile. When I compared the Red River print with the print from the more expensive manufacturer, I thought the Red River print looked better. Of course, that's a matter of opinion. But I like what a gloss finish does to my images and I thought the colors of my image came out with greater depth and sheen with the Red River paper. To my eye, the difference is quite obvious. So for close to half the price, I thought the Red River paper was superior for my needs and I plan to continue using it. In fact, I just purchased another two boxes for my upcoming exhibits. Also, take note that the customer service has been exceptional. Although my first box of paper was packaged well, somehow the corners of the paper got slightly damaged during transit. I emailed customer service and a new box -- with the paper in perfect condition -- arrived the next day. It arrived faster than I expected. I didn't even have time to repack the damaged paper for return, the cost of which was covered by Red River.