How good are the sub $ 500 printers?

[Meleica]

I have been printing out very nice 8.5x11 inh prints on a $ 150 HP photo printer the past year or so. The files are processed RAW shots - nothing really from scans. However, whenever I need a "high quality" 8x10 or 16 x20 inch print, I usually use MPIX. My question is this..... just how good are theses 13x19 printers from Canon and Epson ? Should I just continue to use my HP for proof prints and then on the fairly rare occasion I want the highest quality 8x10 or 16 x20 use MPIX ? Thoughts ?

thanks
Dan