Beginning Printer iPF6100

I am nearly ready to purchase my first high quality printer. Previously I used the Canon i9000 (some) and Costco (mostly). The prints from the Canon started to fade within a year, and Costco is too limited in paper, and quality and color varies from occasion to occasion.

This will be my first foray into high end home printing.

I have searched the various forums and find that most people are happy with the 6100, the most often complaint being a difficulty in getting the image quality dialed in. The phrase "Steep Learning Curve" keeps coming up, as far as adjusting profiles for best results.

I have no experience in setting up a profile. Are these generally available? None of the posts I have found in my searches say anything like "Here is my new profile for the xxxx paper, hope you like it!", so will I be creating these myself? Does anyone know of any resources for hand-holding in this area? (Forums, Tutorials, etc.)

For those of you that HAVE this printer, is there anything you wish you would have known before you bought it? Any problem that you had that you can offer some "pre-emptive assistance".

Thank you in advance for all of your help, and I will try to not make a nuisance of myself. Feels kind of awkward being the newbie again (5 years on photography-on-the.net ) but again, this is a new area for me.

Rad