When I came home from work I had another look at the prints. They looked much better. The surface looked much better when completely dry, but the bronzing on my color print was as bad as before. After reading through the reviews once more, it looks like most of the reviewers were primarily concerned with BW, and on my BW print there is no visible bronzing. Also, they used custom made profiles while I’m using the canned profile from Harman. I guess the bronzing can be managed, but I haven’t figured out how. Another color print I made, with mostly warm tones, does not show any bronzing. It’s only blue shadows that show the problem.
What I really don’t understand is how they can say that the surface is robust. Ok, it’s difficult to scratch through the coating, but only the slightest touch with a sharp edge, like a nail or the edge of a paper, will leave marks in the glossy surface.
The rainbow is still there after drying. Maybe it has something to do with the Aluminum coating. Anyway, it’s not really a problem. You really have to find the exact right lighting to see it. You’re welcome to visit my bathroom and have a look 
The handling through the printer is very well. I just dropped the paper in the auto top loader, and they fed without any issues. No head strikes or any other problems.
I have started to like the paper a bit more now. I like that fact that it has much less structure than the Fine Art Pearl. The shadow detail is remarkable, and the image really pops out of the paper, but this paper is certainly not suited for prints that are to be handled much.
I’ve been running a bunch of prints on this paper over the weekend and cannot say I’ve noticed any of your problems. I find the surface quite robust, as long as I don’t handle the wet print. I do notice the prints take quite a while to settle down, probably longer than any other paper I’ve tried.
I get no bronzing, no metamarism. Depth in shadows is excellent and colour rendition spot on. Holds equally well for B&W (except the colour bit) and colour prints.
Only downside for me is that it’s a bit glossier than I’d been led to believe and I’ll probably also try the matt (semi-gloss, whatever) version as a comparison.
Well, I did a small “nail test” on several papers, and it is true that it’s no worse than many others. At least not the matt art papers. The reason I noticed it was that I compared it to the Fine Art Pearl, which I find extremely robust. Regarding the bronzing, it puzzles me even more. It’s only one print showing that. I’m starting to wonder if I may have selected the wrong profile when I printed that one. Anyway, I’m going to buy more of that paper. I like it so much better when it dries down completely.
The matt version of this paper is really matt, like Epson Enhanced Matte. I saw a sample of it in my camera store, and it looks like a nicer version of EEM. it is just as smooth, maybe even smoother, holds ink much better, and doesn’t feel flimsy like EEM. Really nice paper, but not semi gloss.
The good thing I notice about the Harman Gloss is that the paper gloss matches the ink gloss very well. There is a small difference between the white base and the ink, but it’s much more subtle than most papers I’ve seen. The only glossy paper I’ve seen that is better in that respect is the Ilford Gallery Smooth Pearl, but that is a RC paper base, not the nice fiber base I want.
I find the surface will mark easy but then you are just carefull how you store it and handle it
I’ve written a small review of the Harman papers on my blog
http://blog.quantum-capture.co.uk/2008/04/harman-paper-review/
Thanks,
I’ve read your post, and I mostly agree, at least on the part about the glossy paper. The matt I haven’t used.
The gloss is the clearer fav, the warm tone is nice for some shots too. Not much feedback on the WT