Best of its kind
Written: Dec 11 '02
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Superb Print Quality, does good on CAD work as well
Cons: Heads require frequent cleaning, ink used up rapidly. Machine is not for beginners
The Bottom Line: Buy it. The only printer in this size format that really works correctly.
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| johnfalky's Full Review: Epson Stylus Photo 1280 |
Being an under-employed Aerospace Engineer in a dying industry, I purchased the Epson 1280 in late 2001 after extensively checking out its competition. I knew in advance that more than likely, print head clogging would be a problem. In this price range, however, there isn't much choice. More capable equipment with the same resolution can cost you thousands of dollars.
The 1280 has performed superbly for me. It has printed uncountable CAD drawings, a purpose for which it was really not intended. The printout quality leveraged me into some good Engineering work this year. It is also used extensively for photography. Overall quality of the prints is very, very good, but you must have Adobe Photoshop, full version or something equivalent (nik filter software) to really make this unit perform. Paper quality is also very, very important. I recently bought some "cheaper non-brand glossy paper" and the quality of the prints went downhill accordingly. The quality of large prints (13" 19") on KODAK or EPSON paper is stunning, but such print jobs take lots of time and patience (2 hours for large prints and maybe over 4 hours for digital editing) and use lots ink as well. However, these times are still far better than waiting for a lab to print your picture, with questionable results. Proof prints can be done at lower resolution. If you use the printer for photographic business purposes, I would factor a cost of app. $2.00 to $ 4.00 for paper. and up to $ 8.00 for ink "per sheet", otherwise it won't work for you financially.
This type of equipment quality would have only been a dream several years ago. Using both film and digital photography it allows me to produce results in less than 1 day for potential customers. I have found the ink colors to be really excellent and very durable. While they're not superarchival quality, I don't think this will be that great a problem. My viewpoint is that prints are made to be shown, not to be hidden or stored away. The Epson has been on the market for some time now. I still recommend it as a "buy"
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
johnfalky
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Reviews written: 6
Trusted by: 0 members
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