The photo printer that could
Written: Dec 12 '02
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Pros: Excellent photo printing
Cons: Best to use epson paper for photos
The Bottom Line: Great photo color printer for the price!
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| snoopy221's Full Review: Epson Stylus Photo 820 Inkjet Printer |
There's so much color printers out there that it is hard to determine what is good. Canon? HP? Lexmark? Epson?
Depending on features such as do you need a built in memory card reader on the printer to print photo without a PC, or the multiple purpose all in one scanner/copier/printer, the price can range from $179 and up.
The Epson 820 printer is about $99 although you may find it cheaper. I was lucky that Office Depot had a $10 off in store coupon and a $15 off coupon for purchases over $75 to used. So my cost was only $75.
The Epson 820 is an inkjet printer (not a laser type printer). It has separate cartridges for black ink and color inks (6 inks as opposed to 4 for more realistic photo printing).
It comes with 2 software. The Epson Software Film Factory and the Arcsoft PhotoImpression 3.0. And there's also an install for the "movie" tutorial. It took awhile to get used to the software. I prefer the PhotoImpression. Mainly because it's easier to resize your picture for printing after clicking on the PRINT button. I always do a preview first to ensure what I see is what I get; sizewise, since I like the borderless 4x6 printing.
The manual and tutorial is easy to understand but you have to play around the software if you are new to photo printing.
The printer even comes with a sample packet of 81/2 by 11 Epson glossy and matte paper so you don't have to buy any photo paper yet. It's not a lot but it's free since paper can cost. 4x6 Epson paper costs around $6.99. Although I saw at Costco, 100 sheets of Epson glossy paper is $19.99.
You do have to buy a USB or parallel cable since it doesn't come with it.
The ink does run out pretty fast. I estimate that you can get around 55 - 60 4x6 borderless prints depending if you are printing with the PHOTO or BEST PHOTO option.
One thing you need to do if you don't use the printer a lot.
Make sure you run the clean nozzle option once a week or at least within 2 weeks. Otherwise you'll get clogs.
One of my test was to use the Epson glossy 4x6 borderless paper vs Compusa's 4x6 glossy borderless paper. The Epson paper looked great while the Compusa's paper had problems with details and sticky feeling to the paper. So go with Epson's paper. Other brand name paper like Kodak's or HP may work well, but I haven't tried it.
Overall, for the price, the Epson 820 is an excellent buy.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 75
Operating System: Windows and Macintosh
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Epinions.com ID:
snoopy221
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Reviews written: 29
Trusted by: 3 members
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