Too Much Hassle!
Written: Apr 01 '06
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Product Rating:
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Pros: When it does its job, it gets it done.
Cons: Takes constant nursing to do its job.
The Bottom Line: It takes constant nursing just to get it to print a CD.
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The following outlines my experience with an R200 that I purchased factory refurbished -- it may not reflect the experience of someone buying one brand new (but frankly I wouldn't count on it.)
The R200 is a great solution for people needing to spend the bare minimum of money to be able to print on CDs and DVDs -- at least that was my rationale for buying one. It cost me something like $60, which is INSANE for something with its capabilities. I use it almost exclusively for DVD labeling on my PowerMac, as I have an HP OfficeJet that is hooked up to my main computer (an IBM Thinkpad) for all my regular printing needs. (None of these printers seem to be easily networkable (especially cross-platform), hence my reliance on one-printer-per-computer.)
The prints it makes are pretty good -- I haven't really given it a full-out test on high-grade photo paper, but my experience with Epsons has always been that they produce excellent prints. On white-label DVDs the images are good, lacking the "pop" of a print on glossy paper but certainly nice enough to give to someone and look professional. (They don't look factory-printed, but what do you want for $60.) It consumes ink at a not-unreasonable rate, in my opinion, and the cartridges are individual colors, which sounds like a great money-saving feature because you only need to replace the one that's empty -- however, in practice, my experience is the instant one cartridge goes dry they ALL go dry (whether this is actual fact or because there are chips in the cartridges to count the number of images you print) so I have never replaced just one cartridge, it always means a complete set of six goes in at the same time. I buy cheap knockoff ink cartridges and they work fine; I'd never pay Epson their huge ink prices considering how quickly those cartridges run out -- the knockoffs are $3-4/each, so if I spend $20 on ink every four months I don't feel ripped off. (I did say I thought it consumed ink at a reasonable rate -- I guess that's based on the amount of money I have to pay. If I spent $65 every four months on ink, I'd call it an ink hog.)
So all in all, I'm pleased. EXCEPT --
The darn thing is as finicky a machine as I've ever had to deal with. I would say approximately half to three quarters of the prints require starting the job two to three times. The tray doesn't load right, or it loads in, positions the disk and then spits it out unprinted for some reason, there's ALWAYS a blinking light on the thing. I find myself on my knees begging it, trying to nurse a print job through, is it too close to the wall (the tray slides all the way through it and sticks out eight inches behind it, so you can't print a disk with it set in a bookcase, for example) or is it not quite aligned or... This morning I had to print out three DVDs and I've had to turn off and restart the machine twice, and every print has required multiple loadings. If I had any other kind of printer that required this kind of attention, I'd chuck it in an instant -- and if I heard there was a more reliable DVD printer out there, I'd buy it in an instant. But instead I just invest the extra couple minutes per disk to get it to print. Occasionally my blood pressure skyrockets (especially when I'm running on a deadline) and occasionally I want to take an axe to it. So keep in mind the few minutes it shaves off your lifespan due to stress when considering its low price.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
expert_witness
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Reviews written: 22
Trusted by: 1 member
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