Epson Stylus NX215 Printer Copier Scanner
Written: Nov 02 '09
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Pros: It is a great all-in-one copier, printer, and scanner, especially considering the price
Cons: When the Epson Stylus NX215 prints it make a lot of noise.
The Bottom Line: Except for the noise it is a great all-in-one copier, printer, and scanner, especially considering the price. The images are clear and rich. I highly recommend it.
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| djgeiger's Full Review: Epson Stylus NX215 All-in-one Printer (C11CA47231) |
A lot has happened since I first intended on writing a review on the Epson Stylus NX215 printer. Frankly, I am glad time has passed, because I have learned a lot more about the printer and have grown to appreciate the Epson Stylus NX215, more than I had when I first was going to write a review.
When we first received the printer I was in a hurry to set it up and to print some photographs. I had an HP 842C which I used for years. I liked the printer, however; there was always one feature that I hated. It had one black cartridge and a combination color cartridge. The cartridges were expensive. My daughter has a two-year old baby girl that she always pretty much dresses in pink. Mind you, my daughter would never wear pink throughout her life for any reason. I print a lot of digital pictures of my granddaughter; I am always out of magenta ink. I always had plenty of cyan and yellow leftover. But, the cartridge is worthless with only two colors.
We started comparing printers. The one feature I wanted most was single colored cartridges. So, when I printed a number of pictures of my granddaughter and her pink clothes I would only have to replace one cartridge.
At the www.shopping.hp.com website the cartridges were extremely expensive. I didn’t feel guilty when I decided to get a new printer because I didn’t want to buy yet another cartridge. I also knew that the black cartridge was getting close to empty. So, for the cost of two cartridges I could buy a new printer. Cost of a HP 17 tri-color inkjet print cartridge - $37.99 and the cost of a HP 15 black inkjet print cartridge - $35.99 total cost being $73.98.
Epson Stylus NX215 cartridges cost $11.99 for each single cartridge so the cost of the three color cartridges together came to $ 35.97. The costs are a couple dollars less than HP's tri-color cartridge.
Though, the price can’t be equally compared because when I print my granddaughter’s pictures I will run out of magenta and not out of cyan and yellow. So, my only expense will be $11.99 for a single cartridge, throw in a few cents for the smidge of black ink tossed into the mix.
The cost of the Epson Stylus NX215 was $89.99 and for an all-in-one that isn’t bad. The Epson not only prints but also scans and copies.
The shipping was free on items over $49. The shipping method was 3-5 day UPS. The box weighed 15.50 pounds when it arrived. So, I ended up with a pretty nice all-in-one for $80.99 where the new cartridges for my HP 842C would have been $73.98.
We needed a new scanner anyway. We have an Epson Perfection 1660 scanner, which is all it does, is scan, and sits on my husband’s desk, and gather’s junk on top of it, so evidently, it doesn’t even make a good paper weight. In all fairness we have had this scanner for years. It still works fine. I have never used it. However, my husband, who isn’t a big techie, has scanned lots of things for me.
My favorite has been my granddaughter’s ultrasound images. I don’t know why, and I’m not about to ask, why he was never been able to scan a document into a PDF file. It is so easy with the Epson Stylus NX215.
The new scanner is on my desk – ha! I love the scanning feature. You can scan from the computer or from the Epson Stylus NX215. I love the software that came with the Epson. Down on my taskbar is a little picture of a printer. I can click the icon and see the exact level of each print cartridge. I have used more black ink than any other color. In addition, the magenta cartridge is just a short distance behind the black cartridge. The cartridges have SmartValve cartridge technology with Micro Piezo Ink Level Sensors.
We need to back up a ways to why I needed a new printer and ended up with the Epson Stylus NX215. The cartridges is how I justified needing a new printer. The real reason is because I had a feeling I needed to print pictures and get them to my 88-year old mother as soon as possible. She loved getting pictures and I sent them a few times a year.
I went to print pictures and they were all bluish/greenish looking. I knew the magenta was missing, but the strange thing was, we had just recently installed a new color cartridge. I remembered this clearly, because I had wanted to print photos before and it wasn’t looking real great so we installed the color cartridge. It turned out that the black cartridge needed replacing. After both cartridges had been installed it still produced bluish/greenish images so I suspect the nozzle was plugged.
Now, a little bit more background information, to catch you up to speed on the reasons of why we had the printer/scanner exchanges. I mentioned wanting to get photos to my elderly mother, it was a strong feeling. We quickly installed the Epson and I printed my pictures. I had a letter written and ready to go. We went to the post office to overnight the pictures and letters to my mother.
The next day I got a call from my sister-in-law that my mother had a stroke. I asked her if the pictures had arrived and she said yes, that she had seen them and the pictures of her granddaughter had made her very happy. It wasn’t more than an hour after they arrived that she had her stroke. She died that night in her sleep. Don’t put anything off folks. My dad had died earlier that year.
This personal information where I digressed was for a reason, we order everything from Dell because I know it will show up exactly when they say it will show up. I stopped buying anything but Dell computers. Except for my laptop and that was a "WalMart I need it today purchase."
Obviously I needed a new printer right now. I most likely would have kept the HP printer and had unplugged the nozzle. There weren’t any good all-in-one deals at WalMart. In the small town of Huron, South Dakota there isn’t many shopping opportunities, though it is a wonderful small town.
The printed photographs turned out beautiful. The images were high-quality and the ink dried rapidly. I was always working a lot of photos for my work and pleasure, and I have had ink smearing issues in the past.
As soon as the Epson Stylus NX215 arrived we used the quick set-up guide. I do a tremendous amount of image work on Adobe Photoshop and I wanted the new Epson installed on my computer. My computer is a Dell Dimension E520 with an Intel duel core 6400 CPU with two GB of RAM, running Windows Microsoft XP as an operating system. I bought the computer just a month before Windows Vista was due out, however the computer came with a voucher to order Windows Vista, which I did. I had heard all kinds of problems people were having installing Vista I just stuffed it in the closet and there it still sits. I do however, have Vista on my Toshiba laptop and I really don’t mind Vista at all.
Now, if I had written this review right after trying out the new printer instead of waiting for a while I would of have had foremost in my mind; the one thing I hate about the printer. It produces enough noise that makes me I think our house has a higher decibel level than the airport. When you first click print there is a long pause (second thing I don’t like – long queue/spool waits) then all of a sudden a very loud clunk. The first time my nerves were rattled anyway, on top of that I am high strung. I jumped, it was so loud that my heart fell on the floor and the top of my head was sticking through the ceiling; something like this, ka-clunk... click click click clunk, as it is spooling.. Another ka-clunk ka-clunk…now a little time passes, you don’t expect any more noise….whirlllll.
I like the printer menu that merged with the regular printer menu. There are several tab options after clicking properties. The main tab opens first. Here is where you have a series of choices of quality options, paper options, orientation options, and print options. The print options has really nice features, fix photo – enhances photo by optimizing color levels, fix red eye – reduces or fixes redeye, reverse order – starts with the last page so that the pages stack in the right order, quiet mode – print speed reduced for quieter operation of the same quality. Under print options is orientation; given the choice of portrait (tall) or landscape (wide).
Across the top of the main tab are choices of draft, (economic/high speed) text, (medium quality) text and image, (high quality text and graphic) photo, (high-quality photographic printing) and best photo, (top-quality photographic). Lastly on the main tab are ink levels as I explained before from the toolbar icon, then the choice of paper from ultra premium to plain paper with several choices in-between.
Another tab is shortcuts which show all your choices on one side page of information to see exactly what options have been chosen.
Here is an important tabbed page, maintenance. There is an Epson status monitor; it currently reads as ready and yet again, ink levels. Nozzle Check –Two graphics print out (very tiny) which shows if you’re good to go, or if the nozzles need cleaning. Head Cleaning – It is used to clean the print head nozzles, it suggests not using this feature unless gaps or faint areas appear in the printout because it uses ink. Print Head Alignment – when you use this utility if the printout shows misaligned vertical lines – then you click to align the print heads. Ink Cartridge Replacement – guides you through ink cartridge replacement.
The Advanced Tab has some repetition from the main page but also opens up a whole new world of custom options.
The last tab is Page Layout and this is where you will find two-sided printing, reduce, or enlarge documents, number of copies, mirror images, and watermarks.
The Epson Stylus NX215 is made in Indonesia and has an easy to understand quick guide that covers the basic coping, printing, and scanning as well as trouble shooting and maintenance.
You can operate all functions from the computer or the printer with use of the control pad. One touch copying and scanning. One of the neatest things about the printer, is being able to print from a memory card and there are numerous compatible cards and image formats.
You simply stick the card into the card slot. The memory card access light will flash; when it stays lit you can then view your photographs on the LCD screen. Then you can print an index sheet to select what prints you want, or print all the photos. You have to make sure the access light to the memory slot isn’t flashing when you pull the card back out. The manual suggests that if your printer is connected to a computer to prepare the memory care for removal by selecting the USB mass storage device icon on the computers taskbar.
I normally use the computer to run photo operations, I am use to it, and I like it. I messed with memory card readers in the past and found them bothersome; am I pushing it in too far, not enough – I don’t think I will continue this discussion, I already detect a few smirks.
The manual covers Macintosh operations, and different OS systems.
Problem solving is useful, in fact I just now ran into the software update area, for software and driver updates.
Print speeds are up to 32 PPM black text documents. Copy speeds black 32 CPM. The scanner resolution is 2400DPI. Print is 5760x1440 DPI. More information on print speeds can be found at http://www.epson.com/printspeed.
Epson Stylus NX215 has a one year limited warranty.
Except for the noise it is a great all-in-one copier, printer, and scanner, especially considering the price. The images are clear and rich. I think the noise is such a great issue because the printer sits by the wall, next to my granddaughter’s nursery. Every time I want to print something, I realize she is taking a nap or it is her bedtime, it just never fails.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 89.99
Operating System: Windows and Macintosh
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Epinions.com ID:
djgeiger
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Member: Diana Geiger
Location: Huron, South Dakota USA
Reviews written: 162
Trusted by: 349 members
About Me:
I am a writer and the Exotic Pets Editor for BellaOnline.com.
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