Pros: great picture quality, 6 color inks, border free printing
Cons: loud, slow, drinks ink
The Bottom Line: 3 stars price dis-regarded, and 5 stars taking into consideration the great price. So, it gets a good 4 stars; Excellent product, Epson!
brent0226's Full Review: Epson Stylus Photo 780 InkJet Printer
I really like this printer. I get very clear and very realistic prints that are just about identical to real photos from photo labs.
This printer is dirt cheap! You get amazing quality for a great price. However, it does not come without some drawbacks. As with other printers, you must purchase a USB or parallel cable to connect the device to your computer.
The printer is excessively loud. The startup time takes a while, maybe a minute or a minute and a half. It makes all kinds of strange sounds as it cleans the print heads. It makes a horrible sound as it rips its printer head from side to side while printing. I leave it in the study with the doors closed, and I can still hear it printing away.
The device is a little slow, but I can't complain, because it gives me what I want. No photo prints come out in less than a minute. It also drinks ink pretty fast, but not so fast that it would be detrimental to the entire scope of the printer.
But pushing these details aside, what are you ultimately left with? The picture. So, this is what we need to judge the printer on. The photo prints are amazing. Sometimes at 2880 DPI (the top resolution) the prints appear a little too soaked with ink (therefore a little dark), but 1440 DPI does the job with high resolution source images and just about no dots at all under close inspection (and uses less ink)! The six-color ink system helps smooth gradations (when one color fades to another).
I don't really think I need to go into details about black and white printing. Almost all new printers print these effortlessly, and this printer is no exception. Black and Whites come out very fast (maybe 15 seconds) and appear very nice like out of a laser printer.
The borderless feature is awesome. One might think, why do I need a borderless printer? You can buy 4x6 in photo paper sheets that cost around $7 (20 sheets) that you place in your paper tray. After printing, you don't have to cut or tear the sheets at all. They are finished. You will be very glad you got it. No need for using sheets with perforated edges. Some tasks I use borderless printing on: 4x6 photo printing, full 8x10 prints for large pictures.
Now for comparisons. I own a small HP Photosmart 100 printer that prints only 4x6 borderless pictures. It prints at about 2400 DPI (I think). I printed several picture on the Epson 780 (1440 DPI) for me, and the same pictures on the HP Photosmart 100 for friends. Then, I compared them. The Epson's pictures turned out much more life-like. They appeared to be light when needed and dark in highlights and shadows. The colors were more accurate and the entire picture just looked more correct. So, the Epson did beat a new HP printer (one of Epson's largest competitors).
The entire device seems strongly made. No squeaks, no creaks, and it looks nice. The translucent blue cover makes it feel a little more modern, though maybe not too professional.
One other thing I really enjoy about this printer is that I've never had a paper jam, ever. There are rollers (paper feeding) in front of and behind the actual printing area, allowing the paper to be too short for other printers.
One quick tip: You've probably seen ads for the Epson Photo Stylus 785EPX everywhere. This printer is exactly the same as that one, except for: it doesn't accept flash cards, no on-printer photo manipulation, no built-in roll paper feeder, different color.
I would strongly suggest this printer for anyone who doesn't want to shell out tons of money for a fast, quiet printer, and still wants very nice prints. You can buy color cartridges for about $18, and black ones are a little more expensive (strange, isn't it?).
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 97 Operating System: Windows and Macintosh
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