Your very own Instant Photo Lab, for a great price!
Written: Jun 15 '01 (Updated Aug 13 '01)
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Pros: Digital photo Lab, Here I come! Lab-quality prints, great color, ink level monitor in software
Cons: average text output (won't be confused with laser)
The Bottom Line: Good photo/text output. Avg. speed/ink usage, quiet, avg. 4" Paper "roll". Prints that last "10 years" UPDATE: Can now print at some Wal-marts/Sam's for $0.20/4"x6"
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| kairyl's Full Review: Epson Stylus Photo 870 InkJet Printer |
I bought the Epson Stylus Photo 870 about a year ago. At the time it was hands-down the best bang for the buck photo printer available. Sure, you could spend maybe $800-$1000 for a dye-sub and get slightly better prints (if that's possible), but dye-sub is WAY not worth the price. I actually wish that i could give this 4 1/2 stars!
Epson mentions that when you use Photo glossy with their ink, that the prints will rival film prints in longevity lasting more than 10 years!
PLUS:
1. Unbeatable prints on photo-glossy paper anywhere near this price range (except maybe for the new Epson which does 2880x720dpi instead of the 870's 1440x720dpi)
2. 6-color cartridge plus separate black: excellent color reproduction, solid blacks (not muddied browns).
3. Great option for using a roll of 4" photo-glossy paper, where you can print 4x6" prints, and tear along the micro-perforated edges. Or you can use up to 8x10" photo glossy. Can also print on non-glossy-heavy-matte paper, plain paper, etc... I recommend the Epson Photo Glossy.
4. You can print as few as one photo (rather than developing an entire roll), or print photos from other sources (web, digital cameras, friends, etc...)
5. The price is VERY reasonable for such great quality output, I picked one up online for about $250.
6. Drivers: One of the BEST things about the drivers, is that it shows you detailed level of ink left in the cartridges that are in the printer, which is INVALUABLE so you don't waste paper on printing when it might run out of ink without you knowing about it!
MINUS:
1. As with any high-quality photo printer, the costs of ink start to add up (although it's a little better than the cost of using an HP printer).
2. When the color cartridges run REALLY low, some of the skin tones look a little "pasty", like they haven't been out in the sun much lately.
3. The plain text output of the printer is average for an ink jet. It's still very good quality, but just not quite the best text output (which is fine, because I bought this printer for its photo capabilities). Don't get me wrong, you can still print out great looking reports, I just think it could be a little better.
UPDATES:
1. Some of the Wal-marts & Sam's Clubs locally have begun to process digital prints from a variety of media, including Smartmedia, Compact Flash I/II, CD/CD-R, etc... They're current processing price is about 20 cents/photo (4"x6"). That is ALMOST ON PAR with regular film printing, which is currently about 17-18 cents per 4x6 photo! Not too shabby, and they use their regular film-processing "big iron" to print the photos using regular "film" ink/paper. Outputs are virtually indistinguishable from film (assuming good digicam).
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 250
Operating System: Windows
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Epinions.com ID:
kairyl
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Reviews written: 33
Trusted by: 3 members
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