Run! Don't walk...away from this horrid thing!!!
Written: Jun 25 '05
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Pros: Decent quality photo prints, speedy text printing (in draft)
Cons: Perpetually clogged nozzles, chugs ink worse than a Hummer chugs gas!
The Bottom Line: Stay clear of this Epson. I'm not even going to give mine away to anyone, it's that bad! There's many similarly priced better (much better!) options out there.
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| zx1089's Full Review: Epson Stylus® C62 InkJet Printer |
This is the worst printer I've ever owned!! Why? Well, not for it's decent picture quality - that's fine. It's just that it takes an entire evening to get that picture printed. ...AND half a day's pay, too!!
I decided to replace a perfectly good and reliable HP 820Cxi looking for an up-dated improvement in picture quality and found the Epson C60/C62 rated as a best-buy in a computer magazine. Obviously that magazine did not spend any time actually living with it!
Shortly after purchase both the black and color cartridges ran dry. That it barely lasted a few pages did not initially concern me as most printers only come with partial-filled cartridges. But I then learned the first thing to hate about the C62; once one of the cartridges runs dry (say,the color), the printer is out of commission. It matters not that you may want to continue to only print text, or a page off the net in which the color balance is of no concern. Once the little chip on that cart says it's empty (which it's not! more on that later...), the printer ceases to function.
So I went out and bought a new pair of very expensive cartridges (approx $60 total) only to discover that they, too, ran dry shortly afterward. I decided to explore re-inking the cartridge (something I'd become rather proficient at with the old HP) but learned the next thing to hate about this Epson. There is a little computer chip built into each cartridge. Epson has decided to prevent me from re-filling my cartridge and forcing me back into the store for their over-priced cartridges by using that chip to sabotage the old cartridge. The chip estimates the amount of ink remaining in the cartridge and once it determines the ink is empty, it tells the printer to cease working until a replacement is installed. So, you could pour as much ink as you want into the cartridge again and it won't matter because the chip still thinks it's empty (and thus prevents the printer from working)!
After a number of cartridge purchases ($$$$$$), I discovered on eBay a "Chip re-setter" gizmo for under $10 and now am able to re-set that cartridge when re-inking. Works like a charm. Using that little gizmo, I discovered that the chip is also a liar! The first time I used it, when a color cartridge had run empty (according to the chip), I re-set the chip and re-tried the cartridge without re-filling. Surprise, surprise.... I managed to print another 3 more full page 8.5"x11" photos. On the 4th, the magenta started to drop out. So, there was still a significant amount of ink left in those previous cartridges I'd thrown out. Arghhh!!!!
Finally, and most significantly, the worst problem is exactly that which many other people have written about. You cannot let it sit for even a couple days (sometimes even 8 hours!) without the nozzles drying up or clogging. You simply cannot just sit down at your computer and decide to print something right now. If you've failed to print anything for a few days, you'll instead need to get comfortable for a couple of hours while you get the thing working again. Essentially what you need to do is first run a cleaning cycle at least 3 or 4 times. Every once in a while that alone will work, so I'll print a test pattern to check it. Usually, it is not yet working, so I just let it sit for about an hour or so. Then I try the test pattern again. If that pattern is improved, you may get away with one or two more cleaning cycles, and be off to the races. But, if it hasn't improved, you're in for a long evening repeating the procedure. Extremely frustrating, not to mention a colossal waste of expensive ink. I am writing this long review because I have a lot of time to kill while I am currently trying to get it working again tonight! This problem has ALWAYS existed; it has made no difference since I've turned to re-filling and using generic brand cartridges.
To give credit where it is due, the quality of the pictures it prints (especially on good photo quality paper) is very satisfactory - a definite improvement over my 10 year old HP. Also, on draft quality, it prints text as fast as, or better than, any budget priced printer should ever be expected to do.
But that's where it ends. When you hear "experts" say it is better to pay a bit extra up front to save money down the road... listen to them!! It may not always be true, but with Epson it is a giant understatement! I've learned my lesson. It'll be unlikely that I'd ever consider an Epson of any sort again. Even if they don't continue to have these cons, there's too many other good options out there; why take a chance with Epson ever again??
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 90
Operating System: Windows
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Epinions.com ID:
zx1089
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Reviews written: 3
Trusted by: 0 members
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