Great prints on the CHEAP, but time is EXPENSIVE
Written: Apr 08 '03
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Ease of Use: |
 |
|
| Paper Handling: |
 |
|
|
Pros: Affordable, quality build, brand name, USB/PPort options, good print quality, CHEAP
Cons: Small paper capacity, small ink capacity, slow, print head built onto printer
The Bottom Line: Name-brand disposable printer?
|
|
|
| nad_masters's Full Review: Epson Stylus® C62 InkJet Printer |
My boss... what a cheapo. :) He wanted me to build him a cheap PC for horendous ammount of work he'll want me to put to use (web, database, printing, research, etc).
So once all that is done, he wants a printer. Well, I can't BUILD him one, so I just told him to get whatever he wants off the shelf (I'm obviously under paid, why should I do the reseach for YOU!?)
Few days later, a brand new box that says Epson C62 was on my desk. Of course, dude forgot the printer cable as well, and expected me to go out and get it for him. ("It's just a cable...what's the big deal?") Unfortunately, he also wanted me to print something out in an urgent matter. GREAAAAT... makes MY life easy, does it? Fortunately, he's footing the bill for the cable (but I had to use my own gas money to drive up to the nearest place to get it). Early in the morning, most stores are closed. Luckily, Walgreens was open, and had ONE USB cable left... for $20. Hey, not my dough. :)
Upon getting back to my desk (and giving the change to my boss - in which he never offered to reimburst me for the erran run), I found that setting up the printer was a breeze, as any consumer based ink-jet printer should. Never even had to crack open the quick guide.
A few obvious tape here and there were tugged off, and a small plastic paper stand for the back. Plugged her in, and powered her on, and the print heads move towards the center, as by instinct, wanting me to install the ink cartridges.
I looked at the included (but pathetic) T040 (black) and T041 (color) carts and wonder how long would these puny things last. Rip off the obvious tabs and sliding them into the machine was a no-brainer. The print heads will poke thru the thin plastic designed to hold the ink in place during shipping. Of course, once the seal is broken, you should NOT take the carts out unless necessary (like when it needs to be changed).
The Epson drivers were just like the ones I had at home (used with an Epson Stylus 880 Color). I love the drivers as it lets you preview every print job to be done (as exactly as how the PRINTER will print it, not the application that is requesting the printing). In the preview, you can remove pages you do not wish to print (as an afterthought, since you can already do that in the application requesting the printing). Makes it great for printing Map Quest pages, as the last page is usually an ad, or links to other stuff - not needed for the road, and a waste of paper (and a bit of ink). Also, just like the 880, it reports ink levels real time.
Print quality is just like any other printers in the price range. However, I am very impressed at how it handles text. Text were very black and are properly aligned (even before alignemnt). However, it takes three passes before the printer is satisfied before it starts a new line. This is SLOOOOW. In draft mode, instead of being lighter (like in most printers), it skips certian lines (like an interlaced monitor, except it doesn't go back to finish up the rest of the picture). It makes it useless for most text and pictures, but may be okay for personal use (for your forgiving eyes only).
Colors are nice and saturated. However, photos do look a bit unrealistic and has that "heavy and wet" look to it. Dots are very appearent on shades - and even worse on draft mode.
The real beef I have are the print heads... as with other Epsons, they are built right into the printer. Clogs and frequent cleaning is a ritual with their printers (as I know - I own an 880 myself). While new, the C62 has absolutely no problems, but I wonder about the future.
Also on the bad list is the slow printing speeds - even with just black! Four pages prints out in about 6 minutes! In draft, they get spit out quickly - about 2 pages a minute. However, they look like crap (as stated before), so it is only best for text (thick text, nothing thin), and for your eyes only.
Mixed pages takes longer - 4 pages took about 8 minutes, while full color takes 10 minutes for the same amount of pages (full).
After about 200 pages, the ink levels for the black is half-done ... not bad for a small ink cart. It certainly surprised me. The color is rarely used, and still nearly full.
There are also times (pretty often, but not too frequent), it accidentally slurps an extra blank page or two (or even sometimes three or four!) during printing. Not good for huge documents (just giving it to your boss, and have him find blanks in the middle of the report... OUCH!). Again, not too bad for home users, and probably just amusing. Most home printers that have feeders like this does that once in a while anyways. (Again, same with my 880).
I only recomend this printer for those who don't print too often, as the ink car will last longer that way (though it may dry up and last shorter - like my 880), as well as the disapointing print speeds. You will have to keep maintaining this printer too, if you don't use it much. If you use it often, it may work better, as the print heads get clogged less.
Catch 22? Yes it is... use it a lot, and it will work without problems, BUT it's painfully slow. Ink carts are pretty expensive to replace if you print a lot anyways. For those who print at home (not a lot), frequent clogs will hinder you... inks may dry up, shorting the life (and even more frequent clogs), but the print speed would not work your nerves.
Did I mention the noise it creates? :) Not very bad for a few prints, but it's right next to me, doing about 100 pages in about 45 minutes... VERY annoying.
I recomend it for the price you pay for it. It's a brand name printer, at Lexmark prices, and as it seems that they want to compete with them. As seem so, it is a cheap disposable printer (just like the Lexmarks).
If you want something for the long haul, this may not be your printer. I'm sure most of us fit into this catagoy.
However, if you want a new printer every few months at a cost of new cartridges anyways (hahaha, I know - what has this world come to?), then this is it! Better than a Lexmark, and may STILL last you a while if you take care of it.
It's a toss up.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 60
Operating System: Windows
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
nad_masters
|
 in Computer Hardware |
 - Top 100 |
|
Location: Chicago, IL, USA
Reviews written: 551
Trusted by: 114 members
About Me:
If you mind is in the gutter, where are your hands?
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.