Great all around Inkjet Printer
Written: Feb 28 '03 (Updated Dec 24 '03)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Ease of Use: |
 |
|
| Paper Handling: |
 |
|
|
Pros: Outstanding print quality, simple to setup and use, great looking, low price, built-in card slot.
Cons: Drinks ink, slow when printing color documents, relatively large footprint
The Bottom Line: You get a LOT of printer for the money. Great quality output and idiot proof operation. Ink costs are high, but that is typical for this category of printer.
|
|
|
| Marty4650's Full Review: Epson Stylus Photo 825 InkJet Printer |
I recently bought a new Dell Dimension computer and discovered that my old Lexmark P122 printer would not work with Windows XP. I called Lexmark, and they confirmed that they had no plans to issue an XP driver for the P122, because "the printer can be used without a computer." This may be fine for people who strictly want a photo printer, but I wanted a good general purpose printer that could do it all. So, the Lexmark was moved to the computer graveyard in the attic, and I was off to find a new printer made by anyone but Lexmark!
There are LOTS of good choices available for inkjet printers today. So many, in fact, that it can be confusing. I started comparing features, prices and ratings, and decided on the highly rated Epson 820, when I spotted the 825 in a Circuit city store. The 825 is basically an 820 with a media card slot included. Both are rated a 5760 dpi and use 6 color ink technology. So, I ordered the 825 from Amazon.com, saving $50 from the Circuit City price.
WHAT I LIKED:
This printer is amazing. Setup was a snap, and the picture and text quality was really good. If you change the setting from good quality to better quality, it is truly outstanding. (There are four settings - draft, good, better and best). Another added plus, and this probably means little to most of you, is the printer perfectly matches the new look of Dell components ("midnight gray").
Photos come out beautifully. If you use the "better" or "best" setting it is almost impossible to tell 4"x6" prints from 35 mm lab prints. Text results are on a par with medium priced laser printers.
The 825 is also very versatile. It can print on heavy stock, envelopes, stickers, labels, transparencies, and even continuious roll paper. Yes, they even include an adaptor for continuious roll paper at the base price! The printer does a great job on borderless prints too. Also nice is that the printer can hold 100 sheets of paper in the feeder. Operating the printer is very simple, and it makes very little noise when printing.
The six color technology is really nice too. My Lexmark used one cartridge. This means I never had a true black. (The printer made black by combining the other three colors). This printer uses a black cartridge and a color cartridge that has five seperate ink slots. The color rendition using this system is much better. Installing the ink cartridges was so simple a ten year old could probably do it without any instructions.
This printer comes with a built in card reader slot that will take five different formats. The printer will accept CompactFlash, SmartMedia, Memory Stick, Secure Digital and MultiMedia Cards. That should cover just about every digital camera made...
I especially like the LCD control panel which keeps you fully informed about print status, and allows you to select different formats and settings.
There is also an optional "preview monitor" that is available for around $75 which is only necessary if you plan to use this printer as a stand alone... without a computer.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
The printer drinks ink. And the ink is expensive. Anyone who has ever owned a color inkjet printer knows this is not unusual. If cost of consumables is really important to you, you should buy a high rated cheap black and white laser printer (like the Brother 1430) for all your text documents, and get a cheap color inkjet for the occasional color print you need.
The printer is relatively slow. The 8 ppm claimed is a real stretch. In reality, it is more like 3-4 ppm. Again, this is fairly typical for this type of printer.
The printer has a fairly large footprint. If size is important to you, you may have to look at something else. This printer does a lot, but it comes at a price in terms of size. It weighs over 12 pounds and is over 18 inches wide.
Fairly common with printers today, you must provide your own USB cable. None is provided with the printer.
THE BOTTOM LINE:
I really like this printer, and would recommend it as a good general purpose printer for someone who needs both high quality text and high quality photos and is not that concerned with print speed or ink costs. This is the first Epson product I have ever owned. I have used HP's, Xerox printers, and Okidatas before. So far, it looks like they make really good stuff at reasonable prices. I will update this review if I discover any problems in the future.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 134
Operating System: Windows
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
Marty4650
|
|
Location: North Carolina
Reviews written: 12
Trusted by: 1 member
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.