Apple Reviews

My Epson Experience

Let me begin by saying that I have over ten years of experience with all things computer related. During that period I have worked in almost every aspect of computer support. I have personally cleaned out countless numbers of inkjet printers with q-tips distilled water and alcohol. I kept my own Epson 740 going for 5 years without too much difficulty. I only got rid of it because I had a client that was desperate for a printer that would accept a Mac serial port. Boy due I miss that Epson 740.

I bought a C82 a little less than a year ago, after reading good reviews. I assumed it would be built at least as well as the Epson 740 I was using before.

Even after ten months my C82 still appears in almost brand new shape inside and out. Heck, I've only used it about thirty times or so. I keep it inside of cabinet shielded from dust. Plus as a matter of standard practice, I turn off all inkjet printers as soon as I finish using them, and I always change ink cartridges as quickly as possible to prevent ink from drying out inside printers.

So was I ever surprised when my printer stopped working. It had worked fine with the first set of cartridges I had installed. However, as soon as I changed cartridges the printer stopped working. I tried cleaning it at least fifty times, but it did nothing to improve the situation. So I did the natural thing and googled my problem. I was shocked by the sheer number of search results.

After reading through the reviews at Amazon and the hundreds of messages at fixyourownprinter.com I've come to realize that Epson has built and continue to build a printer that is so poorly designed one must question their integrity as a company. To think that so many people would experience the same problem and that their only solution is to continue to send people refurbished printers until their warranty expires.

Oh, and the part that will really get you, is that they require you to purchase and install a new set of four Epson branded ink cartridges to insure that your currently installed cartridges are not what is defective. So before you can even have your printer replaced you must invest at least sixty dollars on ink. Of course they offer to send you new ink with the replacement printer. Still to ask me to sink my time, energy, and sixty dollars into having my printer replaced with another one, which will simply get me right back to where I began. I mean really, the nerve. Is this what our present day world has come to? Have we set ourselves up so that these large corporations can totally take advantage of us in this way? Is there no recourse? Are there no standards of business ethics that they can be held accountable for?

The experience has left me feeling unusually sad. Epson has made me realize just how much I am at the mercy of these large corporations. I mean, if you want to print, who else can you buy a printer from?
I know that even if Epson would own up to this, they would argue that they had to make the printers so cheaply to remain competitive. Without doing so they would go out of business tomorrow. We've heard all that before. Haven't we?

Still though, this printer is made by someone in a Chinese factory. I know I'm going out on a limb here, but I would guess that that person is not well paid. Perhaps they are even exploited to some extent or at the very least we could guess that they are taken advantage of to some extent. Then as they role off the Chinese production line, Epson sends these defective printers all over the globe, wrapped up in fancy magazine advertisements. People like me buy the printer, use the ink, put in new ink, discover it no longer works, call Epson, ship the printer back to Epson, get the refurbished printer in the mail, and . Once the warranty is up we move our broken printer into the garage for a year or so, and then throw it away. It all seems so pointless.

Don't think me a luddite either. I love computers, printers, and gadgets as much as the next person. It's just that it disgusts me that I am forced to deal with a corporation that is not held to any kind of moral or ethical principles. As long as they are making money and growing we think of them as a good thing, without worrying about who they are taking advantage of. What are we doing here? How can we let Epson get away with this? Really!

Well it's not difficult for me to say I will be boycotting all Epson products in the future. I mean I'm sort of doubtful of their quality anyways. Oh and I haven't even mentioned the very unhelpful tech support and customer service representatives that I called long distance at my own expense. What a waste! Really what a waste!

Sincerely,

- Mark Whitney -
Hollywood, CA

P.S. I know the solution is to buy myself a do-it-yourself printer cleaning kit. If you google it you'll see that many companies sell them specifically for the Epson C80/C82. However, if you try to buy one you'll soon discover that they are all sold out, as I mentioned before I'm not the only one with this problem.

The Epson 2200 uses archival inks that supposedly will last for 80 years...but the inks sacrifice the overall quality of the glossy prints...creating a 'bronzing issue'...which is to say that the prints have annoying reflections depending upon how they are viewed. There is also a dull sheen over the premium glossy photos that are distinctly inferior to the prints of the Epson 1280 or 820.

There are other annoyances...like having to switch black ink cartridges when switching paper types from matte to glossy. Also, this printer cannot print borderless matte photos! Once the matte black cartridge is inserted, the software won't allow borderless. Using the glossy black will really sacrifice image quality.

The matte photo results are very impressive, the colors are accurate and vibrant,this is where the printer outshines the competition. However, amongst Epson's own printers, the matte prints are no better than what you will achieve using the Epson 1280 or 820. The extra resolution is absolutely meaningless. I have scanned Medium Format film...so there was plenty of detail to be distinguished when I ran a side by side comparison test of the 820 versus the 2200. Upon close inspection the lowly stylus 820 was as good and possibly even better in the resolution department. Absurd...but true! And those printers (1280 and 820) are far less expensive, more versatile and give incomparably better glossy photos. So what's the deal? If large matte is all you print, then the printer is excellent. If you want premiums glossy as well then don't make the same mistake I did. Get the 1280 instead.
I would also add that the 2200 is of course considerably faster than the others(1280,820) when set at 720dpi(all things being equal). And it does an excellent job with text as well. So it is a bit more professional in that sense.

I've had my Epson 2200 for about six weeks. With free shipping Amazon's price was best on the net. Looked at Canon's and Epson's lower end models. I thought the Epson outperformed the Canon tonally. Have done about 45 8x10 glossies with medium grade Epson paper. Not disappointed in the output. Two pics were banded and short colored. Did a basic head cleaning and that corrected the problem. The light toned inks are used at slightly more than twice the rate of the dark tones. Am just now looking for a replacement for light magenta cartridge. I figure amortized cost per pic is about 1.25 per print with ink paper and printer costs combined. If you demand quality output for your pics with a fairly low volumne output, this is a hard printer to beat right now. If you're not too concerned about darker toning and flatter colors you can probably get by with something half as pricey. I'm delighted with mine.

I've read all the prior reviews with interest. I bought my 1280 over a year ago based on reviews on several well known and trusted Digital Photography sites. I have been very pleased with the output of this printer. Yes, the printer takes more work to get a really GOOD print then the HPs. But then I have the HP printers also and they do not measure to pure quality of print. Yes, the ink cartridges are small and do not last long if you print alot of 8x10, 13x19 like I do. But, for 250 bucks you can buy a CIS (continual inking system) that pays for itself in 3 months. Yes, the Epson ink will jam the heads IF you do not use the printer at least once every few days. Again, the printer is for PHOTOGRAPHS, not text, not the occasional print job and certainly not the occasional picture. This printer is for the professional or serious amateur photographer. I have seen alot of prints from other printers and even with the flaws, this printer is the best. I wish a few things. Epson would update the drivers more often. The supplied software is marginally usable and they ding you 30 bucks for the real package. At 400 dollars for a printer, Epson could have given us the software given the price tag of the ink cartridges. I have run Epson, Illford and Inkjetart paper through this printer will very good success.

I just set up my new Epson Stylus 1280 printer. It works great with my iMac computer. The only drawback I can see is that I was looking for a printer that used separate cartridges, and this one doesn't. Otherwise, it prints beautiful pictures, although I like the ones I printed on the Matte paper better than the ones I printed on the Glossy paper. It prints great documents, too. I think I'll keep it, for awhile.

I have an Epson 1280 and it consistently produces prints that are as good or better than any laser fiery printer I've ever used.

As an advertising copywriter, I depend on this printer to make new copies of my work and it comes through every time.

Now, this is not the perfect printer, because it does drink ink something fierce, but the print outs are worth it, just ask any professional.

In fact, it was a photographer who first turned me on to this machine. At the time I was looking at a Lexmark or HP.

As any graphic designer will tell you HP's are word processing printers and with only rare exceptions any good at graphics and Lexmark is just to be avoided. You get what you pay for, and with Lexmark that isn't much.

Epson wrote the book on graphics and photo reproduction printing and with the 1280 they have added another proud chapter.

This is quite possibly the worst printer ever made in all printer history. The color is horrible, it jams the paper every other print, slow as mollasses, impossible to service, and just generally looks bad. The roller-arms are spaced so that they never take its own specially priced paper straight into the feeder. Ink Cleanings usually last for two prints on most minimal print settings, then degrade into splotchy lined garbage. Makes the most horrible noises when printing and death rattles when jammed or confused. Don't let anyone give you one even for free. and for heavan's sake, don't actually spend money on one. I have two, one for parts, and the other for parts backup, as both are equally on their way to a trash heap in South America where orphan childern can beat the living daylights from its horrible plastic casing. If negative stars were available for review, this product would deserve them.

At $79.99 a cartraidge, and 4 seperate color cartridges, large tabloid sized Epson brand paper at an avergae of $2 A SHEET (and poor - nasty- quality unless you use Epson paper) this printer will either make you look like a HUGE business or land you in the poorhouse.

It does print nicely when we can get it to work right.

wished we'd bought a HP large format or tektronix instead. Proabaly would have come out cheaper int the long run.

I have used this printer for the last three years. As a visual designer and a fine artist I have used this to print all sorts of design projects, illustrations, and web pages.

The colors this produces are a better match to what I see onscreen than any other color printer I have used (HP deskjets, HP color laser, Apple color laser). Even at "normal" quality on cheap paper, the prints are good enough to frame. I used this printer with photo quality paper to print the portfolio I show at job interviews. The dithering is subtle, with none of the dark-dot-amongst-light-dots problems that cause a speckled look on cheap printers.

The colors are vibrant, but ACCURATE (unlike the HP printers that always print colors oversaturated). As other reviewers have noted, the ink cartridges (separate for each color!) last a long time, typically several months with heavy usage.

The printing is fast, even at high quality, much faster than color laser printers, and comparable to most desktop printers.

The flat paper tray (as opposed to inclined) rarely jams. The tray can hold about 50 sheets of paper, so it is good for use in an office environment being shared by many people.

This can handle even light card stock, although I have had some varieties of 80# card stock JAM and refuse to go through. Unfortunately, the stock is forced to go through the rollers, and there is no way to open the back to allow it to go straight through and avoid jamming on heavy stock. This is the only bad thing about this printer.

If you ever used a professional scanner, then you probably know that it is impossible to get the same results with consumer scanners. I learned this the hard way. I bought at least four different consumer scanners expecting similar results to the scans I made with my old HP professional scanner, but ended up returning them all -- the quality of the scans were far from my expectations. I recently bought Epson 2400 and decided that I am going to keep it. The major factor for my decision was of course the quality of the scans -- it was noticeably better than the other scanners in this price range. Another major factor was the software. I downloaded and installed Epson TWAIN driver for Mac OS X (it is available for download at no charge from Epson's website). Now I utilize Photoshop Elements' Import menu, and I have full control over the scan parameters, or, if I choose, I go to automatic mode and importing scans becomes as user friendly as Wawa's sandwich ordering touchscreen. Imported images might need some minor tweaking in Photoshop before they will look close to the original. The final output is not bad at all. Again, don't expect breathtaking crispy-clear results of professional scanners, but it is pretty good for a consumer product. If you are a Mac user looking for a reasonably priced scanner, give Epson 2400 a chance, you might keep it.

I've been tremendously happy with the quality of the scans from the Perfection 2400. If all you need to do is make 640x480 scans for the www from prints you made at the local 1-hour, this is more scanner than you'll ever need.

However, scan resolution is sufficient to make brilliant 8x10 prints from 35mm negatives/slides. The included Epson software leaves a little to be desired -- it won't, for example, install on an alternative partition on your disk. Also, you will certainly have to use a photo manipulation application to tweak the levels and colour curves before you get your pictures right. But spend a little time to learn how your scanner works, and you'll have smashing pictures in a short time.

If you're adept at working image manipulation programs (Photoshop Elements 1.1 (not the new 2.0) is included with this product; but I have been happier with the freely available GIMP), you'll have professional scans at a fraction of what it used to cost not so long ago.

This scanner is excellent for both scanning prints/pages and film. It's also very fast compared to all the other scanners I've used.

Most people I've talked to on message boards and such told me that flatbed scanner don't do that great of a job on negative. Well, I've scanned a bunch of negatives and they look excellent. I'm sure that the increase to 2400dpi helps a ton. Most cheaper dedicated film scanners don't have that much higher of a resolution.

I've printed some 4x6, 5x7, and 8x10 prints and they look pretty darn good. I think the only problems with the prints have to do with the color and I'm sure it has to do with the old printer I'm using.

I would highly recommend the Epson 2400 to any "pro-sumer" on a budget.

I was really impressed with one scan in particular. It was a portrait that was taken outside in the snow. The original print was quite washed out and you could not see a lot of detail. But on the negative scan, I got all the detail and with a little bit of color correction, it made for a beautiful print. If I would have scanned the print instead, it would not have even come close.

I'm quite happy.

I don't know how the average user would every get through the installation.

Like the above review states, the software CD doesn't work; I tried twice. Then I spent more time at EPSON support website trying find the right patch or update. I thought of emailing support but they don't provide email addresses. You either call and wait or you write a letter.

EPSON instructs you to go to a third party - newsoftinc.com. Ironically, after clicking on the link you receive a warning from EPSON that they are not responsible for content, blay blah blay. Like I have any choice at this point.

The documentation at newsoftinc was some of the worst I've ever seen.

If you can understand the following MAYBE you should purchase this scanner.

Step 4. Find the file or folder and then delete them. [Sometimes they might not be there after you remove the Epson Smart Panel]
a. epfb5-> It may be under local disk:\windows\system32 or \windows\twain_32 Delete both of them.
b. epson-> It may be under local disk:\Program Files [or this was under just C:\Epson]

There were 12 or 13 steps all together.

I have no idea about the quality of the images since I'm installation brain dead.

After having read some of the spooky comments on driver issues, I was a bit hesitant to install the supplied software, but in the end decided to anyway. Everything installed in a snap on my XP Home system. (VPR Matrix - Best Buy's brand computer). The only thing I'm having a problem with is the Presto Pix!Express software that converts pictures to be used on a PDA. It doesn't seem to convert them correctly and when trying to run the program on my PDA , it won't run, giving me a soft reset error. I tried a repair install, but that didn't work. May try to uninstall and reinstall. Other than that minor glitch, everything else works extremely well. Scans are sharp, in particular I am impressed with the slide scanning. Much better than a dedicated Minolta Dimage Scan Dual that I used to have. Do wish the glass was removable however, so that one could clean both sides. That isn't an issue now, but could become one at some point. Smart panel is slick and easy to use - manual controls are nice. The documentation is a bit cumbersome but nothing that would kill the deal. Works on my USB 2.0 hub just fine (it has its own power adapter). In my limited experience (1 week), I'd say it's well worth the price.

I bought this scanner in a hurry to complete a project. In turned into being a better scanner than my expensive one.

It installs quickly and the software that is provided with it is adequate or you can use your own software easily. If you are planning on scanning mostly text you may want to get a better OCR software product. The scanner does a great job and then it is up to the character recognition software to finish the job.

If you scan a photograph and print on quality paper it it does the job of a photo scanner. Everything I have scanned with this scanner from text to photographs is high quality.

I am considering buying a second one at the price that is offered. It's a DEAL.

I needed a new scanner to use to to scan many journal articles into PDF format for a personal library. This scanner works without any problems. It is fast and the automatic documnet feeder is great. For scanning photos, the reproduction is also great. I have a Mac running OS X and it is compatible without any problems. A very good scanner for the money. No reservations on recommending this product!

Buy it! The scanning is fast, the sheet feeder is unbelievably accurate at feeding paper, the graphics quality is superb, the user interface is easy to use and navigate, and the options available are almost limitless. I have owned 6 scanners in the past and this is indeed the best scanner I have ever owned. Buy It!

I have had a this scanner for a week and find it to be adequate for most of my scanning needs, however I did have a problem with the installation of the Epson Smart Panel software on my XP system. If I had not had to spend 45min manually editing my registry and destroying all traces of the software because the Install wizard would not properly uninstall the product (and yes, you can not install the Smart Panel software if the auto install program detects a previous version), I would have rated this product with 4 stars. It has a good value for the price if you are willing to deal with potential flaky install scripts.

Side note: I am not sure what flaming reviewers has to do with this product but as there is one here I feel compelled to state that my XP skill set is ADVANCED and RTFM would not have been of any help if first reviewer had the same issue I did (assuming of course that he followed the instructions to close all open programs and kill anti-virus scanners).

Nice scanner for the price. My needs were not major so it fits my need perfect.
The only minor problem I have had is making copies. Sometimes when I have several pages to copy, it stops after a copy. But I just power it off and back on and it's fine.

Here is a quote from an earlier review of this scanner here..."I've liked Epson products. Not this one, though. I had great difficulty with the software under Windows XP. It would not install properly (so it told me) and the copy utility did not work properly."
Well I totally disagree with this opinion. If the installation is followed per instructions (that are perfectly clear), this scanner is very XP friendly. I found it very, very easy to install and I am not a computer geek!!! The scan quality is outstanding! The bundled software is very good and the scans are quick and quiet. I have had scanners that were of poorer results, and much more expensive. This is an amazing scanner at an amazingly low price. I give it 5 stars!!!

I purchased this scanner from Dell, after doing my homework and looking at its good ratings, and I especially wanted the transparency adapter. It was supposed to be the model with the transparency adapter, but came without it. Dell would not even acknowledge my emails. The scanner did not work properly when scanning pictures. All scans were yellow and red! Epson was contacted and repaired the unit very quickly, but refused to replace it. It still makes weird sounds when scanning, but at least the colors are OK now. However, the software that came with the scanner is really weird and instructions are poor. Also, the OCR software is totally useless. It doesn't recognize text in columns, so each little section has to be scanned separately.

After using the Epson for a few weeks I gave up on it and have now purchased another brand.

What a waste of money. Purely a disaster. Lucky to get 2 scans without errors. Total frustration. messages:Scanner busy, scanner warming up; scanner not ready; scanner not available.
This makes the old Microtek look like a dream machine.
I have another Epson at home and the Smart Panel software is not so smart- there too- errors, lockups. I hope nobody else buys this garbage. Poor support terrible software.

This is my first scanner but it has been a pleasure. It has never caused any trouble and has always done what I asked. Sometimes I struggle to get the 35mm adapter to work (the optional attachment) but other than that, this scanner has proved to be a very good purchase.

This scanner is far superior that some higher priced models. First it has true 1200dpi. I had a 300dpi HP scanner and this one is so much better. The software that is included is very easy to use. You don't have to go through several scans to get the results you want. The Abode Photo Deluxe has more features that other software programs and is easier to use. You just scan it once then you can make your changes to size, resolution and other changes. I looked at the HP scanners that are $300-400 and they are not worth the price. For the price of the Epson you get far more features. The USB version just plugs into one of the slots on your computer. You don't have to install a separate card as with a SCSI version. Your Windows software installs the components needed to run the scanner and the other software. For clarity and ease of use this scanner is the best.

Just bought one of these a few days ago for a big photo scanning project. After having a few installation problems (the plug and play detected that the scanner was a new device, but it couldn't find the installation files on the CD for some reasion, so I had to install it through the "Add Hardware" control panel. Not a big deal, though.)

I was a little worried about the quality of the TWAIN driver before I started using it - I've owned an Epson Stylus Photo printer before, and while the quality of the harware is second to none, the software is some of the buggiest and unreliable I've ever used. I must say, however, that the Epson software team did a great job on the TWAIN software - no problems whatsoever, and the automatic pre-scan function when you first connect via TWAIN is a nice little timesaver.

As for the scanner itself, I am extremely impressed by the quality and quickness of this thing. Compared to my old UMAX Astra scanner (a great product, by the way), this thing just blows the UMAX away! I am continually amazed how quickly it scans, and I've noticed no problems with the scans themselves (except for matte finish photos, which my other scanner had an even bigger problem with - I guess the light from the scanner reflects in a haphazard pattern, which causes the photos to look like they have a lot of dust on them. The descreening function helps a lot with this, though).

Overall a great scanner, and well worth the money.

I'm not a professional user, but I tried three different scanners in the Epson's price range and only the Epson provided me with essentially perfect scans right out of the box. I detected no color bias, excellent contrast range and the ability to duplicate (or improve) the original. Other reviews on the 'net bear this out.