Epson photo 820 Is It for me?

[Kerouactivist]

I am thinking about getting it mostly because of the price $70 after rebates


My 4 or 5yr old Epson stylus color 600 just crapped out on me so I need something fast
I'm not really big into photo printing or anything but, for $70 bucks it seems like the best deal around.
I thought about the lexmark laser printer for the same price but, I really don't want to altogether give up on color printing

Anybody have this printer or think that maybe something else at a similar price would better suit me???
Please help I will be ordering ASAP

 

[Czar]

I bought a 810 I think a while ago and I'm starting to think it was an overkill, mostly because if you want to use the highest dpi res then you have to use a special glossy paper and thats EXPENSIVE. But its a nice printer nevertheless.

If you can get a cheaper Epson, or Canon or whatever that is not as fancy than go for that if you are not into printing high res or high quality color documents.

 

[Kerouactivist]

bump

 

[acejj26]

yeah, i just bought one a few weeks ago....color looks great on photo paper...i haven't bothered printing out in color on anything but photo paper (i bought it as a PHOTO printer). i wouldn't consider it the best all-around printer, but for photo printing on a budget, i'm not sure there's any other printer that can beat it..

if you want a good all-around printer, why not look at the C60 or the C80. you can get the C60 for 80 bucks i think after rebate. it does some nice prints too.

 

[jm0ris0n]

purchased the Epson 820 for 150-50mir = 100 about 90 days ago. Its job was to replace a HP 560c from 1993 :Q . This thing eats black ink like mad. I've already replaced the black ink cartridge, but on the upside I don't pay 40 bucks for an ink cartridge anymore, just 17 🙂 . I leave the printer on 24/7. I don't know whether this kills the ink cartridge longevity or not, so if anyone knows about this please respond.

When using color With photo paper this thing is amazing! Otherwise the results on plain/inkjet paper are just average. It is a great deal for 70 bucks.

I've got another Q: I still am under the impression color printing is expensive, can anyone tell me what type of life I can expect out of a color cartridge printing in full color at high dpi rates?

Thanks

 

[Mavrick007]

Color printing is very EXPENSIVE. Expect to be paying upwards to $.75 or more for a full color page(not including the price of the paper). But the upside is that you don't have to wait to have it done for you and you can get it whenever you want. Then if you have a 3-in-1 cartridge for color(cyan, magenta, yellow), if you use more of one color than the other, you will be running out sooner and have to replace a cartridge that suddenly won't make a blue sky blue.

 

[rickn]

epson printers should not be left on if they are not in use, and they should never be turned off by any means other than the power button on the printer. If you turn them off thru a powerstrip, the printer does not power down properly and will not seal the print nozzles.

The 820 is basically the 785EPX, both are great printers for photos(nothing comes close to either of them in their price range). Use epson papers, premium glossy for best results. Also, using PIM you are limited to 720x720, but you can change that thru the drivers to 1440 or 2880.

 

[jm0ris0n]

Thanks for the reply.../me runs and turns off printer.

 

[Kerouactivist]

So for all around printing a c80 or a c60 might be a better buy huh?

I thought about a lexmark z53 but, today I went to staples and the quality of the printer they had sucked a big one!!!

Staples sucked they had the C60,C80, and the Photo 820 but, they didn't have them setup to do demos what crap!

 

[rickn]

for $70 you should get the 820. you'll be happy with its quality. 6 color printers are better than 4 color printers for photos. I have the Epson 785EPX, which uses the same print head as the 820, the prints are great. I do photos on glossy paper, greeting cards on normal paper, the image quality is superb. Text quality is good as well. It isnt quite as fast at printing as the c80 is. C80 isnt a 6 color photo printer however

 

[Kerouactivist]

Thanks for all the help everybody, I went with the Photo 820, I wanted the C80 but, for 50 bucks less I can have the 820 so that is what I got. I don't think that is a bad deal at all for a new photo quality color printer. Heck anything will be better than the Epson stylus 600 (before it was dead anyway, and espically now that it is dead).

When I get it I will give you an update on the quality etc...