Is Epson Stylus Photo 820 still a good choice?

Hi,
Very soon I may be in a situation where I will have little or no
access to a photo lab (i.e. walmart, ritz camera, sam's club, etc) to
print my digital photos. So, I thought about do-it-yourself solutions
and found the Epson Stylus Photo 820 for $59.99 from Epson, free
shipping. So, I thought, "hey, why not just buy that, all the
newsgroups say that it makes photo-quality prints, indistinguishable
from the prints you would get back from your typical Walmart photo
lab." Is this true, that a 60 dollar printer can make true
photo-quality prints, or is the printer just some cheap piece of crap?

I am looking to get photo quality prints from a printer for under
$100. Is this even possible? Also, has another cheap printer come
along that would replace the Epson 820?

Thanks,

-Carmen

It is a great photo printer. Just be sure when you shut it down to give a
nudge to the cartridges. For some reason they don't fully park and that
leads to head cleaning issues. I have one and never had a problem.


"Daniel F Valot" wrote in message
...
This is a cheap printer which make very good prints, BUT although some are
very happy with it, a lot of users have head clogging problems or cartidge
air lock problems with it.
I have the Epson 810 (european equivallent to 820) and most of the
cartridge
ink is used for head cleanings. So this produce very expansive prints.
This is my last Epson printer. Stay away from 810, 820,830 EPSON printers.
You can look for Cannon printers which are more expensive but produce
cheaper prints for equivallent quality.
--
| Daniel F Valot
-------------------------------------------------
"Carmen" a écrit dans le message de
om...
Hi,
Very soon I may be in a situation where I will have little or no
access to a photo lab (i.e. walmart, ritz camera, sam's club, etc) to
print my digital photos. So, I thought about do-it-yourself solutions
and found the Epson Stylus Photo 820 for $59.99 from Epson, free
shipping. So, I thought, "hey, why not just buy that, all the
newsgroups say that it makes photo-quality prints, indistinguishable
from the prints you would get back from your typical Walmart photo
lab." Is this true, that a 60 dollar printer can make true
photo-quality prints, or is the printer just some cheap piece of crap?

I am looking to get photo quality prints from a printer for under
$100. Is this even possible? Also, has another cheap printer come
along that would replace the Epson 820?

Thanks,

-Carmen

The Epson 820 prints beautifully, you will be amazed what this inexpensive
printer will do on good glossy photo paper..glossy prints that are every bit
as good and virtually identical in appearance to the Wal-Mart prints your
used to.
The only thing to remember is to always use it and print something at least
once a week, or it may be prone to clogging, but as long as you use it
weekly, you shouldn't have any problems, I don't and I have had mine for a
while, long enough to use about 8 sets of ink cartridges , mostly printing
8.5X11 prints to frame and hang.

If you do get this printer, get the new driver from the website, it enables
a higher quality mode than the one that was on ( mine at least) CD.

--

Mikey
http://www.mike721.com


"Carmen" wrote in message
om...
Hi,
Very soon I may be in a situation where I will have little or no
access to a photo lab (i.e. walmart, ritz camera, sam's club, etc) to
print my digital photos. So, I thought about do-it-yourself solutions
and found the Epson Stylus Photo 820 for $59.99 from Epson, free
shipping. So, I thought, "hey, why not just buy that, all the
newsgroups say that it makes photo-quality prints, indistinguishable
from the prints you would get back from your typical Walmart photo
lab." Is this true, that a 60 dollar printer can make true
photo-quality prints, or is the printer just some cheap piece of crap?

I am looking to get photo quality prints from a printer for under
$100. Is this even possible? Also, has another cheap printer come
along that would replace the Epson 820?

Thanks,

-Carmen

Carmen;

I have read the other replies you have already received, and mine
follows exactly in line with the others.

The 820 is an excellent quality printer. It would be hard to beat the
print quality without spending 4x the money.

Unfortunately the heads have a serious clogging problem. I can't go
much more than 2 days without the heads clogging. Sometimes the
clogging can't be noticed when printing a photo, the problem is
visible only after printing a nozzle check pattern.

It seems that I have spent as much on ink cleaning the heads, as I
have on actual photos. ( well maybe closer to 33% ). If I wasn't using
bulk inks I would have gotten rid of this pig a long time ago. The
cost of bulk inks is the only thing that makes this "inexpensive"
printer affordable.

Although the print quality is excellent, the frustration of performing
a head cleaning everytime I wan't to print a quick photo is almost at
the point were I am going to take a sledge hammer to this thing. Even
performing the head cleaning is a pain, because after performing the
cleaning the test pattern still shows a clog. It is only after sitting
for an hour that the heads finally clear up.

If you wan't a good quality printout, and you intend on using it every
day (religiously), and you will be using bulk inks, then I would
highly recommend this printer.

For my requirements of printing a few photos on weekends, I have been
keeping my eye on the Cannon I850.

If you do a search of Google News you will find many examples of
people who discovered that "inexpensive" printers are not always less
costly.


Rick



On 12 Aug 2003 23:01:25 -0700, (Carmen) wrote:

Hi,
Very soon I may be in a situation where I will have little or no
access to a photo lab (i.e. walmart, ritz camera, sam's club, etc) to
print my digital photos. So, I thought about do-it-yourself solutions
and found the Epson Stylus Photo 820 for $59.99 from Epson, free
shipping. So, I thought, "hey, why not just buy that, all the
newsgroups say that it makes photo-quality prints, indistinguishable
from the prints you would get back from your typical Walmart photo
lab." Is this true, that a 60 dollar printer can make true
photo-quality prints, or is the printer just some cheap piece of crap?

I am looking to get photo quality prints from a printer for under
$100. Is this even possible? Also, has another cheap printer come
along that would replace the Epson 820?

Thanks,

-Carmen

To reply by email please remove the first R from
my return address

Rick wrote in message . ..


Unfortunately the heads have a serious clogging problem. I can't go
much more than 2 days without the heads clogging. Sometimes the
clogging can't be noticed when printing a photo, the problem is
visible only after printing a nozzle check pattern.



I was deciding between a Canon and an Epson 830 (820 in US) and
finally went for the 830, I'm very very happy with the print quality
and I do not have any clogged proboles so far, I am through one color
cartridge though, it guzzles ink!!! But the results r really very very
good. I have gone three or four days without any printing and there is
not a hint of clogging.

You can look reviews by real users at amazon.com or epinions.com. I
have written a review of the printer myself and if ur interested,
here's the link:

http://www.epinions.com/content_108546461316

Whichever decision u choose, always base it on what u intend to DO
with the printer.

Good luck in ur search!

On 13 Aug 2003 11:26:49 -0700, (Carmen) wrote:


First, can anyone testify to this printer's black-and-white printing
capability? I read a few times that sometimes the printer can leave a
color cast to black-and-white prints if not set up properly. Any tips
for making really good black-and-white prints with the Epson 820 if I
choose to buy it?

Carmen;

The Epson 820's B&W photos are just as good as the color photos. I
personally believe ( as you have mentioned), that color casts are more
a problem with configuration than with printer design.

For example I use Adobe Photoshop to print my photos. Photoshop
supports ICM color profiles. I have a collection of ICM profiles
designed for different paper types in my Epson 820. I configure
Photoshop's "print space" to use one of these color profiles.
Photoshop then alters it's output to the printer to match the profile
loaded. If I were to use the wrong profile ( or switch to a different
brand of paper), the colors in the final photo would be incorrect.


Second, you say that your buying bulk inks is the only thing from
stopping you from throwing the printer out the window basically
I'm a little concerned, however, that buying the inexpensive 3rd party
inks will degrade the quality of the prints. Have you found a brand
of bulk inks that exactly matches the quality of the original
Epson-made inks?

I have purchased inks from http://www.islandinkjet.com/ I was able to
purchase a refill kit rated for 8 refills for only a few dollars more
than a single OEM color cartridge. The color match with the OEM inks
is identical, however I have no way to compare the longevity of the
prints.

Because the Epson uses a "chipped" cartridge, I use the software
available at http://www.ssclg.com/epsone.shtml to reset an empty
cartridge back to "full" status.

p.s. As I am really nervous about buying a printer without being able
to actually see the quality of the prints, it would really be handy to
have a sample 4 x 6 test print from the Epson 820. I would be willing
to pay someone to send me one or more 4x6 samples, e.g. one color, and
one black-and-white print. I can pay you a few bucks through Paypal.

Save your money!!! You will find the quality of the photos to be
excellent. I think by now the comments you have already received will
attest to this.

Once again the only bad thing about this printer is the head clogging.
Some people have mentioned that they can go a whole week without
clogging. As I mentioned before I cannot go more than 2 days, and the
clogging is not always apparent in the photo output. Sometimes it is
only visible in the nozzle test pattern. Perhaps that is why some
people can go a week without noticing the clogs, or perhaps they are
only using the printer for text or web pages were the clogging would
probably also go unnoticed.

In comparison I put my HP720 in the basement when I purchased the
Epson 820. It sat there for 8 months, with the cartridge installed,
until I needed it to print some banners. It worked flawlessly the
first time.

If you use this printer on a daily basis, you will not be able to beat
the quality unless you are willing to spend 4x the money. It also will
be quite affordable to operate when using bulk inks. It's ability to
print true borderless prints ( i.e. no need to rip off perforated
margins) for 4x6, 5x7,8x10 and 8.5x11 is also a feature rarely found
in a printer at this price.

Good luck

Rick

To reply by email please remove the first R from
my return address

Not only can the 820 provide you with photo quality prints for less than
the cost of the first set of replacement ink cartridges, but it also can
wash your car and take your dog for a walk, (and even use the little
doggie dropping bags for him/her if your municipality requires them).

It can print up to 5760 x 720 dpi, do borderless prints, and share your
ice cream cone with you, like a good friend. It will even speak pig
latin around people who you don't want knowing what you are discussing
with it.

It comes with a full year warranty, just for fun, and its favorite color
is magenta. MacHome gave it 5 apples and MacWorld gave it four mice,
and a partridge in a pear tree.

It uses 6 colors, has 48 nozzles per color head, uses two cartridges, a
black and a 5 color, and the inks are dye based. The prints can last up
to 27 years on Epson Color Life paper, it takes about 54 seconds to
print a 4x6, and an 8x10 in under 2 minutes.

It has a USB and Parallel interface, and speaks a number of different
languages, including Klingon (it will even speak Klingon pig latin!),
I've been told.

It promises not to tell your mother about the naughty pictures you've
been taking with your "friends", and never drinks (well, only ink) and
drives.

Heck, its the best $59 a person could spend, other than maybe on beer.


Art


Carmen wrote:

Hi,
Very soon I may be in a situation where I will have little or no
access to a photo lab (i.e. walmart, ritz camera, sam's club, etc) to
print my digital photos. So, I thought about do-it-yourself solutions
and found the Epson Stylus Photo 820 for $59.99 from Epson, free
shipping. So, I thought, "hey, why not just buy that, all the
newsgroups say that it makes photo-quality prints, indistinguishable
from the prints you would get back from your typical Walmart photo
lab." Is this true, that a 60 dollar printer can make true
photo-quality prints, or is the printer just some cheap piece of crap?

I am looking to get photo quality prints from a printer for under
$100. Is this even possible? Also, has another cheap printer come
along that would replace the Epson 820?

Thanks,

-Carmen

Rick wrote:


I have purchased inks from http://www.islandinkjet.com/ I was able to
purchase a refill kit rated for 8 refills for only a few dollars more
than a single OEM color cartridge. The color match with the OEM inks
is identical, however I have no way to compare the longevity of the
prints.

Because the Epson uses a "chipped" cartridge, I use the software
available at http://www.ssclg.com/epsone.shtml to reset an empty
cartridge back to "full" status.


Once again the only bad thing about this printer is the head clogging.
Some people have mentioned that they can go a whole week without
clogging. As I mentioned before I cannot go more than 2 days, and the
clogging is not always apparent in the photo output. Sometimes it is
only visible in the nozzle test pattern. Perhaps that is why some
people can go a week without noticing the clogs, or perhaps they are
only using the printer for text or web pages were the clogging would
probably also go unnoticed.

In comparison I put my HP720 in the basement when I purchased the
Epson 820. It sat there for 8 months, with the cartridge installed,
until I needed it to print some banners. It worked flawlessly the
first time.



Is it possible the problem with the clogging is the 3rd party inks you
are using with the Epson?

Are the inks in the HP also from the same vendor as those in the Epson ?

Art

On Thu, 14 Aug 2003 12:03:35 GMT, Arthur Entlich
wrote:


Is it possible the problem with the clogging is the 3rd party inks you
are using with the Epson?

Are the inks in the HP also from the same vendor as those in the Epson ?

Art


Hi Art;

In the past I always swore that I would never use 3rd party inks. I
always thought that nobody could produce ink as well as the people who
understood the construction of the original printer. So when I
purchased the Epson 820 I had no intention of ever using 3rd party
inks.

It was only after of year of trying to keep this thing operating that
I realized that I was only getting about 66% of the photos I could be
getting while the other 33% of the ink went into head cleanings. The
OEM cartridges were also fairly expensive compared to Cannon's using
the Think Tank ink system. I was at the point of cutting my losses by
trashing this printer, but when I realized I could get 8 ink refills
for almost the cost of a single OEM cartridge , I decided to make one
more investment in this printer.

Since that time the amount of clogging has not changed for the better
or the worst. The color accuracy is just as good as the OEMs. The big
difference is affordability. Remember, I only get the time to print my
photos 1-2X per week and the 3rd party inks make this printer
affordable to me. Imagine the benefits if you were a heavy user.


BTW, the inks in the HP720 were original OEM.
To reply by email please remove the first R from
my return address

"Arthur Entlich" a écrit dans le message de
. ca...
Is it possible the problem with the clogging is the 3rd party inks you
are using with the Epson?
I only use EPSON genuine ink cartridges and get head clogging on mine. (even
with the head manually pushed to the right). Head clogging is a real problem
with some of this printers.
But print quality is very good.


--
| Daniel F Valot