[emalen]

I was wondering if there is an epson review web site that talks about 'real' Epson experiences.

I'm wondering things like how many pages can an epson printer really print?
How fast are they really?

I want 'real' people opinions, not Epson facts.

Thanks for any help in advance,

emalen

[scottiB]

Occasionally, I peruse the user ratings at Amazon.com for "real-life" appraisals. You could also try epinions.com, but some of their posts are older.

[godzookie2k]

i swear by epsons and will never buy another brand printer until they go out of business. My epsons have rocked because a) they outlast my computers. b) I can shove just about any paper I can conceive of through them without screwing them up like some other brands, I've shoved reeves heavyweight drawing paper through my epson on a regular. c) They're workhorses and you get a damn good cartridge life. They're not the cheapest of cartridges, but epson is also great with backwards compatibility with regards to cartridges. I'm currently staring at a wide format 1160 which was succeeded its predecessor the 740. That sums up pretty much the last 7 years worth of printers i've owned. Actually 6 i think, I had a color stylewriter before them.

[emalen]

I too love Epsons, I just got the new R800 and was wondering how many full colour (8x10.5) photos i can print with one set of cartridges.

Originally posted by godzookie2k:
i swear by epsons and will never buy another brand printer until they go out of business. My epsons have rocked because a) they outlast my computers. b) I can shove just about any paper I can conceive of through them without screwing them up like some other brands, I've shoved reeves heavyweight drawing paper through my epson on a regular. c) They're workhorses and you get a damn good cartridge life. They're not the cheapest of cartridges, but epson is also great with backwards compatibility with regards to cartridges. I'm currently staring at a wide format 1160 which was succeeded its predecessor the 740. That sums up pretty much the last 7 years worth of printers i've owned. Actually 6 i think, I had a color stylewriter before them.

[ssevenup]

Originally posted by emalen:
I was wondering if there is an epson review web site that talks about 'real' Epson experiences.

http://www.photo-i.co.uk/

Unfortunately it's all PC based but it appears unbiased.

I just got an R800 and my initial reaction before looking at image quality, print cost or anything like that is...

The 1394 connection fails to work for me completely. It prints half an inch on each page and borks with errors. The USB works as good as it did on my 960 but since 1394 was a selling point for me I am pissed. Admittedly my 10.2.8 box is my print server (B&W G3 with reputedly crap 1394 interface).

The driver and companion software is half baked compared to the Windoze stuff Epson provides as usual. I'm fed up with Macs being the red headed stepchild in this regard. What little I looked at trying to use Colorsync to print was a joke. The Epson help contained 1 count em' 1 sentence. Again... JOKE. This is partially Apple's fault since after several years and 3 major OS PAID revisions the Printing is still not even half baked. The way the Epson driver works is a joke and most people don't even get how it works as evidenced by the forum posts I have read. Instead of installing as one printer if you want to use all the media sizes and types you wind up with a long list of printers with the same model number and different details. It should appear as one printer with multiple options accessed in the sub-panels but Epson didn't do it that way.

The printer is nice and quiet.

The ink looks like it's going to be even more criminally expensive than previous models.

Early reports are that the CD printing software sucks and there are no generic templates provided so standard apps can be used. When I say it sucks I mean sometimes it works and sometimes not. Sometimes it must be reinstalled to get it working again. People report it working for period of time and then it pukes.

I expect that a lot of what is wrong with the drivers and software has to do with Epson chosing to roll their own driver external to CUPS. This is why it looks like a kludge and causes so many problems. This a is a guess as I have not explored the filesystem after installing it. I did notice that the CUPS interface shows the printer's device URI as file://dev/null.

[Drifter]

Bitch, bitch, bitch.
Go look at HP's OS X driver & software sets, then come back here.
I love epson printers, but sometimes the stuff doesn't come out perfect. But no printer does without the $$$ software

And 1 question: What's a nice wide format Epson? Should I get the 2200 or 4000?

[paully dub]

I'd check out the printer forum at dpreview.com

I'm sure there's a mac user or two there.

[xMetal]

the higher end Epsons are nice in my experience. The cheap ones are pure trash, totally disposable, and won't last. I've had 3 of those (stupid to think they would have improved them).

If you need to spend less than, say, $150 I'd look at other brands. Epson's larger format, more professional printers do a very nice job.

HP makes some nice units, as does Canon. I have a Canon and actually prefer the HP output for photos.

[art_director]

Originally posted by emalen:
I was wondering if there is an epson review web site that talks about 'real' Epson experiences.

I'm wondering things like how many pages can an epson printer really print?
How fast are they really?

I want 'real' people opinions, not Epson facts.

Thanks for any help in advance,

emalen

depends upon how you'll use the printer. i had an epson. killed it by running too many sheets per month. it was a consuer grade machine and i needed a pro level printer for presentations and such. got the xerox 7700dn. of course, you're talking about a $6,000 difference in price.

for photographers the epson rules.