[zep_317]

I had planned on buying the C80 with my new CPU purchase (either ibook or Ti, haven't decided yet). I did some research and found that for general use (i.e., not too much photo printing), the C80 was the best all-around performer.

Now they're offering the 820 free with the purchase of an iBook, iMac, or eMac.

Question - is the 820 that much worse with text printing?

The $$ savings would be awesome, but not if the thing can't print text at the speed/quality I would need most of the time.

[OldManMac]

The 820 isn't any worse for text printing. It is slower than the C80, but it is a better printer if you're doing a lot of photo printing, because it is a five-color printer, as opposed to the C80, which is a four-color unit, designed primarily for home/home office use, as opposed to photo work.

[Macola]

This may or may not be a consideration for you, but only the C80 has waterproof inks. I actually tested this using a friend's C80 recently--printed on plain paper, and ran the paper under water for a while. No bleeding at all!

The newer model (C82??) is also supposed to use the colorfast inks, but I don't think the 820 does.

[boardsurfer]

I have both printers. I actually use the C80 though. Photo 820 still in the box. The C80 stinks in my opinion. Photos are lousy, colors not accurate, seem washed out. (I use HP inkjet paper if it matters) I think it may be the funky ink they use (forgot what its called, the waterproof stuff). The text printing on the C80 is great. It is very quiet and pretty quick. Another thing, I dont use the C80 on a daily basis and the print heads seem to clog frequently causing you to use the head cleaning utility frequently which wastes ink. KarlG says the text on the 820 is just as good as the C80, then I would recommend the 820.

One more thing I like about the C80 - it has separate ink wells for each color. Somewhat cheaper for replacing. I have seen them for as little as $9 each. The 820 has one cartridge for the 5 colors.

[zep_317]

Thanks, all. It sounds like the 820 would probably suit my needs, as long as the text printing isn't TOO slow... There's a good likelihood I'll be printing more photos in the future, so the 820 will allow me to be ready for that.

[MoparSteve]

If you buy a new Apple, you don't need to take the free 820. You can instead get $100 off on any Epson inkjet printer (or up to the price of the printer if its under $100). You need to download the rebate coupon to take advantage of this. I just got a C80 with my purchase of new 17" FP iMac. It's a nice printer, but the colors in printing out photos were not as vibrant as with my older Epson 1520. The colors were kinda dark and murky. I'm assuming this is due to the waterproof / lightfast inks. I'm hoping they make improvents to the inks over time, but I'll be using the old printer for photos for now.

[Footy]

I went over to Epson to look at the differances. I have the 820 and really like it but I'm not so sure I wouldn't have bought the C-80 if I didn't want some good photos printed. Seems like they are both good at what they are for. Looks like the C-80 wins the faster text printing race by about 8 sheets/minute. The 820 prints great text, just not as fast, plus the photo's I've printed up look like they've come from the lab.

Guess it just depends on if you want the faster text printing.

[daimoni]

.

[nana4]

Originally posted by boardsurfer:
I have both printers. I actually use the C80 though. Photo 820 still in the box. The C80 stinks in my opinion. Photos are lousy, colors not accurate, seem washed out. (I use HP inkjet paper if it matters) I think it may be the funky ink they use (forgot what its called, the waterproof stuff).

The C80 prints best on Epson paper.

[boardsurfer]

thanks, I'll give it a shot. I know this printer is capable, it just hasnt proven itself to me yet.

[nana4]

Also I find the C80 tends to be biased towards magenta, so you may need to adjust the colour sliders to reduce that. And mine clogs if not used too.

[aaanorton]

Some of you may find this interesting. It is from a very reputable photographic site. Check it out.

Cliff

[MoparSteve]

Originally posted by aaanorton:
Some of you may find this interesting. It is from a very reputable photographic site. Check it out.

Cliff

Interesting review. It mentions that the ink cartridges have a shelf life of only 6 months (vs 2 years, I think, fo rother Epson inkjet cartridges). I'm hoping that this is the reason why my photo prints seem to turn out muddy. The reviewer did say that he got good results after making changes to the printer color settings, but this isn't something that I feel should be required if my older Epson printer gives excellent prints on default color settings.

[rcpmac]

I just bought the 320 after comparing it to the c80.
However, I am using the 320 almost exclusively for printing glossy photos . If I didn't have a dedicated lazer printer, I might have reconsidered

The low down:

c80 320
good at photos GREAT at photos esp., glossy
GREAT at text fair at text.
archival inks water proof not archival dye based inks
individual tanks group tank expensive ink I use after mkt.
Use matte photo paper use Epson photo paper ..avg price.

Matte papers produce the best photos on the c 80. They will be close to the matte paper photo on the 320.

[rcpmac]

Sorry about thee format screw up above...try this

I just bought the 320 after comparing it to the c80.
However, I am using the 320 almost exclusively for printing glossy photos . If I didn't have a dedicated lazer printer, I might have reconsidered

The low down:

..........c80..................................... ............................320
.......good at photos .......................GREAT at photos esp., glossy
archival inks water proof .........ot archival dye based inks
......individual tanks ...............group tank $$ ink, I use after mkt

Use matte photo paper use Epson photo paper ..avg price.




Matte papers produce the best photos on the c 80. They will be close to the matte paper photo on the 320.