Printer Reviews

I have owned many printers...but I have to say I love this printer the best so far. It's so versatile. The prints on Epson photo glossy paper look like they just came from the lab. I'm still amazed after two weeks.

Prints on coated inkjet CDs are a bit under saturated. Also if you want the best quality and water proof photos you have to use Epson paper.

This is a wonderful printer for photo enthusiasts and the geek who wants the novelty of printing on CDs. However if you do not intend to print on a regular basis do not buy this printer. The pigmented ink will clog the head with infrequent use.

I would give it five stars if it were a bit faster. I still love it though.

I have been shopping for a high-end consumer printer for my wife for about 3 months now. My wife is into photo-scrapbooking, so high quality prints that last a long time are our main goal.

I had looked at the high-end consumer printers from Canon and HP, but decided against them due to reported ozone fading problems (Canon) and star-wheel marks on the HP 7960 which I saw myself on the test prints at the local retailer.

I was about to buy a high-end dye sublimation printer when I saw some reviews of the R800. Now that I've owned one, I have to say this is by far the best photo printer I've ever used.

It's FAST - 4x6's print in about 45 seconds
It does TRUE borderless prints (no tear-offs)
The colors are life-life and saturated
Pigment ink promises long life and freedom from ozone fading
And it's unexpectedly QUIET!
I've notice NO banding or digthring at all.
The gloss is excellent and comparable to glossy photo paper
Can print onto CD's (I haven't tried this)

Can take roll paper (but no cutter)

Consumables seem to cost about $40-$50 per 4x6, or $1.50-$1.75 for an 8x10, which is a bit high, but not out of line with competitors.

I HIGHLY recommend this printer. Prints made with the EPSON premium glossy photo paper are out of this world.

Awesome photo quality prints! Not the fastest printer for word processing, etc, but certainly fast enough. Multiple ink cartridges helps save $$ on ink. R800, along w/ Epson glossy photo paper = professionally developed-looking prints, that are waterproof as well !!! Can't go wrong w/ this printer. I use it for photo prints, as well as, a general all-purpose printer, which I have hooked up to a wireless print server in my home, for all to use. DVD/CD printing has also worked flawlessly since I got it (about 3 months ago) No problems. Just awesome!

As Robert Redford said in the film "Out of Africa" (speaking of a phonograph) "they've finally come up with something useful!" That is my opinion of the HP Photosmart 145. This is a dandy little workhourse that will generate countless 4 x 6 photographs from your digital camera with no hassle or fuss. The HP 145 is a small, tight little package that you can easily pack away and take along on trips.

The HP 145 really helps make the "digital darkroom" a reality, even during trips. I take mine on my boat together with a small laptop computer, and can generate high-quality 4 x 6 photos right on the spot, after taking shots with various digital cameras. The HP 145 has a built-in CF card reader and also reads various other popular media and you can easily print directly from the CF card or other media even without the laptop too--the printer will print out a nice little thumbnail "index" showing little minatures of the photos each bearing an index number. You can then select and print the full photo. This also means that you don't need to bring a card reader along if you have your HP 145 since it functions as a digital media reader. Typically I will download my digital photos to my notebook computer's hard disk using my HP 145, view the photos on the notebook screen for printing, and then print selected photos with the HP 145. Great fun!

My HP 145 installed effortlessly on my IBM Thinkpad notebook computer (IBM TP 600E) running Windows XP, and is now my main printer for 4 x 6 photos and of course is the only printer I take along on trips. It is great fun to go on trips, take photos, and then give friends nicely framed photos the next day, or later the same day. Frankly, I never realized how much fun it was to have a printer along on trips. Most printers nowadays are big and bulky. This one is not.

I went with the 145 rather than the 245, the latter being the same printer but with an LCD color display. I decided that I wouldn't get 50 bucks worth of value out of the LCD display since a) I always bring my laptop along anyway since that is where I always download my CF card pictures to for storage on trips (that way you can re-use the CF card the next day); and b) the 145 has that neat index printing feature anyway, if you want to print without a computer. You decide. Either way, these are dandy little printers and I will likely never take another trip without bringing my HP 145 along. That is the hallmark of a truly useful product!

HP did a great job on this printer. It was less than $200 and it makes printing small pics to pass around so simple and easy. I take pics with my Kodak camera, insert the memory card into the printer, press print, and away it goes. No need to use a computer - that's the best part. Kodak software or the free HP software both work with this printer. Both are fine.

Photo quality is almost on par with regular grocery store prints from film. The printing itself takes a while and you have to wait for the ink to dry; however, compared to dropping film off and waiting to pick it up, this picture making system is far faster and more convenient.

Bottom line, if you have time & want the best picture quality possible, use film or print digitally with an online service. This device gives 90% of grocery store quality, but much faster and more convenient. It makes taking digital pictures and sharing pictures more fun.

This printer is so easy to use. We had the printer set up within 10 minutes and printed photos using the few pieces of photo paper included with the printer. We're so excited we need to order more photo paper so we can print more family photos! The printer easily accepts the memory card from our HP camera. This is so much fun!!!!!!!!!!!

This is a good value printer. Just does what it says. No bells and whistles, but a decent printer.

Very nice laser printer, matches my DELL 4500 with the black and silver color. Instructions very easy to set up and install for Windows XP. Came right up on home network also. Ink darkness does seem to be as dark as inkjet, but much more uniform. Seems like a great printer for the price.

Tired of using color cartridges when 90% of our stuff could have been in black and white, saw this, checked the price and bought it. Dont know how we lived without it...Have had this for six months and havent replaced the Toner...I would have used at least $200 worth of Ink with my six color canon S9000....Looks Good with My Silver/black computer system...I know thats not important to everyone but I refused to have an ugly Beige Square box in the middle of my Highend customized stuff... Ends up paying for itself in no time...set to the highest resolution with the Enhanced Halftones switched ON...Dont throw to much at it a one time cause the memory is small but I remember when, not so long ago; LaserPrinters Started at $800...Buy this with confidence...

I just printed some 13 x 19 prints on Canon Pro paper -- they look like they came from a lab. I'm amazed with the quality, ease of use (their stand alone printing utility is great - my wife loves it!), quietness and speed of the unit. I had no idea it was so fast --- I was after best quality I could get, and this is a step ahead of the Epson 2200 or R800, the Canon i960 etc. I was replacing an Epson Photo 1200 and until I came across this printer I had trouble finding a printer that met all of my requirements: high quality, bordless, large format, no CF slot or LCD display (printing from my file server).

Really, I cannot find any fault with this printer, setup was simple, but the proof of the pudding is in the output, and the prints are stunning, even on the mid-level "Plus" paper.

Glenn

I replaced my aging, broken Epson 1270 printer with the Canon i9900. I was fairly happy with the Epson, but the i9900 is close to perfect. The quality of graphics and photos on any paper is very good, even at the standard quality setting. Full page letter sized photos print in just over a minute. The drivers work flawlessly on both my PC and Mac, with Photoshop and Illustrator. The only time the printer seems slow is when printing web pages and text with the draft settings, it is only a little faster that the standard setting, but not as fast as a few year old HP DeskJet 970 in draft mode. The ink seems to go a long way too, the Photo Cyan & Magenta ink tanks seem to be the only ones that need to be replaced. All the other colors of ink seem to last twice as long.

I did a lot of research before buying the CANON i9900.But it was
worth all the time i spent.This is the best PHOTO PRINTER i have
ever seen.For the money,it's simply the best.I ran a test for color quality as soon as i had it hooked up,(witch by the way was a snap) it is fantastic, the color is as good as or better then most photolab's.I also tested different brands of paper.the
best print was the one useing CANON PHOTO PAPER PLUS GLOSSY.But the prints with other paper were not bad ,but with CANONS paper
the color jump's off the print at you.If you are into photography you will love this printer,boy i sure do.

The colors are very good (blues) to outstanding (reds and blacks-the black is in its own separate cartridge of course). I get about 20-30 full page 8x10 color prints on Matte paper per color cartridge. This is a much more realistic idea of ink use than Epson's claim of over 300 with 5% coverage...you buy this printer to do photos, not to make text pages with a little color on them. Nevertheless, the ink quality is very good.

For my 1280, I would not use any other brand. The colors are really nice. I have not finished my first set of cartridges yet, but I'm sold-and would not use ANY other but EPSON.

On Epson's heavyweight matte paper, the prints almost have a velvet like texture-like nothing I had expected (I am pleased). The browns, blues, greens, reds, etc. in my landscapes are very nice-beautiful gradations of color are possible. I do not think I would chance any other brand except Espon-a real winner.

I have produced literally stunning photo prints from my Sony Mavica CD300 digital camera with my Epson Stylus Photo 1280. It's only possible using Epson ink. I too have tried the "save a buck" approach with knock off 3rd party ink cartridges. Don't waste your money! The only true to life results you will get is by using Epson inks.
The colors are vivid and brilliant. 13X19 prints are spectacular with them.
BTW, I should also mention that the absolute best results I get are by using Epson premium glossy papers as well.
So if you want professional results and photograph prints that will knock your socks off, stick with Epson paper and inks for your Epson printer. It's worth the cost and you won't be disappointed.

Heed my warning ... do NOT buy the third party or refurbished ink carts that you see on sale in the "used" category. They clog like CRAZY! I found it almost impossible to get a decent print out of them. Maybe under different circumstances I wouldn't care as much and would rather save the cash. However, I don't do a lot of text printing, it's mostly photos or some kind of color printing and a failure rate as high as those carts were is completely unacceptable. I was ready to throw a parade when I finally ran out of ink ...

So take my advice (considering you probably own a photo printer if you're buying this), stick with the original Epson Carts. Don't let your pictures come out looking lousy just because you wanted to save a couple of dollars ...

As a long-time serious 35mm film photographer, I had my doubts about digital photography. Two weeks ago, I bought the Olympus C3030, the Epson 870 printer and, of course, this cartridge and the Epson photo paper. The results are outstanding! The color accuracy and vividness beat the photolabs hands down. Two weeks ago I was a skeptic. Today, I am a digital addict. If you buy a high-end digital camera, get an Epson photoprinter...and buy extra cartridges, photopaper and coffee.

I've had my Epson 890 for a couple of weeks now. Finally, I had an opportunity to print all those digital pictures that have been piling up in my computer.

I made about 40-50 4X6 photos from one color cartridge. I knew I would be running out quick, as I had a lot to do, so I orded the extra cartridge when I got the printer.

This is great because now you can share your digital pictures on the fly with people who don't have a computer.

When the ink cartridge ran out in the middle of my run of 4" roll paper pictures,it just stopped told me to change it, offered to walk me through the process (I took the offer) and then started right back up where it left off.

Nice, simple and easy. I like that.

No ruined photos, no wasted paper.

Replacing the ink was as simple as:

1. Open the lid

2. Respond to the computer's offer to position the ink cartridge head.

3. Open the lever of the color cartridge.

4. Take out and discard the old cartridge.

5. Open the new cartridge packaging, remove the blue tape.

6. Place the new cartridge in its spot and relatch.

7. Close the lid.

8. Tell the computer you are done, and you're off.

I made 4 calendars as Christmas gifts for relatives. I found the kit very easy to use, and felt it printed high quality looking pics. I did not like the binding which was too weak to hold a calendar with 15 heavy pages. I ended up taking my finished calendars to Kinko's. For less than $5 each, they added better binding and put protective plastic sheets between the pages. The end product looked very professional and fun.

I bought three of these calendar kits in November of 2000 and gave them as Xmas presents when completed.

The kit contains heavyweight paper for the cover(s) and 15 pages with glossy paper on one side and matte on the other. The glossy side means your photos can be printed at the highest photo-quality setting of your printer, and the matte side (for the month's grid of days) permits easy writing. That is the major draw of the kit. If there is a glossy/matte printable paper out there, I don't know of it (a trip to Kinkos would take care of the binding). The pages are pre-cut with a hole to hang the thing from and holes for the plastic binder. Two clear plastic covers are included, as well as two sheets of sticker paper, to print stickers for placement on the finished calendar. I didn't use them.

I have considerable, but non-professional, computer experience, and I found the calendar kit to be a good experience. I composed a calendar of our two daughters, with 12 monthly photos and a cover photo. I used 3.3 Mega-pixel digital images from my new Sony S-70 digital camera at full resolution, and included them at 8"x10" size. High quality images are a must for good results. After constructing the January graphics, I simply altered it for the other months. In total, you need 12 month grids, 12 month photos, cover photo or graphic, and rear cover graphic (if desired).

A couple of caveats. First, large photos, particularly dark ones, chew up printer ink. Be prepared to feed your printer ink cartridges. Try to use photos without a lot of dark background, or consider smaller sizes. I decided to pass up on a beautiful photo of a Halloween pumpkin that had an extensive black background. Secondly, I had some difficulty getting the paper to feed into my HP 722 smoothly. I think the printer may not be used to feeding paper with the glossy side DOWN, as is required to print on the matte side. As a result, the printing was tricky, I lost a couple of pages (you get three extra), and it took a lot of time. The large photos, as usual, take a long time to print. I don't recommend doing more than a couple of kits in a short period. Let the relatives compete for your affections. Finally, the heavyweight covers are very nice, but one side is matte white and the other is DARK BLUE (Argh! They should change that, and make one white/white, for the front cover/January). I used one for December/back cover (the "copyright" on the blue side), but used a glossy/matte month page for the front cover/January, with a clear cover on top of it. One less screw-up possible, then.

If you need software to compose your calendar, they offer an "Invent It! Photo Calendar Plus" version that includes the software. I used my own Corel Print House program, so I can't comment upon the "Plus" version.

The results? My mother-in-law said it was "the best present she had ever received," and my Dad said that one of the pictures of our older daughter "brought a tear to his eye." Enough said.

For four years we've been producing family calendars for Christmas gifts. The first year we let Kinko's do it all for us. That was easy but you only get 1 photo per month with no graphics or other frills. The second year we found some matte/flat paper and printed things on the computer and let Kinko's bind it for us. That was the worst of both worlds and finding that paper again is impossible.

Last year I found these kits and bought one with the software. The software wasn't too helpful to me (being the control freak that I am) but the kit itself it wonderful! 15 pages for the calendar, clear plastic or blue paper covers, and a binding. It is literally the perfect set of supplies for this type of project. I used 5 kits last year and may use even more this time. After all, once you get the design down why not make a lot!

I use Calendar Creator and MS Publisher to make the calendar and photo displays. You could use their software if you want. Either way, the paper, covers, and binding in this package are the only way to make calendars with your printer.

I highly recommend this to anyone. I've tried the alternatives and this is the best!

We have now gone through 2 of these machines. There is a communication problem with the scanner that can't be resolved no matter how many phone calls were made to tech support. It's not worth the headache it will give you.

I originally just wanted to purchase a scanner and would eventually need to purchase a color printer. My fiance talked me into the all-in-one and I'm so glad he did. My computer know-how is intermediate so I was very pleased with the ease of installation and performance of this all-in-one. It comes with loads of photo-manipulation software and sample sheets of different paper types. I scanned our Olan Mills engagement portraits and printed some on HP's glossy paper with unbelieveable, non-grainy, perfect color, print quality. I gave them out with no one knowing the difference! Now I don't have to purchase more picture sheets at $10 each. With bulb warm-up, a scan takes about 15 seconds with actual scanning taking less than 5. HP's reputation/customer service is what made me purchase their product and they came through again. The printer driver disk in the box was warped (who knows why) but I was able to download the driver from the HP website (site address is on the disk) with no problems. This machine also allows easy editing of scanned documents. Phone Tools came installed on my PC so I could receive fax documents but now I can scan and fax out too. If you don't have a telephone program like that, you'll want to purchase either a different all-in-one with fax capability or use this one with a separate fax.

The HP PSC 500 is great for classrooms and students. It provides wonderful copying which actually makes it look like the same exact paper. Printing is a little slow but the project turns out to be great. I recommend it for everyone.

I found the sony digital cam photo printer online by accident while holiday shopping, read the reviews and decided to make the purchase. The product is a good value, cost wise, and is so easy to operate and the pictures are superb! I've only used the product twice- just recieved it 5 days ago and I haven't hooked it up to my pc yet (but that wasn't the point of my purchase anyway because I have an inkjet photo printer and printing software) but have used it on my home tv and the software program is just great- right from the TV I view all prints, can add text to the print, change the print to B&W, adjust tint, brightness etc and print however many prints of each photo I want. I even printed out an index photo of all the pics on my memory stick- awesome. The picture quality is so much better than inkjet prints and you can't tell the difference between these and professionally printed photos. The quality is remarkable. I highly recommend this product to both experienced and inexperienced digital camera users- it's great to have a device like this on hand to print pictures out immediately to share with others (modern similarity to poloroid cams in that you're able to share immediately right from your home TV or others- did I Say how easily PORTABLE this is-but SO MUCH MORE) The reviews here helped me so I'm hoping I can help someone else in making a decision.

I bought this printer a week ago and am extremely satisfied with its quality. The photos come out in about 90 seconds, and are impossible to distinquish from photo-lab prints. Pictures were taken with a Sony DSC-P5, a 3.2 megapixel model. I've read complaints about photos not coming out so well on this model... I imagine they are not using a Sony camera. It's got a memory stick reader for a reason =)

This printer is all you need, and its the cheapest one offered by sony right now. I did some research and all three currently offered printers use the same printing technology (dye sublimation), it's only the features that effect the price. The $500 model has an lcd screen, the $250 is extra tiny but can only do 3x5. this $200 needs a television or your computer, tho.

Cons: noisy whine while machine is off. doesn't come with usb cable for computer hookup (manual claims using a computer disables the "fine print" option).

pictures look real this printer is excellant

I ran into a problem where the paper type selection was unavailble. Canon technical support was less than helpful. I figured out that the HP Photosmart software that's installed for my HP P1000 printer was causing the problem. After I exited the HP software in the system tray, the Canon printer began working fine. Canon's response was sometimes software is incompatible. I've found several reports on the web with people having the same problem, so Canon should know about it. The only reason I'm rating it as a 3 is because the picture quality when it actually prints from the PC is excellent. The results weren't quite as good printing directly from a Canon S200 camera; the picture wasn't as sharp.

I would have given this a 5 if only full size paper (8.5 X 11) was supported. I was luckly to receive this online for Canon's list price and not some USED one asking more. Seems like price hikimg on a hot item which as I write, is vitrually back-ordered on every reputable 0n-line dealer. Try ordering "Red" label from dealers claiming "in stock". Those are the dealers rated 1 and 2 stars reliabilility on some sites. I was almost ready to buy the CP-200 with the car adaptor when I stumbled on a known and trusted west coast dealer at 279.99 complete, shipped Second Day Blue at no extra charge. But the most impressive aspect was the print quality, which puts any One-Hour-Photo to shame and the direct plug in to my Canon A-70 eliminating printer slots for all sorts of media and true portability with the recharable lithium ion battery. The Power Shot's LCD panel allows only the prints you want freeing up Compact Media file space erasing the bad shots as I go. The CP-300 does come with computer drivers for use with a computer (forget Canon's imaging software, Microsoft's Digital Picture Pro or even Picture It! Photo Premium 9.0 is a sub$100 set-back). The only other feature which lacks a 5 ratimg is their increbibly useless software. I have never made my own greeting card but have more software than Hallmark to make them. And just can't seem to find the time for T-Shirt tranfers. Any printer that needs an iron for a project seems a little desperate on features.

This printer is everything I expected it to be and more. The quality of the prints are awesome - indistinguishable from real photographs, except for the lack of "Kodak" or "Fuji" printed on the backside. The print speed is as advertised, and its incredibly easy to use. I would highly recommend this printer to anyone who wants an easy solution for quality prints.

If I had to list drawbacks:
- Limited to 4x6 or credit card size photos
- Paper/Ink only available online (haven't found a local retailer yet...)
- Price per photo (~56 cents for the 4x6 prints) more expensive than online orders (ie., shutterfly), but you get instant results, and no S&H. :-)

If these are not a problem for you, then this is the printer you want. Get the CP-200 if you don't care about the rechargeable battery and credit card tray (I think you can order the latter separately...). The CP-300 is about $100 more, but worth it, in my opinion.