spyder 4 calibration and prints still too dark

Yes, click on "no colour management"

When you turn off color management. You then chose the correct profile inside the printing modulew of your editing application. If you are not using an application that allows you to do that, then you really need to upgrade a bit if you wan to get into printing deeper.

Until you upgrade to a more moder printer, you might want to look on the Epson site and download the latest drivers for you printer. The R300 driver is available. Just pluging it in and haveing the OS find some generic printer driver is not going to cut it. As you have seen,you have no paper profiles installed right?

A more advanced printer much also be a good next step as well.

Watch the vids and you'll see that it is not at all that hard to get great prints.

Also remember that prints are viewed under reflected light and wht you are seeing on your monitor is backlit and so MUCH brighter. A print will NEVER match the screen 100%. You can however get pretty darn close.

Joe