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Epson 820

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you all are scaring be by buying an epson printer. just about everybody is talking about clogging of the printhead. HELP. what printer do i buy.i sure don't have the extra money to clean the printhead taht often

Marga
 
marga said:
can somebody tell me something about the photo quality of the epson
820.
Click to expand...
I've got two of these printers and the photo quality is excellent. I've had a few clogs but nothing serious enough that a cleaning cycle did't cure. It usually happens occasionally when changing out the cartridges and I suspect it's more of a priming issue than a clog. The one thing that I really like about this printer is that it feeds the paper more reliably than my old Epson 870 did. I use a printing utility called HP Photosmart to que up a bunch of prints which allows me to place a stack of my Epson Heavyweight Matte photo paper in the feed tray andlet it do it's thang while I go about my business. When I come back, I have a stack of prints waiting on me. My 870 could hardly feed two sheets without pulling in multiple sheets at the same time so I always had to feed them in one at a time. It's quite refreshing to be able to do something else instead of babysitting the printer. The ONE gripe I have against this printer is that it uses different ink cartridges than all the other Stylus Photo printers and the only difference is the Killer Chip. The cartridges themselves are identical. The main gripe for me is the pricing of these cartridges. Some places charge more for them than they do for the others. I saw this at Walmart just the other day. The cartridges for the 820 were about $2 more than the ones for the 780/785EPX/890 etc. Luckily, I usually buy mine at OfficeDepot where they're the same price or, if you buy two, you save $2 off each cartridge. As for quantity of prints from each cartridge, I usually get about 25 8x10s from each color cartridge and about 60-70 from each black cartridge. As for the build quality, it's not as well built as my 870 was but it is a little faster. One thing I had to do was buy a USB cable for it. The 820 was too slow on the parallel port. It breezes right along on the USB. It's a little louder than my 870 but it doesn't bother me. I've found it to be a pretty good value at $100.
 
TonyK_in_Texas said:
Even 5 x 7s from a 3.31 MP Casio QV3000 are good.

Take care,
marga said:
dgrogers
do you by a chance now if the 820 produces a semi nice 8x10?
Click to expand...
--
TonyK
Click to expand...
I concur. The 820 does print great 8x10s from my Olympus 2100 and E-10. I was showing a print I'd made of a building which had lots of sky in it and most everyone remarked at how smooth and beautiful the sky was and how detailed the building was. They found it hard to believe it came from a $100 inkjet printer.
 
deeee said:
after agonizing about it for about a week or two, i bought an 820
today at costco...$69. they also have a pakage deal on the ink
cartridges...2 color cartridges and 1 black for $42, also bought a
package of paper, 100 sheets of "photo paper" for $20 (i know it's
not the best paper, but it's all they had i wanted to start playing
with my new toy). Soooo, for under $140, i have a decent set up.
The VERY FIRST picture, my test picture came out FANTASTIC! (do
you hear me knocking on wood!)
yes, it's loud, but i don't care. kinda slow, but i have time.
for the price, i think i did great. (knocking harder now!)
Been reading this forum for a while, so i think i know what to
watch for, besides, costco has a very liberal return policy!
Click to expand...
If you're using the printer on the parallel port, I highly recommend you use it on the USB port instead. It's MUCH faster on that port.
deeee said:
Any advise on where to buy better quality paper for the epson? i
checked there web site...kinda pricey!
Click to expand...
I use the Epson Heavyweight Matte and it usually sells for about $14/50 sheets. You can often find the OfficeDepot Preimum High Gloss Photo paper on sale and it works well.
 
Galen Huebner said:
Marga,

For years photo enthusiasts have been printing with Epson products.
We've complained some about the noise and some about clogging
printheads and recently on the 820 about it's flimsier
construction, but until recently, Epson was always the king when it
came to print quality. Personally, having examined prints from
both, I believe they now share the throne.

Is the Epson 820 noiser? Yes. Is its contruction less sturdy? Yes.
Do you have to clean the printheads more often? Yes, and
particularly for some users. Why? I'm not sure. I have not
experienced that may problems.

The bottom line, however, is that the Epson gives excellent prints
for a fraction of the cost of a Canon. I've heard the cost of ink
issue raised so many times that I'm weary of the misinformation.
The following are some comments I made in another thread:

Epson's, too, are a quality product, with their own selling points.
I, for one, don't like the inconvenience of having to change out
six cartridges, when I only have to presently change out two. I am
currently able to find a broader supplier of deeper discounted
Epson cartridges than Canon. My Canon BJC-600 inks still cost more
than my genuine Epson inks.
Click to expand...
But you can more easily refill the Canon ink tanks and that will save a lot on ink costs. You can see the level in the clear plastic ink tanks so it's easy to refill them AND there's no "Killer Chip" to reset.
Galen Huebner said:
This issue of defending who is cheaper on inks is like a dog
chasing it's tail. If my picture-taking tends toward the gray side
in the color spectrum, I will tend to use my inks more equally and
be changing out 6 cartridges nearly simultaneously. What did I save
then? Further, minus the inks, I am looking at the production cost
of 6 cartridges, not two. These cartridges do cost something.
Click to expand...
But the ink isn't used equally in these printers and that's a fact. The two "photo" color inks will be used at a rate close to twice as fast as the other three "standard" color inks. With the Epson printers, the "Killer Chip" on the cartridges will stop the printer from operating when ONE of the ink levels is "determined" to be "out". The other chambers still have a good deal of ink in them but the cartridge is dead for all intents and purposes.
Galen Huebner said:
Dye ink production costs are similar for all suppliers. Name Brands
are always more expensive, but they must remain competitive, if
they are to retain their business. If I compare MSRP of Epson and
Canon OEM inks per page, it is my understanding from a professional
review that Canon will just win out, but when you also add in the
proprietory paper, Epson wins in producing a cheaper total per
print cost. You see, the dog is still chasing his tail. The bottom
line is that given the comparable per print ink price per
manufacturer, it is futile to try to evaluate savings for
individual users, because there are too many user variables which
defy an accurate analysis for all.
Click to expand...
Proprietary paper? The Canons can use other papers as well. A lot of people use Epson paper in theirs.
Galen Huebner said:
Getting back to your original question on the quality of prints.
You can make as many prints as you like per week and you will
continue to produce excellent quality prints. In fact, the more you
print (not just occasional use as some one else previously posted)
you will actually reduce the likelihood of printhead clogging and
dramatically reduce the the necessity for performing any cleaning
procedures. In other words the quality of your prints stays
consistent without the need for nozzle cleaning.

I own an Epson 800, 750, and 785 EPX, which is the computerless
version of the 820. They have the same print engines. I am very
very happy. If you elect to buy a Canon s800/900/9000, you will be
buying a quality product but at a greater price. The Epson 820 for
much less money will produce prints more noisely, more slowly, but
with equal quality, and if comparatively you use the manufacturers
inks and papers, than according to the following reviewer, your per
print cost may actually be less than the Canon.

http://www.dp-now.com/Features/Printer_reviews/Photo-inkjets/Running_costs/running_costs.html

If you have the money, you won't be disappointed in the Canon. It
is a quality printer, and if you wish to save money and sacrifice
speed and endure a little noiser operation, you should be very
satisfied with the Epson 820. I know I am.

I don't know how I could be any more balanced in my recommendations
to you.

Hope this helps.

Galen
Click to expand...
 
Well, considering the price of the printer don't expect a rolls royce. I have a 785EPX, which is about the same as the 820 in terms of the print engine (they only use different ink cartridges) and it almost never clogs. Only time I have a problem is when installing a new ink tank, sometimes the nozzles show a clog but it is something else. Removing and reinstalling the cartridge one or two times fixes it, then I don't have anymore problems. I love my epson. great software, I really like PIM, many borerless print options available, lots of paper choices. It's been a great printer so far.
marga said:
you all are scaring be by buying an epson printer. just about
everybody is talking about clogging of the printhead. HELP. what
printer do i buy.i sure don't have the extra money to clean the
printhead taht often

Marga
Click to expand...
 
Terry,

What is the maximum length the Canon driver will support? I am looking for a length of at least 44" if possible.

Thanks,
Terry Thorn said:
deeee said:
after agonizing about it for about a week or two, i bought an 820
today at costco...$69. they also have a pakage deal on the ink
cartridges...2 color cartridges and 1 black for $42, also bought a
package of paper, 100 sheets of "photo paper" for $20 (i know it's
not the best paper, but it's all they had i wanted to start playing
with my new toy). Soooo, for under $140, i have a decent set up.
The VERY FIRST picture, my test picture came out FANTASTIC! (do
you hear me knocking on wood!)
yes, it's loud, but i don't care. kinda slow, but i have time.
for the price, i think i did great. (knocking harder now!)
Been reading this forum for a while, so i think i know what to
watch for, besides, costco has a very liberal return policy!
Click to expand...
If you're using the printer on the parallel port, I highly
recommend you use it on the USB port instead. It's MUCH faster on
that port.
Member said:
Any advise on where to buy better quality paper for the epson? i
checked there web site...kinda pricey!
Click to expand...
I use the Epson Heavyweight Matte and it usually sells for about
$14/50 sheets. You can often find the OfficeDepot Preimum High
Gloss Photo paper on sale and it works well.
Click to expand...
--
TonyK
 
TonyK_in_Texas said:
I believe the driver is the same for the s900 and s9000. I was
hoping you could check it and let me know.

Thanks,
Click to expand...
I no longer have a Canon printer. I have two Epson 820s and an HP 970Cse. I would ask dgrodgers about that since he's a current Canon printer owner.
 
I have trouble geeting good skin color in people photos--
very pink, drives me nuts. I used the photo/people setting.
My HP 930c prints better photos. I used a number of settings
and went through one whole cartridge without yet getting
a natural skin color right. Any advice before I pop the next cartridge
in?

--
UZI,d40,s110
 
I owned the 820 for 7 months, it was awesome for the first few month. But a few month ago, bad thing happened. I bought a cheap color replacement ink for my 820. And my color print head started clogging. So I cleaned the print head frequently. But the printing was still cloging and wasted a lot black ink to clean. After the ink level was slow, the black ink started look like clogging. Until today, I installed a new epson genuine ink for both color and black, the clogging problem was solved. So I advised don't ever uses a cheap a on a Epson printer. Also I think sometime the clogging is still to low ink level not enough ink to print. Just like my black ink cartridge.
marga said:
can somebody tell me something about the photo quality of the epson
820.
Click to expand...
 
LJ wrote:
But the
LJ said:
printing was still cloging and wasted a lot black ink to clean.
After the ink level was slow, the black ink started look like
clogging. Until today, I installed a new epson genuine ink for
both color and black, the clogging problem was solved. So I
advised don't ever uses a cheap a on a Epson printer.
Click to expand...
I have an Epson 820 as well. I was breezing along printing one gorgeous photo after another, when all of a sudden the black nozzle seized up almost without warning (slight banding on one photo, then BAM--almost no ink coming out on the next!). A nozzle check showed over 90% of the nozzle were not putting out ink! I cleaned and checked...and cleaned and checked. I stubbornly went through SIX cleaning and checking cycles and STILL only about 60% of the nozzles were printing!

I had a sinking feeling in my gut--not only did I waste 1/4 of my ink cleaning, but I thought I had a blown print head. Out of desperation, I checked the manual and it stated that if the problem isn't solved after 3 or 4 cleanings, turn the printer off and leave it overnight to let the ink "soften" (??!!). I was skeptical, but I tried it. The next morning, I did one more clean and check--and sure enough, the black ink flowed perfectly!

I've printed lots more photos since then without a hitch. So for any of you who have encountered a stubborn clog like me, turn the printer off after a couple of cleanings and let it sit overnight. Don't stubbornly waste your ink on repeated cleaning cycles like me!

Carl
 
I own 820 and was concerned about clogging myself, however the info was very controversial, so I took the plunge. Here are my observations:

What people called clogging turned out to be just low ink levels -that the Epson Ink monitor program shows some ink left but there is just not enough of it, so some air gets in and shows those ugly stripes on the nozzle check pattern. There is no use cleaning if the cartridge is low, just swap the new one in, run one cleaning cycle, print one or two patterns you are set. The other confirmation is that sometimes people reported clogging when they installed new cartridges- which pretty much guarantees that some air gets in the duct. Dont leave the printer with the cartridge low or almost empty, the duct will be dry and will take a while until all air expunged. Finally - there is no difference between generic ink cartridges from G&G brand sold on http://www.megatoners.com for like 7$ and the Epson genuine cartridges. Both are made in China, of cause a lot more love was used in production of the Epson branded ones :)

Epson with either type of inks does not print well on generic paper or HP paper. Soem people reported Kodac paper to be ok, I use Heavyweight Matte and Photo Glossy with great results. Oh, beware of "photo quality ink jet paper" on Epson site, or ebay - it is crappy NONE photo paper, absolutely not suitable for photo printing.
Carl Lum said:
Carl Lum said:
printing was still cloging and wasted a lot black ink to clean.
After the ink level was slow, the black ink started look like
clogging. Until today, I installed a new epson genuine ink for
both color and black, the clogging problem was solved. So I
advised don't ever uses a cheap a on a Epson printer.
Click to expand...
I have an Epson 820 as well. I was breezing along printing one
gorgeous photo after another, when all of a sudden the black nozzle
seized up almost without warning (slight banding on one photo, then
BAM--almost no ink coming out on the next!). A nozzle check showed
over 90% of the nozzle were not putting out ink! I cleaned and
checked...and cleaned and checked. I stubbornly went through SIX
cleaning and checking cycles and STILL only about 60% of the
nozzles were printing!

I had a sinking feeling in my gut--not only did I waste 1/4 of my
ink cleaning, but I thought I had a blown print head. Out of
desperation, I checked the manual and it stated that if the problem
isn't solved after 3 or 4 cleanings, turn the printer off and leave
it overnight to let the ink "soften" (??!!). I was skeptical, but I
tried it. The next morning, I did one more clean and check--and
sure enough, the black ink flowed perfectly!

I've printed lots more photos since then without a hitch. So for
any of you who have encountered a stubborn clog like me, turn the
printer off after a couple of cleanings and let it sit overnight.
Don't stubbornly waste your ink on repeated cleaning cycles like me!

Carl
Click to expand...
 
Don't be ignorant - what people call clogging is clogging! I think most people on this forum can figure out the staus monitor successfully. This printer has a terrible reputation for clogging - just wait, you'll find out in time.
Alexei Nikolaev said:
Carl Lum said:
Alexei N said:
printing was still cloging and wasted a lot black ink to clean.
After the ink level was slow, the black ink started look like
clogging. Until today, I installed a new epson genuine ink for
both color and black, the clogging problem was solved. So I
advised don't ever uses a cheap a on a Epson printer.
Click to expand...
I have an Epson 820 as well. I was breezing along printing one
gorgeous photo after another, when all of a sudden the black nozzle
seized up almost without warning (slight banding on one photo, then
BAM--almost no ink coming out on the next!). A nozzle check showed
over 90% of the nozzle were not putting out ink! I cleaned and
checked...and cleaned and checked. I stubbornly went through SIX
cleaning and checking cycles and STILL only about 60% of the
nozzles were printing!

I had a sinking feeling in my gut--not only did I waste 1/4 of my
ink cleaning, but I thought I had a blown print head. Out of
desperation, I checked the manual and it stated that if the problem
isn't solved after 3 or 4 cleanings, turn the printer off and leave
it overnight to let the ink "soften" (??!!). I was skeptical, but I
tried it. The next morning, I did one more clean and check--and
sure enough, the black ink flowed perfectly!

I've printed lots more photos since then without a hitch. So for
any of you who have encountered a stubborn clog like me, turn the
printer off after a couple of cleanings and let it sit overnight.
Don't stubbornly waste your ink on repeated cleaning cycles like me!

Carl
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
By what I've read here, 785EPX does not seem have the same clogging issues as the Epson 820, eventhough they have (apparently) the same print engine.

Is this a fair statement??
Donsta said:
Alexei Nikolaev said:
Carl Lum said:
Donald Hutton said:
printing was still cloging and wasted a lot black ink to clean.
After the ink level was slow, the black ink started look like
clogging. Until today, I installed a new epson genuine ink for
both color and black, the clogging problem was solved. So I
advised don't ever uses a cheap a on a Epson printer.
Click to expand...
I have an Epson 820 as well. I was breezing along printing one
gorgeous photo after another, when all of a sudden the black nozzle
seized up almost without warning (slight banding on one photo, then
BAM--almost no ink coming out on the next!). A nozzle check showed
over 90% of the nozzle were not putting out ink! I cleaned and
checked...and cleaned and checked. I stubbornly went through SIX
cleaning and checking cycles and STILL only about 60% of the
nozzles were printing!

I had a sinking feeling in my gut--not only did I waste 1/4 of my
ink cleaning, but I thought I had a blown print head. Out of
desperation, I checked the manual and it stated that if the problem
isn't solved after 3 or 4 cleanings, turn the printer off and leave
it overnight to let the ink "soften" (??!!). I was skeptical, but I
tried it. The next morning, I did one more clean and check--and
sure enough, the black ink flowed perfectly!

I've printed lots more photos since then without a hitch. So for
any of you who have encountered a stubborn clog like me, turn the
printer off after a couple of cleanings and let it sit overnight.
Don't stubbornly waste your ink on repeated cleaning cycles like me!

Carl
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Ha! Sounds like another case of "when all else fails, read the instructions"(!)

Bart
Carl Lum said:
I had a sinking feeling in my gut--not only did I waste 1/4 of my
ink cleaning, but I thought I had a blown print head. Out of
desperation, I checked the manual and it stated that if the problem
isn't solved after 3 or 4 cleanings, turn the printer off and leave
it overnight to let the ink "soften" (??!!). I was skeptical, but I
tried it. The next morning, I did one more clean and check--and
sure enough, the black ink flowed perfectly!

I've printed lots more photos since then without a hitch. So for
any of you who have encountered a stubborn clog like me, turn the
printer off after a couple of cleanings and let it sit overnight.
Don't stubbornly waste your ink on repeated cleaning cycles like me!

Carl
Click to expand...
 
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