Stylus Photo R200 Color Inkjet Printer
1 Dies Quickly
Don't buy this printer if you want to print more than 500 CDs in its lifetime. After about 250 CDs, the tray mechanism became impossible to deal with. The rollers would no longer pull the tray in on their own, so I ended up having to stand there and feed the tray through for every single CD. Then, when the printing was done, I'd have to manually pull the tray out myself, or the printer would go into reset mode and take 2 minutes to restart. This printer is a lemon, and I wouldn't recommend anyone purchasing it.
2 Great Printer, AND use less ink
I have been reading a lot about this printer and ink consumption. First, let me state I do own the printer. I purchased it for printing CDs/DVDs ONLY and for that job it works fantastic! Now for the core of this review. The R200 is a PHOTO printer and by design will drink ink like a drunken sailor. They all do. If you are not in the market for photo printer, you will do well to get a printer that is designed for text and occasional graphics. If however, you are in the market for printing photos most major brands will do fine and ALL OF THEM WILL DRINK YOUR INK QUICKLY.
This process is not only in photo printing mode, it quickly drains your wallet dry even when printing everyday things like letters etc. When you think you are only using black, think again, your printer still used color ink along with the black and that is just the way they work They make their money from their ink consumption. Now, what can we do about it?
There is a program called "Inksaver" and its available from www.inksaver.com and works with every printer you may have. This one of a kind piece of software intercepts every print job and tells the printer to use less ink. This software works and works well. Yes, there comes to a point where reducing the ink beyond a certain percentage will make your printouts look lowsy, but at the same time, there is that medium point where you are saving as much as 10 to 25 percent and you notice NO difference at all.
For the Epson R200 I print my text with a 30 percent reduction in ink and my color CD/DVD labels (no pictures) on a 25% reduction and notice no degragation in quality. Believe me this makes my ink last a LONG time vs the short amt. of time without any savings.
One last thing. If you are using this printer to print photograhs, you will just have to bite the bullet and print with NO savings (if you want to keep the photo for ever). Photos require all that ink to look like a photo and reducing the ink on print items such as this does not make any sense. For everyday printing, you can increase the life of any inkjet printer ink consumption drastically and still be happy.
3 Ink cost is insane. DEAD unless all colors filled!
I would heartily suggest you do NOT but this printer. I bought mine for $99 and was impressed by how well it printed. Then I decide to buy some photo paper. Other brands of paper do not work, and Epson paper is 50-100% more expensive than competing brands.
Then there is the ink issue! This thing must pump ink out the electric cord, it disappears so quickly. All six tanks MUST have ink in them for the printer to work AT ALL. Have an urgent document to print in black and you run out of yellow ink? Too bad!! You know have a $100 paperweight to sit and stare at you until you buy yellow ink. I am unemployed and can't afford to buy 5 tanks of ink which cost $60. But can I buy just black and use it to print resumes? Oh, heck no! Replacing all six tanks will cost $75-80, the whole printer only $90-100.
Right now I could strangle the people at Epson who designed this thing to rip off the consumer. I will never, ever, ever buy another Epson product. I suggest you learn from my stupidity and do the same!
4 Awesome
I bought this printer specifically to print my wedding favors, personalized CD's. I was simply amazed with the quality of the prints that the printer had on a CD! I printed over 100 CD's and I still have over half a tank left of all the inks. I can't complain about printing that much and still having ink left, I'm not sure what other people expect from thier printers, but I thought that was amazing, esp. since most of what I printed was black, not just text.
I highly recommend this printer, especially for the price. and the print quality for photo's on photo paper was also excellent, and fast!
5 Works Good
The main reason I bought this printer is for the CD printing feature. So far, it's worked fine. Yes, the ink does smudge a little bit, but mostly if you rub the surface right after printing, and after waiting awhile, I had to rub pretty hard to notice any smudging. So I'm quite satisfied. You may have to change the inner/outer diameter settings if you want to cover the whole surface of the CD, otherwise it will have white borders. Yes, the ink is a little expensive, but if you search for it on ebay, I've seen sets of all 6 colors for only about $17.00!!! I was a bit nervous about buying this printer at first, but I think I'll keep it for a long, long time.
6 Don't buy epsons
I am extremely frustrated with Epson. Their printers stink. At least the Stylus Photo R300. Epson doesn't tell it's customers that the printer uses ink constantly. I mean constantly. I have printed the equivalent of four 8 x 11 sheets of photos in the year I have had the printer. In that time, the printer has used three sets of ink cartridges. At $15 X 6 cartridges = $90 to replace all the cartridges. Epson was nice enough to send me complementary cartridges while we were troubleshooting the problem, but I can't see keeping a printer around that uses up $180 a year if you print or not.
This is what Epson printers do. They have a reservoir that constantly needs to be filled. Whether the printer is left on or turned off at night, it constantly has to keep the reservoir filled. It's not sealed so the ink is always drying. Therefore the printer is constantly using ink. Case in point: during troubleshooting with the Epson technician, I placed brand new cartridges in the printer and kept the printer on for a month. Even though I had not printed a single color photo or graphic in the month, one quarter of the color ink was gone.
Now, one might think that they could just store the color cartridges and pull them out when needed. Not true. Their engineers are smart. The printer requires a cartridge in every slot. It can't be empty either. That way the printers are always using ink. It's great for their bottom line, but bad for the consumer.
I'm throwing my $300 Epson away. It's a real shame for the prints are great, but I can't see paying $20 for a 4 X 6 print. I'm going back to my $35 Lexmark.
7 Great printing, but wastes ink!
I bought this printer as a dual purpose text & photo machine. The print quality has been outstanding, but the printer goes through ink at an absurd rate. Seems that any time I use it to print text, it still runs a test/purge cycle on all the cartridges, depleting the color tanks even though all you're printing is text. With the cost of ink, I'd probably be better off in the long run with a small laser printer for text, and leave the inkjet for photos only.
I find the CD printing feature great. I haven't had any issues with smearing, as long as the disks stay dry. Get them wet, or touch them with damp fingers and then you'll have smearing problems. I just handle them carefully and everything is fine, it's a worthwhile tradeoff to not deal with disk labels.
8 A Great Value - Great looking DVDs and CDs
Ignore the person compaining about it not drying and chipping off, he\she obviously is not using printable inkjet media. Prints look great DVD or paper. Text looks like text from any inkjet - Only as good as the paper will allow it. Economical for an inkjet (six cartridges).Laser is the only long term economical method for documents. Inkjets are the only quality method for photos or other raster images. If you don't need to print pictures bigger than letter size paper this is the best deal currently on Amazon.
9 Terrible for printing CDs and DVDs
THE INK SMUDGES, even after letting it dry for 2 days!! Totally useless feature of the printer. We bought the printer and a huge stack of printable CDs and DVDs and now it's all garbage.
It seems to me that this whole "Inkket printable CD/DVD" thing is a big scam. Not only does the ink smudge, but it also chips off really easily.
10 Incredibly cheap, yet quality photo & cool CD printing !!
We were stunned to see this item for well under $100 PLUS a sizable rebate! Actually our expectations were not too high as we bought it mainly for its unique ability to print on CD platters using a special tray into which you place the printable CD (after you have burned your music/data onto it). It has turned out to be an amazing printer.
The software installed quite simply and after snapping in the six (count 'em!) ink cartridges, the printer itself started up nicely and printed a fine test page. The box included a printable CD, so we tried a rather complicated one with clip art, arched title text, and text in several sizes and colors; and it came out first time looking outstanding!! We've since experienced similar results printing photos using high gloss photo paper. Of course it's a little slow, but for the low volume uses for which we bought it, who cares. The six-color ink is a great feature -- you only have to replace the ones you need and the photos look really great due to the excellent color control. In short, we're pleased and delighted with our new toy! Recommended!
11 Not Good for printing on DVD's
I purchased this printer based on some of the previous recomendations in order to print titles directly on CD and DVD's.
The only problem is that after printing on the disk the ink smudges - badly. Even after allowing 30 minutes to dry. It's basically an unuseable feature for this printer.
Otherwise it seems to be a decent color printer.
12 Nice Features, Cheap Printer, Beware the killer INK!!!
I bought the Epson R200 for use with my Powerbook G4. Having said that, it works fine with my Mac, and no further reference will be made to my OS so PC readers may continue aswell.
PROS:
- The CD/DVD tray works fine, as long as you read the directions and keep the top open. The printing quality on the CD or DVD is great. I've noticed no loss of quality between a CD and a piece of paper.
- Front connecting USB outlet makes it easy to connect it to a computer
- Ease of operation
CONS:
- The ink does seem to waste slightly. I've notice a little pool of ink soaked up by some white pad in my printer, which makes me a little woosy, seeing as ink's 20 bucks a pop or more or something, and this is after printing one CD.
- I had to manually line up or adjust the center of printing so the disc would be printed on center. This took me quite a while, and if anyone else is wondering, I'd adjust it only by .1, .2, .3 mm and so on, NOT a full mm.
- (comment on inkjet cd printers, not soley the R200) The printed disc must dry for 24 hours, but even then, dense black ink is easily smeared by a rub of the thumb. The discs can also, obviously, not get wet, like Gremlins, otherwise the ink runs. Expensive lamination devises are made, but I've found none for cheap, which kind of defeats the purpose.
- The text seems blurry. This is common w/ inkjet printers, and was also the first thing I printed so it could also be a one-time thing. Also this problem is minor. If you're that worried about sharp text, buy a laserprinter.
OVERALL: This printer prints great on CD's and DVD's and the software packaged with it (Epson CD Print) is pretty good, only limited by not allowing you to rotate text. However, GraphicsConverter, available online for free trial, offers great manipulation and editing of images and text rotation. The Epson CD Print works great for me otherwise, and I am very harsh on this kind of stuff. I like freedom and the ability to design very technical images and prints. It's nothing expensive and professional, but it's not at all a bad or limited package for home use, and I've created labels that look just as good as real screenprinted CD's and DVD's... Also, the printer comes with a photo editing program which is decent, although I still use graphics converter for most things.
This printer is definately for those who want to print brilliant photo-images on discs, as well as text on paper. Ink smudging is to be expected slightly. And the only thing to rival inkjet CD printing would be thermal printing which is expensive, difficult, and far away in detail, or HP's new LightScribe technology which is currently monochrome, so don't expect any colorful images. I recomend this printer. Good quality, cheap price, easy to use for those who read directions, and good software packaged. I recomend a cheap warrenty too.
13 Lab Quality - Minimal Cost
I recently started getting into photography quite a bit...starting by taking some landscape photos that turned out well enough that I wanted to get 8x10s of them. Well, I had them printed by a certain large store in nearly every city and I thought the prints were good....Then I ran into this printer and printed the exact same images I had "professionally" done and this printer prints photos even better than the lab (I did splurge for professional quality paper...but it's still about 1/2 the price of the lab)! I bought this printer just for photo printing, and now that I've tried it out with all different kinds (even borderless 4x6s...which turned out great) I've gotta say Epson has a new fan. I will say that I don't intend to use this for text since I have a little laser printer for that (I would suggest you buy one too if you print much text...since B&W ones are around $100 now and have excellent text quality)...so I'm not going to comment on text output. Overall though, I've been very happy with it and really couldn't ask for more as long as you're editing your photos on the computer (it doesn't have the screen or memory slots of other photo printers so you kinda need a computer to do retouching and all that good stuff). One review did say that wasn't compatible with Windows XP SP2, and I can tell you that it is now...right off the CD it installed and is working just great and I have the latest patches for XP including SP2. If you're looking for a great little printer for photos from home, get this now...it's seriously cheaper than the labs and better quality (at least for the budget labs)!
14 Great quality and lower ink comsumption than you think!
I just finished printing 100 4 x 6 photos for holiday cards. First of all, the photos were of very high quality at 5700 x 1440 dpi. Secondly, not one speck or splatter of ink is evident underneath the hood. Last, but not least, after 100 photos (highest quality setting on Kodak Ultimate Paper)the lowest color cartridge of the six is just under half full.
I think printers are like computers. Every couple years you end up buying a new one. Technology gets better, features get better and the price continues to get lower. That said, for $90, this is a steal.
15 Excellent for the price
I bought this printer primarily for two reasons: Its CD/DVD printing capabilities and the fact that it uses six separate ink cartridges. I was replacing a Lexmark Z51, and talk about expensive ink costs! I was pretty adamant that I would not even look at a printer if it did not use separate cartridges for each of its colors.
I've been using the Epson for a few weeks now, and I've been very pleased. The photo results, particular using the Epson paper, have been excellent. Many reviews mention poor text quality but I haven't found it to be bad even with plain paper; it's been at least as good or better than my Lexmark. I do have realistic expectations, though; I don't expect laser quality text from an ink jet printer, particularly one that costs only $100.
I've printed several CDs using the included PrintCD software and I've been delighted. I was able to import a photo from my hard drive and the results have been very good. I've gotten compliments on how good my CDs look. It was also very easy; just be sure to follow the steps in the manual. The alignment and color density (both adjustable) were correct the first time, so I haven't had to adjust them. I haven't even used the highest photo setting for CD printing--the text and graphics setting has worked very well.
I can't determine the printer's rate of ink consumption now, but I've printed several CDs with a full photo on the cover, several text pages and a number of photos on the "High" setting, and it appears I am still at about the halfway mark on ink. The only real con I've found is that the On/Off button seemed a little sticky; I had to press it more than once to turn it on.
Overall, I think this is a good value printer for the price particularly if you are interested in printing photos and/or CDs.
16 Are Epson Cartridges Damaging Their Printers?
Epson R200 was my 2nd choice but a couple reviews here flag my concerns: the cartridge ink consumption, and as I experienced with an older Stylus model - the ink spraying/splattering all over the inside causing eventual printer demise. People are fed up with printer manufacturers having cartridges with sponges that don't refill well (Lexmark), or smart chips that prevent refills (Epson), not to mention HP's methods including "Expired Cartridge" messages, etc. If we don't, as consumers, vote "no" by not buying these printers and sending letters to CEO's we'll just get more of the same scamming. I was excited to read about Canon Pixma IP3000 & up models with separate ink-tanks & no smart chips. Examining all the Pixma models at a local store I noticed this extra pull down tray in the front-middle. After going home to look online, talking to Canon tech support and the local store meantime checking on it...it's a disabled/never will work CD/DVD printing bay. Yet the same models in Europe have a working CD/DVD print bay. Why did Canon USA leave the drop down tray there, only plugging the CD/DVD entry slot with an extra piece of plastic if it can never be functional or upgraded anyway? The USA price does not reflect the non-functional CD/DVD printing either. So I will (doubtedly) try to get a Euro model or wait for Canon to release USA models that are fully functional. I may end up temporarly buying the Epson R200 but I feel like I should be ashamed supporting Epson and their smart-chip scam. There is a chip resetter device for Epson cartridges(avg. $10 to $15) but I don't know if it works well yet. Forget Lexmark unless you have money to burn on cartridges. And there's concern about Epson printers wasting/spraying ink all over the inside (read all R200 reviews) that soon causes problems (dries solid/hard). The Canon has ink tanks with no smart chips, look easily refillable, and their print head underneath the ink tanks holder is also removable (i.e. replacable, but I don't know what that will cost. If other printers' print heads go you pretty much resort to trashing the printer). I believe some Canon models use up ink by frequently running it's own cleaning cycles but don't know if that applies to Pixma line also. If they are tanks that refill well than that is probably okay. It looks like the Pixma line is leading the way in printing and cartridge technology. Canon: Kudos for heading a little more environmetally responsible with the Pixmas obviously designed for long-term usage in mind but PLEASE get those CD/DVD printing trays functional soon!
17 Great for Photos -- So So for Text
I have had this printer for about 6 months now, and overall, I am very happy with it.
For me, the Epson R200 has 3 great things going for it.
1- Most importantly, it prints great photos. With its 6 inks, the quality is pretty much indistinguishable from a photo lab. I briefly had a Canon printer, but skin tones came out all pink. I have not had this problem with the Epson.
2- the price is right. This printer is much cheaper than any other 6-ink printer that I have seen. (In fact, I bought the printer, with a full set of ink, for less than the replacement cost of the inks.) Furthermore, because with Epson each ink is replaced seperately, and because a printer utility software let's you run each ink cartridge fully down to zero, there is no wastage of ink.
3- the ability to print on CDs/DVDs is great. We create DVDs out of home movies, and they look so much better with a printed finish than with text scrawled on in marker. This feature certainly wins over the masses.
I have 2 issues with the printer.
1- it doesn't print great text. When printing text, you will definitely notice a difference between this printer and a laser. If the printer is for home use, then this should not really be a big deal.
2- the printer has trouble handing non-standard paper sizes -- although this might be an OS issue, or it might be a user-issue. I print a lot of invitations and cards on 1/2 or 1/4 size letter paper. For the life of me, I cannot get the printer to correctly print to these sizes. As a result, I end up printing on full letter size and cutting. A pain, but not a show-stopper.
Overall, if you are looking for a great photo printer (and if you are printing from your computer rather than directly from the camera), this one is a great choice!
18 Can't beat it for the price
Great little printer. The colors are fantastic, and it's fairly quiet, too. I had no trouble printing my first CD (unlike others I read the directions - I am a nerd). I didn't find it to be as slow as others have complained about. It was a little annoying having to wait 24 hours before you can actually use your printed CD (let the ink dry).
Set up was REALLY easy. Times have really changed when adding anything to your computer meant a 2-3 hour ordeal. The program that comes with the printer for printing on discs was a little basic, but it works.
I also think that I'll really like the feature of being able to see how much ink is remaining in each of the six cartidges. I'll only have to replace the individual ones that run out!!
Over all it's very nice. If the dependability holds up, it'll be a great buy. I got it for $60 with free shipping from Amazon (I got $30 off of my first purchase with my Amazon visa).
Remember that you will have to buy a USB cable (that's kind of a rip off - stuff like that should be included) But you can get them for less than $10 on Amazon also.
19 Excellent CD/DVD printer
Update. March 29, '05: I've used this printer for more than 5 months now, and still rate it 5 stars; completely satisfied with the purchase. Absolutely no problems. Below is my original review submitted in Oct. '04.
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Excellent printer. I purchased it only for the CD/DVD printing feature. However, I decided it'll also replace my Epson Stylus Photo 870 which, after 4 years of heavy use, continues to produce excellent results even with off-brand ink. By comparison, the R200 print quality is even better.
Here's some info that might be useful if you're about to buy the R200, or are still shopping:
*It takes about 3 minutes to print 100% of the disk surface. Printing less, like one line of text on the top half of the disk, and one line of text on the bottom half - and no background graphic - takes about 1.5 minutes.
*If you do a price check on a complete set of Epson brand ink cartridges for this printer, you'll see the cost is more than half the price of the printer. But, each color ink has a separate cartridge - so only the color that runs out has to be replaced, not the whole set.
*The R200 does not include a USB cable, so you'll need to either buy a cable or use a spare if you have one.
*It's important to read the section in the manual about printing disks before you try to print your first one. The steps are simple, but if you don't select the right settings for Printer Setup, the printhead might miss part of the disk.
*The R200 install disk includes the program "Epson Print CD" which I only briefly tried then set aside in favor of a program I have been using for the past three years to print paper labels called Discus (www.magicmouse.com). Discus has endless options for text, photos, graphics, etc., and, IMHO is actually fun to use. Even if you have no imagination and zero graphics skill, this program will make you look like a professional designer. The latest version (v3) has a template specifically for the R200. I have the older Discus v2 which doesn't have a R200 template, but it does have one called CustomCD. If you're a Discus v2 owner, the following will make sense to you: In CustomCD change X to +9mm and change Y to +8mm; for Printer Setup, select "A4" size paper and increase the scale to 104%. For my computer (Mac G4 with OS 10.3.7) this setting works perfectly with the R200. (Jan. 17, '05 update: I've since upgraded to Discus v3. The R200 template is perfect, and all the new features in v3 are well worth the upgrade price.)
*I read some reviews here and at other sites which mentioned having problems using this printer with a Mac. So far I've printed on disks using both Epson Print CD and Discus, and printed to letter-sized paper from programs including Word, Exel, Photoshop, QuarkXPress, TextEdit, Mail, and printed web pages without a single problem.
*If you prefer to use Photoshop, Illustrator, or similar programs to create original designs, no problem. Epson Print CD (and Discus) import graphics files.
*I've seen some comments on how quiet this printer is. It is very quiet printing, but it does make noticeable noise when it starts the job, especially when pulling in a sheet of paper to print. So, it's not totally quiet.
*The R200 is the same as the R300 as far as quality and speed; it just lacks some extra features the R300 has that, in my case, I didn't think were worth the extra cost.
I've printed several dozen disks and no problems. I'm still on the original set of ink cartridges that came with the printer, so I don't know what the average cost per disk to print might be. But, when I see the quality of the print job on each disk, I say whatever it is, it's worth it.
20 Great CD-DVD Label Printer
I got this printer to print the labels for my DVDs and CDs. It comes with the software (including graphics), which is very easy to use. The results are fantastic! The pictures and text on the disks are vibrant and very professional looking. I even designed some of my own and used it with the software. This is a great alternative to thermal printers for printing labels on cds and dvds.
21 Yes and No: For Mac Users OS X Buggy
As others have mentioned, the printer seems inconsistent.
When it works, it prints great. It is good to be able to make CDs that are labelled well and look good so you can find things easily. The CDs look very good, the pictures are sharp and the color and saturation also looks good.
The downside is that I could not get the printer to work consistently. No computer running OSX seemed to work properly, and OS 9 also had some issues, but I was able to get it work. And the replacement I received for the original printer also has the same issue, so there seems to be driver problems.
As I said when it worked, it was great and definately worth the price, would have given it 5 stars. If you have an OS X only machine, be careful. I would guess Epson will figure this out. I have other Epson printers that work fine, and which I really like, and only got this one to print on CDs......
22 Great & Lousy
This printer is VERY impressive right out of the gate. You will be hard pressed to find a printer (especially at this price point) that will do a better job with photo printing.
Other reviews in this forum seem to fall at opposite ends of the spectrum, and that does not surprise me. I have previously owned Stylus C80 that I loved for a while, until the print heads began clogging. I was able to clean them out with a special solvent kit, but after that only repeated head cleaning cycles would keep it working. It finally puked out completely when the paper feed mechanism would no longer feed the paper properly. This after 2 1/2 years of moderate use.
I took the plunge AGAIN and bought the R200, thinking that maybe improvements had been made with the reliability. Guess what...same story, as this one is now starting down the same road as my old C80. I WISH the Epsons I have had did not have these problems, but the harsh reality is that there are problems out there folks. You will not notice it immediately, but if my experience is typical, this stuff creeps up on you. I really doubt that Epson is trying to "rip you off", and I do not see them as a company that operates that way. Heck, they consistently rank very high in the "out of the box" reviews of some very esteemed publications. Just be aware that there is a little truth in some of the poorest reviews in this forum, and a lot of truth to the rave reviews about photo print quality, until...
If you are going to lay down your cash, I will say this. If you are going to be a HEAVY user of this printer, you will be better off. Just keep EVERYTHING squeaky clean as it tends to give off a pretty good "spray" that tends to coat internal parts (nore so than other printers I have used). You will end up having more trouble if you use it moderately to infrequently, and do not maintain it as stuff dries out.
GOOD LUCK
23 DO NOT BUY - Driver out of date
I bought this printer with high hopes, now I am returning it. It will NOT WORK if you have WinXP Service Pack 2 installed; unless you like terrible quality photos. I emailed Epson immediatley about this unacceptable issue and here's what they said:
"Thank you for contacting the Epson Connection.
If you have recently installed Windows XP Service Pack 2, you may have issues printing from the Photo Printing Wizard due to changes made when Service Pack 2 was installed. Please follow the steps below to resolve your issue:
An updated driver to resolve this issue will be released shortly. It will be posted on www.epson.com as soon as it is available."
A driver will be resleased shortly!?!?! I need this printer to work now! I also contacted tech support on the phone; still no help. They gave me the runaround, and said it was a Windows problem, not an Epson problelm. Take responsibility and do something to help your customers instead of passing the blame onto Microsoft.
Do not buy this printer; get the Canon i960 instead. That's what I'm going to do after I return this garbage.
24 Perfect low cost photo printer
Hey guys, I'm not sure what are you complaining about? It costs $99 it prints ABSOLUTELY PERFECT photos, it works reliably and does its job well. I've not tried yet to print on CD or DVD and I doubt that I will, but as photo printer it is head above that Canon $9000 that I had. It eventually produces PHOTO quality prints, absolutely no downsides here. It is quite frugal too. I ran it trough 50 5x7 and it still more then 75% in every ink. I would buy their largest printer but it is too pricey for my needs of occasional photo printing.
Honestly it is the first ink jet photo printer printer that I'm satisfied in every aspect.
25 Great photos, but guzzles ink relative to Canon Pixma
With this printer, photo prints are so life-like they practically pop out of the page. Prints are even superb on matte paper, which many printers have a hard time with.
But this printer guzzles ink like an SUV. I was shocked by how fast it used ink. After only one day and 20 glossy photos (4x6") the cartridges were 1/3 empty. After one week I had to buy an entire set of new cartridges ($80 at CompUSA), and I'd only printed about 60 photos. At this rate, ink will cost me $4000/year. That's more than car payments. I tried cheap generic ink from Abacus24-7.com, but the colors were awful. In the end, I returned this printer to the store because I couldn't justify the ink costs. The Canon Pixma 5000 that I exchanged it for produces photos 90-95% as good as the Epson, with only a quarter of the ink costs.
This printer looks cheap for $99, but the expensive inks will rapidly outpace the initial printer cost. Epson claims up to 630 pages/cartridge, but this is misleading because it refers to text, not photos which is what this printer is intended for. I only got about 50-60 photos (4"x6") per cartridge set. This is one thirsty printer.
I still gave this printer 4 stars because of the high print quality. If you only print occasionally, you'll be happy. But otherwise you might try the Canon Pixma printers, which are very good on glossy paper, and much more frugal with ink. Canon's photo quality slightly lags the Epson in reproduction of dark colors. But on glossy paper, the difference is slight, and I recommend the Canon over the Epson because of ink costs.
26 Yes, you really need to use PRINTABLE cds.
I'm happy with the Epson Stylus R200 Photo Printer. Installation was straightforward on Windows2000, and Mac OS X can see the printer via Windows printer sharing with no problem. Colors are accurate. Text is sharp.
The R200 doesn't have the useless features of the more expensive printers: Clutter for working with digital photo images directly on the camera. Why would ANYONE do that when a computer is sitting right there, just waiting to catalog, crop, and color correct your photos? Instead of a useless 2" LCD display, the R200 expects you to use your computer like God, Gates, & Jobs intended.
I wanted to get a printer that could print on CDs because I'd seen the adhesive labels come loose after a few years, particularly in a hot car, and I don't want to gum up an expensive car MP3-CD player. I figured the printer would pay for itself in adhesive labels I didn't have to buy.
The downside: you can't just print on the stack of CD-Rs and DVD-Rs you happen to have lying around: the ink will beed up, never dry, and will smudge off at the slightest touch. If you buy the more expensive "printable" blank media, which looks like it has been painted with white-out, and has a slightly matte finish, then the print quality on the CDs is terrific.
Each of the 6 inks costs about $13, except for black, which is $17. (Epson brand ink cartridges.) You can buy the colors individually, so if you keep one set of spares, you can stock up as each runs out. You get one set in the package with the printer. Like they say, the first one is free.
27 Best "Budget" Printer, All in the Specs.
Printer has the highest resolution specs out there, and among the smallest "droplet size" at 3 picoliters. (Canon I960 is 2 picoliters, but less than 4 picoliters is invisible to naked eye. A couple years ago, the smallest droplet size available at any price, including pro-level inkjets, was 4 picoliters...) Has Epson's patented, (arguabley) superior micropiezo (as opposed to thermal) technology and high quality nozzles built onto print-head, not cheaply built into ink cartridges, like other manufacturers. This model uses six individual ink tanks to more accurately produce gradients instead of the usual four colors - another feature, until recently, found only on higher end models that Epson pushed down into this consumer printer. Net-net? Absolutely amazing quality photos that rival or exceed far more expensive printers or "pro-level" technology that's a couple years old. All for a hundred bucks. I've made several side-by-side comparisons between photos from the R200 and the local photo lab. R200 wins, hands down, no question about it. Bye-bye photo lab.
So as not to bastardize more expensive R300,R500 photo stylus line, Epson doesn't exactly tout R200's resolution. Note, resolution specs are not on the box of the R200, but are big and bold on the box for the other R-series models. The printers in the R-series are identical, except you must print from your PC with the R200, it doesn't connect direct to your digicam, or have media slots like the R300, 300M... If, like me, you tweak sharpness and adjust color levels - always, in a photo editor, before printing - you'll never use those features. Save your money; go with the R200.
As an added bonus this printer has the ability to produce professional quality graphics and text directly onto printable CDRs. A terrific, distinguishing feature that works very well. Another distinguishing feature is its ability to print borderless on every available paper size... don't take this for granted. Not all printers are this versitile when it comes to borderless. I use this printer for text as well as photos, and its text looks perfectly fine to my eyes. Is it "the best" ink jet text out there? Probably not, but I'll trade that capability any day for its superior photo quality.
Some pointers - to save on ink costs check out Abacus inks, and/or a software package called Ink Saver 2.0 (I would strongly recommended I.S. 2.0 to compensate for the R200's illegible text "draft" mode...) If you want to stick to Epson original inks, Altex (dot com) has the lowest price available.
On a final point, the build quality of this printer appears MUCH better than the other manufacturers entry level models. This printer, based on its superior specs, versitility, build quality, and price point is a fantastic value. Epson outdid themselves by aggressively pushing the technology from their premium models into the entry level R200 and giving it capabilities - like direct CD printing, that other printers simply don't have. Epson, therefore, has managed to leap-frog the other manufacturers in a the very crowded field of capable sub-onehundred dollar inkjet printers.
28 Perfect for printing digital photos!
I got this printer along with a digital camera for my birthday from my husband. I was not very excited, as I had never seen an affordable printer that looked like pictures from the photo lab. I was VERY pleasantly surprised to find that this printer prints great pictures! It has lots of features, date, border or no border, different sizes and medias. I highly recommend this printer!
29 Photo labs have given up, now its your turn
With the Epson Stylus Photo R200 you can print your digital photos onto photo-quality 4x6 paper - something I never thought I'd do until I tried the sample sheets that were included in the box. I was so impressed; the vibrant colors and detail reminded me of how film labs used to make quality prints back in the days before film labs decided that everyone's film photos should have a sort of pale-green hue and have terrible contrast. So you may find this printer renews your interest in your physical photo album, now that you can bypass the drug store and do it properly yourself. In short, this printer is meant for photos (be they 4x6 or 8.5x11), and I am very satisfied with the quality in that regard.
As others have noted, the text quality is only rudimentary (not good enough for, say, printing a resume). The CD surface printing, although not convenient (why isn't there just a slot to feed the CD into? Why this plastic tray gizmo?) is easy enough to still appreciate having at this price.
Since there's nothing otherwise remarkable about this printer, and because of its poor text printing, I'm giving it only 3 stars, but you can tell by the name given to this printer (the Epson Stylus PHOTO) that the only element Epson cared about on this printer was the photo quality/features, and in that regard this is a 4 or 5 star printer.
30 Amazing
I will never go back to printing labels on CDs anymore
all the hassle.. labels... Printing... putting the labels on the cds.
All i do now is slap the cd on the tray and hit print.
The Ink itself is worth the printer.
I was thinking of just buying it again when the ink runs out
or trying generic ink..
otherwise it is great!!!!
31 Well pleased
Well pleased with all aspects of the printer. Very simple to download and operate, picture quality great as far as I'm concerned. Highly recommend for a low priced printer.
32 Ink rip off!
It's great that you can print on a CD/DVD, but that's all I can say nice about this printer.
Ink cost as much as the printer itself!
Let's say you run out of ink and decide to purchase only black ink, this way you can at least print some text documents... WRONG!
The printer will not print anything if one of your inks are low, or empty.
My suggestion is not to ever buy an Epson printer. A made a huge mistake and bought two thinking they were great. Now I have two new non-working printers that will cost the better part of $160. in ink.
33 Great value! CD/DVD direct printing works great!
I bought this printer primarily for its ability to directly print on CD/DVD. I'm using printable Memorex DVD+Rs that I bought here at Amazon.com
You have to buy a USB cable since this does not come with it. You shouldn't have any problems setting this printer up as it comes with an easy to follow quick setup guide. Setup was a breeze and I was up and running in under 10 minutes.
The CD tray easily attaches to the front of the printer - I really don't know why some reviewers here are having a hard time doing this. The tray comes with an easy to understand guide on how to attach it to the printer. My first try at directly printing on a DVD disc was a success. I was satisfied with the quality of the print*. (*Note that to achieve great results, you must go into printer properties and set the correct paper and quality options according to your print job before actually printing) This alone justifies the purchase of this printer. I'm having fun printing my own photos on printable DVDs. Use the "Background" option when adding pictures so the whole CD will get printed on. Adjust the inner and outer disc measurements in relation to the blank media you are using, just grab a ruler and measure the mm!. If you chose "Picture", you will end up with a while border around your CD (no matter what adjustments you make).
Epson included "Print CD" software to help you print directly on DVD/CDs. It has tools to help you make shapes, letters, backgrounds and it also makes it easy for you to use your personal images on your discs. Very user friendly, indeed.
Text quality is good - not as sharp as I wanted it but still acceptable, not bad at all. The R200 prints sharper text than my Canon i950 though...
Graphics quality is also good - the grays are a bit darker compared to my Canon i950. The colors are vibrant and looks nice. I prefer my Canon i950 though, as it handles color gradations better and has a more neutral gray. Don't get me wrong, it has good quality, it's just that I'm comparing it to something better...
Photo quality is great! - I used the included 4x6 Premium Glossy Photo Paper and the results were great - they look like as if they came from your local photo lab! While the print is sharp, you do notice grain within 5 inches away from the photo - but that's just me nit picking (and you better have good eyesight to do this)... When printing photos, you have to remember to set your printer settings to *Photo Enhance, otherwise your photos would look oversaturated and too dark! My Canon i950 is slightly better as it doesn't show any grain at all even at close inspection!
For the price of this printer, it's hard to go wrong. A good all around printer. But if you're serious with photos, you should look elsewhere. I'll pretty much use this printer for direct CD/DVD printing only. I'm glad I bought this printer - no regrets!
34 Overlooked Feature
... all set to buy a Canon that cost $100 more than this, when I noticed it on a table at the retailer marked "customer return/clearance" at 1/2 price. I looked under the hood of the demo model... What?!!
6 (six) count'em individual ink tanks. That's a good thing. A very good thing. Most printers I've seen in the sub 100 price range have two ink tanks - 1 for black and one containing yellow, magneta, cyan. Or, only four ink tanks. Last time I was in the market for a printer, only the $300 models boasted six individual color tanks. Six tanks means that you can replace the individual inks as they run out - much more economical. Just as important, more colors means that subtle gradients in shading are handled more accurately. Just my opinion, but I don't think that you can call yourself a true photo-quality printer w/o six ink colors.
Now for the negatives... there are none for the printer but some for folks who review them...
1. Yes, you'll need a USB cable. Get over it.
2. Yes, you'll eventually need to clean the nozzle which uses ink. Again, get over it.
3. Yes, your printer is calibrated for its make of photo paper. El-cheapo paper = sucky print. Again, get over it.
4. Yes, photo quality prints use quite a bit of ink for coverage. It's a consumable and quality ink is expensive to produce - get over it.
5. It takes a couple minutes to produce a print. Here's your option, spend a couple hundred more for a faster printer or learn a little patience.
6. Sometimes you buy stuff, take it home, and it's DOA. That's why there's a manufacturer's warranty and a store return policy.
I read printer reviews and almost feel badly for the manufacturers. Here - by the nth generation of home printer, you can get what amounts to a home photo lab for less that 100 bucks. Fact of the matter is, you really can't go wrong with any of them. They all make terrific prints and do a decent job with text and graphics. Remarkable. Yey "Professional" reviewers beat them up over slight differences in print speed. "Users" vetch about there not being a USB cord. Huh? The only brand I would avoid is Lexmark. Fine printers but they charge $10 less than their competitor but absolutely gouge you on ink - by design, and it amounts to robbery.
Prints from this thing are true photo lab quality. Easy set up, and it includes good software that I actually bothered to load - including a PIM color management Photoshop plug in.
If you've read reviews of Epson's clogging by the way, don't be concerned. Those are the "stylus" models that use Durabrite inks, "the stylus photo" line, like this one, doesn't use Durabrite.
Oh, and this has a gadget that prints labels directly on CD-Rs. Nice. But buy this for its six individual ink tanks. Truth is though, the "entry level" Canons, Epsons, HP's, are all pretty amazing.
35 What a scam!
I bought this printer to once in a while print photos and CDs. I printed about 10 photos and few CDs and noticed some of the ink cartridges were used up over 50%. After that I could not print any more CD/DVD because the printer failed to load the CD/DVD tray properly. I opened up the printer and noticed that the ink was spilled all over. I wiped off the ink and could again print the CD/DVD, but not for long. Now that I know why the inks were used up so quickly. What a scam!
36 Didn't expect much but WOW!
I bought this printer and didn't expect much considering the price, $99.99 for a printer that prints on CD's and DVD's and supposedly a good photo printer too? Well, I figured that I could always return it if it didn't seem worth even the small price.
Boy, was I ever shocked!!! The first task I gave it was to print on a DVD that I burned. I couldn't believe the quality! Wow, was what I said and I didn't even have the printer set on the high quality. To say the least I was impressed. I found that the included software that you use to print on the DVD/CD works fine but is a little confusing but okay once you figure it out. Converting the printer from printing paper to printing on media takes about 10 seconds and is so easy that even the most inexperienced user will master it quickly. All you do is flip down a plastic hinged part and you're in business. You then lay the media on the included tray, slip it in and start printing, and you won't believe the quality.
I bought this printer to print on CD's and DVD's exclusively as I have another printer for daily paper use. But I can see now I'll use it to print CD's and DVD's and for all my photo printing.
After printing on a few media, I decided to try the photo print. I put in an 8 X 10 photo paper and printed a photo out. I tried the borderless option which this printer offers. I was again impressed in the quality printing out on photo paper.
After all of this printing, my cartridges are still plenty full so it doesn't seem too greedy on the ink use. I did increase the print color correction to +1 while printing on a DVD and it's plenty dark enough.
Printing directly on media is really nice and beats the heck out of printing labels and then sticking them on, hopefully straight. Finding printable DVD's was a little tough but I see they're becoming more common now. You can easily get them here on Amazon and a lot of other places on the net. I don't think it will be long until most all media are printable.
Once you print on the media, you'll want to keep this printer and never print a paper lable again.
37 Not a great value considering black and white problems!
Before you buy this printer, beware: if you run out of color ink, but just want to print black and white, too bad! The "black ink only" function doesn't work if there are any empty ink cartridges (the printer has 6 total). Epson says, "To keep the print head clear, the printer uses a small amount of ink from all the cartridges whenever it prints. Even if you set the printer software to print black only, some color ink is still being used."
So, if you just want to print that text document, best run to the store and spend another $50-$60 for color ink. Que ridiculo!
Reviewers, please BUY the product and USE it more than once or twice before writing a review.
38 Not what it claims to be by any stretch
The good news.... OK it prints on white paper, and if you set it to its highest quality (slowest printing) it will turn out pretty decent photos. And on the off chance that you are able to load the CD/DVD tray into it exactly the way it wants, it will print on CD's relatively well.
Now for the real review of this printer: Text is abysmal, even on its best setting. I have a Canon i860, which in every way (text and graphics/photos) blows the doors off this Epson. Printing CD's which really is the ONLY actual reason anyone would buy this over ANY Canon, is a chore at best. You must print them one at time (choosing more than 1 copy craps out the tray alignment for the next copy, which brings on the error message) and it takes a REALLY LONG TIME. Don't get me wrong, the quality in "Best Photo" on CD's is pretty great.... but the hassle with the tray never being happy and the S L O W print speed is just not worth it. WAAAAAAAAYY better results are achieved using the Avery Afterburner kit and printing labels with ANY Canon printer. I had an Epson several years ago, and upon buying Canon, will never go back to Epson. The quality difference is measured in light years. But alas Canon has no CD printer in the U.S., only Europe. So if you're contemplating this as your primary printer, and just every once in a while will print to CD's... move on to another brand that is actually capable of printing clean black text. If you just need a printer to print 2 or 3 CD's a week, this will suffice.
Editing addendum... 8/04... I have noticed that nearly without exception, people vote that a reveiw was "helpful" if it is either 4 or 5 stars and it is an item for which the reader has mostly decided upon buying. The "not helpful" votes are almost always given by someone who is discouraged that any given product they want has been given a negative review. So I offer this addendum to my original review: Many of the positives tendered about the R200 printer are from people who have not actually used it very long and have certainly not made much/any use of the direct CD printing or text. So while you may have your heart set on this printer, and are somehow personally hurt by my review after my 60 days of real-world use, I say to you, buyer beware, and remember this review after you buy the R200 anyway against good advice.
39 Absolutely great for the price
This printer is an excellent value for the money. I managed to get mine as an open-box special for $49, but even at retail I am just amazed at the quality of the photographs this printer produces. It's at least the equal, quality-wise, as my Canon S9000. If all you need is 8 1/2x11 printing I wouldn't even consider anything else.
40 Awesome Printer
This is a great printer for the cost... Granted I have only printed a few 4x6's so far as I got it yesterday... But on the sample paper provided with the computer the prints come out looking like actaul photographs, and I didnt even have it on the highest quality... Borderless printing option is great... Looks even more like an actaul photo... Cant wait to try out the direct CD printing...
41 ink kills
all the epson printers use the same ink.
It really is water proof and fade resistant. I have had it in sun for over a year, no problemo. Same thing happens in the printer.
Ink will eventually turn solid rendering the printer useless after about a year or so. Usually just after warranty period expires. Good luck. I only wish they could get this straight , but best thing is to just buy a new printer after the first set of cartridges you buy expire. SO buy printer, use until ink goes out and throw away entire printer, hopefully in the face of your local epson rep if you can find such an animal. Buy cheapest printer you can. more expensive models aren't any better, least not in inkjet land.
Buy a REAL camera, cheaper to BUY FILM and DEVELOP than pay for ink, and quality better. Better living through chemistry, NOT electronics.
42 Buy This Product! It's Amazing!
I needed to purchase a color inkjet printer for photo printing. I have been a die hard HP fan for years (my HP LaserJet 4L is still my workhorse for B&W). My photographer recommended Epson for quality and multiple ink cartridges and I also read the online reviews. This printer had 5 star reviews because of quality and ease of installation, so I purchased it.
The installation was truly a snap (and not intrusive like users complained about HP's installation) and literally took about 2 minutes. The photo quality of the pictures are out of this world. I bought Epson photo paper in bulk at Costco ($20 for 120 sheets) to insure good results. Yes, after printing out about 100 8x10 full color, best quality images, I have to go and buy a Yellow Toner Cartridge, but what can you do? A photo lab here in L.A. wanted to charge me $2 per 4x6 print!
I have had to play with calibrating my color management with Photoshop to match what's onscreen with what prints out, but that's a Photoshop issue and not an issue with the printer. Just read your Photoshop manual or get a Visual Quickstart Guide for Photoshop.
This printer is quiet, compacts nicely (when not in use) on my jam packed desktop and installation and the quality of prints is amazing! I cannot recommend this printer enough!
43 Completes (and creates) the picture
So I bought the Epson Perfection 2400 Photo Scanner (see my review) for my wife's photography. The problem was my printer was pretty much shot. It served its purpose well; as a writer, I need a fast and easy to maintain printer. However, it was time for one that suited my writing needs, as well as my wife's photographic ones. The Epson Stylus R200 Photo Printer completed the picture (pun intended, sorry) for my technology needs. It is easy to set up and use. Best of all, it is consistent and reliable. The price that Amazon is offering is more than competitive. It's unbeatable.
Rocco Dormarunno,
author of The Five Points and The Five Points Concluded
44 Great value for money
This is great value for money. I've had some mixed experiences with Epson products in the past but this seems to be of high-quality. It prints gorgeous prints, and I had no problems at all to get it set up with my Mac (OS X 10.3 and PS CS). I don't really use the CD printing but it's a nice feaure to have. Lastly, you cannot really beat the price. I was going for the R300 first but didn't really need the flash card reader and display so I saved almost $100 and got the R200 instead and I am very happy with that choice.
45 Great Deal
I was was all set to buy a Canon (probably the i560) when I discovered this beauty. Decent speed, 6 individual ink tanks, cd/dvd printing... How could I say no? I've been using it for a week with no problems, and as someone who always feels a tinge of buyers remorse, I have none with this printer. My only question is how quickly the black tank may run out, but hopefully i won't find out for a while.
46 Inexpensive brother of R300
Update of my first review below. I've now owned the printer for nearly three months and its everything I had expected. I don't use it for text so I don't know about its text quality, but its photo prints are awesome using Epson's Colorlife, Premium Glossy, and Heavyweight Matte papers which are good with the types of ink in this printer. Ink usage seems light. Its hard to estimate but I'd guess I've printed the equivalent of 70-80 4x6's and so far each of my ink cartridges seem to be less than half used. I chose the Epson not just for the print quality, which has not disappointed, but also for the cost of consumables. Check paper prices before you buy because you really do want to stick with the correct brand papers unless you really know what your doing. And DON'T use non branded ink if you really want pictures with accurate color.
.....................
I don't own this, but I'm ordering it today. It has exactly the same print engine and software as the R300 that's almost twice the price - I checked the specs at Epson. If you don't need the card readers or pictbridge, buy this instead. On the Canon printers you have to go to the i960 also close to twice the price to find a six color printer. Read Steve's digicams reviews of the R300 if you want to know how well this prints. The best buy out there. The inks alone are worth $70.
47 CD/DVD Printing Makes It Worth The Price Alone
When I first read about this printer in a computer magazine, I was immediately impressed by its functions and price point. CD/DVD printers cost $100's more and even then, they usually just serve that single function. Later that day, I went out and bought one.
The R200 not only prints directly onto the discs, but is also a quality photo printer. You can print out crisp images with that function as well as carry out normal day-to-day tasks like homework and other documents. It's great because the printer has an extra USB port on the front of the machine for easy hookup to a laptop. The software for the printer is easy to install and there really was no printer alignment necessary. It did all the work for me.
The only thing you really need to buy, if you don't already have one, is a USB cable because it doesn't come with one packed in the box. Yeah, I know. I was disappointed in that too, but the features made up for that. Speaking of features, in order to successfully print onto a disc, you must use an Ink-Jet printable disc. Otherwise, you'll have a disc with a pool of ink on it.
