Rating: 
Summary: Superb print quality, but a real ink guzzler
Review: The photo print quality is *outstanding*, exactly what I would expect from Epson. With the addition of my Stylus 820, I have now switched over completely to digital photography with no regrets.However, one of the benefits of digital photography is the cost savings of printing only the photos you want. Some of that cost savings goes right out the window due to the speed at which this thing will drink through an ink cartridge. I've had this printer for 3 weeks, and I anticipate having to install a new color ink cartridge soon. Granted, I've put it through its paces to see what it is capable of, but it has still used up the ink much faster than I'd have expected. I did read the reviews on this model before I bought it, but I thought perhaps the reviewers might not be familiar with the way any printer will consume ink when printing photos. This has surprised even me. That being said, I still think the print quality is worth it. My only other gripe, and it's minor... Due to space constraints, I keep my printer on a high shelf (about eye level). This was not a problem with my Epson Stylus 740. With the 820, I find it very difficult to load paper due to the "rounded" styling of the top of the printer. Also, the control buttons are on the very top of the printer and I cannot see the markings that indicate which button is which. Once I have them memorized, it won't be a problem.
Rating:
Summary: Low price for low speed....
Review: I started with an HP 882C last year thinking that I had a printer that could print "photo quality." Unfortunately, it didn't. After a year of dissappointment, I talked to my photographer brother after seeing some prints that I'd assumed had come from his office. Not so! He had used an Epson printer.
I didn't want to buy one at first, because of all of the $$ I'd likely spend making prints. Well, it hasn't been so bad. Unlike the other review here, I think that the cartridges are reasonable (compared to the HP that I had) and the paper is reasonable for the quality.
With other brands, paying more means better quality images. However, with Epson, paying more means faster printing speeds. This printer is basically at the bottom of the Epson line, with great quality, especially with the best papers. The black and white is crisp and clean.
Get ready though, because the prining is SLOW! That goes for color, photo, B&W print, all of it! Anything that's not draft quality is slow, slow, slow!
If you are getting ready to make a purchase, check to see how much money you have, then compare to how much time you have. I have left the printer to print out a two page resume, 25 copies, for a total of 50 pages. It's been quite a while...longer than an hour! That's the only reason it doesn't get 5 stars.
However, if you have other things to do, and a negative scanner or a high quality digital camera, this could be just the thing for you. Made plenty of Christmas presents this year! Guy
Rating:
Summary: Good lower-end printer
Review: This printer is a good lower-end printer. With the rebate it is difficult to beat the price. I am currently using the parallel interface and find performance very slow. I am going to go USB once I buy a cable.
Rating:
Summary: Another Great Photo Printer
Review: Just for curiosity and since the rebate price made it so cheap, I bought the 820 as my second Epson photo printer. My old Stylus Phto 700 is my workhorse but has some printing bugs so this was to be my backup. Here are my comments, mainly comparing it the 700. Pluses:
- much more stable printer driver, no crashes or hangs on Win98se and Win2k (with the 820 at least). - at least twice as fast at 1440dpi/fine color printing. - Quality is equal with the added advantage of better printer control software. - has USB and paralell ports. - for the rebate price of [price], less if on sale, it can't be beat! Minuses:
- the Status Monitor 3 (used mainly for monitoring ink levels) is incompatible with the 700's Status Monitor 2 under Win2k. If both are installed, both will hang each other and no printing happens. - For some reason using a standalone LAN print server causes the printing to go VERY SLOW. The status monitor does not work over the print server either. The 700 s/w is fine with it. - Possibly drinks ink faster than the 700 but not sure.
Rating: 
Summary: Epson Photo 820...How can ya go wrong for $99 after rebate?
Review: This is a 2880x720 printer with 6 ink cartridge. The photo's are very good quality although they do take a while to print. For the money, this is the best photo printer out there. Period.
Rating: 
Summary: Epson 820 is EXCELLENT --- BUT!
Review: I recently bought an Epson 820 -- it seems to me to have all the virtues in abundance -- color prints on glossy paper are not to be distinguished from chemical prints. Wonderful! On the negative side it is rather slow, not only in color but in B/W as well. THEN the killer -- ENORMOUSLY expensive Ink Cartridges and an electronic chip in the cartridge which prevents it being refilled.
Rating:
Summary: Great photos but uses alot of ink
Review: The picture quality of the Epson 820 is pretty good even using the 720 DPI quality. I set my default to print at 720 DPI to save ink. I found the 2880 DPI quality is useless since at that DPI, my Epson Photo Paper curled due to over saturation of ink. 1440 DPI produced the best quality on standard Photo Paper, but the difference vs 720 DPI is marginal. I think if you purchase Epson's super expensive ColorLife paper, then 2880 DPI would work. The PIM (print image matching) is just marketing. PIM doesn't print the pictures any better. I found that PIM actually made my pictures (taken from my Sony Cybershot P-50) more dull. The Epson 820 drinks ink. I don't know why Epson (other than to make more $$$) makes their color ink cartridge so thin and thus carrying less ink. The Film Factory software that comes with the printer is exactly what I've been looking for in regards to printing common photo sizes such as 3x5, 4x6, 5x7, 8x10, or wallets. I can fit 4 3x5 or 2 4x6 into one sheet of photo paper which minimizes the cost of each photo sheet when calculated by per picture. Overall, I rate this a 3.5 rounded up to 4.0 for Amazon's scale. Picture quality is very good...rivals a real photo. In fact a friend of mine thought the Epson print was the real photo when comparing the same exact picture processed by Ofoto.com (an online Kodak processing company). Again, the Film Factory software is very good for printing common photo sizes. However, because of the rapid ink usage, I didn't rate this a 5.0, which is the main draw back of this printer. ...
Rating:
Summary: Low price for low speed....
Review: I started with an HP 882C last year thinking that I had a printer that could print "photo quality." Unfortunately, it didn't. After a year of dissappointment, I talked to my photographer brother after seeing some prints that I'd assumed had come from his office. Not so! He had used an Epson printer.
I didn't want to buy one at first, because of all of the $$ I'd likely spend making prints. Well, it hasn't been so bad. Unlike the other review here, I think that the cartridges are reasonable (compared to the HP that I had) and the paper is reasonable for the quality.
With other brands, paying more means better quality images. However, with Epson, paying more means faster printing speeds. This printer is basically at the bottom of the Epson line, with great quality, especially with the best papers. The black and white is crisp and clean.
Get ready though, because the prining is SLOW! That goes for color, photo, B&W print, all of it! Anything that's not draft quality is slow, slow, slow!
If you are getting ready to make a purchase, check to see how much money you have, then compare to how much time you have. I have left the printer to print out a two page resume, 25 copies, for a total of 50 pages. It's been quite a while...longer than an hour! That's the only reason it doesn't get 5 stars.
However, if you have other things to do, and a negative scanner or a high quality digital camera, this could be just the thing for you. Made plenty of Christmas presents this year! Guy
Rating:
Summary: Great printer for the price!
Review: Sure it clogs a lot, but all you have to do to unclog it is click a button. I've had no problems.
Rating: 
Summary: Horrible printer
Review: The printer jammed and when I cleared the jam it kept believing it was still jammed. No matter what I did, the printer still believed there was a jam. I had just spent $50 on refill cartridges when I threw it in the trash. Perhaps my experience will serve as a lesson to others.
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