Epson Stylus C86 Inkjet Printer

Rating:
Summary: Super Printer
Review: Being that parallel printers are getting harder to come by, I found the Epson still makes a few. After dealing with an HP 3820 which only lasted two years, I found it was time to go to another brand.

The Epson Stylus C86 was easy to install and prints like a charm. Now of course, I'm still back in the boondocks with Windows 98, but the printer is super fast, easy to change the cartridges and appears a bit more durable than the cheap HP products.

Yes, Epson, I'm riding in your boat for now on!

Rating:
Summary: Not a good choice for infrequent users.
Review: Epson's DuraBrite inks print beautifully, I have to admit, and the printer itself is quiet and fast. However, the reasonable price and colorfast pigment inks are offset by horrendous clogging problems and high usage for the (really not effective) print head cleaning cycles. I have seen numerous problem reports on this and other Epson series printers that use the DuraBrite inks (whether OEM or compatible doesn't seem to be the issue)- it is much harder to keep the nozzles clear on this than my old Stylus Color 740. Also, many people have had problems with the ink pump hoses detaching after the first cartridge replacement. Too bad, I really liked it when it worked.

Rating:
Summary: Good print quality, but the paper feed is erratic
Review: For the large amount of ink this printer seems to go through, it is gratifying that at least the print quality is more than acceptable.

This is the printer I use in my home office, where I seldom print even five pages a day. I am not a novice at using printers, so it is a little bit of a surprise that the machine so frequently refuses to load a page for printing. I stand up, ruffle the paper AGAIN, reload, and usually it prints -- at least by the second or third time of going through these motions.

Although my printing volume is very low, it is nice that the machine dependably produces "client worthy" documents, even when these include line drawings. Without question this is the best inexpensive printer I have used in that respect. The cost seems to be the speed at which ink cartridges run out. And it would be nice not to have to fuss so much about the paper.

Rating:
Summary: Incredible Affordable Printer!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: I bought this printer for college, and I could not be any more impressed.

The photo quality is very impressive, especially with photo paper.

The text and graphics are bold and crisp, and make documents look better than ever.

Also the DuraBright ink is AMAZING!!!!!!, you can run the paper underwater, and it doesnt run at all.

The onlu negative thinsg are that it is on the large size, and it doesnt include a USB cable.

Rating:
Summary: OK printer, poor refill
Review: I have used the Epson C86 through one cartridge change. The printer has performed well, no cause for concern. I should eventually get it for free after a mail in rebate on a camera+printer bundle.

What I'm writing to report is something I haven't seen reported much - its printer dialog interface, and ease (or lack thereof) of ink refill. There are 2 important features missing on this printer: 1. The ability to print banners. I was looking forward to printing out some panoramas since it prints photo quality. 2. It lacks the ability to set auto-on from printer preferences. The Canon bubblejet I had before this one that I used for almost 3 yrs had a checkbox in its dialog so I didn't need to turn on the printer for jobs. It would turn itself on upon receiving a feed, print, then turn off in 5 min or so. The Epson C86 does not have that feature. Either I must leave it on all the time or must turn it on and off manually all the time.

Now about ink refill. I've gradually become a believer in refills. Although this printer has separate color cartridges, each cart is 5-10ml which is quite little, and the cartridge "looks" pretty thin. Now at 10 bux plus for each new, I REALLY want to refill the ones I have. Well, I learned that Epson cartridges host a chip that counts the number of droplets used and signals to the printer to stop using it after certain number of droplets.
[...]
It totally seems like Epson would like to extort the money from its customers to buy new, thin, low -capacity cartridges all the time. Just no consideration for user's money and the environment. OK so now you can buy resetters (a device the size of a mini-snickers bar) that will reset the chip count. Great, so I get one for about 8 dollars. The woes don't end here. It turns out the fill hole also points to the ground so if you fill it, you better have a great way to seal, which I haven't discovered yet.

So for now, I'm going to try refilling its cartridges. And I think I will be doing some research into refilling potential for each printer I buy from here on out.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent buy for a home printer
Review: I recently bought this printer and I am very satisfied with the performance. The installation was easy, it was hooked and ready in 5 min.
The regualr text prints are of excellent clarity and good speed.
The ink cartridges are used very efficiently and the colors are in individual cartridges, I printed around 30 4x6 prints the first day and I hardly noticed any change in the levels of ink.
But it takes around 3 - 5 min to print a 4x6. I have not used other printers so, I cannot compare. But it is slower than what I expected the speed to be.
Also, I had to increase the brightness of the image by 20 - 30 % using the photo editing software to get a good print. My camera is Nikon 3200 and the editing software I used was ACDsee view.
Overall, I am very satisfied with the performance of the printer. I would recommend this to anybody I know for their home.

Rating:
Summary: Remarkable Print Quality for the Price
Review: The Epson Stylus C86 is an ideal personal desktop printer that can produce outstanding photographic prints when used with care.

I needed a personal printer to sit beside my computer that could handle moderate volume. I still use the networked office printer down the hall for occasional bulk jobs, but the Stylus C86 is perfect for most day-to-day work. Ordinary text printing is fast and sharp. I've used it with perforated postcard sheets very successfully, and the 'fine' setting produces truly excellent typographic resolution.

Printing high quality digital photos on any printer is a skill that takes a good deal of practice, and the nature of the output depends as much on details of the input file as it does on the quality of the printer. With carefully prepared CMYK digital images, and good photo paper such as Epson's Enhanced Matte paper (a must for quality work), I've been able to produce amazing digital prints with the Stylus C86. Co-workers couldn't believe they had been output from an inexpensive desktop printer.

Epson recommends the DuraBrite inks with this printer, and that is what I use. There's no doubt they are expensive, and the cost of replacement cartridges is a drawback of all inkjet printers. The claimed advantage of these specific inks is that they are pigment based and so do not fade as dye-based inks do. I haven't done a thorough test of this, but there is no question that the inks are more durable than the dye-based inks used in an older Canon printer I had: prints from that machine would be noticeably faded after only a few months. It is hardly worth making digital photo prints at all if the colors won't last, and the DuraBrite inks used in the Stylus C86 are certainly superior to many others. Further, the cartridges are individually replaceable so if you use a lot of cyan (say), you can replace only the cyan cartridge without having to discard the remaining yellow and magenta. The software that comes with the printer is adequate (if inelegant), and it lets you check the amount of ink remaining in each color and clean the print nozzles when needed.

It's important not to judge this printer by the wrong standards. It isn't meant to be a rugged, high-volume, multi-user office printer. It's a personal printer that will perform very well for an individual user, and it can produce stunning photo prints with good paper and a good input file. Are there more durable, heavy-duty printers available? Of course. They cost much more. Are there printers that will produce commercial-quality photo prints quickly and in high volume? Of course. They cost much more, too. It is the combination of both quality and price that make the Epson Stylus C86 a truly remarkable personal printer. I use mine every day.

Rating:
Summary: Incomplete Catriges
Review: The printer is good and gives affordable prints but it is quite sad that EPSON spoil the impact by including incomplete propably refurbished catriges when you buy the printer. Also in genral color prints are fine but careful with document the black ink runs out before you know it. Overall good priter but the Ink esp. black is costly and makes you wonder.

Rating:
Summary: Good and affordable!
Review: This is the upgrade to the C84. This isn't a huge advancement, and if you have the C84, don't bother. If however, you're looking for a new printer for home use, consider this one. It's marginally faster than it's predecessor (by 2-3 ppgs/minute), the print cost run the same (It uses the same catridges), and the resolution is the same (very high resolution).


It uses individual color cartridges rather than the tricolor cartridge of HP's, which I find helps cut down on ink cost. The printer is fairly effeicient with it's ink, and I don't have to replace cartridges often.

The input tray really doesn't hold many sheets; I find I have problems with feeding if more than 50-60 sheets are in it, but again, it's not meant as a high volume printer, so that's not a big deal.

Like the C84, it prints very good photos and graphics, and excellent text. It's meant as an affordable all around, low through medium volume use (less than 500 sheets/month) printer. It excels in this role. If you, like me, print a fair amount of text (100 pages a month give or take) and some photos, but need high quality all around, this is a great printer for you, espically at the price. For your average home user, it's an excellent choice.

Rating:
Summary: Epson Cartridges Waste Ink & Have "Smart Chips"
Review: Wonder why you're getting a printer so cheap? You're probalby only getting reject half filled ink tanks included, and look at the cost of new cartridges and consider how frequently you may need to buy them unless you hardly ever do any printing.

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 full investigation, it's a disabled/never will work CD/DVD printing bay. Yet the same models in Europe have a working CD/DVD print bay. 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 (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). 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!