Rating: 
Summary: It's a great printer
Review: I tried many printers, many brands. This one is the best one compare to this price range. If you do not want scanner/copier, Epson R300 is very good too, same quality as RX500. You don't have to go to photoshop anymore.
Rating:
Summary: Not Ink Thrify, but Superb Photos
Review: I wanted the best affordable multifunction photo printer I could buy, and I believe that I got it. Using epson borderless photo paper most people can not tell the photos were printed at home, or even from a digital camera, even with 5x7's, (I have not been printing 8x10's). USE EPSON PHOTO PAPER, DO NOT USE KODAK! The photo's I have been printing were taken with a Pentax Optio330, 3.34 megapixel. I can only imagine how good they would be with a better camera. The photocopy functions work very well, just make sure you select the right setting, (photo, text, ect.). You can also scan negitives and slides. They come out great. It can scan at a resolution higher that my computer can handle, and I have a fairly good computer. Don't worry, you set the resolution and can get a very good scan with most computers. It does go through a lot of ink, and the ink is on the expensive side. I have kept my old printer for text and everyday use. All in all, I love this printer! *The photos on the much more expensive Kodak Premium Picture Paper looked like digital prints. It did not even look like I used the same printer. Plus the paper is not as glossy, much thinner, does not print borderless, and everybodys skin looked rather blue. Use Epson premium photo paper, it is much better, at least with this printer. Also Epson paper has the same look and feel as quality glossy prints from a photo lab.
Rating:
Summary: 99.9% Perfection: 5+++ Stars
Review: I was looking for a color printer, as I only had a b/w laser printer. Since I have owned digital cameras since 1999, it was time to get a photo quality printer. I Decided I wanted it to scan and copy as well. The multi-function device (MFD) was much better than in previous-generation products. It had to have separate ink cartridges (better value on ink), which ruled out HP, and almost everything but Canon and Epson devices. After exhaustive research and showroom testing at a local retailer, I bought the Epson CX6400. Great value. It was a 4-ink system (not 6), but the DuraBright inks were getting pretty good reviews. I stayed up until 1am playing with my new toy. On premium glossy paper, the prints were very good. However, they had a matte, or maybe a semi-gloss cast to them, even on the best glossy paper. Other photo printers (Epson R300) delivered a glossier, crisper photo-processing feel to them. I could live with that for the price and features the CX6400 had. The 6-ink system was not in the cards for me if I wanted a MFD flatbed device. The next morning, while reading the Sunday paper, I saw an ad for a brand new MFD by Epson. Just came out. It was the RX500. Here's the bottom line. It has the same 6-ink system and print engine as the beautiful-printing R300/M, and it is a flatbed MFD. Nirvana! I exchanged the unit the next morning. Wow! The printouts are just like a photo lab with my 4 megapixel shots. Even my older 2 megapixel shots looked great. You can do almost everything on the device without a computer, as it has card slots for almost every media type. When you print from the computer, the software lets you tweak the quality even higher. Liked the Epson CX6400. Love the RX500. The RX500 is the best of both worlds... The 4x6 prints look incredible on premium glossy paper, and very nice on plain, bright paper. 8x10 and 8.5x11 also look great - just like a photo lab. And you can print borderless prints, without perforated paper. Ideal! Speed is pretty good. Larger prints, and highest quality obviously take longer to print, but it's well worth it. Surf the web while you are waiting. The bundled imaging software (PhotoImpression) is easy to use and does a great job. You can go from a digital photo to a beautiful print in minutes. The amount of control is overwhelming, but fortunately the standard setting doa great job. Go with the default settings unless you have a special need. Just set the paper type and size, and you are off to the races. It's faster start-to-finish when you plug your memory card directly into the device. If you have a few minutes to boot up your computer, you'll have more control and you can bump the quality up a bit. Honestly, it was hard to tell the difference, though. Tech specs say there is a difference in resolution, but if I'm in a hurry, I print without the computer. The Rx500 also scans and prints existing photos very well, as well as a magazine cover I used as a test. New on this device (and an exclusive) is a transparency and slide scanner. I scanned and printed from a 35mm positive, and a film negative. The quality is outstanding. Now I can zip out a print from any old negative or slide I have stored away in boxes. Way cool. The only "negative" or tradeoff, is that the ink will smudge if it gets wet. That's the price you pay for the 6-ink system. As long as you get your prints into a photo album, or under glass in a frame, it is a non-issue. I'll take the tradeoff rather than settle for lesser quality in a smudge-resistant ink. Buy the RX500. You truly get the best of all worlds. A superior photo printer, with the convenience and ultimate flexibility of a an excellent scanner/copier...
Rating:
Summary: Nice scanner, good tech support
Review: I'd previously reported having problems with the OS X 10.3.2 drivers. Apparently the updated drivers on their website can be used to make things work. The key is to *uninstall* the Epson Scan program (via the installer package on the CD), followed by running the installation program in the epson 10950 package, (which fixes the Epson Scan program's hanging problems). You then install the patch in their 10973 package, which allows the Scan and Save program to work. There are still issues with the Copy Center program, but this is of smaller importance, since the unit can work as a standalone copier. Their tech support service was very knowledgeable and friendly, although the line itself may be a little flakey, since it seems to have dropped my connection the first time I called. Perservere on that phone line. :-)
Rating: 
Summary: should be minus-one stars
Review: I'm happy for the people who got printers that work, but keep reading below the spotlight reviews. All the bad stuff is true, too. Mine has been a nightmare after the first lovely 2 months (of light use.)
Worst thing? Paper feeder, as trivial as it sounds. But if you can't get the paper feeder to work, other things don't matter much. All the usual bad stuff -- ink irregularities, BIG problems with slide scanning, image quality . . . . Really, I can't say anything good about this machine. Plus, it takes up over half the space on my desk.
I called Epson and begged them to exchange it for a cheaper printer or scanner that would work reliably (and said keep the extra money.) But NO. They are sending me a replacement, exactly the same.
Second prize would be two replacements.
This is the second Epson I've had; my college bought me the first, a color printer, early in the game. Both are awful. Look at Canon (I've got 2 that I love) and HP. Don't be tempted, as I was, by the multi-function. That just makes for 3 things that don't work well.
Rating:
Summary: Very impressive in the first few hours!
Review: I've been playing with the Epson RX500 for a few hours and I'm delighted with my purchase. I'd been delaying the purchase of a printer because I couldn't choose from all the great models out there, and delaying the purchase of a scanner because I didn't have the desk space. Finally this came along and it allowed me replace an old printer, get rid of the memory card reader on my desk (as a multi-format card reader is built right in) and get a scanner in the same space. So far the pros are:
- Great quality from the very first photo. For snapshots, clearly as good as a photo lab. And because printing at home allows you to tweak the photo to your liking, you usually end up with better photos than sending it all out to a lab, IMO. - The scanner was ultra simple to use. I went around the house getting old photos out of their frames and scanned a half dozen test shots -- the results were great. It's fantastic to have some of my favorite photos now backed up and digitized, and I was able to easily touch up scratches and other problems with Adobe Elements. - Set up was quite simple. The instructions were very clear, and the software loaded simply, as it should. - The software that comes with the scanner is pretty good. If you're still using a basic photo editor or no photo editor, the Arcsoft package that comes with this printer is worth trying. The cons? - There is a lot of software with this package, and I still don't have all the defaults set as I'd like. For example, when I scan a photo and start to save it the Epson scanning program automatically starts up the Arcsoft Photo Editing software that came with the printer. However, I prefer to use the combination of Adobe Album and Adobe Photoshop Elements, and I have to manually close down Arcsoft so I can get the photo into Adobe, which is a couple extra steps that aren't needed. (I'm guessing there is a way I can set this up to be less annoying but haven't found it yet.) Net -- this is a very strong, reasonably priced package for people wanting great photo printouts at home. If you haven't seen what a home photo printer can do in the past couple of years, you will be impressed with this. There are other good options out there from Canon and HP as well, but for a combination printer/scanner this struck me as the best combination of features in its price range.
Rating:
Summary: 5-month Review: 99.9% Perfection
Review: My original review is further down, written a few days after setting up the printer. I'll now relate my 5-month experience. The machine has been flawless. It's one of the best experiences I've ever had with an electronics device, and I am a gadget freak. I've printed approx. 30 greeting cards and 200 photos, from 4x6 through 8x10. Photos copy extremely well with the flatbed scanner, and I use it to make accurate copies of originals. For even better results, tweak your original photo on the computer and print it using your favorite image editing software. You may rarely use the negative-adapter, but if you only have a negative and need a print, it is a godsend. High quality scans, for sure. One ink cartridge just fell under 20% full (light Cyan), so the ink lasts a long time. You can find great deals on original Epson ink on the web (try Amazon first). I bought a whole set of refills on the cheap. I mainly use it to print digital photos (4x6 mostly) from my Canon S400 Digital Elph, and to print greeting cards. I make remarkable cards for pennies compared to $2 - $5 at the greeting card racks. Paper: Extremely high quality prints on Epson, HP, Kodak and Ilford Galerie photo papers. I love Ilford paper. You can find great deals online for photo paper. 200 sheets of high gloss for under $20. Don't penalize yourself on quality - get the high gloss. I have a minolta 11x17 b/w laser printer, so I don't use the RX500 for most document printing. Toner is cheaper than ink, and laser is faster than inkjet, especially for long documents. The Epson RX600 recently came out. Same as RX500, but has an LCD preview window. Handy if you print right from the digital card reader. You can get an external Epson LCD for as low as $18, so the extra $100 for the RX600 is a bit tough to swallow. Deals are popping up on the RX500. It's still the best value of any multi-function device. *** Original Review *** I was looking for a color printer, as I only had a b/w laser printer. Since I have owned digital cameras since 1999, it was time to get a photo quality printer. I Decided I wanted it to scan and copy as well. The multi-function device (MFD) was much better than in previous-generation products. It had to have separate ink cartridges (better value on ink), which ruled out HP, and almost everything but Canon and Epson devices. After exhaustive research and showroom testing at a local retailer, I bought the Epson CX6400. Great value. It was a 4-ink system (not 6), but the DuraBright inks were getting pretty good reviews. I stayed up until 1am playing with my new toy. On premium glossy paper, the prints were very good. However, they had a matte, or maybe a semi-gloss cast to them, even on the best glossy paper. Other photo printers (Epson R300) delivered a glossier, crisper photo-processing feel to them. I could live with that for the price and features the CX6400 had. The 6-ink system was not in the cards for me if I wanted a MFD flatbed device. The next morning, while reading the Sunday paper, I saw an ad for a brand new MFD by Epson. Just came out. It was the RX500. Here's the bottom line. It has the same 6-ink system and print engine as the beautiful-printing R300/M, and it is a flatbed MFD. Nirvana! I exchanged the unit the next morning. Wow! The printouts are just like a photo lab with my 4 megapixel shots. Even my older 2 megapixel shots looked great. You can do almost everything on the device without a computer, as it has card slots for almost every media type. When you print from the computer, the software lets you tweak the quality even higher. Liked the Epson CX6400. Love the RX500. The RX500 is the best of both worlds... The 4x6 prints look incredible on premium glossy paper, and very nice on plain, bright paper. 8x10 and 8.5x11 also look great - just like a photo lab. And you can print borderless prints, without perforated paper. Ideal! Speed is pretty good. Larger prints, and highest quality obviously take longer to print, but it's well worth it. Surf the web while you are waiting. The bundled imaging software (PhotoImpression) is easy to use and does a great job. You can go from a digital photo to a beautiful print in minutes. The amount of control is overwhelming, but fortunately the standard setting doa great job. Go with the default settings unless you have a special need. Just set the paper type and size, and you are off to the races. It's faster start-to-finish when you plug your memory card directly into the device. If you have a few minutes to boot up your computer, you'll have more control and you can bump the quality up a bit. Honestly, it was hard to tell the difference, though. Tech specs say there is a difference in resolution, but if I'm in a hurry, I print without the computer. The Rx500 also scans and prints existing photos very well, as well as a magazine cover I used as a test. New on this device (and an exclusive) is a transparency and slide scanner. I scanned and printed from a 35mm positive, and a film negative. The quality is outstanding. Now I can zip out a print from any old negative or slide I have stored away in boxes. Way cool. The only "negative" or tradeoff, is that the ink will smudge if it gets wet. That's the price you pay for the 6-ink system. As long as you get your prints into a photo album, or under glass in a frame, it is a non-issue. I'll take the tradeoff rather than settle for lesser quality in a smudge-resistant ink. Buy the RX500. You truly get the best of all worlds. A superior photo printer, with the convenience and ultimate flexibility of a an excellent scanner/copier...
Rating: 
Summary: Stops printing if you run out of 1 of the colors
Review: Overall, the printer puts out nice photos, but it will completely stop printing if it runs out of any one of the five colored inks, which is infuriating if you just want to print a document. Right now, I have an almost full black cartridge, but because I ran out of magenta, I can't print at all. What a great way for Epson to make money! Also, the option to print in black only is hard to get to. You have to go into the advanced printer settings to change it.
Rating:
Summary: I love it so far! I couldn't wait for the newer model.
Review: The newer model of this item I couldn't find anywhere or was priced too high. I was also going to go for the R800 but that was pricey or out of stock. I couldn't wait any longer to get a color printer to compliment my high res camera so I figured I get this one for now since it was pretty cheap. Well I love it so far! Pictures are better than photo quality with the photo and I am totally satified so far. I love it and it doesn't take up alot of space with the built in scanner.
Rating:
Summary: A high-class all in one for photos -- best for the price
Review: This all in one is *very* different from all the others currently on the market. It is made for photos rather than for scanning documents. It combines the R300 photo printer and Epson 2400dpi photo scanner into an affordable package that delivers great prints and high resolution scans. I have had scanners in the past that would scan high resolution and create giant files with poor details. This is not one of those scanners. I don't use the Epson software for photo editing or printing, so I won't comment on their usage or effectiveness. I really like Adobe Photoshop Elements for that sort of stuff. You will need good photo editing software for cleaning up photos. Once you use high-res photo scanning settings, you will need to take time to clean up the dust on your pic. The dust is just a fact of life with high resolution scanners that are used in a home environment rather than in a clean room. You will also need more ram for your computer. An 8x10 scanned at 600 DPI takes up approx 250mb of memory. I found my machine needed approx 1 gb to be able to process some of the scans at higher resolution -- especially if I wanted to have more than 1 pic open at a time. Pros:
Super-duper prints on Epson Premium Glossy paper that capture crystal clear details. Super-hi rez photo scans that really capture fine detail. A high-quality original scanned, cleaned up digitally, then printed out is indistinguishable from the original -- maybe even a little bit better depending on how good you are with Photoshop. Very good deal for the money. Combine a $180.00 printer, $150.00 scanner, and $60.00 memory card reader into a $240.00 package. Cons:
Limited life of non-water resistant inks. Printer can take some fooling with the settings to get truly great details out of the pics. Once you figure out all the settings, and use good paper, the pics are spectacular. Scanner takes some time fooling with the settings to get the colors and exposure correct. I have ended up with either overly saturated colors on some of the color correction settings, or too dark on the no color correction settings. Does not work well with non-Epson paper.
| 
