Rating: 
Summary: Extraordinary Quality
Review: I have used this printer withe a Kodak DC 290 camera with outstanding results. The printer was out of the box and up and running in 10 minutes. The injet cartridges are rather small but their price is less than 740 cartridges I once used. Even though they may not be readily available at your local stores I've ordered them overnight from various web sites.The resolution and color have to be seen to be believed.The ink is water resistant and made to last 10 years. What more could you ask from a photo printer? The pictures do truly rival the one hour photo store type. If your a digital photography buff, this machine will amaze your friends! Even using standard note cards I got good results. The photo paper for this machine however, will really show you what this printer's capability is. Epson is a quality company and has produced yet another great value.
Rating:
Summary: Just plain awesome
Review: I just bought this printer (220V model) on Friday on the German economy and I can tell you that it is awesome. I am ready for my wife to throw away our 35mm camera. The pictures I took with my Kodak DC280 camera at both low and high resolution were very colorful on both the glossy (NON-premium) and matte 4x6" paper. You could not tell the difference between a picture printed on the printer and the photograph.
Rating: 
Summary: A Disappointing Printer!
Review: I purchased the Epson 870 on 7/10/00 to replace my four-year-old Espon 800. When I noticed that the colors were not quite right on an image that I printed with the new printer, I decided to try to print the same file on my husband's HP 970. I got a beautiful print! This was an image of a castle on the water. There were lots of blues - the water, the mountains, and there were purple flowers. The HP 970 gave me a far superior print with true colors. (I used Epson photo glossy with the Epson & HP photo glossy with the HP.) I called Epson about this problem, & they said people using PhotoShop were having problems with color. They faxed (no electronic file to e-mail) me some reading material on color management using PhotoShop. I followed their instructions by turning off Adobe color management & turning on automatic mode. I printed the same castle image again & I got only a slight improvement. I tried another image & I got a truly gastly print on the Epson. (Yes, I checked the paper type.) I had one other problem. I live in Chico, CA, & the closest place that carries ink cartridges for the 870 is about 90 miles away! Even Amazon is out of stock! Epson does have one advantage over the HP; it prints much faster. Bottom line: If you are really concerned about getting good quality color, consider purchasing the HP 970. If you cannot tell the difference, then buy the Epson 870 which will print in far less time. I want to emphasize that I am not dissatisfied with Amanzon. I will continue purchasing products from Amazon because it is very convenient and they have *exceptional* service. BTW, I gave this product 1 star bc it is the lowest rating that I could select. ;-) Frederica Shockley
Rating:
Summary: REAL photo-quality printouts!
Review: I really wanted a color printer after only having a black and white laser printer from many, many years. I am a student of Multimedia and often dealing with graphic design and such. After getting a new computer this year, I had to get a good scanner and a good printer. I bought the scanner (the Epson Perfection 1200U), and it was the time to get a color printer. I did a lot of research before making my decision to get the Epson Stylus Photo 870 Inkjet Printer. And during my personal research this is what I found out:
The color printouts you get using Epson's photo paper (and it has different kinds) are to die for. Many different reviews agreed on this.
The black and white text printouts aren't as good as with the laser printers (but oh, well, I wanted a COLOR printer to print pictures).
The number of years of print display before noticeable fading occurs is 24-26 years on the Epson Matte paper!!!
It comes with Epson Software Film Factory, and Adobe PhotoDeluxe.
You can use roll paper to pring banners, panoramas and signs.
During my research I also found that the 870, 875DC, and 1270 models were being affected by a color-shift problem. Aah! I had found the printer I wanted and it has a problem? So I did more research. I learned that it affects one of its papers: The Premium Glossy Photo Paper and this color shifts is caused by high ozone levels. So a small percentage of people living in such areas would be effected. But by covering the printout, it would be okay. I've also learned that Epson stopped circulating that paper and it's working on a new one due this month. You can learn more about this in Byte's website. Look for Davi's Em article "Epson Ink Fades Too Fast On Some Paper." So, I took my chances and I bought the printer. After seeing the kind of printouts it makes, I couldn't be happier with my decision. After all, if one wants to really keep these printouts for a long time, use the Matter paper which isn't affected. If you insist on using the other glossy type paper they have, cover it with glass or another kind of photo cover. But remember, even regular photos don't live forever.
The decision is yours, of course. For me, I gladly share with you my two cents. Hopefully, it will help you make the best decision. Do your homework, read all you can, and if you go for it, I hope you are as satisfied as I am with your purchase. :)
Rating: 
Summary: Great printer - Terrible software!
Review: I recently bought a Kodak Digital camera (DC3400 Zoom)to use with my Epson 870 Photo printer and the results are really great. My wife said, "the details in these photo's are better than the ones we get from our 35mm!" Two things that I've determined are - 1. Use Epson Photo Quality Glossy Paper 2. Use a good software pgm. I downloaded Ulead Photo Explorer 6.0 for free; it is really good. The software that came with the printer, makes my system shut down. Even the software that came with my camera isn't good. Kodak and Epson need to get a clue when it comes to software, otherwise, they're GREAT!
Rating:
Summary: Great printer - Terrible software!
Review: I recently bought a Kodak Digital camera (DC3400 Zoom)to use with my Epson 870 Photo printer and the results are really great. My wife said, "the details in these photo's are better than the ones we get from our 35mm!" Two things that I've determined are - 1. Use Epson Photo Quality Glossy Paper 2. Use a good software pgm. I downloaded Ulead Photo Explorer 6.0 for free; it is really good. The software that came with the printer, makes my system shut down. Even the software that came with my camera isn't good. Kodak and Epson need to get a clue when it comes to software, otherwise, they're GREAT!
Rating:
Summary: I love this printer
Review: I think this printer is unbelievable. I just keep getting very impressed with the print outcome on different media everytime I use it. Just last night I printed out on 4" x 26' roll & I could'nt believe that they were not pictures from the photo developers. Far as the software goes, I'd rather use the software that came with my Olympus digital camera. But the Film Factory sortware also works nicely in my opinion.
Rating:
Summary: Six months with Epson 870
Review: I use this printer for semi-professional image production making fine art-type 8x10 prints. Color saturation is very uniform with great depth and fine color matching, print after print. Lucky for me, the monitor and Adobe Photoshop are very accurate, so I do get what I see on the screen. My gallery prints are mostly 7x9, using a tiff setting on the 1.3 meg Olympus, I get a large file that can handle 7x9 in.just fine. One complaint, this printer really uses up the color ink cart. I count average of 36 full color 7x9 prints on heavy matt paper! When the cart. is low, the software will take it down even lower on nxt. boot-up and then you will not be able to use even the full blk.cart., thus locking up the printer until you put in a new color cart. I think the idea is to sell more $24. ink cartridges. the results are worth it for me and perhaps for you.
Rating:
Summary: Six months with Epson 870
Review: I use this printer for semi-professional image production making fine art-type 8x10 prints. Color saturation is very uniform with great depth and fine color matching, print after print. Lucky for me, the monitor and Adobe Photoshop are very accurate, so I do get what I see on the screen. My gallery prints are mostly 7x9, using a tiff setting on the 1.3 meg Olympus, I get a large file that can handle 7x9 in.just fine. One complaint, this printer really uses up the color ink cart. I count average of 36 full color 7x9 prints on heavy matt paper! When the cart. is low, the software will take it down even lower on nxt. boot-up and then you will not be able to use even the full blk.cart., thus locking up the printer until you put in a new color cart. I think the idea is to sell more $24. ink cartridges. the results are worth it for me and perhaps for you.
Rating:
Summary: Incredible Quality at a Great Price
Review: I've avoided inkjet printers for years. I've always felt that the inkjet process creates low quality images and poorly defined text. Recently I took a second look at inkjets and wound up buying an Epson Stylus Photo 870. The Epson Stylus 870 was simple to set up (took it out of the box, plugged it in, installed the software), simple to operate (the control panels are easy to use an intuitive), and produces absolutely stunning photographic quality images. Paper is one of the keys to this printer. If you use regular paper you'll get good, but inkjet-like results (some bleeding, degraded resolution). However, if you use the premium glossy paper (the printer comes with some samples), you get *incredible* photo-quality output. Paper makes a huge difference. The pictures you get using the right paper are photographic quality... they really are incredible. I recently used it for printing wedding invitations on a variety of different shapes, sizes and types of paper (transparent/vellum, thick stock, smooth and textured surfaces). The results weren't as exceptional as photo-quality paper, but they certainly were high enough quality to send out. The printer held up well through the process, and produced great results. The printer has multiple speeds and quality settings (accessible via software)... in general it's quite fast. The only downside with this product is the cost of the supplies. Paper is quite expensive, and the inkjet cartriges run quite a bit. To summarize, I'm amazed by this product and the quality of it's output. I'm happy with my purchase. Well done Epson.
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