Rating: 
Summary: An intermittent performer
Review: I've been using this printer for six months on a Windows 2000 system. Photo print quality can be good but it is not consistent. Sometimes I get decent prints, other times the prints have lines on them or ink spots on the borders. This can happen from one print to another on the same run. Paper handling with roll paper is a problem. The roll paper is a nice concept but often the printer won't load the roll properly and sometimes ejects too much paper before printing the first image. The driver software needs improvement. The constant pop up messages while printing are an annoyance. They give you too much information and get in the way when you just want to print in the background while doing other work. Epson still has a lot to learn from HP in this regard. Since new printers come out almost weekly I'd take a look around before jumping on this one.
Rating: 
Summary: A digital darkroom at home!
Review: I've had my 870 for more than a year. It has lived through package after package of Epson Premium Glossy Photo Paper without issue. I'm on my third digital camera upgrade but have found no reason to upgrade my Epson printer. The results are amazing! If you're worried about durability, I've had an Epson 780, an Epson 900 and now the 870 in service with zero issues. They just keep on going!I've read some reviews regarding color management with this printer. I've never had that problem with Photo Shop, Photo Deluxe and other photo editing software, colors are perfect, including skin tones. I do always keep my drivers to the latest release. I've had this printer through Win 98, 98 SE and now 98 ME and Epson's drivers have never let me down. It's also key to put a little effort into setting up your PC. If you don't match your screen settings to your printers' output, you'll never have good looking prints. I did a lot of homework on the web and can honestly say that working a little in this area made an improvement in output quality. I've put my Epson up against a number of other printers, even a couple of HP's that cost three times as much and have to say my Epson wins for photos. And come on, can you beat this price? Epson, keep up the good work, my next printer purchase dollars are yours.
Rating:
Summary: A digital darkroom at home!
Review: I've had my 870 for more than a year. It has lived through package after package of Epson Premium Glossy Photo Paper without issue. I'm on my third digital camera upgrade but have found no reason to upgrade my Epson printer. The results are amazing! If you're worried about durability, I've had an Epson 780, an Epson 900 and now the 870 in service with zero issues. They just keep on going! I've read some reviews regarding color management with this printer. I've never had that problem with Photo Shop, Photo Deluxe and other photo editing software, colors are perfect, including skin tones. I do always keep my drivers to the latest release. I've had this printer through Win 98, 98 SE and now 98 ME and Epson's drivers have never let me down. It's also key to put a little effort into setting up your PC. If you don't match your screen settings to your printers' output, you'll never have good looking prints. I did a lot of homework on the web and can honestly say that working a little in this area made an improvement in output quality. I've put my Epson up against a number of other printers, even a couple of HP's that cost three times as much and have to say my Epson wins for photos. And come on, can you beat this price? Epson, keep up the good work, my next printer purchase dollars are yours.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Printer!
Review: I've had this printer for about 4 months now. It's fantastic. The picture quality is excellent and I've found it easy to use. My only problem to date was when I got a solid red light near the power button and the printer would not print. After consulting my literature with no luck, I called tech. support. First of all, Epson tech suppport is friendly, helpful, and fast. They informed me that my color cartridge was out and when the printer detects that the ink is out it shuts down completely. I was printing in black/white mode only, so I was surprised that it would not print at all, but evidently it does not. So, keep extra color AND b/w cartridges on hand and enjoy. ONE OTHER THING!!! PAPER MAKES ALL THE DIFFERNECE. After many unsuccessful and unsatisfactory attempts to get a good quality print, I realized it was the paper. I tried for hours tweeking Photoshop settings, printing from different applications, etc. Finally I tried a piece of Epson paper...BINGO. Don't settle for anything less, spend the extra few cents for good paper. Kodak and HP papers produces really BAD results in my tests.
Rating:
Summary: Great Printer!
Review: I've had this printer for about 4 months now. It's fantastic. The picture quality is excellent and I've found it easy to use. My only problem to date was when I got a solid red light near the power button and the printer would not print. After consulting my literature with no luck, I called tech. support. First of all, Epson tech suppport is friendly, helpful, and fast. They informed me that my color cartridge was out and when the printer detects that the ink is out it shuts down completely. I was printing in black/white mode only, so I was surprised that it would not print at all, but evidently it does not. So, keep extra color AND b/w cartridges on hand and enjoy. ONE OTHER THING!!! PAPER MAKES ALL THE DIFFERNECE. After many unsuccessful and unsatisfactory attempts to get a good quality print, I realized it was the paper. I tried for hours tweeking Photoshop settings, printing from different applications, etc. Finally I tried a piece of Epson paper...BINGO. Don't settle for anything less, spend the extra few cents for good paper. Kodak and HP papers produces really BAD results in my tests.
Rating:
Summary: Epson Photo 870 went beyond expectations and the HP970.
Review: Photolab quality prints. Thats it. Premium glossy photo paper that is 4 inches wide and 26 feet long. (The sample in the media pack was 9 feet). The roll holder attachment was included. Epson has engineered a remarkable product. You may keep seeing the word PHOTOLAB often when others refer to this printer. Epson also included some 8 by 11 matte, 8 by 11 premium glossy and 4 by 6 photo paper in the sample media kit. We also had the Hewlett Packard 970 here at home. My wife brought one home from work. Sorry HP, you're very good, but Epson is a shining star. Some things we noticed when comparing prints were the beautifully accurate skin tones from the Epson. Also, the Epson 870 completed printing in much less time. Ink costs about 33% less. When printing you get a graph showing how much ink is left in both the color and black cartridges. There were tiny dots and slightly jagged lines visible with the Hewlett Packard 970(you have to look very closely). Not so, with the Epson Photo 870.Black and white printing was fast and laser sharp. As a helpfull hint to users of any make of printer: Download and install the latest drivers from the website given in the manuals. Use papers and inks only recommended by the manufacturer. The people who engineer these devices use fine tolerances to deliver the best performance and longevity of the printer. Pay attention to the paper type selected, or use auto settings. The higher the quality of the source,(use a 2 megapixel or better digital camera or high quality scanner) the better the output of your printer will be. Oh yea, did I say Photolab? HAVE FUN Tom P.
Rating:
Summary: This printer is GREAT!
Review: The photo quality print out of this printer is amazing! It truly looks like a real photo, no dots are visible at all! The photo quality of this printer is comparable to other extremely expensive (around $1,000)dye sub printers out there. This printer is loaded with features which among them is a great feature, the ablitiy to print boarderless pictures when using the 4x6 photo roll (around $20 for 50+ prints). You, this epson, and a digital camera and/or scanner, can truely become a photo lab at home!. The quality of the print is amazing, the setup is quick and easy, and the photo paper and ink are reasonably priced. What else could you ask for, this is simply a great photo printer, seriously.
Rating:
Summary: Great Printer, but paper selections limited
Review: This is a wonderful printer if you want to eliminate the corner photo lab,and all the time, money (and film) wasted there. Digital photography has freed me up to finally KNOW what I'm getting before it's printed. The 870 prints fabulous prints that rival the professional photo lab, and I love the Film Factory software included. Although to really do a more perfect job of manipulating the photos, there's nothing out there that beats Adobe.....I have both Adobe and Film Factory. Film Factory gives me what Adobe doesn't...an easy to use place to store and catagorize my prints, and see thumbnails of them all at once. My only objection to the Epson 870 is the limitation of paper I can use with it. I've seen and tried the new Epson Glossy Photo Paper, 4x6 (perforated edges) as well as the new Epson Glossy Photo Paper borderless. Another size I like to print are 5x7's. The Epson will not print a 5x7 on 5x7 paper,(competitor brand, I don't see that Epson sells a 5x7 size). To do these sizes properly with the 870, I have to use a 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper, what a waste of paper and money. Unfortunately, the Epson 870 is not set up to use these papers automatically, and that's a real shame, because I see here and at other consumer review sites, that this printer is extremely popular...so WHY doesn't Epson make 4x6 and 5x7 (cut sheets)paper especially for this printer?? Other than that...the speed is very fast, quality is outstanding and overall, I'm very happy with my purchase.
Rating:
Summary: Photo Quality Picture Printouts Are Amazing!
Review: This printer works wonderfully. You can't tell the difference between 8x10 glossy photo lab printout and one printed on the Stylus 870. It uses ink fairly quickly but printing photo's always does--ink cartidges approximately $20.00
Rating:
Summary: Landscapes YES, people NO
Review: While the Stylus Photo 870 renders excellent prints of objects and landscapes, skintones always have a marked violet cast. None of the numerous adjustments provided in the driver software seem to impact this shortcoming. I used Epson photo paper, and found no difference relative to other Premium photo papers. This same paper yields perfect colors with an HP895 inkjet printer, using the identical file, software, and computer. If your images do not include people, you will be happy with the Photo 870. Otherwise, you will be extremely dissapointed.
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