Rating: 
Summary: Glossy Photos
Review: I haven't been able to get the glossy photo result when I print my photos. My HP works better at producing quality glossy photo finishes. All my photos with this Epson C84 look matted on the final product even though I use the Primium gloss Epson Photo paper and have the settings set at what I am supposed to. I am still talking to Epson and Best Buy to see if this is what I paid for.
Still for the price and how you use it could still be a bargin.
Rating: 
Summary: Bought two-both died!
Review: I loved these printers at first. But like so many others the printheads jammed. One lasted a little over a year, the other ten months. I am getting the replacement for the one in warranty but not the other. How many loyal customers have they lost with this little number. They need to just give you credit on a better printer, but why would they? We just keep making money for them by buying cartridges and running cleaning cycles. Don't buy this printer!
Rating:
Summary: Don't Waste Your Money
Review: I normally don't like to write negative reviews... but feel customers should be warned about this printer.
Purchased this printer in late September. By early October it would occasionally misfeed. Tonight the problem was so bad that the printer was pretty much useless for printing several pages of lecture notes for class.
Don't fall victim to the craze to buy cheap printers. You'll pay ridiculous prices for ink and will have a printer that won't last.
Case in point, my Hewlett Packard DeskJet 500, bought new 15 years ago, still works. I will be connecting it back to my computer after I finish this review and disconnect the Epson.
The software for the Epson is not well designed, and the printer goes through ink like there's no tomorrow. One jam may damage the internals so badly that it eventually stops working correctly, as in my case. Printers should accept jams and be resilient enough to keep on working once the jam is cleared.
Spend a little more for a quality printer that will last. While not totally out of the "cheap" pricing realm, the Canon I900D that I bought my wife at the same time I bought this printer has very nice software, prints far better quality text and pictures, and has not had one problem.
Rating:
Summary: Epson C84 is a rip-off
Review: I purchased my Epson C84 because of of the advertised longivity of it's inks and because I've generally been pleased with Epson products.I should have done my research before purchasing, however. While the printer only cost me $75 dollars, the replacement inks cost almost the same. For some reason, it appears that the inks run out about the same time, which would seem to counter the claims that separate inks save money. And, upon inspection, I noticed two dotted lines running down both the long sides of my print. When I e-mailed Epson, the explaination was of no use. When I finally ran out of ink, I packed it away.
Rating: 
Summary: Great While It Lasted!
Review: I purchased my Epson C84 in September 2003. I was pleasantly surprised by the print quality - particularly the hi-res glossy photo paper color prints which truly were excellent! When it came time to replace the ink cartridges in December 2003 - three color and the single black - I went with generic (after-market cartridges) rather than Epson cartridges. Alas, now in January, I've started experiencing an apparently irreversible print-quality and page-coverage degradation; both color and black. I say 'apparently irreversible' because repeated print-head cleanings and alignments have made no impact on the print quality, and the printer essentially is now useless. I even installed the Epson driver on another computer and did some test prints, but could not solve the problem. I can't say for certain that the non-Epson cartridges are the culprit, or even a contributing factor, but the C84 worked perfectly before the generic ink-cartridge replacements. Fortunately, I kept my old, reliable Epson Stylus Color 980 which, after three years (including ALL-GENERIC ink cartridges!), still does a credible job. Bottom line: the Epson C84 is an excellent buy for the money; but, just to be on the safe side, stick with the recommended Epson-brand ink cartridges.
Rating: 
Summary: Very nice printer
Review: I purchased this to replace my HP DeskJet 932C printer, and have been very happy with it. I am only using it to print photos and graphics, I have a Samsung ML-1710 laser printer to cover the text (happy with it too). I have found it best to have 2 different printers, one that does great with text, etc. (the laser) and one that does great with pictures and such (the C84). I have printed several pictures taken with my digital camera (Canon A70) and they have all turned out very well. I have showed them to several people and all have been impressed. It just does great with photos of all types. To get the best results you have to play with the settings a bit at first, but then it is nothing but quality prints! It is also best to use Epson's DuraBrite paper when printing photos for the best results. You also need to use the Epson paper to get the benifits of the DuraBrite ink, like the water and fade resistance. It also does very well with Excel charts and PowerPoint presentations. Unlike older Epsons (the Stylus Color 440 and 640 for exaple) this printer is very quiet too. Now while I have not done a lot of text on this I did try printing out some text pages on it, and the quality is good, not "laser sharp", but then no ink jet is "laser sharp." It looks about as good (or bad, depending on how you look at things) as what other ink jets produce, so it will not replace my laser printer. Pros:
Great photo printing
Quiet
Fairly fast Cons:
None for for what I am using it for. Over all I think it is a great printer and I highly recommend it! Especially when paired with a laser printer, like the Samsung ML-1710 (which can be had for a similar price as the C84).
Rating:
Summary: Bad luck??...
Review: I received a C84 as a warranty replacement for my C82...which was also junk. The C82 worked fine for a little under a year. After spending more than it was worth on ink cartridges to clear a plugged head, Epson sent me one of the C84's. Immediately after setting it up and printing a test page, the paper started jamming. Epson tech support shipped yet another replacement. Printer #3 refuses to recognize two of the Epson supplied ink cartridges. Trying cartridges left from printer #2 proved the same issue. Tech supports response...send me two more cartridges. If this does not work, they will send me printer #4. Today, my cartridges arrived. I opened the package and found one, and one on backorder. I tried the one...same issue.
During a season when printing family photos is essential, I have spent this one tearing my desk apart replacing printers, and repackaging/returning them.
My review?? The Epson C84 is cheap junk just as it's predecesor, the C82. Tech support is awful. They blindly follow a script and are not allowed to use their own intelligence to make a good decision. Buy at your own risk.
I will not be requesting printer #4. I have dealt with tech support far too much on their product already. I will be shopping with their competitors.
Rating:
Summary: Surpisingly great printer
Review: I received the Epson Stylus C84 for free when I purchased an iMac computer from Apple. Needless to say I was very skeptical as to the print quality, in particular for photographic use. Well, I must say I am more than pleasantly surpised. I have printed a number of documents which were fine. What amazed me was the quality of color photographic prints (I used Epson photo glossy paper for this). The colors are bright and realistic and the sharpness of the photos is incredible. It may not have all the bells and whistles of their more expensive models, but the print quality is the same. BTW - I have used both Epson and HP printers and have found the Epson line to be much more reliable and trouble free.
Rating:
Summary: Photos Look Fantastic
Review: I was hesitant to buy this printer because of some comments I'd read at various web sites. For example, I'd read that the "DuraBrite" inks "can't do glossy". The CNET review, although praising this printer for all-around performance, doesn't give the C84 highest marks for photo quality and mentions visible dithering in pictures. After considering the printer's low cost, the low cost of ink for it, and the advantages of its pigment-based DuraBrite inks (water proof and long-lasting), I decided to buy one for photo printing. I also considered the higher resolution of the C84 compared to Epson photo printers selling for about the same price, and I took a chance that the higher resolution would compensate for the lack of the extra color cartridges "photo printers" use. I think I made a great decision. The photos from this printer look fantastic. While it's true that you can't get >>super<< glossy prints from it, the prints on glossy photo paper aren't matte. I'd call them "semigloss", and I like them. I don't see any dithering problem, either. So far, I've used the C84 to print on Ritz Camera brand "Professional Photo Glossy Ink Jet Paper" (similar to Epson Premium Glossy Photo Paper), "Epson Photo Quality Ink Jet Paper", plain paper, and the 2 sheets of "Epson DuraBrite Ink Glossy Photo Paper" included with the printer. Results are excellent on all these media - even plain paper. I haven't seen better results on plain paper. I even printed on the back side of the Epson Ink Jet Paper, and - I kid you not - it looks better there than on the front where you're supposed to print. The very slightly yellow back side adds warmth to the photo. There's no bleed through, so you can print on both sides of the Epson paper. I didn't try this on the plain copier paper because it was thinner, and you could see through the back too easily. I stuck a plain paper print under the water faucet and soaked it. As advertised, that had no effect on the ink. After drying, the paper was wrinkled, but the image looked fine. I always put my best pictures in clear archival sheet protectors, and, behind such glossy plastic or glass, you'd never know the DuraBrite prints were not super glossy. Advertisements say the C84 can do border-free printing on "8x10" paper. I was pleased to discover that it can do so on 8-1/2"x11" photo paper as well. It can NOT print border-free on plain paper or ink jet paper - apparently, border-free printing requires thick paper - but it does get much closer to the edges than my old printer, leaving about 3/16" borders on the short edges and 1/8" borders on the long edges. I'm a happy camper. Don't be afraid to buy this printer for photo-printing.
Rating:
Summary: Photos Look Fantastic
Review: I was hesitant to buy this printer because of some comments I'd read at various web sites. For example, I'd read that the "DuraBrite" inks "can't do glossy". The CNET review, although praising this printer for all-around performance, doesn't give the C84 highest marks for photo quality and mentions visible dithering in pictures. After considering the printer's low cost, the low cost of ink for it, and the advantages of its pigment-based DuraBrite inks (water proof and long-lasting), I decided to buy one for photo printing. I also considered the higher resolution of the C84 compared to Epson photo printers selling for about the same price, and I took a chance that the higher resolution would compensate for the lack of the extra color cartridges "photo printers" use. I think I made a great decision. The photos from this printer look fantastic. While it's true that you can't get >>super<< glossy prints from it, the prints on glossy photo paper aren't matte. I'd call them "semigloss", and I like them. I don't see any dithering problem, either. So far, I've used the C84 to print on Ritz Camera brand "Professional Photo Glossy Ink Jet Paper" (similar to Epson Premium Glossy Photo Paper), "Epson Photo Quality Ink Jet Paper", plain paper, and the 2 sheets of "Epson DuraBrite Ink Glossy Photo Paper" included with the printer. Results are excellent on all these media - even plain paper. I haven't seen better results on plain paper. I even printed on the back side of the Epson Ink Jet Paper, and - I kid you not - it looks better there than on the front where you're supposed to print. The very slightly yellow back side adds warmth to the photo. There's no bleed through, so you can print on both sides of the Epson paper. I didn't try this on the plain copier paper because it was thinner, and you could see through the back too easily. I stuck a plain paper print under the water faucet and soaked it. As advertised, that had no effect on the ink. After drying, the paper was wrinkled, but the image looked fine. I always put my best pictures in clear archival sheet protectors, and, behind such glossy plastic or glass, you'd never know the DuraBrite prints were not super glossy. Advertisements say the C84 can do border-free printing on "8x10" paper. I was pleased to discover that it can do so on 8-1/2"x11" photo paper as well. It can NOT print border-free on plain paper or ink jet paper - apparently, border-free printing requires thick paper - but it does get much closer to the edges than my old printer, leaving about 3/16" borders on the short edges and 1/8" borders on the long edges. I'm a happy camper. Don't be afraid to buy this printer for photo-printing.
|
