Epson printers have had a pretty decent track record with us so far. Some of their models have performed exceedingly well, while others have been a little more than satisfactory. Over time we have seen Epson printers not only improve in performance, but they have also been the most innovative when it comes to adding value-for-money extra features to their range of printers.
A few things have, however, been always consistent in these printers - the ink quality. While many brands mess up in being able to produce the right shade of blacks, greys and adding the right amount of vibrancy to their colors, Epson has managed to stay consistent in this factor, or so we thought. Until we came across this model!
If you skip straight to the tests we conducted you'll see that the Epson Stylus C82 has turned out to be a disappointment in just about everything that really maters in a printer. Being a 5760 dpi printer that uses four separate cartridges for each color, one would naturally expect better outputs than standard budget printers. Sadly this one just doesn't deliver.
Performance We ran our standard tests at the highest print quality settings unless specified. The tests include the following:
Font Test: The font test consisted of printing a document containing various fonts starting from point size 24 going all the way down to point size 1.
Result: The last line came out dithered and unreadable when checked through a magnifying glass. I guess the printer can be ruled out for giving minute details with utmost accuracy.
Black and White Resolution Test: We printed an EIA Resolution chart (1956), containing high-contrast vertical, horizontal and diagonal lines as well as curves of various sizes.
Result: The grey color was accurately reproduced in the test, but the overall quality of the printout was not very sharp. Though there was no breaking of lines or anything, the overall print quality was pretty grainy.
Time Taken: 11 minutes 39 seconds
Where I can get HP PSC1608 All in one Printer logic board in Pune / Mumbai ?
My printer is down due to this.
by chau_hash
from Mumbai
on 05/12/07 04:21 PM
i am from vijayawada. i have three old printers 1.canon and 2.hpdeskjet and dotmatirx. i wish exchange all with new. any chance to exchange thease items with new one in hyderabad or vijayawada.
by drswamy kvr
from vijayawada
on 16/07/07 07:24 AM
yes, Epson CX3500 is full of crap!!! I never got to print any colored pages yet and all colored tanks are supposedly empty, black tank failed too! My printer is still brand new & useless... go buy other brands instead!!!
Having owned Epson photo printers in the past with very good results, I was VERY disappointed to discover the Epson CX3500 (3 color tank, 1 black tank) all-in–one machine I purchased here in Thailand (same model is CX3600 in Europe, CX4600 or CX3200 I think in US) was nothing more than an ink scam. It took 1/3 of my color ink tanks to get the print head clean before I could even use it. I printed out a total of 4 pages of photos and printed nothing more in color (setting on text, black ink only) and ran out of the color tanks in 1 week of text printing. Purchasing a complete new set of the color tanks I did no color printing at all and after 3 weeks of text page printing (and not that much) the color tanks were ½ empty. I then went to print color photos and had to clean the print head 4 times (still did not fully clean the heads) and it emptied the last ½ of the color tanks. I still had ¼ of the original black ink tank and had already gone through 2 sets of expensive color tanks for 4 pages of photos. It turns out that every time you print a black ink only page (including the copy feature), the printer is still using up color ink. When the color tanks are empty, the printer will not let you print a black ink only page (even if you have plenty of ink in the black ink tank) until you replace the color tanks with new ones so you have to constantly keep buying them. Leaving the US, I gave up a Canon 960 (6 tank printer) due to 120 vs 220 volt here in Thailand that you could print pages of very high quality photos all day and all night and not deplete one of the tanks. It also did not seem to use any color ink if black ink only was selected for printing. I do not see this as anything more than a forced color ink purchase scheme on the part of Epson. I am investigating other printers than Epson and looking at the details so I do not fall into this trap again. As soon as I replace the CX3500, I will take a hammer to it. I dare not even give it away lest some other unsuspecting person support this scheme.
by jlee grubb
from Chiang mai Thailand
on 07/11/05 04:02 PM
I am having the exact same problem with the CX3500, and I feel like you're being very polite about this piece of crap printer. If you ever come across a solution to this problem, please do let me know.
I hear that THe Epson printers have been programmed to only print 2,500 copies and then print blanks. Fantastic eh @!!!@#$%^
by kate taylor
from wellington
on 23/01/07 11:55 AM
DO NOT BUY! 1 year and it prints blank paper - wasted $$$ on new ink - cleaning nozzles wasted ink and nothing - JUNK - BEWARE!
by r. e.
from Greensburg
on 29/10/04 09:53 PM
worst printer I've ever owned. the ink cartridges are very expsnensive (you have to buy FOUR) and need to be replaced every 3 months. my printer has broken down after 14 months. this printer eats up ink EVERY time it is turned on, and now my printer simply doesn't work. it prints blank pages
My C82 just had the same problem. Changed the ink cartridge and it won't print black. Have cleaned multiple times and still doesn't work. The printer is just over a year old and I think it's dead now!
Purchased 2 C82 printers less than 2 years ago. First one stopped printing before it was one year old. The second one has now done the same thing. Have always used genuine Epson ink but after replacing with new cartidges and multiple cleanings the printer will not print black. Has anyone come up with a solution to this problem. It is a shame to throw away 2 almost new printers!
My first C82 quit while still under warranty (4 months)Was given a new one to replace. It has been working O.K. for over a year. Had trouble with one print head. Had it cleaned by a guy who took out the cartridge and squirted windex on the print head with a hypo needle. It has been working well ever since. I am now using ink from Inkjets and everything is still O.K. touch wood. I don't get a good print out in draft but with the price of their ink, who cares. Color pictures are still good. Ink is costing me less than 15% of Epson ink even with shipping and handeling from USA into Canada.
by G.R. Ford
from Saskatoon, SK Canada
on 08/03/05 11:34 AM
My first C82 quit while still under warranty (4 months)Was given a new one to replace. It has been working O.K. for over a year. Had trouble with one print head. Had it cleaned by a guy who took out the cartridge and squirted windex on the print head with a hypo needle. It has been working well ever since. I am now using ink from Inkjets and everything is still O.K. touch wood. I don't get a good print out in draft but with the price of their ink, who cares. Color pictures are still good. Ink is costing me less than 15% of Epson ink even with shipping and handeling from USA into Canada.
by G.R. Ford
from Saskatoon, SK Canada
on 08/03/05 11:34 AM
I wouldn't wish one on people I don't like... totally worthless if the printer stops printing after the third cartridge change EVERY TIME.
My church just finished off their second, and they don't print over 70 pages a week.
Class action is right.
I changed the cartridges and it no longer printed any more. I can not find anyone to repair my Epson Stylus C82
by Lisa Gilbert
from Cleveland
on 10/11/04 09:14 PM
The answer is the same to all of you that can't get any printing at all out of your Epson printer - check that the tube under the cleaning head assembly ( bottom right of the machine, under where the print heads usually rests) has not come off the downpointing nozzle , if it has, simply re-connecting it, most likely will solve the problem - I wonder how many perfectly good printers are thrown out because of this.
WOW! David you were right!! THANK YOU SO MUCH! I had an extremely important document to print (and it was late at night). Your help was VERY MUCH APPRECIATED! I was amazed that connecting the tube fixed the "blank page" problem! Although I do have to say it was very difficult to fix - I found that plyers worked well to do the job. Thanks again! YOU ARE A GENIOUS! And it saved me from having to buy another printer!! =)
sucks, printed nothing but blank pages when I replaced cartridges. Had to go over them one by one, replacing each cartridge, then printing to get it to work. Used half the black ink to set it up.
by Epson Blows
from Columbus
on 26/01/06 01:17 AM
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