Epson Stylus Photo 820 Inkjet Printer

Print speed is a respectable 12 ppm for black-and-white prints, while a 4-by-6-inch photo takes roughly 48 seconds. The 820 supports a wide variety of media types, including standard letter-size paper; greeting cards; banners up to 44 inches; and 4-by-6-inch, 5-by-7-inch, and 8-by-10-inch borderless papers. The input tray holds 100 sheets or 10 envelopes, and the output tray holds 30 sheets.

The Software bundle includes Epson Software Film Factory with Print Image Matching support, Arcsoft PhotoImpression 3.0, and QBeo PhotoGenetics 2.0 TE. Installation and connectivity are easy, with both USB and parallel ports provided. Compatible with both Windows and Macintosh, the Photo 820 comes with a one-year warranty and is backed by the Epson Exchange program.

Product Description
Stylus Photo 820 Ink Jet Printer produces frame-ready photos at a picture perfect price. The best buy in 6-color image quality, the Epson Stylus Photo 820 offers fast photos and text, plus BorderFree printing, which creates edge-to-edge photos, ready to frame or place in albums, quickly and easily, without awkward perforations at up to 2880 x 720 dpi resolution, and superior Photo Inks for true-to-life "dotless" photos.

The Film Factory software that comes with the printer is exactly what I've been looking for in regards to printing common photo sizes such as 3x5, 4x6, 5x7, 8x10, or wallets. I can fit 4 3x5 or 2 4x6 into one sheet of photo paper which minimizes the cost of each photo sheet when calculated by per picture.

Overall, I rate this a 3.5 rounded up to 4.0 for Amazon's scale. Picture quality is very good...rivals a real photo. In fact a friend of mine thought the Epson print was the real photo when comparing the same exact picture processed by Ofoto.com (an online Kodak processing company). Again, the Film Factory software is very good for printing common photo sizes. However, because of the rapid ink usage, I didn't rate this a 5.0, which is the main draw back of this printer. ...


The Biggest Bank for Your Buck is the Epson Photo 820!   May 19, 2002
65 out of 67 found this review helpful

I needed a better photo quality printer to supplement my HP 1120C. My application is for personal photo printer not as a production or office printer.

I researched all types of photo quality printers for several weeks and was going to go with the Cannon until I noticed how cheaply even the high end Canons were made. I also noticed that almost no one sold Cannon supplies like the required expensive Cannon paper. The Lexmark was far too expensive to own when it came to buying ink.

I was looking at some of the better Epson photo printers when I noticed that the lowly 820 used the exact same print cartridges. Then I realized Epson has just cut the price to a hundred dollars! Subtracting the value of the included ink that means the hardware is now only sixty dollars. At that price if the print head clogs I will throw it away. But I like this printer so much I may buy more of them. It is an incredible value at its new low price. First compared to Canons at twice the price it is `rugged'. The paper tray folds up when not in use, which serves a very practical purpose. It helps keep the dust out of the printer and dust is one of the causes of print head clogging. If you remember to ALWAYS turn this printer of using the left switch (GREEN LIGHT) and keep the tray closed you should not have many print head clogging problems. So far I haven't had any problems.

Some try to get away with as few as three colors in their photo printers but the Epson 820 uses six colors and your eye can immediately see the difference. The Epson 820 produces prints like those from photo labs on high quality photo paper. The Epson 820 ink is rated to be light fast for 25 years, which is, long enough for me. My HP 1120C produces colors which start to fade within months if not days.

Now look at the cost of owning the Epson. One significant feature of the HP was it had a print preview in the printer driver. I could enable it to check exactly what would be printed so I could avoid wasting expensive ink. Darn if the Epson 820 doesn't have the same the feature although implemented slightly differently. In some ways I like the Epson printer drivers better as there are so many options which enable me to get exactly what I want. Some people may be turned off by so many options but they don't have to use them. Their prints will simply be more expensive than mine will be or of a slightly lesser quality compared to what the printer could have produced. The features are there if users would learn to use them, which is better than not having them at all.

I ran into a Canon salesman at MicroCenter when I bought the Epson 820. I told him he had five minutes to convince me the Canon 750 was a better value. His biggest claim was look at how you could replace each Canon cartridge individually, as not all colors would run out at the same time. Ok that is a nice feature but in real life the colors run out pretty close to each other. That means that if I replace one color I may find out that in the next picture I print I have run out of two more etc. I like being able to just swap out the empty set and be done with it. Five Canon color inks run about sixty dollars. You can buy three Epson 820 five color carts for that price and the ink will be fresher with less chance the pigments have separated from the binder. You don't want to store ink to far into the future from its date of manufacture just like you would not want to buy paint for your house and keep it for years before you used it.

I have also noticed that there now are continuous ink feed systems and alternate sources of replacement cartridges for the 820 on the Internet but I am not too excited about them since I am not printing that many photos on a weekly basis. I would have guessed that such products would not exist because of the chip in each Epson cartridge that monitors ink flow and declare the cartridge to be empty when ink is low.

One application my brother in law has is to carry an ink jet with him in his truck to immediately print reports and photos he takes when inspecting houses. By buying a simple voltage inverter and using a laptop to drive the printer he can achieve that goal with a better quality print output using the Epson 820. Again the 820 printer is cheap enough that if it gets damaged he can toss it.

One other detail to examine. One doesn't want to get a printer that will be orphaned since so little supplies are bought by the public it is uneconomical to carry them. Amazon rates the sales for each product. Look at how the Epson 820 rates compared to any other printer.

What are the cons to the Epson 820?

It is slower than the high end Canons in making a photo but it is hundreds of dollars cheaper.

It is nosier than my HP as it moves the paper back and forth but that is a photo it is working with and it doesn't really bother me.

It has a non-replaceable print head compared to including the print head in each new cartridge like the HP does. This means it will eventually wear out. At sixty dollars net cost of hardware - who cares? I don't!

Do you? Epson will probably have another hundred dollar, six color photo printer with improved technology when I need to replace the print head in five years or 16,000 prints.


Low price for low speed....   January 13, 2002
Guy Terry (Little Elm, TX)
28 out of 30 found this review helpful

I started with an HP 882C last year thinking that I had a printer that could print "photo quality." Unfortunately, it didn't. After a year of dissappointment, I talked to my photographer brother after seeing some prints that I'd assumed had come from his office. Not so! He had used an Epson printer.
I didn't want to buy one at first, because of all of the $$ I'd likely spend making prints. Well, it hasn't been so bad. Unlike the other review here, I think that the cartridges are reasonable (compared to the HP that I had) and the paper is reasonable for the quality.
With other brands, paying more means better quality images. However, with Epson, paying more means faster printing speeds. This printer is basically at the bottom of the Epson line, with great quality, especially with the best papers. The black and white is crisp and clean.
Get ready though, because the prining is SLOW! That goes for color, photo, B&W print, all of it! Anything that's not draft quality is slow, slow, slow!
If you are getting ready to make a purchase, check to see how much money you have, then compare to how much time you have. I have left the printer to print out a two page resume, 25 copies, for a total of 50 pages. It's been quite a while...longer than an hour! That's the only reason it doesn't get 5 stars.
However, if you have other things to do, and a negative scanner or a high quality digital camera, this could be just the thing for you. Made plenty of Christmas presents this year!

Guy


Superb print quality, but a real ink guzzler   January 15, 2002
L. Manstrom (CA USA)
28 out of 30 found this review helpful

The photo print quality is *outstanding*, exactly what I would expect from Epson. With the addition of my Stylus 820, I have now switched over completely to digital photography with no regrets.

However, one of the benefits of digital photography is the cost savings of printing only the photos you want. Some of that cost savings goes right out the window due to the speed at which this thing will drink through an ink cartridge. I've had this printer for 3 weeks, and I anticipate having to install a new color ink cartridge soon. Granted, I've put it through its paces to see what it is capable of, but it has still used up the ink much faster than I'd have expected. I did read the reviews on this model before I bought it, but I thought perhaps the reviewers might not be familiar with the way any printer will consume ink when printing photos. This has surprised even me. That being said, I still think the print quality is worth it.

My only other gripe, and it's minor... Due to space constraints, I keep my printer on a high shelf (about eye level). This was not a problem with my Epson Stylus 740. With the 820, I find it very difficult to load paper due to the "rounded" styling of the top of the printer. Also, the control buttons are on the very top of the printer and I cannot see the markings that indicate which button is which. Once I have them memorized, it won't be a problem.


Epson 820 is EXCELLENT --- BUT!   December 6, 2001
Ward Stewart (Honolulu, HI USA)
25 out of 29 found this review helpful

I recently bought an Epson 820 -- it seems to me to have all the virtues in abundance -- color prints on glossy paper are not to be distinguished from chemical prints. Wonderful!

On the negative side it is rather slow, not only in color but in B/W as well. THEN the killer -- ENORMOUSLY expensive Ink Cartridges and an electronic chip in the cartridge which prevents it being refilled.