EPSON Artisan 800 Up to 38 ppm 5760 x 1440 dpi Wireless InkJet MFC / All-In-One Color Printer - Retail

EPSON ARTISAN 800

Reviewed By: CHAFLIKO on 10/23/2008

Tech Level: high - Ownership: 1 day to 1 week

Pros: Absolutely the best all in one printer based on design and functionality. If your into D-SLR Photography, this is a great addition to print High Definition Photos. Two papers trays are excellent, one for photo paper and the other for regular paper, makes printing easier on demand. Print quality is excellent and a 4x6 photo can be printed in as little as 10 seconds, best photo in about 12 to 15 sec. Six ink tanks are available to create perfect tones and vivid colors. Also, you are able to to scan, fax, copy, print and with the vivid large touch panel screen, all these features are used with ease. Honestly its a sophisticated printer, but you don't need to read the manual to use it. Printing from Media cards was never easier, pop it in, it loads all photos in the printer, auto corrects and you can either select photos to print or print all with a simple touch of a button. This is one printer that I will enjoy for years to come. EPSON out did themselves this time. Excellent.

Cons: The ink tanks are placed in a separate compartment and the ink is fed through a hose to the print heads. EPSON has had problems in the past of the ink drying and clogging the system and the printer will render useless. My only hope is that EPSON has resolved this problem in their new generation of printers. Only time will tell, but piece of mind is that this printer comes with an EPSON TWO YEAR WARRANTY & Lifetime Telephone Support, so it is my guess EPSON stands behind their product as opposed to CANON, HP, LEXMARK that only provide a ONE year warranty.

Other Thoughts: I took a look at the printer structure as far is paper feeders, rollers, and internal components of the printer, and the platform of the printer is well built. The ink tanks are placed in a separate compartment and the ink is fed through a hose to the print heads. I have switched to this printer from the CANON PIXMA Series and the only reason was design and functionality. The print quality between the two is the exact same with the naked eye because canon claims to have a higher dpi resolution, but side by side comparison shows no difference. The photos come out crystal clear every time. Wi-Fi is easy to set up with the EPSON software included. There is no manual configuration needed. Also, for the first batch of Epson Artisan Printers, there is an bonus extra 98 high yield black ink included in the box as a thank you from Epson being one of their first customers for the Artisan 800.

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Reviewed By: Rand on 9/24/2008

Tech Level: somewhat high - Ownership: 1 day to 1 week

This user purchased this item from Newegg

Pros: Wonderfully simple touch screen menu, easy set-up, great printing quality, fast speeds, and even the wireless networking feature worked fine after installing printer driver on additional pc's. Pretty much does it all with the exception of scanning legal documents.

Cons: It's big and quite heavy. Takes a bit of space from a desk top.
Does not scan legal size documents....Their product description seemed to suggest that capability.

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Good, well ballanced unit

Reviewed By: on 11/10/2009

Tech Level: somewhat high - Ownership: 1 month to 1 year

Pros: As far as all-in-one's go, this is a very good unit. This is the first all-in-one that I personally have purchased, but I have used other units extensively. This is, by far, my favorite home office all-in-one that I have used--it has done everything I have asked of it well, and I have not missed having separate components.

The scanner is good--not a photo scanner's quality, but definitely better than average, and very good for office work. The document feeder works well for up to ~50 pages, and I have used it for several large and small jobs.

The printer is very good for office documents and above average for photographs for an office printer, but there is a noticeable gap to high end photo printers. Printing CD's and DVD's is pretty easy, and the quality is, again, pretty good.

The printing speed is a plus, and the networking options work fine. The touch screen is very intuitive, and its adjustable angle make it very easy to use from a standing or sitting position.

Cons: I sometimes go a while when I don't make a print, and the heads frequently need cleaning after this. That is pretty standard, but it is annoying. A color laser unit would serve this usage pattern much better since the toner doesn't dry out like inks, but the price point for those units kept them from being an option for me at the time I bought the Artisan 800.

Like everyone else has mentioned, the out-feed tray is flimsy, but I rarely have it out. When I do use it, it works just fine. The paper feed tray is also pretty flimsy, and this unit is DEFINITELY NOT a business class. I would not trust it for anything more than personal home office or family use.

The unit prefers premium inkjet paper to cheap copy paper, which adds a little to the cost of routine printing. The flip side is that every premium stock I have printed (premium photo paper, brochure stock, business cards, etc.) has worked very well, and Epson does a good job of matching print settings to stock type.

Other Thoughts: For those who are complaining about the unit drinking ink, disable the auto-maintenance features and you can greatly extend the life of the ink cartridges. This is the primary reason the color cartridges go so quickly if you are only printing B&W, or only printing pages one or two at a time.

I haven't extensively used the fax or front panel flash memory readers, but they seem to be in line with other units' capabilities. The large front panel is a plus if you print directly from memory cards.

If you are thinking of doing high end photography work with either the scanner or the printer, then you will be unhappy with the results. If, however, you are doing every-day office tasks and need the occasional good quality photo print (not excellent, but very good) then this unit would be a solid choice. I bought my unit soon after it came out, and I have never regretted the purchase. I would buy it again, and would definitely recommend it at this price.

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Good design, very costly ink

Reviewed By: dbGuy on 10/31/2009

Tech Level: high - Ownership: 1 month to 1 year

Pros: Print quality is good, scanner and document feeder has worked well, nice looking design, many good features, display/control panel is wonderful. Not many complaints as far as design and features. One of few scanners I've used where the default scanner settings often produce a good quality image. PAPER IS FREE! Well, not really, but it will seem like it when you realize how much the ink costs.

Cons: Very expensive ink!!! Yeah, everybody knows inks are a rip-off on just about all printers but this goes beyond anything you might expect. Paper trays and the cover/document feeder are flimsy, not a show-stopper though.

Other Thoughts: The ink cost really hit home when I realized how much I've spent on ink the past few months and yet I've gone through less than two reams of paper during the same period. This product is cool looking and a pleasure to use. If you don't care about the cost of ink I recommend it.

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Could not be any more disgusted with Epson!

Reviewed By: dehlers on 10/10/2009

Tech Level: high - Ownership: 1 month to 1 year

Pros: Good quality printing, great CD printing capabilities, WiFi, good scanner.

Cons: We print B&W 90% of the time, but somehow the color cartridge ink levels slowly fall by themselves. Guess what? When ONE color runs short, this unit WILL NOT let you print anything in black or grayscale! I had to print a very important FedEx label a few days ago, and because magenta was low, it would not let me print in plain black. Epson has been sued over this, and I am convinced that if you print 100% B&W, your color ink levels will slowly fall. I dont think the ink levels are even being measured in the cartridges, I think that Epson has set some kind of timer set up for them instead. When they show as empty, there is probably a lot of ink in there.

Other Thoughts: Going to buy HP or something else with CD printing capability.

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