My 2c just on the Epson ('cos I bought the smaller '870 recently).
As a previous owner of the original Epson Stylus Color I wanted to avoid Epson.
That printer gave me paper feed problems early in its life, and the constant
cleaning cycles drove me mad! I replaced it by an hp720 - superb for
run-of-the-mill stuff. But
Tom S. raved so much about the 870/1270 that I thought I'd give them a second
try. (I also bought the Acer Scanwit that Tom raved about, before he went for
the Sprintscan 4000... I can't keep up with him, but I think we all share
that!) At least
(ObOMcontent) I have an OM4 to generate the source material!
I find the 870 to be too slow for normal text printing compared to my aging
hp720 so I only use it for photos - where I find it excellent. But it means I
have 2 printers connected to the PC - the old hp is default, has plain paper in
it, and is parallel
connected while the 870 has photo paper ready installed and is via USB.
The 870 has 6 colour inks (in one cartridge) and I had two concerns:
1 - the cost of the Epson (chipped) cartridges
2 - the waste when one colour runs out first.
I also found that the cartridges that were shipped with the printer only lasted
for about 10 A4-size photo prints so I was initially rather disappointed /
scared and I had to run out on day 2 to buy more!
Well some months down the road I can say:
1 - cartridges are available from mail-order places VERY cheap (eg
www.7dayshop.com (UK only) 27ukp = $39 for THREE colour cartridges.)
2 - all the colour inks seem to go down at the same rate! (Nice display in the
printer driver - the upside of those chipped cartridges!) Maybe it's
indicative of the 'average' photos I take?
Concerning cartridge life - the replacements have lasted for dozens of prints
(perhaps they ship a special low capacity one with new printers?)
I would certainly buy it again - probably the 1270 (now 1280) for it's
increased width - but think about desk space ('specially if you have a second
printer for text...)
Hope that helps,
br
jez
I'm considering a replacement for my Epson Stylus Color 800
inkjet printer. Two printers have been highly recommended to
me, the Epson Photo Stylus 1280 and the Olympus P-400.
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