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Remember - everyone seems normal until you get to know them!
Member since:09.12.2004
Reviews:32
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I think this review now will now have to aimed at the second hand printer market, as I’m 99 % sure that you’ll not find it brand new anymore. This fact is a shame because apart from it being a top notch printer and adding to Epson’s range, I recon it has all the same internals as the more popular R300, only lacking basically the memory card reader and a few updates that not many of us would notice. Obviously, I stand to be corrected if anyone knows better, this is only my opinion.
I bought this machine last year in the Jan’ sales for £65, a super bargain I think. This is my 3rd Epson printer, also had 2 Lexmark’s, but buggered both of them up by messing with
the very expensive ink cartridges. With those things it was cheaper to buy a new printer than 2 cartridges!! My Epson experiences include; Stylus photo 700 & C42 UX,
The Stylus photo 900 is a strong and heavy piece of kit; it has 2 large stainless steel bars that the print head slides up and down on, thus keeping an accurate fix on its task. The body of the printer is robust and well made. The front of the printer has 4 buttons. These include (from left to right) one touch print head cleaner, ink cartridge replacement, paper feed eject, on / off button. The front tray folds down and extends to catch the printed sheets. The rear paper holder is good for at least 50 sheets, a slider adjuster butts up to the paper to keep it square and in place. This printer is capable of direct CD printing, the Correct CD’s must be bought separately and have a printable surface. Not yet tried this useful option, but have heard it can sometimes be a pain in the arse to get a perfect result, a fair amount of messing is required to get the CD in the right place, and the right result. The printer comes with an adapter for this task, which slots into the rear of the machine. Not forgetting, another bonus item, (again, not yet used) I’m such a lazy reviewer!! A paper feed roll. I think this is for printing normal sized pics’ like you’d find from a high street developer churned out from the left hand side of the 900, what ever floats your boat! And I’m sure it is a great asset.
These new fangled options are all well and good, but to be honest, the main reason for me buying this thing was for the high quality photo print out’s. This job, the printer excels at. I love the old digital photos, but they aint much use without a decent printer. Or they will forever be locked into the computer’s hard drive, screaming to be set free out in to the real world!
The max resolution available is 5760 dpi (probably more than the eye will ever notice!!), this figure is what they call …interpolated, meaning that some software trickery is involved to make the pics look the Bo**ox, what ever it does, it does a bloody good job, and I can say that the pictures produced on the highest quality are the Bo**ox!, with the best quality photo paper.
Print times will vary, due to what ever your print quality demands you need, plain text, text with image etc being the quickest. Upping the quality will slow all inkjets down. Incidentally the droplet size is 4pl, for those who know better! The ink cartridges are not the cheapest on the market, but savings can be made to keep you happy.
1) The black cartridge is (in my opinion) easy to refill, just get a black refill kit and a chip re-setter. And follow the instructions to the letter. You’ll be Ok here.
2) The Colour cartridge is a different matter. Do not attempt to re-fill it your self, you will bugger it!, but you can find dedicated companies that will re-fill it for you for about £10, normal price around £20! Have personally replaced 9 Colour cartridges in this way, with no problems at all. (Touch wood!)
If you don’t want to risk it then the black is a T 007 & the colour is a T 009 both of which last for a good amount of time, the colour running out first if photos are your main printing tasks. Both of these are readily available at all computer suppliers.
In summary a superb printer, highly recommended, if you can find one!
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I love Epson printers, they may be a little dearer than Lexmarks, but they're far superior and the cartridges are much cheaper. I peronaaly I'm on my third machine a R200. Sandra. x
catherine82 27.01.2005 00:24
A great review with loads of info. How long does it take for the average photo to come out? (on TV it always prints in seconds - yeah right!). Catherine xxx
Advantages: Prints like Cheetah on speed, quality is like 20/20 vision with vision enhancing glasses, decent value for money. Disadvantages: Cannot use cheap alternative ink, has an arse bigger than my aunt May.
china_wolf 17.07.2005 (18.07.2005)
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