Customer Rating: 
Summary: Prints Like A Dream!
Comment: I have had this printer for years and I just bought another one as a gift. Get them where you can......great for printing pictures as well. Epson makes a fine product.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Epson Stylus C86
Comment: There should be a specific cleaning cartage. The built in cleaning
method does not seem to work.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Poor text print quality -- and there are better photo printers
Comment: I owned HPs for years, and then someone told me that HP's quality had gone down and that Epson was the way to go. I'd always sworn I'd avoid Epsons because they seem to have lines through the print images -- but I went on faith.
Bad idea. This is the worst printer I've ever had. I can't print text without lines through it. Doesn't matter how many times I clean the nozzles, and it doesn't matter if they're new ink cartridges. Since this is my everyday printer (and I'm a writer), that's a big problem for me.
If you print a color photo at highest quality with good Epson paper, you'll get a really nice image, but image and photo printing are your goal, you're better off with a dedicated photo printer. (I have an Epson R200 that I'm happy with -- it cost me the same amount as this printer and does a nicer job with photos.)
If I ask the printer to treat my text documents like high-quality photos, I get better text, but someone else said it extremely well -- as a result, they guzzle ink like SUVs guzzle gas, and the cartridges do dry out quickly.
I haven't owned an HP in years, so I can't make any recommendations there. I can only warn you against buying this printer, and suggest the R200 or a comparable Epson if you're looking for a photo printer. Good luck!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Avoid Epson like the plague!
Comment: This is my third Epson, and with its untimely death I've finally accepted the painful truth: Epson printers produce wonderful results... WHILE THEY WORK. And, unfortunately, they don't work for long. There's a reason Epson is no longer the #1 printer maker. This is the third Epson that died on me after about a year of use. All of them died of the Clog From Hell disease, but whilst the first two at least continued printing something (so I could use it to print throwaway drafts and such), this one just keeps spitting out blank pages at me. Replacing the cartridges doesn't work, running nozzle cleaning cycles doesn't work, NOTHING works. And did I mention that Epson printers downright refuse to print if one of the color inks is low, even if you're only looking to print black-and-white? I see no point in having to replace a cartridge if I'm not going to use it. Except, perhaps, to suck more money out of your customers.
So, after $120-worth of wasted ink and paper and enough stress to last me for the next decade, I'm finally saying goodbye to Epson. Its printers can make wonderful prints, but they just aren't reliable. If you don't mind having to replace your printer every year or so, AND spend a fortune on cartridges in the meantime, then by all means buy an Epson. Otherwise, RUN AWAY and don't look back!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Best printer ever
Comment: I bought this as a close out at Radio shack for $49.00 year later works like a charm INK is so cheap for Ebay knock offs its sick..If you buy Epson ink cartridges your pretty much a dope. i guess for Office archive work you might want the Durabright But when you can buy like a dozen Cartridges on ebay for $20.00 man oh man..No other ink is so cheap for knock offs...
Summary: Prints Like A Dream!
Comment: I have had this printer for years and I just bought another one as a gift. Get them where you can......great for printing pictures as well. Epson makes a fine product.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Epson Stylus C86
Comment: There should be a specific cleaning cartage. The built in cleaning
method does not seem to work.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Poor text print quality -- and there are better photo printers
Comment: I owned HPs for years, and then someone told me that HP's quality had gone down and that Epson was the way to go. I'd always sworn I'd avoid Epsons because they seem to have lines through the print images -- but I went on faith.
Bad idea. This is the worst printer I've ever had. I can't print text without lines through it. Doesn't matter how many times I clean the nozzles, and it doesn't matter if they're new ink cartridges. Since this is my everyday printer (and I'm a writer), that's a big problem for me.
If you print a color photo at highest quality with good Epson paper, you'll get a really nice image, but image and photo printing are your goal, you're better off with a dedicated photo printer. (I have an Epson R200 that I'm happy with -- it cost me the same amount as this printer and does a nicer job with photos.)
If I ask the printer to treat my text documents like high-quality photos, I get better text, but someone else said it extremely well -- as a result, they guzzle ink like SUVs guzzle gas, and the cartridges do dry out quickly.
I haven't owned an HP in years, so I can't make any recommendations there. I can only warn you against buying this printer, and suggest the R200 or a comparable Epson if you're looking for a photo printer. Good luck!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Avoid Epson like the plague!
Comment: This is my third Epson, and with its untimely death I've finally accepted the painful truth: Epson printers produce wonderful results... WHILE THEY WORK. And, unfortunately, they don't work for long. There's a reason Epson is no longer the #1 printer maker. This is the third Epson that died on me after about a year of use. All of them died of the Clog From Hell disease, but whilst the first two at least continued printing something (so I could use it to print throwaway drafts and such), this one just keeps spitting out blank pages at me. Replacing the cartridges doesn't work, running nozzle cleaning cycles doesn't work, NOTHING works. And did I mention that Epson printers downright refuse to print if one of the color inks is low, even if you're only looking to print black-and-white? I see no point in having to replace a cartridge if I'm not going to use it. Except, perhaps, to suck more money out of your customers.
So, after $120-worth of wasted ink and paper and enough stress to last me for the next decade, I'm finally saying goodbye to Epson. Its printers can make wonderful prints, but they just aren't reliable. If you don't mind having to replace your printer every year or so, AND spend a fortune on cartridges in the meantime, then by all means buy an Epson. Otherwise, RUN AWAY and don't look back!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Best printer ever
Comment: I bought this as a close out at Radio shack for $49.00 year later works like a charm INK is so cheap for Ebay knock offs its sick..If you buy Epson ink cartridges your pretty much a dope. i guess for Office archive work you might want the Durabright But when you can buy like a dozen Cartridges on ebay for $20.00 man oh man..No other ink is so cheap for knock offs...