Summary: Save your $$
Comment: These inkjets are OK but you can get superior results at a cheaper cost by taking your digital images to someplace like Walmart or CVS or Walgreens. Ink is way over-priced and the photos are not as good as what you can get elsewhere.
Customer Rating:
Summary: One of the best Photo Printers Available
Comment: I've read all the prior reviews with interest. I bought my 1280 over a year ago based on reviews on several well known and trusted Digital Photography sites. I have been very pleased with the output of this printer. Yes, the printer takes more work to get a really GOOD print then the HPs. But then I have the HP printers also and they do not measure to pure quality of print. Yes, the ink cartridges are small and do not last long if you print alot of 8x10, 13x19 like I do. But, for 250 bucks you can buy a CIS (continual inking system) that pays for itself in 3 months. Yes, the Epson ink will jam the heads IF you do not use the printer at least once every few days. Again, the printer is for PHOTOGRAPHS, not text, not the occasional print job and certainly not the occasional picture. This printer is for the professional or serious amateur photographer. I have seen alot of prints from other printers and even with the flaws, this printer is the best. I wish a few things. Epson would update the drivers more often. The supplied software is marginally usable and they ding you 30 bucks for the real package. At 400 dollars for a printer, Epson could have given us the software given the price tag of the ink cartridges. I have run Epson, Illford and Inkjetart paper through this printer will very good success.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Driver issues and OS 10.3.3
Comment: I have been using this printer for about 2 years now with a Dual PowerMac G4 with 1GB RAM. Most of the time it delivers good prints, therefore it receives at least 2 stars. I said most of the time because the printer works a bit unpredictably. On upgrading to OS 10.3.3 and upgrading the driver to 1.6bA (release date March 6, 2004), the printer refuses to finish prints once they begin. I have been printing 13x19 pages and it works fine about 50% through the document. It will then stall, stop the print, extract the paper, put the print on hold and when you go to the printer utility to the start print button, it will print from the beginning again and stall midway.
I contacted Epson about the situation and they emailed me back with their copy and paste email response with the generic (condenesed version): go to the macintosh HD and delete your Epson Driver Folder and go to support.epson.com and download the driver, follow the instructions and reinstall. And of course, it did not work. The problems persist which means the printer is not compatible yet with OS 10.3 no matter how much Epson swears it does. I have resent Epson emails and they have not responded.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Don't Buy
Comment: I had for 2 years and 3 days after the extended warrany expired the print head went bad. It cost just as much to repair as to buy a new one. Don't buy from CompUSA, they are rude and were no help! I have seen many other people with the same problems. epson sucks. This was my first and last epson! The print quality was great but horrible reliablility!!!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Pro Quality Printer for serious Users w/Deep Pockets
Comment: I teach digital photography and computer graphics for a living. The community college I work for has had a 1280 for 2 years now. Students beat the heck out of this machine and it keeps chugging along with few complaints. We really put this machine through its paces by running water color paper and all sorts of media through it.
And yes, we use MACs for graphics, which is the way it should be! Epson has a great driver for OS X Jaguar. Download it from their website. Don't blame Epson if you're crummy Windoze XP goes belly up. It's NOT the printer....
That said, it's not a perfect printer. It really does suck ink like Kool-Ade. I'll be looking into the Lysonic inkset for this problem. Epson should have put individuals ink tanks on this thing the way Canon did on the i960.
It really is designed for high volume. The more we print, the better it seems to work. So do not buy this printer if you only occasionally print 4x6 snapshots. If left to sit, the nozzles clog and you need to ship it back to Epson fro repair. It should have a user replaceable head like the Canon i960.
As for software, you should have Adobe Photoshop 6.0 or later. If you think you'll get a decent print from Jasc, Corel, or some other silly program, you'll be frustrated.
Some of the best Photo Quality inkjet papers are made by Ilford. Give them a try with this printer and you'll be impressed. It can even output negatives onto transparency material that you can contact print in a darkroom. Although I use this printer at the college where I teach, for my money the Canon i960 is a better value. Print quality is just as good, and the individual ink tanks will save you much cash.
So my recommendation for the Epson 1280 is with reservations. Make sure you really need a large format printer at home, and be prepared to shell out the bucks and toss out ink carts that are 75% full. Otherwise, look into Canon's printers.
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