Want to hear cleaned up rap? Get the Epson Stylus Color 850 Printer
Written: Jun 04 '01 (Updated Jun 05 '01)
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Pros: good quality, network support, paper extender (for 8½” by 14”)
Cons: expensive (printer and cartridge), cleans very often (making sounds)
The Bottom Line: The Epson Stylus Color 850 is a great printer. Installation is simple. The cleaning sounds are irritating and the printer is expensive. Overall, the Epson Stylus Color 850 is excellent.
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| rdogg2k1's Full Review: Epson Stylus Color 850 InkJet Printer |
In 1998, I realized I needed a new printer. The one that I had previously been using (a Canon LBP-430 from ’91) needed a new cartridge and they weren’t available anymore. The Canon printer cost $800 (it was one of the first printers) and cartridges weren’t made anymore. Go figure. So I turned to the Epson Stylus Color 850. Since that day in February of ’98, I have used the Epson Stylus Color 850 without any regrets.
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Epson Stylus Color 850 - Hardware
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Installation should be a breeze for most people. I only had to follow three easy tasks. The hardest part about installing the printer was following the steps in the correct order! All you have to do is plug in the plug to an outlet, connect the cable to the printer, and setup the driver. I set them up in the wrong order 4 times in a row! My wife was laughing hysterically. She had told me to read the manual. There was a manual included in the box. I was too stubborn but I finally got it setup. I think installation was rather simple if you followed the instructions.
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Epson Stylus Color 850 - Software
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The software included with the Epson Stylus Color 850 was excellent. The most important software was the Epson Stylus Color 850 drivers. For those people who are computer illiterate (including me), a driver is a set of information that tells the computer which device you are installing. By installing the driver for the printer, the computer can now print out pages to the Epson Stylus Color 850. Also included in the bundle were some photo-editing tools. The first one, Kai’s Photo Soap, lets you edit a photo if you have one. I have a lot of friends who have experience with computers and they send me photos very often. With Photo Soap, I can remove red eyes from photos, sharpen them, and use other nifty tweaks. This improves the quality of an image. The other program included is PressWriter. This program lets me create greeting cards and other similar stuff. Microsoft Publisher is a program similar to PressWriter.
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Epson Stylus Color 850 - Cartridges
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Installing cartridges couldn’t be easier. I just clicked on the “Black” (and later “Color”) icon on the printer. The printer made a few sounds and moved the cartridge holder over so that I could replace it. There is a lever there so you just lift it. The bottom of the cartridge holder pushes on the cartridge (if there is one) and the cartridge pops up, making it easy to remove. To put in a cartridge, just place it in and close the holder by pushing the lever down. It was easy as pi. What I have found out about the cartridges is that they seem to last a long time. In ‘98, I bought a two-pack of color cartridges and another one of black cartridges. They are finally running out of ink now. That’s 3 years for 2 cartridges! What a great deal! Just recently, I got 2 more two-packs at Costco. They’ll last for a long time! Also, another thing I like about the long-lasting cartridges is that I use a network. The printer is shared between my room and my wife’s room through a network. This lets us both use the same printer. Using the network, I don’t need to buy another printer for my wife. I find that splendid! The bad thing about the cartridges is that they are expensive. If I hadn’t bought mine at Costco (where everything is cheap if you buy it in bulk), the cartridges would each cost $20. That’s $40 just for cartridges. At Costco, the two-packs sell for $60 total. That’s 25% off, and still pretty expensive.
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Epson Stylus Color 850 - Paper
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The paper mechanism of the Epson Stylus Color 850 is great. I’ve printed out everything from envelopes to 8½” x 14” (Legal) size paper. The width of the paper is secured using a sliding bar. The bar (at the left side) slides right to the size of the paper. This creates great size control. The computer understands from this the size of the paper. The height of the paper can be controlled too. By default, the printer can hold 11” height paper. But what separates this printer from the others is that the printer comes with an attachment. This add-on extends the length of the paper backing to support 14” high paper. Without the accessory, the top of the 14” paper would lean back and probably fall off the printer. So this extra tool is outstanding.
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Epson Stylus Color 850 - Printing
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Selecting the options to print a document on the Epson Stylus Color 850 is pretty easy. The dpi (quality of the printout) ranges from Economy to SuperFine (14400 dpi). There are presets of Economy, Normal, Text/Graph, and PhotoEnhance. I use Economy to print pages in black and white. Economy uses the least ink. PhotoEnhance is only necessary when you want to print out a photo or something with a lot of colors. You can change prints from “Speed” to “Quality” or “Color” to “Black”. Also in this dialog box is a tab titled “Utility”. This tab lets you clean the printer by performing one of 4 methods. These are easy to use. No more spending money on a repairman.
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Epson Stylus Color 850 - Other Info
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The Epson Stylus Color 850 cleans itself. While this helps the quality of printouts, this could also be a nagging problem. The cleaning takes about 3 minutes and the printer is often cleaned before printouts. That means that you would have to wait 3 minutes just to get a printout of a black-and-white document. That’s a while. Also, the cleaning process is very loud. The beeps and sounds are very annoying. They sound like something you’d hear out of a cleaned up version of any rap song. No kidding. That was my wife’s first thoughts when she heard the annoying sounds of the printer. The printer cleans itself (and makes these noises) very often. The sounds barely every stop. This is aggravating for me, especially when I’m tired and find out my stocks are down. My wife is rather lucky since the printer is in my room, she is in another room, and she can print on my printer. Finally, the printer is very expensive. The Epson Stylus Color 850 sells for only $230 now, but I bought it at over $420.
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Epson Stylus Color 850 - Final Thoughts
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Bottom line, I like the Epson Stylus Color 850 printer. The installation is rather simple. The printer supports paper that ranges in size from an envelope to an 8½” by 14”. It is also easy to replace cartridges. The software included on the CD make for a great printout. The quality of the printer can be easily selected. It also cleans itself. But when cleaning, it makes noises. If you can stand many beeps and other annoying sounds and can shell out $230 for a printer, the Epson Stylus Color 850 is for you.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 420
Operating System: Windows
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Epinions.com ID:
rdogg2k1
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Reviews written: 1
Trusted by: 2 members
About Me:
RDoGG2k1 is a guy interested in his wife (either that or beer)
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