Customer Reviews

Epson PictureMate Dash PM260 Compact Photo Inkjet Printer (C11C694201)

5 star:		(67)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

The photos printed on this paper look really great. They look just as good as something I would have done professionally for a standard 4x6. However, the amount of toner in these cartridges doesn't appear to be anywhere near what they are promising. I got the printer for Christmas (it comes with a cartridge), along with this ink/paper replacement pack. I have printed exactly 102 photos, and have gone through both the starter ink cartridge that came with the printer, as well as the replacement ink cartridge. Now I am left with about fifty pieces of paper and no way to print on them. I am not printing anything unusual (just a bunch of photos of our kids), nor were the photos taken at a very high resolution (5M - not sure if that matters).

So, that would make the cost of printing each photo about $0.38-.40/each, and that doesn't include the cost of the printer itself! I love the convenience of being able to easily print photos at home, but it comes at a high price when you can get it done online or at a local retailer's for $0.12-.20/print. I guess that's why they can afford to charge so little for the printer.

Quick follow-up as of 9/7/08:

I let the printer sit for a few months - just hadn't had time to print anything lately. When I tried to print some photos yesterday, the color looked awful and there were banded lines on it. So I put in a new cartridge, but the photos still looked bad. The troubleshooting guide recommended cleaning the heads 2-3 times. I cleaned the head 8 times per the instructions, and it did look better, but still had the lines. The instructions say:

"If repeated cleanings don't help, you can also turn the Epson Stylus off and wait at least six hours or overnight (this allows any dried ink to soften)."

I let the printer sit overnight, and did another head cleaning this morning. The quality still wasn't back to normal, so I tried another head cleaning...at which point I got an error message that the ink level was low, and that you can't clean the heads with low ink! Mind you, this was a brand new cartridge, and I hadn't even printed any photos on it, just did several cleanings. Since I couldn't clean the heads, I just started printing pictures. The first several came out with the lines, but after that they looked pretty good.

Anyway, I still like the photo quality and the convenience. But I probably blew through $10 worth of ink cleaning the heads. So, my advice to you is if you buy this printer, try to print to it fairly often so the print heads stay clean and not gunked up.

Had to buy a photo printer on very short notice without the usual amount of research. Was attracted to this one because it's a dedicated photo printer and it uses an all-in-one cartridge. The other printers I considered required either special photo cartridges or multiple color cartridges to get photo-quality results. There's nothing that irks me more than the price of ink, and I didn't want to be continually buying replacements. This Epson promises 150 pictures from a $35 cartridge and will prorate the cost of the cartridge if you don't get them all. As for the photos, I'm astounded at the quality and color correctness. The results surpass most photo labs I've used. I decided to do some post-purchase research and found that this printer is the only one to rate superior on a popular electronics rating site. I agree ... it does an amazing job.

This past weekend we borrowed my friends Canon Selphy and my wife fell in love with it and asked me to buy one for her. So after checking online and reading various reviews, I saw that the PictureMate had a higher rating, more features, printed much faster, had a lower cost per print.

Based on all of those reviews it appeared that the Epson was a better quality unit so I bought one.

After printing the first photo with the Epson, it was apparent that all of the reviews were correct. This is a great printer with lots of options and is extremely easy to use.

Just to test the difference between the Selphy and the Picturemate, I printed the same exact photo that I had from the Selphy and compared it to the PictureMate. There is a major difference between the two. The Espon print was MUCH brighter and had much more detail than the Canon. As a professional photographer, I was really amazed at the quality this little printer.

Another real nice feature of this printer is the size of the screen. It's a large 3.6" screen and is extremely easy to navigate. The Selphy had a tiny screen and wasn't near as user friendly.

I simply can't add anything to the reviews and description of the printer as found on Amazon and elsewhere, including accolades from a number of magazines and websites. This printer is AWESOME!

True transportability, and the quality of prints EXCEEDS what I have had printed at commercial locations by a long shot. The ONLY drawback of course, is the limitation of 4X6 prints... but for what I'm using it for, it's PERFECT!

After buying here at Amazon, I suggest going to Epson's site and purchasing the special Accessory Kit [...] which includes two full ink/paper kits (150 prints each), AND a carrying bag for the printer.

[...]

Best photo printer I have ever used... and inexpensive as well!

I recently purchased a Nikon D40 camera and I have been researching the best 4x6 photo printer to buy. After much research, I decided on the Epson Picturemate Dash. I have to say that I am so impressed, I have already showed and demonstrated it to 3 people and they immediately ordered one for themselves.

The printer accepts any memory stick, USB thumb drive, direct connection to camera and displays all photos on its built in LCD screen. The photo paper and ink come in a pack and yield 150 photos which comes out to about $.23 per photo. Pictures print amazingly fast...in less than 15 seconds.

The quality of the prints in most cases surpassed the labs that I go to. If you love gadgets, have a passion for great photos, you will be so happy you bought this printer!

Purchased the Epson PictureMate 260. Very impressed with the ease of setup and the quality of the pictures. They are great!! It's very fast and very accurate at reproducing photos. You can even purchase a battery and take it with you. Now that's cool. The only downer is the number of pictures you can print with the ink cartridge that comes with it. The answer is - pathetically few. After about 20 pictures it started telling me to install a new cartridge because the ink was low. Ridiculous. It's obvious that one of Epson's goals is to sell ink and paper. A new cartridge with 150 sheets of paper is $40 to $50, so be sure to count this as part of the initial cost.

Bought Dash on a leading computer mag recommendation and am thrilled with first weeks results. Easy to operate. Gives great 4x6 borderless prints, among other print formats. Catridge packs produce relatively inexpensive prints.
May be a little bulkier than some other printers in it's class, but still easy to tote around.

I received this product and it didn't work. OK, fine, that happens. Here's the problem - I called Epson support, and after 45 minutes and a whole ink cartridge they confirmed that it didn't work and offered to replace it, my BRAND NEW printer that didn't work, with a REFURBISHED printer. If I wanted a used printer then I would have bought a used printer.

Don't buy Epson products. EPSON DOESN'T STAND BEHIND THEM!

Very easy to set up, very small footprint, works as advertised. Prints are excellent! What more do you want?

This printer works great! The picture quality is terrific. You can't go wrong with this printer. We selected it because it was the Editor's Choice in PC Magazine, and they didn't let us down.