Customer Reviews

Epson PictureMate Snap 4x6 Photo Printer

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I just puchased the PictureMate Flash which is the same as the Snap except it has a built in CD burner. After corresponding with Epson I will probably be returning the Flash. According to Epson Web Support the new PictureMates have gone back to using dye based inks and use 4 color inks. I quote from Mark A of the Epson Connection "The new PictureMates, which includes the Flash all use dye based inks and are four color".

Epson now advertises about the prints from the new PictureMates in the following way "Best of all, prints from PictureMate Snap will last generations, and longer than traditional, film-processed photos. Each print is smudge, scratch, water and fade resistant for convenient, worry free handling."

Whereas the replaced PictureMate Deluxe used 6 color inks that according to Epson are "Then, print using superior 6-color archival pigment inks, for photos that will stay brilliant for years longer than any other digital printing option. In fact, they outlast traditional film-processed photos as much as 2-4 times longer. And, they last longer than prints from other dedicated 4" x 6" photo printers by as much as 25 times¹. All this, and they're even water and smudge-proof for worry-free handling."

In short the older PictureMate Deluxe used 6 color pigment ink that is "water and smudge-proof for worry-free handling" while the new PictureMates use 4 dye inks which are "smudge, scratch, water and fade resistant for convenient, worry free handling".

The older PictureMate prints are claimed to be "water and smudge-proof" the new PictureMate prints are "smudge.. and water resistant".

Is this a big deal, I think it is. If your like me, I like to display my pictures on the refrigerator and show them around at the dinner table when we go out to eat. No longer are the pictures water proof and dye inks fade quicker in the sunlight then do pigmented inks.

In the past when Epson printers were the only pigmented ink 4X6" photo printers I would recommend them hands down over the dye ink printers because of the permanence of the prints, now Epson has gone back to dye inks and 4 colors. I would check out other manufactures before buying an Epson portable snap shot printer because many of the other manufactures offer more conveniences such as printing both 5"X7" and 4"X6" and now offer as good if not better picture quality.

The PicureMate Deluxe as of today December 15, 2006 is still offered by Epson on line with an instant rebate bringing the price to $89.99 an excellant buy for an excellant printer.

The Epson PictureMate Deluxe with its 6 pigmented inks produced great color long lasting sharp prints. My wife loves the simplicity and ease of use and the GREAT pictures the PictureMate Deluxe produces. If you want great prints that won't fade easily in daylight get one of the PictureMate Deluxes before they are gone.

In favor of the new PictureMate Snap and Flash they are said to have the ability to take red eye out without using a computer, a nice feature if you are using your flash on a point and shoot camera to take pictures.
I have not tested this feature on my new Flash and it would be interesting to know if anyone has experience using the red eye removal feature.

I have given the new PictureMates a 3 rating because I now find them to be on average with other comparable printers, unlike the predecessor PictureMate Deluxe which I would rate as a 5 because its pigmented ink was far superior over other manufactures using dye inks.

I've had this printer for almost a month and just love it. I've already printed over 130 photos on it and they look great. The things I like about this printer are:
-small & light (I took it to my parents one day and printed out photos we took right there and then for them.)
-can print 3 ways: directly from printer with memory card, by attaching the camera to it or hooking up the printer to the computer
-great quality prints
-allows you to add borders and print wallet size photos
-print packs come with paper and ink so you are not running out of one or the other

This is a great printer for scrapbookers since you can print the photos you need right away. I use it to print pictures of my son that I send to family and friends.

The only negative experience I had with this printer was after I used the intial cartridge that came with it and replaced it with a new one. The first few pictures I printed came out with lines so I had to clean the print heads. I ended up having to clean them 3 times in a row before it started printing correctly. I was a little disappointed since at that time I had only used it for 2 days and printed about 20 photos on it. I haven't had any issues since and I've printed quite a bit on it and plan to do alot more. This is a great little printer that prints excellent quality prints.

It is easy to use and produces good output but it has one fault that may be a deal killer for some. It does not recognize SD cards of over 1 GB. I thought it was DOA when it wouldn't recognize my SD card, so I called Tech Support. They said that that's just the way it is. This "feature" wasn't mentioned in any reviews or writeups. Who wants to limit themselves to 1 GB cards anymore? I won't return it because who knows what undocumented "features" the competition has - but I'm not real happy!

While technology usually improves while getting cheaper Epson manages to degrade their product line. Currently Amazon makes Epson's previous model available, and it costs less. The previous model, titled PictureMate Deluxe uses a more complex ink system and the prints last longer. The current unit makes decent prints, but sadly, they are inferior to the discontinued line. This is a great product, in all forms, but while Epson has been busy finding ways to cheapen their product, the competition is printing 5x7's. Why has Epson gone backwards?

I am a digital photo junkie - in addition to taking tons of photos I use several programs to edit them before I print. The problem I have is that the ones I end up printing are for special projects or large format, and I don't have many regular 4x6 photos around. My older Epson Stylus Photo R300 prints great photos, but just takes too long to be printing out 4x6's for photo albums. In the end I have literally thousands of pictures that just sit on my hard drive.
Then along comes this PictureMate Snap that I just received for my birthday. It's perfect for those everyday pictures! Just pop in the disk, select the photos and press print.. out come high quality prints in a Snap! No computer - no software needed - completely portable. It's like turning my digital camera into a Polaroid.
I was doubly impressed with the extra features on it, not only a viewer but the ability to zoom, crop, red-eye, add borders, turn to BW or Sepia with a few button clicks. It has a handle for carrying and is very lightweight.
I don't plan to use this with my computer since I have two other Epson printers already. I would highly recommend this for anyone with a digital camera. The only drawback I found so far is that the print packs are hard to find in local stores, and you'll want to get one right away because the supplied pack will only print about 20 photos. I expect that the longer the Snap is on the market, the easier the packs will be to find. I like that they come with paper and ink for a set number of photos.
Overall a great product!

Normally dye based inks have less longevity then oil based pigments. The picturemate snap uses a reformulated dye based ink. It truly is water resistant. I know because I put a picture into a mayonaise jar with water and left it there. 2 weeks later that photo looked just like it had just come out of the printer. Try it for yourself. Also, as to the longevity claim, this has also been tested by willhelm-research.com, which is an independant testing facility. I own this printer and I absolutely love it. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a small, easy to use photo printer.

To see the information follow this :
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I received this printer for Christmas and I was thinking, OH GREAT ANOTHER LOUSY PRINTER. Boy was I wrong. The pictures print out photo lab perfect and the ink and paper are reasonable as well. The printer isn't large and oversized so it is not a chore to take it with you to gatherings and functions. I recommend this printer to anyone who has pictures they would like to print on the spot.

At first I was thrilled. Then I found that color matching was difficult-to-impossible, so the pics look washed out. I tried to download the latest driver from Epson's site, only to discover that it was mistakenly a scanner driver after I wrestled with the fact that the self-extracting archive wouldn't extract. After I contacted Epson no less than six times, a tech confirmed that she couldn't extract it either, and escalated me to a level one tech who said that that file extension needed to be changed to ".app", which did work. Why does Epson not change it if they know it is a problem? This last time it turned out to be the latest printer driver. The nail in the coffin for this printer is that, for no reason that Epson can explain, it started to crop all of the pics evenly on each side. Nothing I did would prevent it. Epson suggested using Photoshop to increase the size of the pic a small percentage, which is not exactly a pleasant thing to do with the hundreds of pics I print. At bottom, I think the problem is that Mac functionality and support is an afterthought for Epson.

Update: It got worse over time. The printer began to crop the picture by about 1/16 to 1/4 inch on each side, depending on the application printed from. I gave up on it.

Just purchased Picture Mate and found it really easy to use (directions that actually make sense), compact in size, and produces great photos. Can be used with the computer or memory card. It is really accurate when producing multiple copies and is pretty speedy. Just make sure you purchase a picture mate print pack (cartridge and paper) because the one that comes with the printer only gives you enough for 11 or so photos.

I purchased the Epson Snap about a month ago and I love it! It is very easy to use and prints pictures very quickly. I printed 25 great pictures with the introductory ink/paper pack before I got the "change ink now" message (yes, it only comes with 20 sheets, but the Epson Premium Glossy 4X6 paper also works with the Snap) I already have an Epson 320 printer which does 4X6 pics, but it is slower and uses quite a bit more ink.
My daughter had a Disney Princess birthday party last month and I took her picture with each guest and printed the photos with the Disney Princess border for them to take home. The moms loved it!
The reason I am only rating the Snap with 4 stars is because I have one Dane Elec memory card that it will not recognize, no matter what I do. The card works fine in 2 different digital cameras (Nikon, Panasonic) and in the Epson 320. The other 3 memory cards I have work just fine, including another Dane Elec. I called Epson about it and after 30 minutes on the phone was told that there must be a problem with the memory card- he told me to call Dane Electric. This makes no sense because the card works fine everywhere else. I plan to take the card to try at a store with a Snap on display to see what happens.
I also wish that there were a few more choices of borders/frames in the printer itself. There are 20 to choose from, but about 14 of them are Disney. They are cute, but I would like to see more variety for "grown-up" pictures. There are other frames incuded in the software, but I haven't used my Snap with the computer yet.
Overall, I love the Epson Snap and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a great 4X6 printer!