Customer Reviews

Epson Stylus C80 Inkjet Printer

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(15)
1 star:		(55)

 

 

I'm partial to Epson products anyway, but this is the fastest, highest-quality inkjet printer I've ever had. It's especially good for the price range.

I generally use a laser printer for my writing business, but I've purchased a few inkjet printers over the years because I need the color capability. This printer is faster than my HP LaserJet with more standard features (such as double-sided printing) and has a much cleaner text output than many other inkjets. You have to take a much closer look to know that it's not a laser printer. Using the color features and high-gloss paper, I created a complete marketing campaign for myself, and few people could tell that it wasn't professionally printed.

The C80 also seems to not eat as much ink as other models, with the added benefit of using separate ink cartridges for each color. It's also very quiet. I highly recommend it for anyone who needs a good but inexpensive inkjet printer!

I've been using Epson Stylus Color printers for awhile, originally the Stylus 740, and recently the 777i printer. Each has been impressive in the print quality, especially photos. I decided to make the leap and upgrade to the Stylus C80 printer, in part due to the $30 rebate offered.

Setup was very easy as is with most Epson printers. I use it with a USB cable to my Apple iBook computer and had no trouble with installing and using the printer drivers. As a matter of fact, these drivers are nearly identical to the ones used for the Stylus 777i. I have also used the Printer Sharing function built into the driver and now print wirelessly from my iBook to this printer - COOL!!!

The print quality is excellent and speeds are noticeably faster than my 777i printer. The best improvement was the reduced noise during printing, it is much more quiet! I did notice that there is a considerable difference in photo print appearance between the C80 and the 740/777i depending on the type of paper used.

Previously, I have used the Epson 4x6 photo paper with very good results- on the C80 however, the prints appears somewhat washed out and dull. Using Epson Premium Glossy Photo Paper produces much better results as does Kodak Premium Picture Paper (for less $$$ than Epson). I was also perplexed at the limited paper sizes supported by the drivers, 4x6 print is missing and must be user defined. Mac OS X drivers are due out on Oct. 22 so I am looking forward to testing those as well.

I recommend this printer for fast, quiet photo quality printing for a budget price.

Just had this printer a couple weeks now, and finally completed making it so that it prints from my home PC via Parallel, and Laptop via USB.
Prints are great! So far I have only had the opportunity to burn up some Coated 8.5 x 11 sheets on pictures and some graphics, plus a plain paper envelope or two. No problem as long as the driver installed properly.

I was debating and debating between the C80 and the 785EPX for quite some time, and as an avid digital photo geek, it was a tough choice - archival with individual durable inks - or the 785EPX with the edge to edge, card support, 2 extra colors, and 4x6 rolls. Well I still feel that the extra two colors are unnecessary - just a way to sell more ink (the money's in the blades son). And I have no issue viewing my pictures on the computer prior to wasting more of that precious commodity. So I went for the C80, and I'm delighted with my decision. Who needs two extra colors and wet edges. For really special prints I go to shutterfly.com anyway.

So here's my driver advice:
My W98 (1'st edition) home PC installed without issue, and printed from the Parallel port without complaint.
On the other side, I was attempting to attach my work W2k laptop to the USB, and ran into difficulty. I believe the issue is that I needed to install "USB printer support" from my system prior to it allowing the Epson printer drivers. This issue was not listed in the instructions - neither the "read me first" nor the full documentation. It only needs to be done once, which explains why some see it and others do not. When it asks you to cancel the HW detection, don't cancel out of the "USB Printer Support" Hardware detection. Let it install the built-in Windows drivers for USB printers, then it goes on to install the actual printer - which you do from the CD (or downloaded drivers).

Other than that... One theory I have for so many drivers issues with the other users is that it is a good idea to uninstall any pervious Local Printers on the system. These programs tend to run in the background and "lock in" your LPT settings - like that little ink monitor and other icons that like to display in your sys-tray (on the bottom right of your screen). HP and Epson both seem to have these background programs. So if you had a HP previously, and didn't uninstall first, then it could still be hanging on to your port settings. My previous model was a Canon - BJC4300 which died when I had amassed over a hundred bucks on ink - always had to have some on hand, because it gave you no warning when it was going to start printing funny stripy pictures. But then again, it had no little TSR (Terminate and Stay Resident - don't you wish that your boss would say that to you?) program to foul up the Epson installation.

I've seen this type of driver issue repeatedly - one of my past lives involved troubleshooting people's computers. There once was a "Winnie the Pooh" doll that attached to the parallel printer so the kiddies could program it to read them stories. Well this one customer could only get Pooh to speak in tongues that sounded kind of like a modem - you should have seen what a sight it was to see Winnie moving his lips to the sound of "EEEEkakakaka". Anyway the issue was the LPT Port was "captured" by the Epson printer driver. The customer had deleted all the Epson printer files already so it was too late to uninstall. We had to re-install the Epson Driver - from the printer which was now returned back to the store - and then uninstall that driver.

Nice printer other than that. It's not a quiet as an HP, but it shouldn't jam up as much either. Sounds very "professional". Plus the "smoothness" of the 3 picoliter drops is better than HP. After maybe 8 pages of full color photo's the ink is still way over 90% - much better than the Canon would have been at this point.

Good luck with the drivers...
Marc
P.S. W2k uses the XP driver I believe.

This is by far the best inkjet I have ever used…

Unlike another reviewer, I had no problems whatsoever getting this printer installed and working. I can’t imagine the install being much easier. The drivers work very well with Windows 98 as they do with Win2k, Winxp and NT4.

The print speeds are incredible! I can’t believe it prints this fast while maintaining such a high quality output. The print speed has also improved a lot with mixed text/graphic pages. It seems to recognize that the text portion doesn’t need the same speed of the images and prints them much faster.

I like the separate ink cartridges, as you can replace each color independently. Canon has had this feature for the longest time, and I am glad to see Epson finally adding it. Time will tell if this makes it much cheaper than before.

The image quality is great! They have improved the plain paper printing quality from the last Epson printer I have used. On photo quality paper, it’s amazing! The picture quality is also much better than you get with latest HP printers, which tend to have grainy images when compared to the C80.

The only thing I don’t like is the styling. The previous printers look much better to me than the C80. And what’s with the naming scheme?

So far, I have enjoyed this incredibly fast printer....

If you're looking for a generic color printer, the C80 is most likely your best choise, even compared with more expensive printers. It is fast, economical, quiet (except for the paper-feed mechanism) and prints excellent quality text, graphics and images in both B&W and color. I use it with XP, without any problems -- true plug and play, without the need of any driver installation.

However, if you're buying the C80 for photo-quality prints, you'll probably get disapointed. Before I bought it, I read many user reviews describing the C80's photo prints as "dull" -- this is exactly the case. I tried a number of print options (and the C80 gives you plenty) on photo-quality Epson paper -- in all cases, the feeling was that the print came out OK, but didn't have the sharpness I was expecting ("dull colors" is the right word). Another disadvantage, is the print sizes: does not have the "bordlerless photo" capability, and needs some trial-error based adjustments in the print options to print even standard photo sizes (4x6, 3x5 etc).

Very reluctantly, because it's a great printer, I decided to return for a true Photo Printer.

I thought I would take a chance and get Epson's latest 4-color pigment printer. I wanted it for an inexpensive photo printer. I thought the pigment inks would be great for their durability.

I am overwhelmingly surprised. It exceeded all my expectations. It is quiet, fast and easy to set-up. I connected it to my computer according to the instructions and it worked immediately.

If you are printing plain paper it is very fast. If you are printing photos I would recommend using the vivid setting on photo enhance. This is because the printer is being sold as an office printer, so Epson thinks it will be primarily used on plan paper and have adjusted the printing algorithms to such printing.

The pigment inks make all the difference. If you need the best then go for the Epson 2000p. It has 6-color printing. But, with the 4 color of the 80c I was exceedingly happy with the photos done on Epson Premium Glossy Paper. They are better than regular photos. They are amazing. It prints with 3 picoliter drops so the detail is very sharp.

Also, I did a test on the durability of the photo paper prints. You are unable to smear the ink right after printing. I then submerged a photo from an inkjet dye printer and a C80 pigment print. The inkjet dye ink rubbed off immediately. The C80 stood fast. I even increased the water temperature to hot and rubbed very aggressively and the print remained in perfect condition. I am sold.

This printer is a great buy for a standard office printer or a photo printer for people who demand the durability of pigment inks at lower cost. As I said if you want the best get the 2000p. An added bonus is that Epson says the inks last for 70 years without fading.

Buy it and have Fun.

Print quality is excellent if you chose the right setting when you print. The print options allow you to choose from settings such as regular printing paper, to heavy matte paper to premium glossy paper and etc. You can also manually select your own resolution--the C-80 prints up to 2800 dpi producing excellent results printing photos. The black and white printing is the fastest I've seen (even faster than some cheaper laser printers). The colors are accurate--of course that depends also on how your monitor is calibrated. I use the printer to print some digital photos as well as some color Illustrations from Adobe Illustrator. Both rater and vector prints look great on C-80.
The ink: it uses four separate ink tanks. Black-$32, Cyan, Magenta and Yellow -$12. I think the ink is kind of expensive, though.
Anyway, I am satisfied with this printer. It is also compatible with Mac OSX (new driver available for download automatically when you search for software update on your OSX).

First I will start by saying that I have been a fanatic supporter of Epson printers; I have owned (own) three of them. I have also owned HP's, and like I said, am an Epson fan.

At first I was blown away by the clarity and brightness. But..

We (Epson support) couldn't configure the printer for USB.

Then I noticed the printer was literally drinking ink...I mean lots of ink on the lowest black resolution only.

As far as speed, yeah, it cranks out the pages, but only after taking extended periods of time. On average, I have about a 25-30 second delay before the printer will begin to print (very annoying). Once it gets going, it kicks butt.

Now, back to my biggest gripe...

I have owned this printer since November 2001. It is now January 2002. I have blasted 5 black cartridges and 2 each of the remaining colors.

By comparison, with my Stylus 740, I used to go thru 1 black cartridge every month, sometimes it would last 2, and the color about every 2-3 months.

I have also found the ink incompatible with quality, high-gloss stock from Red River. Personally, I am now looking elsewhere.

Dunno what went wrong, but I don't feel like spending [that much] in ink per year.

VERY DISAPPOINTED!!

I owned the old Epson Stylus Color II printer and decided to upgrade. I checked out the C80 and was very impressed with the speed and quality. The photo printing is extremely detailed and allows for a variety of filtering so that you can achieve the desired appeal. I have had many comments about the quality of photos, and many people are surprised when I tell them that I printed them at home.

As for the general printing, I have to say that I am extremely impressed with the quality and speed. As an author, it is important for me to have a printer that is of good quality, and economic as well. I believe I found that with the C80. I was forced to print numerous copies of the manuscript my latest book, in addition to copies of the galley proofs. These, added to other things I needed to print, totalled upwards of 1000 pages of black text. That, plus the numerous photos I have printed thus far, and I still have almost half of the black ink cartridge left. Amazing!

If you are looking for a printer that allows for great quality and value, the C80 is a great choice. The price is reasonable as well, considering that there are others out there which have a lower dpi, yet cost more.

I purchased the C80 and i must say this printer is simply amazing. This printer is the only printer out in the market with durabrite technology. This technology provides exceptional printing quality even on normal paper! Just print out a photo on regular paper and do the same with another printer. There is truly a comparison. The C80 durabrite technology blows the rest of the ink jet printers out of the water. Not to worry if your printing photos on glossy paper. It does an exceptional job as well. This printer comes with individual ink cartridges for each color. Black, cyan, magenta, and yellow. A very smart idea by the epson people. [Don't you hate it when] when you had the one color cartridge and you ran out of one of the colors so you couldn't print the right colors? So what did you do? Throw it out and buy a new one right? Well not anymore... thanks to the individual cartridge. When you make colors you don't use the same porportion of ink from all color pallettes.. you end up using more from one color then the other. So forget one color cartridges anymore.. that's a thing of the past. The individual cartridges are reasonably priced too. And you can make lots of prints before running out of ink. Its exceptional value is an added plus. On top of that, you also get Epson's micro piezo technology. I have no problems with this printer so far. As long as you maintain the printer properly you won't have any problems or hassles. So read the user manual that most people neglect. I been a loyal epson customer for over 3 years. They make excellent products. The customer support is alwayz friendly and ready to help. This is a great product for those who do application printing and photos. This is a very versatile printer, i'm very happy with it... thanks epson.. keep making new products to keep me happy!