Epson Stylus C84 Inkjet Printer

by Epson

Product Details

Product Manual [3.15mb PDF]

• Shipping Weight: 14 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B0000B3ALY
• Item model number: C11C529001
• Average Customer Review: 2.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (140 customer reviews)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: July 30, 2003

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Designed for versatile printing of both photos and text-based documents, Epson's Stylus C84 is stylish and fast and packed with user-friendly features. With Epson's water-resistant, light-resistant, and smudge-resistant DURABrite inks and 357-nozzle design (monochrome plus color), the C84 can print an 8-by-10-inch color photo in less than two and a half minutes (in Photo mode). The printer's 5,760 x 1,440 optimized dpi ensures photo-quality clarity and detail for your bordered or borderless pictures, text, or graphics. Of course, higher-quality settings result in longer print times.

The C84 supports a variety of paper types, including glossy, semigloss, double-sided matte, and inkjet transparencies, as well as large-format sizes up to 8.5 by 44 inches. For photos, DURABrite photo paper gives amazing prints with vibrant color, fine detail in high light and dark areas and smooth graduations. For everyday printing, you can enjoy the same exceptional quality on plain or recycled papers. Due to the special nature of EPSON DURABrite inks, you can print on both sides of the paper without fear of leak-through or page wrinkle, and you can handle the prints as soon as they're printed.

Convenient individual ink cartridges make ink replacement simple and cost-effective, and USB and parallel connectivity facilitates quick setups on both Windows and Macintosh computers. The C84 is backed with a one-year warranty that includes the Epson exchange program.

What's in the Box
Epson Stylus C84 ink jet printer, one cyan ink cartridge (T044220), one magenta ink cartridge (T044320), one yellow ink cartridge (T044420), one black ink cartridge (T043120), and printer documentation

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

84 of 92 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Photos Look Fantastic, October 18, 2003

By 

Anthony E. Whitaker "Head Scratcher" (Virginia Beach, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Epson Stylus C84 Inkjet Printer (Office Product)

I was hesitant to buy this printer because of some comments I'd read at various web sites. For example, I'd read that the "DuraBrite" inks "can't do glossy". The CNET review, although praising this printer for all-around performance, doesn't give the C84 highest marks for photo quality and mentions visible dithering in pictures. After considering the printer's low cost, the low cost of ink for it, and the advantages of its pigment-based DuraBrite inks (water proof and long-lasting), I decided to buy one for photo printing. I also considered the higher resolution of the C84 compared to Epson photo printers selling for about the same price, and I took a chance that the higher resolution would compensate for the lack of the extra color cartridges "photo printers" use.

I think I made a great decision. The photos from this printer look fantastic. While it's true that you can't get >>super<< glossy prints from it, the prints on glossy photo paper aren't matte. I'd call them "semigloss", and I like them. I don't see any dithering problem, either. So far, I've used the C84 to print on Ritz Camera brand "Professional Photo Glossy Ink Jet Paper" (similar to Epson Premium Glossy Photo Paper), "Epson Photo Quality Ink Jet Paper", plain paper, and the 2 sheets of "Epson DuraBrite Ink Glossy Photo Paper" included with the printer. Results are excellent on all these media - even plain paper. I haven't seen better results on plain paper. I even printed on the back side of the Epson Ink Jet Paper, and - I kid you not - it looks better there than on the front where you're supposed to print. The very slightly yellow back side adds warmth to the photo. There's no bleed through, so you can print on both sides of the Epson paper. I didn't try this on the plain copier paper because it was thinner, and you could see through the back too easily. I stuck a plain paper print under the water faucet and soaked it. As advertised, that had no effect on the ink. After drying, the paper was wrinkled, but the image looked fine.

I always put my best pictures in clear archival sheet protectors, and, behind such glossy plastic or glass, you'd never know the DuraBrite prints were not super glossy. Advertisements say the C84 can do border-free printing on "8x10" paper. I was pleased to discover that it can do so on 8-1/2"x11" photo paper as well. It can NOT print border-free on plain paper or ink jet paper - apparently, border-free printing requires thick paper - but it does get much closer to the edges than my old printer, leaving about 3/16" borders on the short edges and 1/8" borders on the long edges.

I'm a happy camper. Don't be afraid to buy this printer for photo-printing.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Planned obsolescence, August 24, 2005

By 

bunnyrabbit4 (New Orleans, LA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Epson Stylus C84 Inkjet Printer (Office Product)

You would think a company like Epson would take a hint from what happened to the American auto industry when they made cars to last only until their warrenty ran out. They suddenly had to deal with people who would only trust Honda and Toyota. Most still do. With Epson it is Canon that has given consumers back the confidence that Epson lost. They have improved their low end printers AND dropped the price.
Here are the cons on this ESPON machine...
1. Fails suddenly and completely...warning signs include frequent head cleaning (which BTW can use up a third of your black ink in a heartbeat). When mine failed it started printing grey scale pictures in GREEN. I reloaded the CYAN ink because it was low and then it would print only in YELLOW. Go figure!

2. It runs through ink like crazy and often refuses to print when the ink is low. You have to replace cartriges that can still pass the "shake" test.

3. Ink costs about $65 dollars a set, which is about what I paid for the printer on sale. Epson obviously did this on purpose to make even more money off a cheaply made product. In the end I was paying more per month to feed ink to my Epson then gas to my car, even at $2.60 a gallon.

Pros:
1. As stated it works really well for a few months of light duty.
2. Its pretty.
3. Best of all, the USB cord and the power cord from this unit don't go bad and can be plugged directly into the back of your new CANON PIXMA series photo printer. Gee, how cool of them to anticipate my purchase decision.

The USB cord is the only thing the EPSON has that the CANON doesn't. All kidding aside. This is a cheap peice of trash. Don't even think about buying it and don't touch it used.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great While It Lasted!, January 30, 2004

By 

Chapin Brooks "Tumazon" (Tucson, AZ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Epson Stylus C84 Inkjet Printer (Office Product)

I purchased my Epson C84 in September 2003. I was pleasantly surprised by the print quality - particularly the hi-res glossy photo paper color prints which truly were excellent! When it came time to replace the ink cartridges in December 2003 - three color and the single black - I went with generic (after-market cartridges) rather than Epson cartridges. Alas, now in January, I've started experiencing an apparently irreversible print-quality and page-coverage degradation; both color and black. I say 'apparently irreversible' because repeated print-head cleanings and alignments have made no impact on the print quality, and the printer essentially is now useless. I even installed the Epson driver on another computer and did some test prints, but could not solve the problem. I can't say for certain that the non-Epson cartridges are the culprit, or even a contributing factor, but the C84 worked perfectly before the generic ink-cartridge replacements. Fortunately, I kept my old, reliable Epson Stylus Color 980 which, after three years (including ALL-GENERIC ink cartridges!), still does a credible job. Bottom line: the Epson C84 is an excellent buy for the money; but, just to be on the safe side, stick with the recommended Epson-brand ink cartridges.