Customer Reviews

Epson Stylus Photo 1280 Inkjet Printer (Silver)

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

I have an Epson 1280 and it consistently produces prints that are as good or better than any laser fiery printer I've ever used.

As an advertising copywriter, I depend on this printer to make new copies of my work and it comes through every time.

Now, this is not the perfect printer, because it does drink ink something fierce, but the print outs are worth it, just ask any professional.

In fact, it was a photographer who first turned me on to this machine. At the time I was looking at a Lexmark or HP.

As any graphic designer will tell you HP's are word processing printers and with only rare exceptions any good at graphics and Lexmark is just to be avoided. You get what you pay for, and with Lexmark that isn't much.

Epson wrote the book on graphics and photo reproduction printing and with the 1280 they have added another proud chapter.

I bought this printer 2.5 years ago and wish that I bought the 2200 at that time. As a graphic design student, I print a lot with this printer and find myself using $60-100 a week of ink that I buy at a discounted price. My classmates that have the 2200 report that they typically spend about $20 to $30 a week on ink (as they come with separate cartridges for each color), their print quality is better, and the 2200 seems to break down less. My printer is now broken and not under warranty and the repairs cost me $167.00. Most of the people that I know that have the 1280 have had to repair or replace it within the last 2 years. If you expect to be printing a lot, my advice is to spend the extra cash on the 2200 and you will make it back with the savings on the ink. Another piece of advice is to buy it at costco. If I bought it there 2 years ago, I could get a brand new one today, no questions asked.

I've read all the prior reviews with interest. I bought my 1280 over a year ago based on reviews on several well known and trusted Digital Photography sites. I have been very pleased with the output of this printer. Yes, the printer takes more work to get a really GOOD print then the HPs. But then I have the HP printers also and they do not measure to pure quality of print. Yes, the ink cartridges are small and do not last long if you print alot of 8x10, 13x19 like I do. But, for 250 bucks you can buy a CIS (continual inking system) that pays for itself in 3 months. Yes, the Epson ink will jam the heads IF you do not use the printer at least once every few days. Again, the printer is for PHOTOGRAPHS, not text, not the occasional print job and certainly not the occasional picture. This printer is for the professional or serious amateur photographer. I have seen alot of prints from other printers and even with the flaws, this printer is the best. I wish a few things. Epson would update the drivers more often. The supplied software is marginally usable and they ding you 30 bucks for the real package. At 400 dollars for a printer, Epson could have given us the software given the price tag of the ink cartridges. I have run Epson, Illford and Inkjetart paper through this printer will very good success.

I teach digital photography and computer graphics for a living. The community college I work for has had a 1280 for 2 years now. Students beat the heck out of this machine and it keeps chugging along with few complaints. We really put this machine through its paces by running water color paper and all sorts of media through it.

And yes, we use MACs for graphics, which is the way it should be! Epson has a great driver for OS X Jaguar. Download it from their website. Don't blame Epson if you're crummy Windoze XP goes belly up. It's NOT the printer....

That said, it's not a perfect printer. It really does suck ink like Kool-Ade. I'll be looking into the Lysonic inkset for this problem. Epson should have put individuals ink tanks on this thing the way Canon did on the i960.
It really is designed for high volume. The more we print, the better it seems to work. So do not buy this printer if you only occasionally print 4x6 snapshots. If left to sit, the nozzles clog and you need to ship it back to Epson fro repair. It should have a user replaceable head like the Canon i960.
As for software, you should have Adobe Photoshop 6.0 or later. If you think you'll get a decent print from Jasc, Corel, or some other silly program, you'll be frustrated.
Some of the best Photo Quality inkjet papers are made by Ilford. Give them a try with this printer and you'll be impressed. It can even output negatives onto transparency material that you can contact print in a darkroom. Although I use this printer at the college where I teach, for my money the Canon i960 is a better value. Print quality is just as good, and the individual ink tanks will save you much cash.
So my recommendation for the Epson 1280 is with reservations. Make sure you really need a large format printer at home, and be prepared to shell out the bucks and toss out ink carts that are 75% full. Otherwise, look into Canon's printers.

I've had my Epson 1280 for over two years now and consider it money well spent. I run exclusively on Linux (currently Gentoo) and the Linux support for this printer (using CUPS) is superb. All modes, resolutions, etc. are supported. I use this printer a lot for engineering work printing B-size (tabloid) drawings and it works great for that.

Like just about every review states, this printer slurps ink like Homer Simpson slurps beer. Because I don't print many color photos this is not a problem for me--if I was doing that I'd get the Niagara system other reviewers cite. I've researched the Niagara system and it looks like a good deal for heavy users.

My main complaint with this printer--and the reason why it only gets four stars--is the ease with which the heads clog up. This printer wants to be used constantly. If you let it sit for a day or two it's almost guaranteed that one or more of the jets will clog up and you'll get streaks in the output. Then you have to either press the front-panel control or, in more extreme cases, run the head-unclogging utility (on Linux I use mtink) to force the printer to 'blow out' the plugged jets. When the printer does this it blasts ink through the heads wasting even more of the pricey ink. Do this enough and the reservoir the printer blasts the ink into (a sponge-sandpaper-like thing) will overflow and cause the head to smear ink all over the paper. That's when you get out the Windex and paper towels and clean up the mess (google the web for details.) Because of this 'trait' I would not recommend this printer for casual users.

Still, for B-sized printing and high-quality photos, and considering how well supported it is under Linux, there's not much else better out there.

I decided to buy a 1270 at the time I was still an Art student. As a poor art student, buying a good printer as early as possible is strongly recommanded. Epson 1270 was an hot topic at that time while I was still in school. So I paid several hundred bucks to get this nice printer then I would print at home anytime I wanted. I saved money and time. I didn't need to go to Kinko's anymore. I never liked to go there. The only time I would get help and got it printed correctly was be there at 2am in the morning while I was the only customer in Kinko's.

**Art Students, if you are sick and tired of getting rid off by Kinko's, get a good printer now! This printer can last 3 years easily, good til you graduate! Looks expensive but you won't regret. If you find any problem, call Epson to get another printer before the warranty ends!** Their replacement service is great but not when the warranty expires.... :-(

The printer is noisy but I appreciate the printing speed and the quality is great!

There was one time I have a weird printing problem with my 1270 that I never realized. I brought the printer to the mechanic to look at it. I was using Kodak Premium High-gloss paper which was a very nice kind of photo paper. He told me to use Epson brand and he gave me a sheet of Epson paper. He said it was because the chemical reaction on the paper and Epson's ink. I went home and tried the Epson paper he gave me, it printed great! The colors blended on the paper so well, couldn't even see any dots caused from printing. But, I still prefer the Kodak paper because the result of the color is a lot nicer (bright and strong)than Epson's paper.

Yes, you will need to clean the head time to time and it wastes papers and ink too. The color ink comes with 5 colors. Either one of them runs out, you will have to buy a new one for around $28-$30.

If you just need to print letter size paper (8.5x11) AND IF you are not an art student OR you don't really need to have the commercial kind of printing result, Epson 1270 or 1280 will not be a good deal for a long run. I hope this help!

As a long time owner of many of Epson's printers there are some great models and some that aren't. The 1280 is destined to be a great workhorse printer as the high resolution print quality is superb and the durability is excellent. However, if you are going to afford to own a 1280 you MUST invest in a CIS ink system of one kind or another as Epson intentionally includes the very tiniest of ink cartridges that are emptied very quickly. It appears to be a deliberate move by Epson as the printer has plenty of room to include huge cartridges. If you print at 2880 resolution you can watch the ink drain right out of the cartridges. Otherwise, a superb, quality printer.

As a dedicated Epson user I am still amazed with the 1280. For the last few years the Epson 2200 had been my pride and joy but a few months ago I found a 1280 trashed on the side walk in Hollywood California and I am truly glad I pick it up. With a little T.L.C. I managed to clean out the nozzles and get it running. Reading a few of the reviews on this website I learned that the 1280 is an ink slayer and did my research on another product called Mediastreet Niagara Plug-N-Play System. Niagara Plug-N-Play is a bulk dye based ink system that works grate if not better than the factory inks. As a wedding photographer I need to print hundreds of prints at a time and the Epson 1280 with the Niagara System has been my most reliable printer set up till this day. In fact I am setting up another 1280 with the Niagara system for another one of my PC.

Not: the 1280 will produce really nice prints at 11X17, and 13X19,
But the 2200,because of its seventh color, still has much more detail around shadowy arias, but unless you put a magnifying glass up to it I do not think you'll notice it.

Great quality large format prints. Not recommeded for occasional use or you will experience frustrating head clogs. Best and cheapest when used with CIS -continuous inking systems. You can find a CIS between $150 and $250 on-line. These systems give you print heads that always read full and are hooked into ink bottles at the side of your printer. Never worry about buying expensive ink cartridges or messy refilling. Just refill the bottle's when they go below 1/3 full. It's as easy could be and buying high quality ink is actually dirt cheap in comparason. Print forever!

I have used the 1280 for about a year-and-a-half, mainly to print fine art photographs in large format. I use a quad black ink set from Lyson, rather than Epson inks. The machine absolutely delivers. It is consistent, reliable, and has remarkable paper handling ability.

The head does have a propensity for clogging, since it is permanently attached to the printer and does not get replaced with each cartridge. However, I have found that cleaning the storage cap (right side, parked position) from time to time (with lint-free cloth!) helps. I also print a small full-gamut image once a week, if I am not cranking out the big stuff.

Always check a company's web site for updated drivers when installing! My drivers (XP Pro/Presario) have been well-mannered. Also, if you aren't satisfied with the image, keep testing the profiles that come with the 1280. Be patient. It took me a while to get the right combination, even though Lyson provided profiles for its own ink set. But once I got it, I was off to the races.

I am about to start printing fine art color, and for that I will buy a second 1280. Call me satisfied.