Customer Reviews

Epson Stylus R320 Photo Inkjet Printer

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

I bought this printer based on reviews and some blind faith.

My wife wanted a printer to print occasional text and some photos. I was under the assumtion that you either want to print photos period or text period and if you want to print text then you're better off with a laser printer and if you want to print photos then get a good dedicated photo printer.

My wifes camera is a small digital. She's been printing pictures from her mothers printer which are painfully pixelated. I didn't want to get something that poor, I insisted on something somewhat better. I thought I'd have to spend $500+ which you can, but she insisted she didn't want something that expensive for scrapbooking. I saw this for $200 and bit my lip. The printers I use at work cost thousands. I thought this would be painfully slow, cheap, marginal quality.

This printer prints amazingly well. It's considered on the high end for a photo printing ink jet. The 8 colors would be better but I've found the quality is as good as a 1-hour lab. That's a lot or a little depending on your expectations. But for $200 I think it's a very good deal.

If you want to print simple text, for reference and not graphics it prints pretty well and faster than I thought.
It seems substantial and well constructed. It has features I didn't realize they put into $200 printers.

This model, the 320 has a little flip up screen for viewing your images if you want to print directly from a memor card. the 300 doesn't and this was $20 more. My wife likes that option. I prefer retouching and printing from the computer.

I knew that I wanted separate ink cartridges for each color. This printer uses 6 colors and 6 separate ink cartridges. Some printer using 6 colors use only 2 cartidges with 3 colors each. The trouble with that is if you run out of 1 color and the others are half full, you'd be wasting money having to replace 3 colors when there's still ink left in the others.

You can even print wireless if your printer supports Bluetooth technology. $69 will get you the adapter for the printer.

If you're planning to print postscript files from a postscript drawing program then you need a postscript compatible laser printer or perhaps you could use this type of printer with a postscript emulation software. I haven't looked into that yet. Don't even ask anyone at Circuit City or similar retail outlets since they don't know what "postscript" means.

Overall I am very very happy with this printer.

I was initially going to give four stars because I hate to give five - but I honestly can't find anything wrong with this printer. It does just what it claims to do, and does it well. Being able to print directly to printable CD-R or DVD-R media is a novel plus, and fun to do. The quality is great on photo papers (Epson paper is best), CDs, and plain paper. The printer operates very quietly. It's a great printer for the price. The six color ink system and Epson's inks yeild very high quality photo prints. Highly recommended.

UPDATE 12/14/2009: I still have this printer after five years, and it is still my primary. It continues to work marvelously and prints photos with lab-like results. It is likely that this specific model is no longer available, probably superceded by a new one - but if you are shopping for a printer, and considering an Epson... they are top quality!

I've owned a long line of HP DeskJet (ink jet) printers. The R320 is my first EPSON, so what induced me to switch?

1. Direct printing of labels onto CD/DVDs -- only EPSON (of the mainline brands) offers this feature. The disks have to be special printable disks (appear to be readily available) with a matt white finish on the top surface. When archiving photos onto a CD, I use one of the pictures to remind users of the included content in addition to the printed description. My Dad really likes this because he can tell at a glance what's on the CD. My daughter uses it to include cover art on music compilation CDs. EPSON's CD/DVD label printing system combines an easy label maker software program on your computer and an included carrying tray that lets the printer handle the printable disk like an envelope tray on many other printers. Very slick and useful addition.

2. Durabrite ink -- EPSON's ink system resists water spotting and looks more like a photograph from traditional film processing.

3. Borderless 4"x6" photo printing -- using EPSON's photo paper, the resulting snapshot photos are indistinguishable from traditionally processing film. (I've also tried KODAK paper with equally good results.)

4. Individual ink cartridges -- when one color runs out, you don't have to replace a cartridge still half full of other colors. In practice you do need to keep a full set of spares on hand (six different cartridges), but the cost of ink seems reasonable compared to my experience with HP.

5. The R320 allows printing directly from a camera, external hard drive or various memory cards through the included card slots and viewer window. I have not fully used this feature, but it could be handy at a party or function where you want to provide instant gratification. My routine is to archive and sort on my computer, but the option is nice. The card slots are great since most computers (like my laptop) do not yet have card readers.

All in all the EPSON R320 is a great match for digital photography and CD/DVD production of any kind. I also looked at multifunction printer/scanner units but decided that best of breed of individual printers and scanners was still worth the extra space requirements. Even EPSON's multifunctions didn't offer the CD/DVD label printing option directly on the disk, and this was the key feature that decided in favor of the EPSON R320. It was the right choice. It is a very good printer with excellent print quality. (I would expect the same to apply to whatever printer follows the R320 in the EPSON line.)

I have owned the Epson R300 and the R320. I have printed large volumes with both of them over the past few years ranging from basic home office docs to photographs. They are very well made, and worth every penny.

For those who complain about all of the ink usage and clogging: It is a PHOTOGRAPHIC printer. It uses very very tiny micro head technology and lays down a lot of ink to give that beautiful flawless photographic finish. And yes, the heads clog ESPECIALLY if you don't use the printer often. Keep this in mind when changing cartridges...you want to do it quickly so that the heads are exposed to air as briefly as possible.

Clogged Print Heads: (always run a nozzle check before starting a print job, especially if it's been a while since you've printed. It saves a lot of ink/paper and frustration).
Here are my tried and true methods of cleaning the print heads. If it's really bad (even after running the cleaning cycle), then turn it off then on, and pull the plug when the head moves over. Now you can slide it freely. Move it out of the way and lay a double layer of paper towel under the spot where the head sits when you change the ink cartridges. Move the head back over the paper towel into the ink changing station. Open the lid and remove the ink cartridges and look inside. The little prongs are what need careful cleaning. Heat up a little glass cleaner in the micro, and spray it gently and slowly over each head with a syringe.

Each cleaning cycle uses the INK to clean the heads. This does 2 things:
-it uses a lot of expensive ink
-it flows down into the waste ink pads, which will eventually give you an error message.

There are fixes for both of these problems:
I have been using a CIS (Continuous Ink System) from a company called InkJetFly (.com) for over a year. The setup was about $50, and is easy to install. The refill cartridges cost $5 each and hold FIVE times what a normal ink cartridge holds. INCREDIBLE photographic results with no clogging. I love it!

The waste ink pads are also an easy fix. Check out Ebay for a waste ink container for your model. They are a cheap and easy to install. There is a trap door on the back of your printer, and the waste ink pad is right inside (white when new, black when you've done a lot of printing/cleaning). The tube that dumps the ink is right under it. You just hook an extension tube up to the waste ink tube and it dumps it into a bottle. Done.

Last but not least: If you get a General Error, then another ink pad might be full. Look inside your printer lid. See the foam track that runs under the print head? On the FAR LEFT there is a little square of foam that gets soaked with ink when the head moves over it at the end of every printed row. Take it out gently and rinse and dry it thorougly. Put it back in and turn the printer off. Now press the stop, maintenance and Power buttons all at once until a message pops up that the error is cleared. IF THE INK PAD IS STILL WET, the error WON'T clear!

Hope this helps. I have learned all of these 'tricks' from trial and error, and it has saved me a lot of money and frustration.

I bought the Epson Photo R320 mostly because I need to print onto CDs for my business. It does a great job of that, although a bit slow at 2.5 minutes per CD. I only printed one photo so far. It is absolutely spectacular at printing photos with it's Print Image Matching technology.

But, one issue with any Epson is the ink cost. It goes through ink fast. I heard other people saying things like the ink cartridges are so expensive, it is like buying a new printer every time they need ink. Here is a tip, I found a lot of continuous ink feed systems available for Epson printers on the web that will allow you to print over 1000 4x6 prints for very little. I found some nice kits on eBay for around $80, with refill ink prices of $40 per set to refill their large tanks. There is also a lot of people selling sponge-free refillable ink tanks, which is what I bought. So, ink prices are no longer an issue to keep anyone away from Epson printers.

I now printed 300 CDs and am still using the ink cartridges that came with the printer. Some irritating things that I noticed so far: Loading the CDs has some software errors sometimes. When you load the CD, the machine pushes the CD carrier out by about a 0.25 inch. This action sometimes throws the machine for a loop and sends the carrier right out the back of the machine. No harm, but irritating to have to reload it sometimes and have the carrier hit the wall unexpectedly. Another issue is that the CD carrier sometimes has issues loading and requires a slight push to get it through some rollers. The issues don't happen very often, and it still prints the CDs with perfection each time so far.

Now, searching the Internet yeilded some interesting information. I heard the unit has an waste ink reservior monitor that disables the printer with a service lock in about a year of service. Epson does this to make you return the unit for a service replacement waste sponge. Excessive ink can cause a fire when if hits the power supply. It costs over $100 to repair. You can disable the use of the sponge by configuring an external collection bottle. There is information on the Internet on how to clear the service lock, and how to connect the external collection bottle.

If you do not plan on using this printer as your primary printer. Printing every day, do not buy it. This is the second Epson, the first being a R200 that I've had that has problems with the jets clogging with inactivity. I bought both to print CD's and when they work they look great. But far to often I have one or more jets that are clogged giving me a worthless print out. To unclog the jets you are required to run the head cleaning routine that sucks the inks from the cartridges.

Epson's support is slightly better than worthless. If you do a Google search on inkjets and clogging you'll find plenty of others to atest to this problem with Epson's printers. It seems that Epson uses a different inkjet technology that uses heat to produce the droplets of ink and it is prone to clogging if you are not using it everyday.

I've wasted five times the cost of the printer in wasted inks. Unfortunately Epson's the only printer manufacturer that has the built in CDr print function.

I had an Epson R320 printer for about 8 months. I certainly will give it 5 stars for print quality.

Unfortunately, I did not print for about a month over the Christmas and my black and yellow nozzles clogged and would not clean. I "Googled" the Internet for answers and discovered that Epson nozzle clogging is a big problem. There were all kinds of home cooked remedies and mumbo-jumbo on how to unclog the nozzles. In the end my nozzles remained clogged and a $179.00 Epson R320 went in the trash. Very disappointing.

I have replaced the Epson R320 with a Cannon Pixma IP5200R. What a difference. For a couple more bucks the Cannon IP5200R simply blows the Epson R320 away.

Here are some areas where the Cannon outdoes the Epson:

1. The Cannon is super quiet
2. The Cannon Print software is powerful and way easier to use.
3. The Cannon has only 5 cartridges including 2 Black cartridges with one dedicated for photo printing.
4. The Cannon cartridges are cheaper.
5. The Cannon has an Ethernet and/or wireless connection for the home Router that makes it easier to share the printer.
6. The Cannon prints faster.
7. The Cannon has two paper trays.
8. The Cannon has a removable print head so repairs or replacement is easy.
9. The Cannon has a two sided printing capability.
10. The Cannon IP5200R print quality is equal and maybe better than the Epson R320

Sorry Epson; back to the drawing board.

I purchased the R320 to go along with my Nikon Coolpix 5600. My standard inkjet printer,(Lexmark X1185) does'nt cut it as a photo printer. I looked at Canon printers too, but after talking with a number of photographers, both amateur and professional, the Epson brand name just kept coming up in conversation. I like being able to just put the SD Card in the printer and using the on printer view screen and controls to print my photos. Obviously hooking it up to a computer, which I intend to do will give me more control over my images. I also prefer the Quality of Epson photo papers over the others I've tried.The R320 uses alot less ink than my standard printer also. It sure beats standing in my dark room for hours trying to get that perfect flesh tone and alot cheaper per print. Push a few buttons and you have a great looking print. I highly recommend the Epson R320.

This printer works beautifully and is the perfect printer for users who burn a lot of DVD's or CD's. I edit all of my home movies and burn the to DVD and it is so nice not to use that crummy stomper label any more.

The user who could not print from Office on OS X in Classic mode, is mistakenly blaming the printer. The OS X version of Office prints perfectly, he just needs to update his software. Don't be afraid of this printer if you are a Mac user it is perfect...!!!

Oh and one more killer feature, it has a built in USB2 card reader that is iPhoto compatible!!!

UPDATE !!! 1-10-06 It has been a year since I purchased this printer and it is still running perfectly. I have only one or two concerns. It seems that the print heads need cleaning at least once a month, this tends to use a fair amount of ink and hence I am going through cartridges pretty fast. One trick I discovered was that if you soak the cleaning sponge with high percentage (70% or better) of Isopropyl alcohol it reduces the cleaning required.

All things considered this is a very good printer and am pleased with my purchase.

I have the same problems with the Epson R300 that some of you are reporting with the R320 -- in fact that's why I'm reading the reviews, to see whether the DVD printing has improved. Apparently not. But the theory I'm developing is that the CD/DVD tray itself wears out. You have to buy new ones after perhaps 100 DVDs. I don't know whether Amazon carries it, but compassmicro.com had them; the product number is 1274077.