Customer Reviews

Epson Stylus Photo R220 Ink Jet Printer (C11C626011)

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(25)

 

 

I think this printer is pretty good and I gave it four stars because I am slightly disappointed with a few of the features, but I am overlooking some of these because the printer is under 100 bucks, so I guess you get what you pay for! Just in case it helps you make your decision, here are some of the idiosyncrasies

1. Your cd or dvd will need to dry for at least 24 hours after being printed before you are recommended to use it in a cd/dvd drive.

2. You need to manually align the cd tray to these little arrows right before it prints. Why couldn't they just design it to let the user push the tray all the way in? The arrows aren't that easy to see.... and I just hate relying on my manual alignment skills :-(

3. Turning the printer off will waste a lot of ink when you need to re-start it. The printer will "load" the print cartridges, which I think is Epson's term for "we want to get you to buy more ink so we can make a profit on this $99 printer."

4. Photos aren't as true to photo quality as I get with my Canon MP730 - but this is ok for me since I bought the printer solely for its cd/dvd printing ability.

Overall, this is a pretty good printer, but I would give it 5 stars if I wasn't annoyed by the above "features"

Happy Shopping!

This inexpensive printer does a nice job of printing photos and on CDs. My complaint with Epson printers is with their "intelligent" chip embedded ink cartridges that monitor ink usage based on page yeilds rather than true ink volume. In short, this means the cartridge will show the same usage of ink whether you are printing pages and photos in draft mode or in high quality mode. The printer software stops the printer from printing if one of the six color cartridges is percieved as "close to empty". Epson engineered it this way to ensure that the ink doesn't run out and causes a clogged printerhead. The problem is that I'm constantly replacing ink cartridges that still have about 25 percent ink remaining. I know because I have opened the spent cartridges and have measured the remaining ink. Also, you cannot refill the cartridges with after-market ink because the chip in each catridge renders it "empty" even if you refill it. This ink cartridge design has caused a class action suit to be brought against Epson. Do a Google search and you'll find the website. In fairness to Epson I must state this printer does a nice job printing photos and onto CDs which is a nice feature. If ink costs aren't a problem (about $60 for a complete 6 color set) than get this printer. In the meantime, I'm steering clear of future Epson printers until they re-engineer the ink cartridges to reflect the true ink volume usage.

I might give it a 5 stars for the cost vs utility but this printer is a total waste of ink; if you have a habit of turning off the printer after printing (like myself), every time you turn this printer (or any photo printer from EPSON) on it will recharge the ink or in more understandable term it will perform a small version of head cleaning, with or without the real need :(

What does this recharging cost?? Approximately anywhere between 5% to 10% of the ink every time, in other words you need to buy ink cartridges little faster then actually required but again this is where printer manufactures make most of the money now a days and EPSON is no different then others.

On the flip side this is Energy Star compliant printer and use only 3W if you leave it on standby mode thus save you from recharging the ink all the time.

About quality of the prints and DVD/CD printing option; this printer will meet or exceed any standards of any comparable product in the market. Period.

6 color printing is bringing real detail with true colors and having 6 different cartridges is a plus for buying ink.

With my experience I found that printing speed; mentioned in description; is nothing but a load of BULL, or may be they are talking about draft printing speed and very conveniently forgot to mention the word "Draft" while writing the specification about printing speed. :)

If you are one of those "hotwire guys" who "refill" their ink and print like news paper press, you might need to buy a set of clear view cartridges so you can see how much ink you are putting in along with a EPOSN cartridge chip reset gadget to reset the counter or be ready to say bye bye to low cost ink and start buying ink cartridges. "Continues Ink Systems" or CIS are also available in the market for this printer. I myself use one of those and life is good

i don't know what your preferance is, but this printer is a pretty nice piece of machinery. especially for the price. although i frequently have to reload the DVD tray, the fact is there IS a DVD tray. it does tend to be quite annoying sometimes, but it is straight up difficult to find printers with this type of accessory. if you look in the stores, you will notice the same thing. (depending on where you live)

the only other problem is trying to find discs to use on here. i accidentally bought thermal printable discs which don't work with this type of ink. it just turns into ink beads. i have been using verbatim inkjet printable dvd-r discs and those have been the best for use in this printer. make sure you get inkjet printable, that is a must. i wouldn't recommend memorex printable dvd-r discs because they have quite an ugly label of memorex written right in the center of the disc.

there is also a handly little tool (software that comes with the printer) that allows you to center your own pictures onto the disc. it took a little bit of tweeking, but now i have professional looking dvds.

the only thing i recommend is to put a layer of clear coat over the top of the discs due to the fact the ink WILL run if water touches the surface. i have been using matte finish (basically flat clear coat) and it looks just like it did without the clear coat. i just don't have to worry about the discs running when water touches them. also don't forget to mask the bottom of the discs when you do this (the discs tend to lift up and a little bit of overspray hits the recordable side if you are using spray.) i don't know if other inks work this way, but the stuff in the R220 just happens to be water-based.

I have been using this printer for DVD covers now for 2 months and can advise every one looking to replace the paper covers with ink to get this printer without any worry. I have done a minimum of 150 covers with one set of ink..the yellow and the black will let go first. That comes out to .40 cents a dvd...so it cost less than the paper that cost.20 and the price of the ink The result are just great and the software is outstanding. The problem that was mentioned in several reviews about the plastic carrier has been replaced and it works real well and i can see that the desing is going to never break

I didn't have huge expectations from a printer that costs under $100, but what attracted me to the Epson R220 is the ability to print on DVDs and CDs. I had just bought a new DVD recorder to finally copy my old library of VHS tapes (which I throw away as soon as I make a copy). I wanted to get away from stick-on labels forever, they bubble and peel and in many case keep DVD players from even being able to play. So I saw the Epson R220 at OfficeMax with a $10 rebate and I already had one of those $10 coupons they mail you. Now I'm down to $80 for a 6-ink printer, so why not! I bought the printer almost 2 months ago and am pleasantly surprised that the ink tanks still show half full. And that's after printing quite a few 4 x 6 and 8 x 10 photos and even more DVD labels. The printer looks attractive and was easy to set up. This is my first Epson after many years of HP printers, and I wonder why I didn't make the switch long ago. The colors on high-quality paper are more accurate and more vibrant than HP and look more like real photographs. Although I originally purchased the printer only to do CD/DVD labels, I'm changing my mind now and am looking for someone to buy my much more expensive HP and I'll use the Epson for all my photo printing now. I can't imagine why anyone would want to pay more for a photo printer unless they are doing extremely demanding professional printing. To me, the Epson Stylus Photo R220 is the best bargain in the market.

Bought this to replace my old Color Stylus 800. Thought it had died after 6-7 years and lots of mileage. As luck would have it, it woke from the dead after a last ditch 12th head cleaning. So I got to compare (bottom).

I had been shopping around for a good photo/everything printer. After reading reviews across the webscape, it looked like Epson was still a lock in terms of image quality. There may be faster, and cheaper, and even prettier (form factor), but I just wanted the best looking prints. I looked at the R800. It consistently got the highest marks, but $400 seemed little too much for my needs. Next down the line was the R320, which looked like the one.

Funny thing happened on the way to the check out counter. I found the R220 sitting on the sale pile. Compared to the R320, it has virtually the same guts, minus a lot of bells and whistles (LCD screen and direct SD card reader for instant photo prints). I really just needed a printer, no more, no less. So, less than a Benjamin later, I have the R220.

As expected, photo quality between the R220 and my old 800 is not even close. Using Epson Glossy Photo Paper, the 800's prints have noticeable dithering (tiny dots) everywhere, while the R220's prints are really indistinguishable from a regular 35mm photo (as long as your image is hi-res). Granted, there's 7-8 years of technology time between them. Even for light grays and off-white, areas where I would expect to see dithering, they were naked to my 20/20 eyes.

So buy this if: you know your way around Photoshop and understand about resolutions and imaging and just need a basic printer that will give you the highest quality prints from your computer, no muss, no fuss. Not completely perfect, but rock solid for $100! CD printing is a bonus, but I'll probably use that, what, like two times?

I have my own videography business and I bought this printer primarily to make custom printed DVDs, however I now use it instead of my lexmark to print out all my digital photos. the image reproduction is perfect and the printer only cost me $90.
The only drawback is that this printer sucks ink down fast! So, be prepared to stock up on some ink cartridges if you buy this printer.

This printer (and several others in the stylus photo series) uses a water soluble ink that Epson calls "Dye Based". It will run if it gets moist. It only prints permanent photos on Epson glossy photo paper, and they don't even last that many years. If you are using this printer for graphics as well as photos, please be warned that the ink is horribly water soluble on any paper.


Do not use this printer with the Epson Semigloss (the worst) photo paper or the image will be damaged by moisture. They specially coat the Premium Glossy Paper so that you will have a water fast image after it's dry. So if you want matte or semigloss or other paper - forget this printer.


Perhaps you noticed the CD/DVD printer tray. That is a very nice addition. But the aforementioned Dye Based Ink problem is evident on the printed disks also.


The R220 will print on printable CD media, and you can touch the image after it is dry. But it is extremely important that you never let the cd come in contact with moisture. The printed image will smear, run, etc and be ruined.


I talked to Epson Customer Service/Tech support a couple of times. The first time I had a very knowledgeable rep on the phone who suggested different Epson printers with a different kind of ink. The R800 and 1800 have an ink called "chrome" and also print CDs. The benefits of the R800 and 1800 is that they print with a permanent ink. Water will not affect it. The lifespan of the photos is over 100 years. And they print CDs. They cost more though.


Bottom line: Stay away from the Epson Dye Based Inks, and all the stylus photo series that use them.

You get what you pay for! 200 means the amounts of Disks it will print before failure, the Plastic Disk shelve that you need to feed into the printer is not well designed. The flexible plastic wings bend and wear I'm at my wits end and am looking for another method to print my disks Stay away fro this poorly made product.