Customer Reviews

Epson WorkForce 610 Wireless Color Inkjet All-in-One Printer (C11CA50201)

5 star:		(87)
4 star:		(46)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(47)

 

 

This is a great printer. It's easy to set up and easy to use. I have the previous model the Workforce 600 and I thought this would be a better version. However, it is not better. In fact, it is slower than the previous version for laser quality prints. For draft quality it still does 38 ppm but for laser quality it does 15 vs. 27 ppm of the 600 model. And for color it does only 9.3 vs 15! Although, I don't need the speed at home, I can't imagine why Epson would slow it down. The printing quality seems just the same. I went over spec sheets of 600 and 610 with a tooth comb and the only difference I found was the slower speed and the fact that 610 can be recycled and uses slightly less power on standby mode (2.9 W on 610 vs. 5.5 W on 600). Since Energy Star specs change from year to year this update could have been just to conform to those specs.

The set up of this printer is very easy. You can do it through your computer or directly from the printer LCD screen by typing in your router password. I tried both ways and it worked. It prints from my Windows 7 and XP laptops and Mac desktop in different parts of the house. It took about 30 minutes in all from opening the package to printing out the test sheet over wireless, mostly because the packaging tape took some time to get through. The convenience of being able to print or fax remotely from anywhere in my house is a big asset and the prints look great - both normal paper printing and photos.

The advantages of this printer:
++ Wireless printing. What a joy. It's the best thing ever. No more running to the printer with a laptop, or buying a separate printer for the desktop. The whole family can use just one. It saves me so much time, and it's so convenient as you can print (or fax from PC) from anywhere in the house - upstairs or from downstairs.
++ The top auto document feeder makes it really easy to photocopy or scan your standard sized documents. I can just start and walk away. It can hold 30 sheets at a time.
++ The feature I love is that you can scan all your important papers to PDF or JPG files on a memory card inserted into the printer card-slot. It takes pretty much any card from CF to SDHC etc. The card shows up as a drive (X or Y, or whatever you designate) in your Windows explorer. I open my mail, drop my bills in the auto feeder and select scan to memory card (choosing PDF option) and walk away. The printer does the rest. Later, I access the card from my laptop wirelessly and copy over the docs to my hard drive folders. This is really great as all my filing is now paperless and I can save all important documents in PDF from school schedules to tax documents.
++ The color LCD screen on the front panel with the buttons on the side makes it easy to change settings or scan/copy/print photos etc right from the printer. To print photos you can print wirelessly from PC, or attach your camera with USB or insert the memory card into the printer.
++ It comes with 4 full sized ink tanks - 3 high capacity primary colors and one extra high capacity (#97) black ink tank. The ink levels show up on your computer each time you print and indicate when you need to change the tank. They can be changed individually so you can replace them as needed which saves ink.
++ The ink dries very quickly and the prints are smudge free. This printer also printed really good photos using premium glossy paper.
++ You can hardwire this printer through ethernet or connect your laptop with USB cable if you don't want to use the WiFi option.


What could have been better:
-- Why oh why did Epson slow down the speed of this printer? The prints are great but it's a mystery why they chose to go slower than the previous version. If you don't print too much this may be not a problem for you. It's still faster than several other printers.
--It does not have real duplex printing, you have to do it manually by printing one side and then turning over the stack of paper. And even this option is not available through Mac.
--Inks are expensive and there is a chip on each cartridge ensuring they cannot be refilled. For 600, the printer stopped if one ran out of any one color as the printer is set up to use all colors even in grayscale. There may be a way to bypass this but I haven't discovered it. Cheaper gray market ink cartridges are available on some sites but from what I read so far people have had mixed results and in worst cases got clogged print heads.

This printer is a workhorse and a solid performer, although a little slower than the earlier Workforce 600. You can't go wrong with this printer for home or small office use. For the price, it's the best all-in-ones available. And if you can find the Workforce 600 cheaper, go for it.

After reading all of the reviews for all-in-one devices, this seemed to be the one to get. Setup for wireless use was very easy: I had it set up on 3 pc's and one mac with no issues at all. The first unit I had developed a clog in the printer head which Epson diagnosed over the phone, after repeated attempts at cleaning, and so they had to send out a completely new unit. I received the second printer and had to go through the setup on all 4 computers again. One week later, the same issue occurred on the print head. Epson sent out a third unit: guess what........ same problem. I was impressed with Epson's customer service, but on the other hand it seemed too easy, like they know there is a problem with these units. I really wanted this thing to work, because it was very easy to setup (much easier than any HP I have owned). My other complaint is how loud the unit was, crazy loud at printing and scanning. Today I received a canon MX860 from Amazon. That unit was equally as easy to setup, but the big distinction is that the Canon has replaceable printer heads; so if it gets clogged, I don't have to send back the entire unit.

I replaced an older Dell All-In-One printer with the Epson WorkForce 610. I have owned multiple HP all-in-one home/office printers that originally cost $300+. By far, this Epson WorkForce 610 is the best of the bunch.

Setup was easy. I downloaded and installed the latest Epson software from their website. It installed on my Windows 7 laptops very easily. One laptop directly connected to the printer and the other has a wireless connection. In both cases the install, printer discovery, and test prints/scans went well. The software takes longer than expected to install but there were no scary questions or screens so it was just patience.

Setting up the printer to work on my WEP enabled wireless network was easy to do from the printer's front panel. There were front panel diagnostics that allowed me to check if the printer had an IP address so that i could make sure I had the right security keys installed.

The scanner and auto-document feeder work well and are much faster than my more expensive Dell or HP printers. Both a TWAIN and WIA scanner are exposed so it works well with lots of software. For me, interop with Paperport 12 was a must and this has been flawless - much better than the Dell or HP all-in-one printers. I tend to scan 8x10 and legal sizes stuff in the document feeder and that works fine. The adjustment guide only supports A4 & LTR/LGL sized paper so narrower paper may skew when being fed into the auto document feeder.

The paper feed mechanism is on the back of the printer and only holds 100 or so sheets. So good for lighter home / office use versus heavy use. I can easily insert an envelope over the paper to quickly print an occasional envelope. If I were printing multiple envelopes, i would remove the paper, adjust the paper guide to envelope size, and it holds 10 or so envelopes.

Making scans (to PDF, a File, or Email) from the front panel also works well.

I didn't spend much time with the fax as that wasn't important to me.

All in all, the best printer I have owned so far.

When i went looking for reviews on this product there were not many except on best-buy and office depot but they did not give much to go on. So, i took a chance and have not regretted it except in price because i spent under a hundred dollars for the hp j4580 which i returned after three days for this one.

I have only had this printer for 2 days but so far so good. Here is what i can tell you as of this review.
Setup was pretty straight forward not much different than my old hp.I setup as usb did not use wireless or Ethernet

Scan quality is good with photos i did not scan a document but i am sure it will do well.

Printing went better than the hp j6500 i tested in the store and against the j4580 and warmed up a lot faster too.

Copying did well as i copy a flier my daughter made and you could hardly tell the difference between the two.
As far as faxing and using the built in network i have not tried but given how everything else works flawlessly i am sure it will do just fine.

Card Readers work great as it did well in reading and printing photos. The only thing is it will not give you that high gloss due to the fact that this printer use pigment ink and the artisan 810 which i did consider(price) uses dye based ink that gives that shine.

The only thing that i did not like is that given the amount of money i spent buying this printer you would think they could have built in a duplex as it only has manual duplex through windows only.

I have an apple computer but i have not tried the drivers for it yet. From the book it states that it support leopard. I have snow Leopard so i will report back as i find out.

Dislikes-
the on and off is not really on and off as it asks you are you sure. Yes i am sure!!! i want to turn you off.
The tray are a little flimsy it works for me.
Oh yeah. No duplex!!! Just manual.
People have said that when ink cartridge runs out of ink the printer will not print. So that will be an annoyance for me but given the price for the replacement it's not that bad.

All in all this is a good aio printer that works well for my needs and i can not complain. The good outweighs the small dislikes about this printer.


Edit/Update:

After installing drivers usb i decided to install via network cable and is working great. The only thing is that i was not aware of is that the software must be install on every pc wanting to use the features of this printer. I am not good at networking but it seems to be the case. Even though i have it via Ethernet cable everyone can connect wirelessly to the printer with no problem. The setup for this was not really hard just follow the screens and that is it.
Because i needed more info i went to their website and found that their trouble shooting tips leaves a lot to be desired.


I have scan documents and pictures and all works great for me.
Printing pictures is nice but i have to admit you to be careful because ink is not that great for pictures. One it takes a while to dry, two if even your finger is a little wet it will see damage(small). But other than that the print quality is very good for documents etc. If you are a person who plan to print a lot of photos then i would say consider the artisan or hp. But is still prints nice pictures. Other than that this is a great printer fitting most of your needs.

Faxing works fine for me.

The only thing that has been a problem is the occasional paper jam but compared to the hp's i took back this is a walk in the park. Since i have had this printer i can count on 1 had the paper jams i had. Another reviewer said that this was an issue but at least for me this has not and i use this printer everyday. Till now this printer does everything i need it to do.

Before i buy this, i researched many reviews and saw actual models at the stores.
Let me say this.
This printer is really easy to set up. easy to set up wirelessly if u just follow the instruction manual. you cant go wrong unless you dont now about computer. This is very noisy unit when you start printing. overall really good buy. I've using samsung laser printer and had refilled the toner but somehow it is not printing well. the fonts are not dark enuf. so i decided to purchase new one rather than getting new toner or fixing it. I compared this one w/ lexmark and canon.
The reason i chose this one over canon is b/c for canon, their color ink ran out even thought you did not really use color ink. Their answer will be "even for black and white, they use color ink for contrast" or something like that.
The reason i chose this one over lexmark is b/c lexmark, their original ink price is really good compare to any other brands. U know how these days printers are cheap and inks are expensive. lexmark ink price is really good but lexmark, they dont allow other companies to make their ink for them. so it is not easy to find their ink unless you go to staples or frys. ink is not that expensive compare to other brands but....

I know most of your biggest concern is the cost of ink long run. right? i know epson has this chip on their cartridge so u cant refill.
[...]
however, there is many online store that sell refillable cartridge or chipper ink for epson. I know it is always best to use from epson original brand but...cost too much.

About duplexing, u dont wanna get duplexing printer anything below $1,000 at least. There is a reason that companies that they dont make auto duplexing. It jams very easily and eventually it will damage your printer and everything. So actually i like manual duplexing over auto duplexing.

In summany,
Pros
1. Cheap for all in one function. Got it from fys for 99.99 Dec 2009
2. Very speedy.
3. Luxuary design
4. well packaging.
5. Easy to set up wirelessly.
6. Easy to update their updated program and driver.
7. paper feeder for fax/copy is very well made. so cool when you open and close.
8. LCD. so it is easy to see

Cons
1. No paper tray
2. Noisy when you first start printing.
3. Could have been little smaller.
4. ink cartridge has a chip to prevent from refilling (just like any other brands nowdays)
5. Ink is 20% more expensive than lexmark. but u can shop online.

The Epson Workforce 610 Color Inkjet All-In-One printer is positioned as a printer suitable for a small business. There is no paper tray, as such, with this printer. Paper is inserted at the back of the printer, sticking up in the air and this obviates the need for a more typical paper tray found in many other printers. I suppose it makes the printer more svelte as a result.

I'm fairly tech savvy and usually ignore manuals, at least initially. I like companies that follow the "don't make me think" method of design. Unfortunately because of my predisposition to ignore manuals, I did experience some setup glitches with this printer that those of you who actually do read manuals might have avoided. I did not, for instance, use the provided CD to install the drivers prior to installation. I had just upgraded to Snow Leopard OS on my iMac and assumed that the necessary drivers would already be available to me. They were not. However the Print & Fax System Preferences in the Mac will recognize the printer over the network and then attempt to download and install the correct drivers. So I let the Mac do it's thing. Problem was that the drivers downloaded were not the wireless drivers, but the USB drivers. So after having errors trying to print, I installed the provided drivers and apps from the CD and had no further issues.

I did not find the menu system very intuitive. For instance, when I had to enter my WEP password for wireless printing, it was very unintuitive to me how to actually enter a combination of letters and numbers. And when I had to set the date and time, I assumed, again incorrectly, that I could increase the numbers by using the up arrow and down arrow buttons on the keypad. No, that didn't work. You actually enter the numbers by using the number keys on the "dial" pad for the fax. Doh!

The Epson scanner app worked well. It enables you to activate scanning from your desktop. Epson gives you a plethora of options to attain the level of quality that you need. The scanner worked well.

Epson also gives you many different print quality settings ranging from Fast Economy (which is very fast but very low quality) to Photo quality (which is very slow, but very good quality. You'll probably end up using the Automatic, normal setting most of the time. When I compare the output of Automatic Normal to my Brother MFC-490CW Color Inkjet Wireless All-in-One Printer it isn't quite as sharp or dark. In other words, the less expensive Brother has slightly better text print quality in my opinion.

I've printed a few photos direct from SD memory card and was pleasantly surprised with the quality. Very nice. There are no noticeable lines and the overall color saturation, sharpness and finish is good.

One very cool feature of this printer is that from the control panel, you can select and then have the printer print various types of lined letter size or A4 sized paper including a graph paper design...the paper can even be printed with a background picture of your choosing (the picture provided by you on a memory card). This is something I've not ever seen before in a printer and it is really great to be able to print a piece of graph paper on demand. Awesome feature! I cannot tell you how cool it is to select a photo then have that photo printed as sort of a watermark on a letter sized piece of paper. The end result is similar to the customized paper with backgrounds that you can buy in office supply stores. A really useful feature that I will use a lot now that I can do this so easily.

Overall I'm pleased with the printer. It is versatile, doesn't take up much space and is quite light and easy to move if necessary. Print quality is decent. It's a bit noisy but ink-jet printers are by nature kind of noisy so it's about normal in the noise department. It's attractive, the control panel can flip down to stay out of the way and the additional memory card slots are a useful feature.

I haven't had the printer long enough to comment on how long ink cartridges last but I do not regret my purchase and think it's a very decent all-in-one printer. The addition of duplex printing would make it quite a bit more useful, but that is not a feature of this printer unfortunately.

My first WiFi printer was HP's J6480, which became a frustrating lesson in why the "Certified for Windows" label is important! Vista was just released and I didn't pay attention to the fact that particular HP printer didn't have the "Certified for Vista" label. Sadly, the printer drivers crashed my internet connection, caused blue screens, and a "web printing" plug-in made Internet Explorer unstable. Long story short, I ended up selling the HP printer and buying the "Certified for Vista" Epson Workforce 600 which worked like a dream!

The Epson Workforce 610 is a minor iteration of the already excellent Workforce 600 with its pict bridge port, versatile memory card slots, fast print speeds and color LCD screen, but the 610 does have a few worthwhile improvements. The first major distinction is that the 610 has the official "Compatible With Windows 7" label which is huge if you're buying a computer with Windows 7 or upgrading! Chances are that most "Vista Compatible" printers will work with Windows 7 because the guts of the operating systems are so similar, but buying this printer lets you know for certain that you're buying something that works.

As far as other improvements, standby power usage was trimmed from 5.5 to 2.9 Watts, and the user interface and ease of installation improved slightly, though according the the spec sheet, print speed actually decreased a little bit. I don't mind, however. Unless you print large quantities of long, detailed documents, chances are you won't be able to tell the difference, and the increased energy efficiency makes up for it.

As with most Epson printers, a glaring advantage over the competition is the individual color print cartridges, which allow you to make the most of your ink by swapping out individual cyan, blue and magenta cartridges instead of one big "color" cartridge as with other brands.

The biggest disadvantage compared to competing printers is the top-loading paper tray which I don't like as much a front-loading enclosed tray, and the weak implementation of two-sided printing which is little more than one sided printing where you reload the pages into the paper tray for a second pass. For those features, I give the tip of the hat to HP's closest competitor to the Workforce 610: the Vista-compatible OfficeJet 6500, which has a better paper tray and two-sided printing capability.

Overall this is a great all-in-one printer! The energy efficiency and proven compatibility with Windows 7 make it a strong choice for those looking for a solid, good performing WiFi printer.

I gave a 1 star rating on everything for this printer because it keeps breaking down and I haven't had enough time to thoroughly evaluate all of the features.

I thought I was purchasing this great all-in-one printer, but what I bought was a great big headache! Three months after purchasing this printer I had a problem with a paper jam. I called Epson and they told me that there was probably a tiny piece of paper stuck somewhere in the unit. They told me that they would replace the printer, however, I had to put up a deposit, which was more than what the printer cost. They sent the new printer and I packed up the broken printer and returned it to them immediately so that my deposit could be credited back to my credit card. They did pay the shipping cost. One month later, when the ink was running low, I changed the ink cartridges with brand new Epson ink cartridges, to my surprise, I got an error message that said the Magenta (red) ink cartridge needed to be replaced. Since I had just put in a new cartridge, I knew that had to be wrong, so I removed the cartridge and reinstalled it. I then got an error message that said that the printer did not recognize the Magenta cartridge so I removed the cartridge and reinstalled it again. Still the same message. I then removed all the cartridges and reinstalled all of them, but in different slots. Guess what, it still didn't recognize the Magenta cartridge. It didn't make a difference which slot I put the cartridge in, it didn't recognize the Magenta Cartridge. I powered down the printer and started all over again, thinking that maybe if I turned it off and unplugged it, whatever the glitch was would be cleared out. When that didn't work, I figured that I had a defective cartridge. I purchased new cartridges, from a different store and I am still getting the same error. SO, now I know that it is not the cartridge, but the printer itself. I called Epson and got the slowest customer service rep on earth. She had me on the phone for an hour and it was a long distance call, not an 800 number. She tried to tell me that the printer was no longer under warranty which was not true, I had a two year warranty and I have only had the printer for a little over 4 months. Once we got that straight, she offered me a new ink cartridge. When I pointed out how that didn't make sense, she then suggested I clean the nozzle heads. I informed her that the printer will not perform a nozzle check or any other maintenance function unless it can detect all four cartridges. Without all four cartridges the printer will not print or perform any maintenance functions. They then offered to send me another printer in 3-5 days or they could refer me to the nearest service center. If you take it to a service center, you have to unhook the printer, have diagnostic test run, and wait 2+ weeks to have it serviced. So I had no choice but to put down another deposit and wait 3-5 days for another printer. I have already lost 2 days of work and money plus a one hour phone call and $60 in ink cartridges. Buy this printer at your own risk! If you have a problem with this printer, it will cost you time and money to rectify the problem! I am stuck with this horrible product. I thought about selling it, but it wouldn't be right to pass this piece of junk on to someone else for money. I have had three Workforce 610 printers in 4 months! (the original and two replacements) and I am only 4 months into a 2 year warranty. This is too much of a coincidence. These printers are defective!!! I will never buy another Epson again.

Before you buy this printer, remember these things:
1. A paper jam can cause this printer to stop working
2. It will not print unless all four cartridge slot are filled (one of each color)and can be detected by the printer
3. There must be ink in all four cartridge in order for the print function to work (It will not print just black and white copies. I tried it and it kept looking for that Magenta cartridge.)
4. If it ever tells you that it does not recognize a cartridge, cut your losses! Don't invest in any more ink! Just buy a new printer! It will save you time and money!
5. If you call customer support, make sure you get someone who knows what he/she is doing. It should not take an hour to process an RMA and the support agent should not have to put you on hold every 2 minutes. (my hold time was longer than my talk time. When I asked for another representative or a supervisor, I was put on hold and never received my request)
6. If you just have to call customer support, make sure you are in an area that is serviced by an 800 number.

In an effort to make me a satisfied customer, Epson sent my new printer overnight. I wish I could say that all went well, but that was not the case. They sent me another clunker. Same problems as above only this time it would only detect 2 of the four ink cartridges. I couldn't believe it! I called Epson and finally was able to speak with a supervisor. I expressed my concern and they still wanted to send me another printer, a brand new one this time. They led me to believe that the two replacements were new printers. Each time I called I was told that I would receive a new printer. What does that tell you. It tells me that I received printers that had been returned by other customers who had experienced the same problems that I had. I told them that I would return one of the two defective printers and that the other one was going in the trash. I needed to cut my losses. I had to dispose of 6 full open ink cartridges because I do not know anyone with an Epson printer and you can't return an open ink cartridge to the store. I have 6 unopened ink cartridges left. I couldn't bring myself to open them and try to see if the printer would detect them when it was obvious that the problem was not a defective ink cartridge. I am going to try to sell them on the internet and get some of my money back. Between the printer and the ink that I purchased, I have lost $260 and I still don't have a printer. This printer has a 2 year warranty, and only lasted 3-1/2 months before breaking down, the first replacement printer lasted 1 month, and the second one didn't even last 1 day! I am disappointed in the Workforce 610 and in Epson. They are no longer on my list of reliable manufacturers.

I loved this printer until the first time the paper jammed. It shredded a piece of paper and then you discover you have very little access to get at the paper. I cleaned out the paper as best as possible and for the longest time it still said I had a paper jam, it took over a day of messing with it to eventually clean out all the little pieces of paper that had been shredded inside. You must do this all by hand. Epson's response was essentially to suggest sending the unit back because of a paper jam. I suppose that will be fine unless I get another paper jam after the one year warranty expires. The paper jam issue can lead to frustration on this one, I've had printers that were much easier to reset when you have a paper jam.

Normally I start off my reviews with the good stuff but this time I'm starting with the bad. The biggest upset with this printer is that you think being its the newer version of the 600 series that it would be faster then its previous model the 600. Well, NO...its actually way slower. The 600 Epson WorkForce 600 Wireless All-in-One Printer (Black) (C11CA18201)which I have prints 27 ppm black and 19 ppm color. The new 610 model only prints 15 ppm black and a dismal 9.3 ppm color! Why in the world would Epson make the newer version slower?

I did give it 4 stars because basically it is the same as the 600 model but slower. Startup was a snap and I was up and running in about 15 minutes. They tape and pack the printer very securely so it took time to unwrap everything. Once setup was complete and all the cartridges were installed (4 inks, Bl, M, C, Y) I configured it to be completely wireless with basically one touch on the LCD screen. The printer immediately found my network and the neighbors as well and they are a good distance. All I had to do was enter my router password and it was configured. After that your supposed to put the disc in to add the drivers but being I have the 600 model the latest drivers were already installed. I went to my preferences, added the new printer from the list (which it found in 2 seconds as available printers) and clicked add. It found the models drivers and within 2 minutes I was printing. This machine was easier to setup to my network than the 600, I had to manually set up the info on that model as the wizard didn't work correctly for some reason.

It is a great all-in-one printer, I've owned Lexmark and HP and this one is the best of the ones I've had. I do a lot of copies and scanning but don't really use the fax much although it works well when I do. I think my favorite feature besides being wireless is the auto loading tray on the top. Its very convenient and copies, scans papers easily and neatly. The unit seems to be made fairly well, the only part that felt cheap was the small edge on the exiting paper tray but no big deal. The user interface on the LCD was only slightly different then the 600 but it was basically cosmetic. The top has a dotted texture which helps with fingerprints, previous model was smooth, Print quality is the same, very sharp vivid, just slooooow.


Pros:
Easy setup, especially on Mac
Lots of options for great customization
Great size of printer, not too big or small
Print Quality
Fast Scanner
Easy to use LCD user interface
Inks Last long and are 4 separate tanks
Media card readers on front
Auto copy/scanner tray

Cons:
Super slow, previous model was double as fast
A bit noisy still being its the newer model
I have to repeat that its slow cause this is a huge negative

I'll be using this printer as an extra for my laptop in my kitchen area to print recipes, quick copies etc rather then going up into the office, but for my office, i'm sticking with the 600 version which just happens to be the same price and double the printing speeds! You can find my review on the 600's page for further details on it. I recommend the 600 before this one because of the faster print speeds and it is fast! Sorry Epson, but what were you thinking?!