8 out of 8 people found this review helpful.
R800 has problems/issues
Date of Review: Oct 30, 2005
The Bottom Line: Like buying a car, first models need improvement.
I got into scrapbooking two years ago and have been scanning old photos on an Epson Perfection 1650 scanner for reprinting in various sizes. I bought my R800 printer to replace an HP Photosmart 7350. The photos I scanned and printed on the Photosmart were wonderful, but I was concerned about using short-lived dye-based ink on photos for scrapbooks I hoped to pass on to my kids. The R800 uses pigment based ink which is designed to last 75+ years. Installation and software set-up for the R800 were quick and easy. Printing photos from my digital camera yielded good results (although sometimes dark), and the optimizer feature allows you to handle photos almost immediately. It is also very nice that it tells you when your ink cartridges are getting low. However, I have several issues with this printer. First of all, there is no LCD panel to display messages or print photos without a PC. 2nd: My Photosmart had software which allowed me to mix and match different photo sizes for printing at the same time allowing optimum use of paper. The R800 uses either my Adobe Photoshop or the Windows XP Photo Printing Wizard, which means a lot of pre-planning or a lot of paper and ink waste. 3rd: When used with WinXP Service Pack 2, pictures come out too dark. Epson is aware of this problem and their website provides a download to solve the problem, but it didn't work for me. I tried their other suggestions with mixed results. Sometimes you can adjust Brightness, Gamma, and change ICD. Other times, it makes no difference what you do. The user manual and "Help" manuals are very generic, providing little help for these subjects.
