Epson Stylus C84 Review
Do you understand things like:
22 ppm black text and 12 ppm color�¹
5760 x 1440 optimized dpi with ultra fine 3-picoliter ink droplets
Water-resistant, smudge-resistant, light-resistant�¹ DURABrite�® Inks
Cost-saving individual ink cartridges
True BorderFree� printing in popular photo sizes
I sure don’t understand it all. Or at least I didn’t when I bought my first printer. Now I have had to learn them. Like all the other things in today’s high tech world, it pays to know what you are doing.
I have learned what all that stuff is but the things that I understand more came with my first Epson printer.
The ppm or pages per minute means just that. How many pages will print as you stand and wait for them to come out of the tray. The more ppm, the less you have to wait.
The optimization and dpi means how good the pictures and such will look when you print something. I had a little incident when I was using my first Epson printer to show how good the quality of the Stylus line of printers is.
I was selling a used car and took the title and such inside after we had signed the deal to get myself a copy. I printed it out and went to the DMV to show them that I had sold the car. The woman there wanted to know why I had kept the original title. She could not tell at first that the one I was showing her was a copy.
That is print quality. I have had several people comment on the quality of the pictures and other things I copy and print.
I was interested in purchasing a new printer several years ago due to my kids involvement in 4-H. They needed to print things out for projects that were going to the county fair and I wanted one that had good quality, faster print speeds and individual cartridges.
Since then I have advanced to digital photography and still use the printer for projects for the kids, homework, and other things.
I have been truly impressed with the ease of use and variety of printing jobs that can be accomplished with the Epson Stylus C84 printer. I purchased mine for $90 and have been happy with it ever since.
The cartridges being separate for each color was one of the big selling points of the Epson printer I had bought. I like to be able to change out only the one color that is out instead of a whole three color cartridge. It makes sense to me to only throw out the ones that are empty.
I have found out that I use more red and yellow than blue when I print things. There have been times when I would have been throwing out the blue half full when the red was empty. I truly like the separate ink cartridges.
The print speed is very good on the Epson Stylus C84. I don’t have to sit and wait for a couple of minutes to print out simple pictures or such that we print. Black print jobs such as words only come out very quickly.
The quality on the Stylus C84 is excellent. I can print photos on good quality gloss paper and not be able to tell they are from a printer or photo lab. I have had several people comment on this when I show pictures or give the grandparents and aunts and uncles family pictures.
They always say the quality is excellent and can’t tell they’re not from a photo lab. I have used several different brands and kinds of paper in my printer and have only found that the cheaper the paper, the less the quality of the print. Go figure.
I have done things like photo magnets, transparencies, and bumper stickers and had good quality pictures from them. It is only with the really cheap paper that I don’t get good luck with the pictures. But that is to be expected.
I really like the Epson Stylus C84, as you can guess by now. It prints quickly, has great quality and is very affordable both in the initial cost and the cost of replacement cartridges with the separate ones for the four colors.
It uses red, yellow and blue cartridges that cost about twelve dollars a piece. The black is about $25 for the standard size and the high capacity is about $35.
I always buy the high capacity in the black when I get mine and the three colors in a set. It is a few dollars cheaper for the set and I have them on hand when it comes time to change them out.
As an aside to ink for printers, I buy ink from Epson for mine. I have been happy with the quality and am concerned about less quality imitation brands. Here is a link to an article that came out in PCWorld about it: http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,111767,00.asp
I have been very pleased with the Epson Stylus line of printers. I liked my first one so much that after all the wear and tear I put the first one through and it was time to get another, I went with the same one, only a newer model.
The Epson Stylus C84 has both a parallel printer cable and a USB cable to hook up to your computer. This is quite handy for my family. I have my desktop computer hooked to the parallel and when I want to print something from my laptop I just hook up the USB and print away.
The software is quite easy to use. You first load the printer drivers and it’s ready to go. You will have to check for updates but it is easy to get these. It has several features in the software that are handy, ink monitoring, quality selections, orientation, page layout and the maintenance stuff.
The quality settings and orientation are important for things like pictures and photos. Orientation is how you want to print things on the page, with the tall side up or wide side. The quality settings are easy to understand and use. From draft or quick printing to best photo it’s a matter of clicking on the quality you want to use for each print job.
There are selections for the various types of paper you may use as well as the things like envelopes and special papers.
There is an advanced section under the main page that let’s you adjust a number of settings on your print job. Settings for color adjustment and other special things are available here.
It has a print preview function that let’s you see the final printing before it prints. A last minute check to see the whole page as it will be printed out.
The page layout has several functions dealing with printing multiple pages and special features such as watermarks and double sided printing.
The maintenance section has several functions associated with it. It has a nozzle check pattern to see if your print head needs cleaning and the cleaning itself. There is also the ink cartridge replacement and the alignment of the heads in this section.
The printer is easy to use and the various sections just need a little practice to find out what they do. You can also use the help section, the included book or the web site from Epson to find out what the various functions do and how to adjust each for the best printing.
Overall I would highly recommend the Epson line of printers. It’s ease of use, separate cartridges, good speed, and high quality are all the positive aspects I looked for in a new printer and found in the Epson Stylus C84.
