Epson Stylus Photo R220 Ink Jet Printer (C11C626011)

I found my first Epson R220 at a local superdiscount chain. And it was a great price, althought the inks cost a fortune!! the machine itself is so wonderful. it is quiet, quick and easy to use. It is compatable with both Windodo's and MAC machines. It seems to be more economical on ink useage than any other(older) of my Epsons I ever have had. it uses 6 tanks so you can switch out only the empty and keep going. It also prints on CD/DVD's if you can figure it out (I am not that smart -yet) Because i am using it on Windows XP...EPSON is making some really great machines now, and this one is a great multi purpose printer. It is also a good photo printer!As I edit this review- Rhinotek no longer makes ink for this; and by now this machine MAY be out of date; as SO MANY new ones flood the market every day. BUT it is still a great machine. I would not change it unless there was a good reason or it dies... Personaly I would be wary of buying a used one you never know how people have treated it.

When my Epson R220 printer died, I needed to replace it or get a different printer that could print labels on printable CD's and DVD's. Since I had the R220 installed on four computers and had purchased several ink cartridges, it was cost-effective to replace the printer with another of the same type. I found a reconditioned printer identical to what I needed for sale on Amazon for much less that a new one would have cost. I ordered the printer and received it by the time delivery was promised. It arrived in excellent condition and has been working fine ever since I connected it started using it. Since the serial number was different, I had to reinstall the printer on the computers, but since the driver was present, it was trivial. I am completely satisfied by the excellent experience I had with this purchase.

I use the R220 almost exclusively for printing onto DVD surfaces, and it does this job quite well. I don't use the included software, as it's unintuitive and clumsy to work with. Rather, I use a Photoshop template which gives me more control over the results.Regular paper prints are attractive and crisp.For the money and special ability, this is a hard printer to beat. Highly recommended!

DO NOT BUY EPSON PHOTO R220!! PLEASE READ ALL Reasons:1. Approx in one year a window will pop up & message will "EXACTLY" state, "Parts inside your printer are at the end of their service life. See your printer documents". After this window keeps popping up EVERY time you print, approx 2 weeks after your printer will COMPLETELY shut down forcing you to repair/replace the ink waste pads. This can not be done by the consumer, it must be sent in for repair & costs the same as a new printer. You have no choice but to send it for repair or buy a new printer. This only proves that the printer is programmed to shut down for unnecessary repairs. How can any machine know what part to replace & when it is going to wear out unless it has been programmed??!! This is an illegal scam & Epson is begging for ANOTHER class action law suit.2. Each time you turn the R220 off it resets the ink cartridges & goes through an unnecessary cleaning cycle, wasting all your ink. I have noticed that ink levels disappear quickly & even the ones that are not being used, the micro chip attached to each cartridge has to be programmed otherwise why would the levels indicate they are low when ink is not used. I replaced a cartridge that the printer said was out of ink. I opened up the supposedly empty ink cartridge & it was almost 80% full!! I could not believe it, Epson was sued for this same incident on previous printers. Another tip off that they are programmed is that if you install a non Epson ink cartridge a window will pop up saying that, "you are not using an official Epson product, do you wish to continue with ink replacement"? This is not word for word but it is exactly the same message that you get from it. I would of typed exact message but i no longer have this inferior printer.3. If one of your ink cartridges is out, it locks up, forcing you to install a new ink cartridge for further use.4. The colors on your monitor are not what this printer prints. You get variations & some are so bad that it can effect the beauty of your photo.5. The ink that this printer uses is horrible, if ANY moisture comes in contact with printed media from the R220, it WILL run, smear, smudge, etc. Horrible & the ink cartridges are VERY EXPENSIVE!! Approx 70.00 to 80.00 dollars.6. The CD/DVD print tray is so defective in it's style that i can not believe this unit has not been recalled. More than 80% of the time it will not print because of alignment issues. It has to be almost 100% MANUALLY aligned for it to print on CD/DVD media. There is no escaping this, it has to be MANUALLY set.7. Printer has a paper feed problem, it takes standard paper fine but, try loading in a heavy card stock or photo paper & it WILL NOT catch it. It REFUSES to take the heavy weight paper. It SOMETIMES will take it if you feed it in sheet by sheet. A defect that needs to be fixed!!I could go on about this printer but i am getting angry at this point with recollections of the agony i went through with this printer. DO NOT BUY EPSON PRODUCTS, they are inferior & PROGRAMMED to fail for unnecssary repair. SchroederCONTACT EPSON AT:3840 Kilroy Airport WayLong Beach, CA 90806562-981-3840John Lang, President and Chief Executive OfficerJudith Bain, Vice President, Legal Affairs and General CounselFabrice Commelin, Vice President, Latin AmericaHideki Kitamura, Vice President, Financial and Accounting CoordinationKeith Kratzberg, Vice President, Marketing-Branded ProductsJames Marshall, Sr. Vice President, Sales-Branded ProductsAlan Pound, Sr. Vice President, Service & Support and CFO

Received this product in a timely fashion. But when all plugged in it began to flash red and signaled that a connection was not achieved. I could not load the inks and sent the machine back to the seller.

I've been using the R220 for over a year now. Print quality is excellent in all modes, CD, photo and everyday printing. However, after about 6 months I found that the CD tray needs a small push to enter the machine properly; every time. Now, thicker photo paper will not feed without a "little push"! So yes, print quality is excellent, but after a little more than a year seems this printer will be ready for the "bone yard" very soon. I'll keep nursing it as long as I can because I have a lot of spare ink laying around, but if don't need direct CD printing (I do) maybe there are more reliable options out there. I'm sort of dissappointed with Epson on this one and if I didn't need direct CD/DVD printing I would certainly explore other options.

I bought this printer mainly because of its great price and its ability to print on DVD's. The ability to add text or an image to a sildeshow DVD is a great plus. It adds a lot of value to the overall presentation when presenting this to a client. I already own a dedicated photo printer (Canon), but I thought I would try it for some 4x6 and 5x7 images to test quality and the vibrance of color. WOW! I was impressed. This printer hands down produced a better looking image than my Canon. I suppose it wasn't an apples to apples test, due to the Canon being a few years old, but all things considered the image did look better.If you need to print high quality images at home, this is the printer for you.