Epson Expression Photo XP-960 Print/Scan/Copy Wi-Fi Printer

Had the previous model 3880 pro for 7 years and did over 6000 prints on it and then had an issue with the print head needing cleaning and so decided it was time to get a new one. I did look at the Canon 1000 printer but since I don’t print everyday I decided this was not going to be effective.There are things they have improved over the 3880 but there are something they haven’t. Paper selection is not available on the Mac driver like the old 3880 (you could load the paper and then do the rest from a screen). Now you need to do a combo of selection on the machine and then on the Mac and that I find annoying. I also don’t like loading from the front, I preferred loading how it was previous. I don’t use a roller and so A2 pages are slow to keep loading this way albeit I haven’t had any skewed paper errors which I did occasionally get before (so it’s not all bad).The new HD vs K3 ink I’ve yet to see much difference but then I don’t print many gloss pictures and assume this is where it would show. Prices look the same as K3 so cost to run won’t change.Size and weight wise it is about the same albeit I think the 3880 had better styling and was more iconic than this which is just plain black but I don’t suppose most people really care about how it looks just the performance.Speed of printing seems a little faster and it has the same noises as the 3880 (which I have come to learn over the years) albeit if you actually look inside and at the flip up tray etc I don’t think they have changed a lot from the 3880.All in all I think this should last me another 7 years like its predecessor and I think it’s a good upgrade if you have an old 3880.

I state upfront that I am not a fan of Epson. I have have an Epson R1800 colour printer and an Epson V750 Pro scanner. The scanner has been great, producing very high quality scans, however the extra software that came with it was never updated for newer OS versions, so I'm left with the basic software (which is ok, but not great). The R1800 has produced some superb results, but also very troublesome and expensive to run. It takes a lot of time producing custom profiles to get it producing just right, and if you don't print regularly the heads tended to clog, so you wasted time doing 'head cleaning' which wasted a lot of ink. If you did use it regularly, it also used a lot of ink, as it went though a whole fussy procedure every time you started it up or shut it down.So, time came to replace the R1800, and with some trepidation I chose another Epson as being the best value for money (on purchase, anyway). I have to say that so far I'm pleasantly surprised. There are no cables needed, it connected to my network easily and prints and scans happily over wi-fi. The rear-loading of A3 sheets is a bit of a faff, because you have to tell it to print and then wait for it to ask for the sheet, rather than just putting it there beforehand. The scanner software seems perfectly adequate, and although it isn't as good at holding flat things like books as the V750, and is not much use for scanning slides, for general scanning it is fine. In contrast to the R1800 it doesn't waste time and ink every time you start up and shut down, which is a great relief. However, if you care about picture quality, you do want to be able to have photoshop set the colours using a defined profile, and this printer driver does not allow this. There is no option to turn off printer handling of colours and let the computer do it via coloursync profiles. The result is that the prints are rather dark and dull compared with what I could get with full control. This cost it a star, and it means that it is not a perfect printer for photographers other than snapshots.Also, if you are tempted by the £50 cashback offer, note that you have to buy separate ink refills *at the same time*. I got caught out with that, ordered the printer initially, and then find there is no cashback.

Epson XP-8500 photo printer scanner copier, using Windows 10This is a good compact multi-function photo printer. It produces vibrant colour photos (on Epson Photo Paper Glossy) using 6 separate ink colours. The printer also produces good, clear text documents and scans / photocopies.Printer operations are straightforward. You can use the computer’s print dialogue as found in the menus of programmes such as PhotoShop and others. Alternatively, you can use the touch screen controls on the printer’s LCD panel. Plain paper or photo quality gloss paper can be loaded into one of the 2 front cassettes, or - for card thickness paper - into the rear feed. CD printing is also available from a tray underneath Cassette #2.An SD card (mini or microSD card using an adapter), or a USB memory stick can be inserted into the front of the printer for printing photos or documents directly from those sources, without using a computer. Also, after each device has been set up with the Epson software, it's possible to send photos or documents to the printer from a Smartphone, tablet, laptop, or computer - all via Wi-Fi.All in all, the XP-8500 is a very good multi-function device, although not as solidly built as Epson's older models. However, with this model, printed photos are superior in colour range and vibrancy. Ink cartridges are expensive, but I wouldn't risk losing photo or print quality by using 'compatibles'.*Setting Up the Printer Initially *Setup of the XP-8500 printer is fairly straightforward; but it can take between 20 and 50 minutes, depending on whether or not updates are included. I started by loading the setup CD into my computer's DVD drive. (If there’s no CD/DVD drive, the setup programme can be downloaded directly to a PC or laptop from the Epson website.) Then, I placed some A4 paper in Cassette #2 before starting the setup process.The step-by-step instructions on the computer setup Wizard includes switching the printer on then installing the 6 colour cartridges; ink charging; printing various test pages and responding to questions regarding quality, alignment, etc, and connecting the printer to the Wi-Fi router.In my case, the setup Wizard recognised that my PC was connected to the router via an Ethernet cable rather than by Wi-Fi. However, I just set the printer up for a Wi-Fi connection (as recommended by the software) and everything worked perfectly. The printer connected directly to the router via Wi-Fi, and then communicated with the PC via the Ethernet cable. (Wi-Fi / router SSID and password were required.)Most of the installation procedure is carried out either via the setup Wizard on the computer, and /or by pressing the appropriate icons on the printer’s LCD touch screen, when instructed to do so by the Wizard dialogue or by LCD screen messages. After completing the basic setup, the setup Wizard may suggest installing firmware and software updates. Hence, the prolonged setup/installation time of about 50 minutes in total.