Well rounded printer. (Epson Stylus C62)

Member Name: jo@145

Product:	Epson Stylus C62
Date:	02/06/05 (341 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good quality photos, Clear print

Disadvantages: Expensive cartridges, Can be Noisy

Our HP printer was playing up, it wouldn't play with me when I wanted to play, and if I needed things printed urgently it would not co-operate so I was getting STRESSED! So that meant my husband was STRESSED as I expected him to be able to sort it out there and then in the middle of him watching some important Sport programme. The easiest solution in his mind was buy a new printer.

We walked around stores, picked up leaflets, compared results of printing photos etc. We wanted a good printer for typed work and letters, but also for coloured items and for photos as we sometimes print out our digital photos to frame or send relatives. We needed something to fit on the lower shelf of the computer table as the HP one had done. I didn't want to pay a huge amount of cash for something which although it is used most days, it's only for a small amount of printing not like in an office situation.We bought our Epson Stylus C62 printer for £49.95 and headed home. Once unpacked, we followed the clear instructions which were both pictorial and the written word so even an idiot like me could understand it. (Husband thinking once it’s running I can get back to the TV and have some peace and quiet.)

VITAL STASTISTICS
It measures about 48cm x 26cm x 18 high, and weighs according to my kitchen scales about 3.5kg – it certainly isn’t too heavy to lift in and out from under the table if I need to for the occasional dusting! There is just room for the smoky grey lid to lift to change the cartridges. It is smooth grey plastic and well rounded, with contrasting dark grey base which has nice indentations to make it easy to grip when lifting. The paper tray is in dark grey, as is the left edge paper guide which has a locking tab. This allows you to use really small pieces of paper or card for printing and hold it straight. The front output tray is edged in dark grey with a shaped indent to make it easy to pull down. In other words it is grey, smooth and rounded, sounds boring but I love it! The two cables which connect to the power and the computer go into the back of the machine. There are 3 buttons on the top left hand side, ON/OFF, which shows green when on, next flashes red when there is a problem with either ink or paper, and the third is a solid button, used for changing the cartridges.

OK so you’re saying typical woman, probably looks at the colour of the car when she buys it and not bothers what is under the engine! Well that is very true as I replaced one Punto for another, and I just had to pick the colour, but I did peek underneath the bonnet to make sure all its bits were there! And even looked in the boot to check tools and spare wheel. I apologise and must get back to my printer.

PRINTER SOFTWARE

Once the printer was connected to the power and the computer, and I had checked it was turned off, the next stage was to insert the CD into the CD ROM drive. A dialogue box appeared and all I did was click on Install software, the instructions were easy to follow and tell you how to insert the cartridges. Care is needed not to touch the chip at the back of the cartridges, once installed the printer begins “ ink charging” this is a bit noisy, but is normal and when the green light on top stops flashing, it is completed. The initial ink charging uses quite a lot of the ink in the cartridges which are supplied but is necessary to produce high quality work.

PRINTING

You have to follow instructions for a test page to check colours and set it for printing accurately, this is all easy to follow on screen instructions.
I am really happy with the speed as it will print 14 pages per minute in black ink, a few less in colour, but it doesn’t smudge as happened with our HP printer as the ink is quick drying. Not being very technically minded I’m not sure if 5760dpi is good, but it was higher than some printers we looked at (that is dots per inch for those even less knowledgeable than me!) Every time I print, a box comes up showing me how much ink is left, a really useful piece of information so there is never a problem running out as long as you remember to buy a replacement as you seeing it getting low. The integral memory chip is a clever little thing. The cartridges are Black TO40 and Colour TO41.
There is a pop up box to select how you want to print.

The choices are very good, especially for printing photos. You can choose from:-
1. Draft
2. Text
3. Text and Image
4. Photo
5. Best Photo

Choice of size and type of paper:-
1. Plain
2. 360dpi Ink jet
3. Matte Heavyweight
4. Photo paper
5. Premium Glossy Paper
6. Photo Quality Glossy Film
7. Ink Jet transparencies

There is also a choice of Landscape or Portrait and an Advanced level for more complicated printing. There is a button to click for Technical on-line support, on another page there is different layouts and a watermark facility. It is possible to rotate mirror image, minimise the margins, centre the printing, choose number of copies and even collate. On the Maintenance page, there is a section on head cleaning, nozzle check, print head alignment and status of ink levels. So should you have any problems this will sort things out for you. (HOPEFULLY!)

I print a lot of bits and pieces for my hobby of making cards so the colour is used a lot, it’s hard to say how long a cartridge lasts because it depends on what you are printing and the quality, but I think it is good value and I am very pleased with the results, photos are clear and sharp and people have been surprised that I have actually printed them myself. Perhaps they are surprised that I have printed them, doubting my ability and not the printer! Plain text looks really good and I have always been pleased with results for business letters. Cartridges cost about £28 for black and slightly less for colour depending where you buy them. It does not like cheap copies, believe me, I tried and it caused me lots of problems! We have a Cartridge World who refill them and as they use the correct cartridge this works and costs £26 for one of each. They results are great. I think we got a good deal in Comet as I've seen it for nearer £60 in some places on line.

It does make a quite noise sometimes, and it can make the computer table move a bit if it’s doing something with a lot of colour in! So I don’t STRESS my husband as much now I’ve got the new printer, I just annoy him with the noise printing so many things out!

PS 2 years later I have no complaints, it prints well. The HP is relegated to the spare room with our old computer, it still works, though reluctantly at times, but it doesn’t seem ready to join the place in the sky for printers, but it’s not got nice rounded contours or feels as smooth as a babies bum when I run my hand over it! So my Epson Stylus is my new baby now.

Summary: