Printeraphobia (Epson Stylus C82)

Member Name: merrin

Product:	Epson Stylus C82
Date:	12/02/05 (250 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Reliability, Quality, Breadth of media use

Disadvantages: Looks

On the day that I purchased this printer I had left home with very pronounced feelings of fear and trepidation. For years prior printers had caused me nothing but grief and aggravation, not generally due to complete breakdowns but by causing irritating and niggling little hiccups along the way. So off I went, I’d made my decision and the money was in my pocket. All that remained to be seen was whether, when I reached home with the Epson C82, my printer nightmare was set to continue or if my prayers were to be answered and a new life of happy carefree printing would be mine.

Appearance

I think even it’s designer would agree that this is not the prettiest printer around, but as most of us will simply be sticking it in a corner with various other grey plastic boxes this is unlikely to be of major concern. What is obvious immediately is its heritage, looking as it does like a slightly beefier version of several other printers in the Epson line. This to me is no bad thing, it’s a usable design which takes up no more space than necessary.

Build Quality

The C82 is a pleasingly tough piece of Kit. After two years of ownership, a move of home, several trips out to friends and at least a couple of heavy falls there is not a mark to be seen nor are any internal injuries making themselves known.

Installation

With USB and serial connection available to either PC or Mac the C82 is easily set-up whatever your requirements. Equally the software provided is quick to install and you soon find yourself up and working, with the minimum of fuss. So far I have personally used this printer on three different PC’s with no problems whatsoever.

Printing

In this area there are various factors and numbers I could start throwing out, for example the C82’s “5760 optimised dpi print quality” or its print speeds of “22ppm black and 11ppm colour”. However I prefer to focus on two factors of central importance to me. Firstly, I have yet to find a paper or media type on which the C82 has refused to print – a major step forward from many of my previous experiences! Secondly, the use of independent ink tanks: Black, Cyan, Magenta and Yellow. This was one of my primary reasons when I chose the C82 as the needless waste caused by the use of combined colour cartridges has always irritated me. On the negative side is the price Epson charge for their cartridges, but the fact that they have never caused me any problems may be some justification of this.


All in all I have been very pleased with the Epson C82, thus far I have suffered no serious problems with it and my feelings of fear and trepidation are finally beginning to subside. While there are, I’m sure, printers out there that give higher quality prints at greater speeds and certainly ones with far cheaper consumables would they have the quality and reliability of this model? I would happily advise anyone, searching for a day-to-day printer capable of various tasks for a reasonable price, to look no further.

Summary: