Excellent inkjet results - suitable for almost all printing needs (Epson Stylus C86)

Member Name: johnnyho

Product:	Epson Stylus C86
Date:	21/08/05 (737 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Quite fast, good quality printing, Uses 4 cartridges

Disadvantages: Can be slow for photos, black text not as crisp as expected

I have always used Epson inkjet printers and this is no exception. As I have a mono laser (Samsung ML-1510 - read review) I don't really need an inkjet for text printing, but I bought this as it was going cheap and had the ability to print semi-decent photos on photo paper.

First of all, the printer comes with 4 ink cartridges one for each colour - cyan, magenta and yellow, and then the black. The printer also came with a sample pack of 15 sheets of 6x4 photo paper and a USB memory card reader, however, I think the last two items only come with the C86 Photo Edition, but I think this is the only one they do now anyway - the C86 and C86 Photo Edition are exactly the same printer, but it is just the stuff that comes in the box that is different. The printer also comes with the normal printer drivers on CD and manuals, but the printer did not come with a USB cable, which you must buy, but can be picked up for a few pounds.

Printing results with the printer are very good for a cheapish inkjet printer. Black test results are produced very quickly, but as I have said before, the results with black test did not impress me too much. All inkjet Epson printers seem to produce black text results which appear the "bleed" on the page, when used with normal 80/90gsm paper for inkjets. Results that I have seen from other inkjets, especially HP's, seem to give much better results - near laser quality in fact. However, I don't think that HP's can touch Epson for colour quality print results. Colour results take a lot longer to print, the stated times with the printer is 22 pages per minute black, but in real life you will never get this, apart from on laser stated times. I have printed colour graphics and photos on various paper and all results are great, especially when you print on photo paper. However, I advise you not to use the Epson PhotoEnhance feature on the driver, as if you leave it as normal I seem to get better photo results with more vivid colours!

Ink cartridges don't seem to last too long, but then what do you expect for an inkjet. The "normal capacity" cartridges that come with the printer seem to run out very quickly, but I have replaced them with the "high capacity" cartridges which cost a couple pounds more for the colour ones and around five pounds more for the black, seem to have lasted a much longer time than the "normal capacity" ones. The thing I don't like is that when the printer driver says a cartridge is empty, then you must replace it. If you take it out and put it back in, it still doesn't work as it used to on the older Epson’s. The printer still says it is empty when you put it back in, so the only remedy is to put in a new cartridge, which is probably wasting a lot of ink. I suppose it's a way to help Epson sell more cartridges! The four cartridge system is more cost effective then the black and colour systems because you only need to replace a colour when you need to, instead of throwing away a colour cartridge where the cyan maybe all used up, but half the yellow is still there. However, its seems that once I replace one colour, then the others need replacing very soon anyway, so the amount you actually save is minimal.

Overall, this is an excellent value for money printer, however, the Epson R200/R300 series of printers are getting much cheaper now and they have the ability of printing onto printable CD-R's and DVD's. This is an excellent feature which I feel should have been included with this one. They also use 2 more cartridges, for even more realistic photo printing. But for everyday use, this printer is excellent.

Summary: Great value for money, decent results, cost effective 4 cartridges.

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