Product Review: Epson Artisan 800

Posted by Khris in Crafter's Toolbox

Review Update: November 07, 2009:

While I once loved this printer, it is now so problematic that I can no longer give it a recommendation. Here’s why:

• After less than a year of use, it is now completely unusable due to an error message that keeps popping up on the display screen. (It says to turn off the unit and restart it. I do; the error pops up again. Lather, rinse, repeat.)
• Constant paper jams. The paper tray feeder is exceedingly sensitive and paper jams are commonplace.
• Printing on cardstock is hit or miss. I’ve found that when I’m printing multiple pages of cardstock that sometimes it’ll accept a few pages of CS and then reject the next page for no discernible reason. It’s the same cardstock – no tears, wrinkles, or other things that may cause problems.
• Smudges, smudges, smudges. I spend a lot of time (and wasted ink) cleaning the print heads to get clear text prints on regular printer paper. I find that full-color photo prints get lines, streaks, and smudges in most print runs no matter what photo paper I use (fwiw, I use Epson’s own photo paper as suggested by the mfgr. and have tried other brands to no avail.)
• See the comments on the original review for others’ experiences with this printer.

For what the retail price is on this unit I expect better quality, especially from Epson whose products I’ve been very pleased with in the past. This one simply disappoints after less than a year in use.

One of the perks of having this blog is that I get to have hands-on time with some really great tools and products. The Epson Artisan 800 printer is the latest product I’ve received and tested out.

If you’re interested in doing any kind of printed paper craft for your wedding, a good printer is an absolute must. The quality of your printed materials will define the success of your project. As a hardcore paper crafter, I know this all too well I’ve gone through 4 printers in 3 years!

Finding a reliable inkjet printer that can handle a variety of cardstock, papers, vellum and other materials has been a personal quest of mine. When Epson offered to send me the Artisan 800, I happily accepted the offer. At the time they sent the printer I was writing book #2 and thought it’d be the perfect opportunity to test out the printer. With all of the paper projects, manuscript drafts, shipping labels, scanned artwork, and other stuff that was involved with the book the timing was perfect to see how the printer would handle a wide variety of tasks.

Product Features:

• 5 in 1 with Wi-Fi: Print / Copy / Scan / Fax / Ultra HD Photo
• Up to 38 ppm, photos in as fast as 10 sec¹
• Built-in fax and Automatic Document Feeder
• Wi-Fi and Ethernet networking
• 7.8-inch touch panel, 3.5-inch LCD
• Professional quality CD/DVD printing
• Two-sided printing saves paper
• Create coloring books and personal note paper
• Two-year limited warranty with registration¹
• Ultra Hi-Definition photos last 4x longer than photo lab prints
• Two paper trays always ready to print photos and documents

Price: $299.99 Retail

The Verdict

I love this printer but it’s not without faults.

The good:

• Clean, crisp text prints on most cardstocks, vellum, Avery labels, regular printer paper.
• Excellent photo prints. Seriously, one of the best photo printers I’ve ever used.
• Prints on CDs! For those of you giving CDs or DVDs as wedding favors or gifts, this is a really neat feature.
• Scanner is easy to use and give clear scans on most line drawings tested.

• Works great with Macs (I love no hassle printer set ups).

• Individual ink tanks cost about $16.00 each to replace.
• Really neat image enhancement feature for scans/prints.
• Touch screen. I’m a sucker for a good interface.
• WiFi! I have this printer connected on my home network and it works beautifully. I can print from anywhere in the house.
• You can turn photos or drawings into coloring books, create personalized notepaper, and print lined paper.
• Double-sided printing capacity.

The bad:

• I didn’t like the software that’s used for printing on CDs. It wasn’t  (for me) very intuitive or feature-rich. I used many bad words when trying to design a CD cover for the first time.
• Smaller font sizes (6pt and under) didn’t always print clearly.
• Not all cardstocks fed through the paper tray or auto feeder. I had some problems with CS from Stampin’ Up! (80 lb weight). Sometimes it’d feed with no problems, sometimes not. It wasn’t a consistent problem.
• Doesn’t always like “odd” sized papers but seemed to handle most pretty well.

Overall, this is an excellent printer that’s capable of handling most standard paper size projects without problem. If you’re looking for a great all-in-one (printer, scanner, fax) this is definitely worth buying. The replacement cartridges aren’t super cheap but they’re pretty competitively priced compared to other printers’ inks in its category.