Epson Stylus Photo R1800 Ink Jet Printer (C11C589011)

• Up to 5,760 x 1,440 optimized dpi resolution
• 4-by-6-inch photos as fast as 42 seconds, 11-by-14 as fast as 1 minute 51 seconds
• Prints directly onto inkjet-printable CDs and DVDs
• Supports poster prints up to 13 by 44 inches
• USB 2.0 and FireWire interfaces; PC and Mac compatible

The Epson R1800 is built like a tank. Upon first inspection out of the box, you will be suprised at it''s size. Set-up out of the box was a breeze. About 10 minutes of unwrapping everything and software installation and I was ready to print.

The first prints came out amazing. I used to work in a one hour photo lab with a Noritsu QSS-3011, basically the Cadallic of mini-lab printers. The best of the best. I am college student majoring in photography so quality is #1 to me. I would always print my pictures at the lab and fine tune each print so I would get the best. With this printer, I get nearly the EXACT SAME QUALITY. Which is nothing short of amazing considering we are talking about a lab machine that is in the costs of tens of thousands of dollars. The prints that I have printed from the R1800 rival the quality of that from the Nortisu lab printer.

The 8 inks provide a cost effective method instead of replacing one expensive color tank when just one color runs out. You can just replace whatever color you run out of.

The R1800 prints bordless sizes up to 13" in width. It can print panoramics from 4" to 13" from rolls of paper. Imgaine having a 13" by 44" panoramic on your wall! With the R1800, it''s just that easy.

The R1800 can also print on CD''s, which is a neat feature, but one that I probably won''t use too much until I get ready to graduate and create portfolio CD''s with my work on them.

5,760 x 1,440 optimized dpi resolution is what makes these prints so amazingly crisp in quality.

The speed of the printer is pretty impressive too. 11x14''s in under 3 minutes? 4x6''s in under 45 seconds? Yes please!

I believe the best paper I''ve used with R1800 is Epson''s Premium Luster paper. It''s semi glossy with a sheer luster to it that makes the color and contrast hold of the paper look amazing.

If you are even an amatuer photographer and care about the quality of your printers and are in the market for an at home studio printer, you cannot go wrong with the R1800. I would reccommend nothing else.

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Everyone complains about the ink use and it drives me nuts. Epsons have the best quality and horrible ink use because for the same reason, piezoelectric technology.

Every other inkjet company uses thermal technology which basically heats a pocket of ink to the boiling point and pushes out the remaining ink. This leads to rogue ink vapor and a fixed droplet size. Look inside a HP that has been around a while and you will see that the whole machine is coated inside with condensed ink vapors. When HP (Canon, Lexmark etc) need a larger drop they just squirt out multiple drops, a less effective method of control.

Epson''s piezoelectric technology uses crystals that have variable flex depending on the current applied. This allows for fine droplet size control. Epson is the only printer company that can produce variable droplet size. This impacts the quality of the print and leads to Epson''s quality lead. This also gives Epson more flexibility in the inks they choose to use since they don''t have to make ink that can boil. This is why they were the first to produce pigmented inks.

The down side to this technology is that the print head are expensive to make and hence Epson is also the only company to make a inkjet that doesn''t have user replaceable print heads. Anyone who has set aside an HP or Lexmark for any period of time knows that the ink starts evaporating if a head isn''t used and the head gets clogged permanently. Epson is not immune from this problem but since you can''t replace it they have to prevent the head from clogging in the first place. Their solution is to occasionally flush the head to prevent build up of ink solids. This leads to the ''mysterious'' ink use people complain about. Each cartridge has a separate head and each head must occasionally be either used or flushed. If you were to use an HP your unused colors eventually would become clogged and you would have to replace the head or cartridge with head to get it working. It is a trade off.

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I sell prints in galleries both online as well as at a brick and mortar gallery, and before purchasing this printer, I was seriously considering the pro oriented Epson R2400 and the HP Designjet 30. I decided on the Epson R1800 because of its better glossy output and the Wilhelm Image Research predicted print longevity of up to 200 years without fading on some Epson papers. This same prediction applies to the Epson R2400 as well, however, from the sample prints that Epson sent me, I didn''t like the glossy output of the new K3 inks that the R2400 uses -the highlight areas where there is hardly any ink laid out on the paper show no gloss, and when viewed at an oblique angle, the latter are disturbingly dull. I must admit however that, were my work exclusively Black and White on matte paper, there would be no better printer for the purpose than the Epson R2400, or the 4800, and the 7800 pro series. My choice, was determined by my work, comprised of color in both glossy and matte, as well as B&W at which, with the proper profiles, the Epson R1800 is very capable. Many pros with the same needs as mine use the R1800 as their standard printer.

One problem with the printer is that it has somewhat of a drinking problem -not so much while printing, but every time it is powered up after a period of non-use it goes automatically into a cleaning cycle, whether needed or not, and that consumes a lot of ink. To overcome this, I leave my printer on around the clock. It uses very little power when idle (2 Watts -less than a night light). To prevent printhead clogging, I print at least a nozzle check printout (using very little ink) every day, and so far I have not had any problems with either clogging, or excessive ink consumption. To protect the printer from possible damage caused by power outages or surges, I have it connected to a UPS Battery backup surge protector.

Although I gave a 5 star rating to this printer, based on its superior output, the caveat still remains about its excessive ink consumption if turned off and on frequently. I do not hesitate to recommend this printer to any savvy photographer, though a beginner is likely to face a rather steep, but worthwhile and not impossible learning curve.

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I agree completely with all the positive reviews and I used HP printers up until recently. The positive reviews are not overstated. I do have one thing to add. If you read all of the reviews, you will notice that the only negative reviews were made by non-photographers. This is important.

The Epson R1800 is made for pro photographers and serious amateurs. As a photographer I know put it, HP printers are designed for mass consumer use. If you want to print out some pictures to put in your scrapbook, send grandmother, or give a friend, get an HP. If you plan to sell your pictures, you need an Epson R1800 or R2400.

The Epson 1800 will produce prints that look like they came from a photo lab, reproduce file detail, and reproduce the colors in the original file to a degree that only an expert could tell the difference. This is not an overstatement. To the trained eye, the improvement over current HP photo printers is dramatic.

The Epson 1800 is, however, much harder to use, and for this level of color accuracy, must be used with something that corrects your monitors output to display accurate colors, such as Pantone''s Eye-One. You must use Epson inks and papers, download the latest driver and paper profiles, use the software settings properly, and you must use it with Photo Shop or Photo Elements to do the printing. This is why I state that this printer is for pros and serious amateurs and if you just want to print nice pictures, use an HP.

On a final note, if you read a lot of high end printer specifications, it gets very confusing. Epson produces several high end printers. They all produce professional level results, and the differences in the photos they produce, are so subtle that only a professional can tell the difference. Even then, experienced users can compensate for those differences and produce results that are virtually indistinguishable from other high end printers. In the end, it all boils down to the fact that color and print quality are a matter of your perception and preferences. The Epson 1800 has the power to adjust your photos to look just the way want.

I bought my R1800 two weeks ago and it''s fabulous! I''ve been doing quite a bit of photo retouching in PhotoShop and was anxious to see some of my work in large format. The resulting output totally exceeded my expectations! I was also surprised at the speed at which such fine output was generated. I was somewhat concerned about the cost of maintaining an 8-color system as the cost of replacement cartridges ranges between $12.99 and $14.99, but I''ve done quite a bit of printing and the color levels have barely budged (and I use the setting for the highest print quality). This is truly a great printer for digital photographers, scrapbookers, and PhotoShop enthusiasts like me. It''s an incredible piece of equipment.