- Rated no1 in photo quality by consumers
- World''s Fastest 4x6 inch photo printer
- Fax 30page ADF and 7.8 inch touch panel
- Epson Connect to print from mobile devices
This is the best printer that I''ve ever owned. Period. Considering how many printers I''ve gone through, that''s saying a lot. Let''s go through the various pieces and I''ll show you why I like it so much....
Print Quality It''s rather trite, but the number one job of a printer is to print. The print quality of the Artisan 837 is outstanding. Using decent quality paper, the output is sharp and clear. Small point type is very readable and fine lines are clearly defined. Normal single-sided printing is very fast. Two-sided printing is considerably slower, as the printer waits for the ink to dry before printing the second side.
Photo Printing The Artisan 837 adds two more color cartridges to the standard cyan, magenta, yellow and black mix. By including a light cyan and light magenta cartridge, it''s possible to produce prints with subtle shades and smoother color gradation. More expensive, dedicated photo printers (e.g. Epson R1900 or R2880, Canon PRO9000MkII) add in still more ink colors and can produce larger prints, but this printer produces excellent prints for all but the most discerning user. There is one application where I wouldn''t recommend this printer very high quality black and white photo printing. If you plan on producing high resolution B/W prints, you should look at the Epson R2880 or the Canon Pro9500MkII. Those units have light black and other cartridges designed specifically for that application. Outside that, though, prints from the Artisan 837 are truly stunning. Like all photo printers, the print quality depends on the quality of the original photo, the paper stock and the print speed. The advertised 10 second 4x6" print speed is for premium glossy photo paper in draft mode, but even that produces a pretty good print.)
Paper Tray If you''re tired of pulling the paper tray and adjusting the guides every time you want to print a photograph, the Artisan 837 has a solution the paper tray simultaneously holds both photo and regular paper in two different sections. At my house, I''m keeping 4x6 photo paper loaded in the top section, while the bottom holds standard printer paper...the printer automatically selects the correct paper depending on what''s being printed. The downside of this arrangement is that the tray has a fairly small capacity, only holding 120 pages of normal 20lb paper.
CD/DVD Printing I don''t use too many CDs and DVDs anymore, but when I did, I used a Black Sharpie marker to label my disks. (Except when I was feeling ambitious and had time to burn. Then I used LightScribe disks) No more. The Artisan 810 has an integrated tray to feed printable CD''s into the printer. Just about anything that you can think of Illustrations, photos and/or text can be directly printed onto the disk''s surface. Even if what you''re printing is just a list of file names, it''s better than writing them out by hand. One of the included software programs formats text and pictures to fit on the CD''s surface. It''s nothing fancy, but it works.
Scanning Direct to PC or USB Buttons on the touch screen display allow you to select the destination of a scanned document. The scanned image can be sent to any computer that has the Epson drivers installed. The file can be saved in .jpg or PDF format. OCR software (ABBYY FineReader) is included in the software package to convert scanned documents into editable text. Like most all-in-one units, the scanner only scans one side of the page.
Document Feeder Swinging the feeder input tray closed also lifts the feeder''s output tray to make a smooth top...cosmetically it''s nice, but more importantly, it also reduces the chances of paperclips and other office debris falling inside. I''ve copied a 30 page document without a problem...the maximum thickness of the paper stack is spec''ed at 3mm, or roughly 1/8"
Faxing It works. Outside of color faxing, which isn''t really new, there''s nothing too exciting here...punch in the number, hit the button and off it goes. You can store far more numbers than you''re likely to ever need in a speed dial directory. You can also assign numbers to various groups, so you can easily send the same fax to multiple locations.
Copier = Scanner + Printer As I mentioned above, I''ve copied a 30 page document without a problem. Along with two-sided printing, you can also automatically copy both sides of a paper. With CD printing as one of the features, the Artisan also incorporated a CD/DVD copy mode. You put the original CD in the middle of the glass and hit the dedicated "Copy CD/DVD" button. The firmware is smart enough to correct minor centering issues.
Touch screen controls Between the keypad, function select buttons, various setup and navigation buttons and everything else, most multi-function machines have a ton of buttons on their front panel. By using a touch panel that just displays the necessary buttons, the Artisan 837 considerably simplifies the user interface. The displayed buttons are bright, readable and large enough to easily use. The viewing angle for the panel is not very large; however the assembly can be tilted upwards to make it easy to read when you''re standing over the printer. One concern that I have has to do with the tilt mechanism...it can easily move up, but you have to push a release to get it to rotate back down. The latch seems very flimsy and I''m pretty sure that it will break when someone inevitably pushes down on the screen without pushing the release.
Ink consumption With 6 different ink cartridges, ink can get expensive. As always, your ink usage will depend on what you''re printing. Standard business correspondence uses virtually no ink when compared against glossy photos. Single page business letters seem to run in the 10-12 cents per page range; 8x10" color photos might as well have a direct line into your local ATM. There are both standard and high-capacity versions of the cartridges available I always recommend getting the high capacity version. Cartridges are available individually and in multi-pack boxes. I also recommend that you keep a spare set around at all times. The printer stops printing when any one of the cartridges runs dry and that inevitably happens Thursday at 11:30pm when the kid''s trying to print out her homework.
Connectivity Both wireless (802.11 b/g/n certified) and wired networking is supported, although you can only use one at a time. It was very easy to configure the networking and I had the printer up and running inside of five minutes. It would have been even faster if I''d read the instructions. Even a non-technical user should be able to quickly get it installed and working. If you''re going to be using the printer wirelessly, plan on initially use a wired connection to get it configured...you can do it through the front panel, but it''s a lot more button pushes. Once the printer is up and running, you can disconnect and move it to wherever it''s going to live. The Epson advertising says that you can print directly from various wireless devices...I haven''t tested that feature yet, but with the right software, there''s no reason that it shouldn''t. I''ll update this review after I''ve played with it.
Memory Card + USB port Nothing too special here. Like any other printer with a display, you stick in the memory card, select the picture you want to print and go. The USB port was designed to supply enough power to allow it to be used as a charger for iPods, cell phones and similar devices. You obviously need to supply the correct cable.
Extras Coloring Page, graph paper and lined paper printing Not exactly a reason to purchase a printer, but nice extras The Artisan 837 can print lined notebook paper and graph paper. Since most office supply stores use notebook paper as a loss-leader to get customers in the door, I wouldn''t plan on using this to fill up your binder. On the other hand, it''s certainly convenient if you need a couple of pieces quickly. The ability to turn a picture into a coloring page is another extra. Kids get bored on a car ride? Print out some pages and have them color them in. Just don''t leave crayons on your back seats and park in the sun. Trust me.
So...My Conclusion?
This is a really good, general-purpose, all-in-one printer for a family or home office. It''s fast, has excellent print quality and a well designed feature set. It was obviously designed by an experienced engineering team. This is my eleventh all-in-one printer, the sixth one that I''ve reviewed for Amazon, and the second one that warrants five stars...an older Artisan model was the first. Highly recommended.
Buy Epson Artisan 837 Wireless All-in-One Color Inkjet Printer (C11CB20201) Now
I just received my Epson Artisan 837 (with $3.99 Amazon Prime 1-day shipping) and installed it yesterday. The bottom line is that Epson has a winner, I made the right selection for me, and I highly recommend this product! The printer itself is beautiful, sleek, and not too large for my cabinet-top. The printing, copying, touch panel, optics, firmware, flawless setup process and level of automation were extremely well engineered. I was able to eliminate three other disjointed components plus a separate wireless print-server and all associated cables, power cords, etc with this multiple function component. We never needed a USB cable for anything-wireless worked perfectly, even for a firmware update.
I''d been researching multiple function printers for a few months and had settled on either the newly announced Canon PIXMA MG8220 or the newly announced Epson Artisan 837. Both have excellent features, specs, reviews and capabilities. I wanted to replace my standalone Epson scanner, standalone Brother black and white laser printer/fax/copier and my standalone HP D5360 color text/photo/direct to CD & DVD printer, all with a single multifunction printer. They both would enable me to do this, but what pushed me off the fence was the auto-document feeder, which the Canon doesn''t have.
Make sure you remove the blue tape used to secure the 837 during shipping. There''s even some tape you can''t see, such as in the paper tray. By the way, some reviewers criticize the paper trays on both the predecessor Epson Artisan 835 and Canon printers. Indeed, the plastic is thin, but no more flimsy than many of my other printers and I have no qualms that it''ll break unless I physically twist it.
Setup was amazingly simple, fast and automated, using the printer''s touch panel. It walked me through the process when I powered up, including connecting to my wireless network. I don''t broadcast my SSID so it let me input my Network name, then it proceeded to verify connectivity as "excellent"! It prompted me to install the ink cartridges and after about seven minutes had primed them and was ready to print.
Next, I installed the most current drivers for my OSX Lion Macbook from Epson''s support website. The first note on the installation guide says to not use the included CD if running Lion. I never had to connect my Macbook to the printer with a USB cable at all. Once Lion drivers were installed, I let it find my Artisan 837, I configured my options for printing (duplex) and provided my header info and configured my Macbook for faxing. Last, I printed a test page to confirm everything was completed--all was perfect. Then I inserted the CD and installed the Print CD app, User''s Guide, and ABBYY FineReader (everything except the drivers).
I installed the drivers and fax setup on my wife''s Windows 7 notebook using the CD. The Epson app scanned and found the Artisan 837 immediately, made the wireless connection, and proceeded to ask me if I wanted to automatically update the firmware (I did).
I''ve printed photos, text and graphics so far and the results are truly spectacular, as are print-outs from the copy function. The scans were fast and very sharp. I haven''t printed directly to a CD or DVD yet, nor have I used the fax (other than to test that the fax configuration is correct) but I''m confident both will be perfect as well, based on other reviews. If not, I''ll post an update.
** Updated review title to include great support for OSX 10.8 also.
Read Best Reviews of Epson Artisan 837 Wireless All-in-One Color Inkjet Printer (C11CB20201) Here
The Epson Artisan 837 is advertised as being an extremely fast (the fastest?) printer to produce 4 x 6 prints. It''s also a regular printer, a fax machine, a copy machine, a printer to DVD''s and CD''s, a scanner and perhaps it washes the dishes as well. This review concentrates on regular printing, setup and photographic printing. I didn''t test faxing and the other features seemed to work as well as any of the other all in one printers on the market.
The setup instructions are either wrong or at least I got them wrong. I wanted to set this machine up WiFi only. The instructions said to use a temporary USB cable for setup and I''d be prompted to remove the cable after setup. When I started setup, I was confronted by several choices for connections: wireless, USB, LAN what I''d expect. I chose USB per the instructions. However, when I got to the end of the setup, the USB worked fine but I wasn''t prompted to do anything. I spent a good deal of time wondering how to get the WiFi working without success. Giving up, I called Epson support and spoke to Ram. The good is that Ram answered almost immediately. The bad is that he said I messed up and should have chosen Wireless from the get go and within Wireless there is a USB choice. Who knew?
Running setup again put things to right but I was a bit annoyed at having been made to feel a dunce by the instructions. Even so, not all was right. I was given no choice about the setup installing a bunch of ''offers'' which turned out to be me being subscribed to some email. Opting out and removing the needless installation bit junk wasn''t difficult, but took some time. There was really very little you can do to customize the install except to edit it afterwards including your registry to remove auto start services I didn''t need and you may not need either (such as fax).
Normal printing seemed a bit slower than other similarly priced printers but the results were pretty good, of course depending greatly on paper quality. I tried some very poor quality paper and the results were accordingly. You don''t need expensive paper to get good conventional printing, but you do need hard paper. This is not unique to the 837 but the nature of all printers with ink jets being most sensitive.
My major test was photo quality. I expected decent results but not what I got. First, a bit of background. I''m a professional photographer using a calibrated monitor and CS 5.5 (Photoshop) running on a 12 gig RAM very hot Intel I7 computer. I printed two samples and compared them with prints from the pro lab I use to print my for sale photographs. I used the best settings (slowest) and the photo paper supplied by Epson with the printer. I got some extra paper to do more extensive testing as well.
I tried a full color print and a gray scale. The gray scale contains all 10 Zones. To my shock, the results from the Epson Artisan 837 matched the results from the pro lab. This is why I bought more paper. I thought this can''t be. It must be a fluke but time and again I was able to produce wonderful prints. The color was spot on. The gray scale (using the gray scale setting) was just magic. In fact, I never produced a print which wasn''t darn near or actually perfect including the color balance. It took the machine about one minute to do each 4" x 6" at maximum quality.
The only issue I had with the prints (4" x 6" with border) was that the border contained smears of black ink which didn''t intrude into the picture area, but which ruined the white border effect a bit. Still, I''m one happy camper with this.
One issue which may be a problem is that after only a half dozen 4" x 6" prints, the graphic showing ink capacity is visibly down if only slightly. I do not wish to conduct an ink life test because I may do it unfairly as I''m not an expert in this area.
I am somewhere beyond thrilled with the photographic results from this modestly priced printer. I''m a good deal less thrilled that after my first print, the screen popped up with an offer of some sort or another. I''d easily give this five stars for photo quality. I mean, feed this thing Epson ultra quality paper and it''s astounding. I"m removing one star for confusing setup, loading my system with unwanted ''offers'' and the black smears on the photo borders.
If you are a photographer who is serious, this machine will probably work wonders in proofing or, depending on what your lab charges, making modest sized photos. Now, if it could only make photos from 60" reels...but Epson makes another model for that at over 20 times the cost.
Want Epson Artisan 837 Wireless All-in-One Color Inkjet Printer (C11CB20201) Discount?
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* A Look At the Printers/ Testing
** The strengths and weaknesses of each
*** Where can I get ink at a (relatively) reasonable price?
* We own a publishing company here in Miami. And, for roughly 7 years we''ve owned only Epson. At the time, we moved away from HP because we thought that the Epson printers were improving enough to match HP quality and to beat them economically.
The traditional weakness of Epson had been its photo imaging. We made the decision to go with Epson when they introduced their "Durabright Ink" line of printers and the promise of film-like quality reproduction. While not bad, i.e. passable, it was never quite up to the mark set by the HP line.
That was then.
This year, we''re excited by what we''ve been seeing with Epson. Almost universally with the printers we have, the line of All-In-One printers matches quality and most definitely beats HP in price.
Here are 3 to consider, if you''re a small business ("prosumer"), an education setting and up.
* Epson WorkForce 840 Color Ink Jet Wireless All-in-One with Fax (C11CA97201)
* Epson WorkForce Pro WP-4540 Color Inkjet Wireless All-In-One with Fax and 580 Sheet Paper Capacity (C11CB32201)
* Artisan 837 All-In-One
(I wouldn''t recommend the first two for personal use as Epson has some lower priced models, "The Stylus" series, that will suit your need for about half the price of any of these. The third, coincidentally, "The Artisan" printer, could very well be used in a home of discriminating digital artists.)
**
----Workforce 840-----
WF 840 is, at about 5 months, still a "new" model. It is a printer, copier, scanner, fax with a wireless "WiFi" connection for both the Windows and Mac OS''s. Since it was released in the Spring, there have been a slew of app''s, the "Epson iPrint" in particular, that will allow you to print either documents or jpg images from your iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad or any configuration of the Android 2.3 OS.)
The spec''s, Epson''s statement and my findings in .
+ Uses standard Durabright ink.
+ Can connect through several ports including a USB or through a wireless internet connection.
+ Print resolution is at (an impressive) 5760 x 1440.
+ Scan at a max. resolution of 2400 dpi.
+ Print speed: single sided, 15/9.3 ppm for black/color.
+ Print: double sided, 7.4/5.4 ppm.
+ About $300, retail. $200-225 street price.
The 840 is supposed to be the prosumer printer in this line. It can comfortably hold a ream of paper in dual trays. It feels, by weight, to be about the average weight of a printer, about 12-15 lbs. Our first Epson, All-In-One, felt like a toy in comparison.
*I printed out a pdf of a 200-page book. The double-sided, long-edge, printing at 150 dpi came out exactly 12:15. By my calculations, that makes it a 8.2 ppm double-sided printing. And, it also means that it''s better than 1 sheet more per minute. And, the printing noise was barely noticeable.
If you need an All-In-One that has the basic the capacities of some of the more specialized printers, this model, WF 840, is a great consideration.
-----Workforce WP 4540------
The 4540, to be distinguished from the 840, is considerably larger AND heavier. It is designed for office use only. And, unless you have a VERY thriving business at home, the 840 may be the better choice for you. The 4540 has its purposes and it surrounds volumes of printing more than anything else.
The newest model, with double the printing capacity and faster printing speed, offers more in some areas and less in others for about $100 more.
Epson''s Spec''s
+ Print 16/ 11 ppm--black/color single page.
+ Print 9.2/7.1 ppmdouble-sided.
+ Print resolution of 4800 x 1200
+ Scan @ 2400
+ Life cycle of the print cartridge2400 sheet (black) / 1200 sheets (color).
+ $400
Of the spec''s that would be of interest to the office buyer, this is the high yield system. And, there are two (2) grades of ink-standard and ultra. These high-yield cartridges are considerably different and there are (at the time of this review) no substitute or recyclable alternatives, yet.
I reprinted the same pdf book as I did on the 840 and found, with the exact printing options that the 4540 actually printed the book in 11:45 seconds. That''s only :30 seconds faster than the 840 or 8.5 ppm.
The image (photo) quality from was acceptable, but not exceptional. But, the text quality was near or equal to a laser print.
One of the clients, my company is contracted to, uses Canon copiers. And, although, I like the Canons, an Epson like this is more economical. The comparable Canon runs through print cartridges every couple of weeks and at $100 a pop. Currently, these Epson cartridges are about $35 a piece.
----Artisan 837------
The 837 is an All-In-One that is especially geared toward high-resolution photo printing. And, since it''s an All-In-One, it is ideal for printing and graphic arts.
The spec''s
+ Print, scanner, copier and Fax with wireless printing and multiple thumb drive printing capabilities.
+ Print speed 9.6/9.1 ppm black/ color, single-sided.
+ Print 4.9/4.7 ppm, 2-sided.
+ Scans at 4800 dpi.
+ Print resolution at 5760 x1440.
+ 6 separate "Claria" ink cartridges. Standard and Ultra ink resolutions.
+ Cartridge cycle 520 each (standard), 805 high-yield.
* One of the best qualities of this printer is the resolution. I printed out several photos on standard Kodak photo paper and only saw marginally better resolution than an All-In-One printout from 4 years ago. But, when I used some bonus Ultra-fine photo paper, I saw a print that clearly was indistinguishable from film negative see video still). This is a must-have for anyone who needs high-quality printouts.
***
-----Ink------
It''s no mystery that the least expensive purchase you''ll make is on the printer, itself. The cost of paper followed by the cost of ink is where the real money is at. Much like razor manufacturers that essentially give away expensive razors only to charge a premium for the blades.
What I find to be the most economical is to recycle and to only printout things that must be printed out, i.e., contracts and legal documents that require a hand-signature. We''re in the habit of just sending pdf''s for most things.
However, here''s where the best deal is on ink.
123Inkjet (dot) com
Amazon
DealNews (dot) com
So, to wrap it up.
*EPSON 840--A great general multi-purpose All-In-One. Prosumer, Small company printer. 5 stars.
*EPSON WP 4540--High-end, high capacity, All-In-One. Features not terribly impressive, but fast and with the new ink system, lower ink costs overall. 4 stars.
* EPSON ARTISAN 837. Specialized, arts-related printing system. 6-color, ink cartridge system. Ultra high resolution printing capabilities (on high-end photo paper). Prints photos at around 12 seconds. Multi-printing options available, including WiFi. 5 stars.
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I''m really not sure why Epson''s Artisan 837 has the word "Artisan" within its title. It''s a great printer if you''re ONLY going to print on textweight paper and photo paper. However, if you like to print on CARD STOCK or coverweight papers -this is NOT the All-in-One Printer to buy! I''ve had several Epson printers over the years... and I''ve never had a problem loading card stocks and heavier coverweight papers in the top-feeding paper tray. That was one of the primary reasons I''ve always loved Epson printers so much. But, now that Epson has elected to go with a bottom paper tray... card stocks and heavier papers either get JAMMED in the printer... or refuse to take heavier papers AT ALL. For those of us who print stationery/notecards/greeting cards, etc... the Epson Artisan 837 is NOT THE ANSWER! NOT at all. If you''re looking for a printer that will take various thicknesses of card stock and heavier papers... the Epson Artisan 837 is NOT FOR YOU!
Epson: Please bring back your top-loading paper trays... OR find a way for your lower-tray feeders to accommodate heavier papers and card stocks!
