Epson Stylus C84 Inkjet Printer Reviews

• Photos Look Fantastic

  
  By AKF5Y2G60SPZR on 2003-10-18
  I was hesitant to buy this printer because of some comments I'd read at various web sites. For example, I'd read that the "DuraBrite" inks "can't do glossy". The CNET review, although praising this printer for all-around performance, doesn't give the C84 highest marks for photo quality and mentions visible dithering in pictures. After considering the printer's low cost, the low cost of ink for it, and the advantages of its pigment-based DuraBrite inks (water proof and long-lasting), I decided to buy one for photo printing. I also considered the higher resolution of the C84 compared to Epson photo printers selling for about the same price, and I took a chance that the higher resolution would compensate for the lack of the extra color cartridges "photo printers" use.

  I think I made a great decision. The photos from this printer look fantastic. While it's true that you can't get >>super<< glossy prints from it, the prints on glossy photo paper aren't matte. I'd call them "semigloss", and I like them. I don't see any dithering problem, either. So far, I've used the C84 to print on Ritz Camera brand "Professional Photo Glossy Ink Jet Paper" (similar to Epson Premium Glossy Photo Paper), "Epson Photo Quality Ink Jet Paper", plain paper, and the 2 sheets of "Epson DuraBrite Ink Glossy Photo Paper" included with the printer. Results are excellent on all these media - even plain paper. I haven't seen better results on plain paper. I even printed on the back side of the Epson Ink Jet Paper, and - I kid you not - it looks better there than on the front where you're supposed to print. The very slightly yellow back side adds warmth to the photo. There's no bleed through, so you can print on both sides of the Epson paper. I didn't try this on the plain copier paper because it was thinner, and you could see through the back too easily. I stuck a plain paper print under the water faucet and soaked it. As advertised, that had no effect on the ink. After drying, the paper was wrinkled, but the image looked fine.

  I always put my best pictures in clear archival sheet protectors, and, behind such glossy plastic or glass, you'd never know the DuraBrite prints were not super glossy. Advertisements say the C84 can do border-free printing on "8x10" paper. I was pleased to discover that it can do so on 8-1/2"x11" photo paper as well. It can NOT print border-free on plain paper or ink jet paper - apparently, border-free printing requires thick paper - but it does get much closer to the edges than my old printer, leaving about 3/16" borders on the short edges and 1/8" borders on the long edges.

  I'm a happy camper. Don't be afraid to buy this printer for photo-printing.
  
  

• One of the best inkjets!

  
  By AGHZXQL9F94T9 on 2003-10-11
  Epson C84 comes with a high capacity (900 pages @ 5% coverage, but about 500 pages in real life) black ink and 3 color ink tanks but no printer cable. The size is compact, it looks cool, has good build quality and installation was quick.

  The print quality for text is very good for an inkjet (slightly better than Canon i320) and speed is pretty fast 5-6 pages per min (faster than i320). Both the photos printed on the supplied paper sample were annoying skewed (even after we made sure paper was put in properly). The quality didn't look impressive for photos.

  Printer and cartridges have smart chips in them (as do new hp's). This will ensure that you can't put in generic ink but pay Epson each time ink runs out. Also there are reports that the printer declares ink over well before it really is. To make things worse Epson seems to use different cartridge models for almost every printer it makes (Canon & hp use same cartidges in many printers).

  One good thing about C84 is that its very silent, even while printing. I guess this is about as silent as you will get with printers. Also the text prints look better than on hp, significantly clearer & blacker.

  In short, if you want a text only printer get a Samsung (ML-1710) or Minolta (PagePro 1250W) laser printer for similar price. For good photo printers look at the Canon line up or even better get prints at local stores. Epson C84 is recommended for medium text printing & occasional photo printing.
  
  

• My Epson Experience

  
  By ABSAGNY8D9U27 on 2004-05-14
  My Epson Experience

  Let me begin by saying that I have over ten years of experience with all things computer related. During that period I have worked in almost every aspect of computer support. I have personally cleaned out countless numbers of inkjet printers with q-tips distilled water and alcohol. I kept my own Epson 740 going for 5 years without too much difficulty. I only got rid of it because I had a client that was desperate for a printer that would accept a Mac serial port. Boy due I miss that Epson 740.

  I bought a C82 a little less than a year ago, after reading good reviews. I assumed it would be built at least as well as the Epson 740 I was using before.

  Even after ten months my C82 still appears in almost brand new shape inside and out. Heck, I've only used it about thirty times or so. I keep it inside of cabinet shielded from dust. Plus as a matter of standard practice, I turn off all inkjet printers as soon as I finish using them, and I always change ink cartridges as quickly as possible to prevent ink from drying out inside printers.

  So was I ever surprised when my printer stopped working. It had worked fine with the first set of cartridges I had installed. However, as soon as I changed cartridges the printer stopped working. I tried cleaning it at least fifty times, but it did nothing to improve the situation. So I did the natural thing and googled my problem. I was shocked by the sheer number of search results.

  After reading through the reviews at Amazon and the hundreds of messages at fixyourownprinter.com I've come to realize that Epson has built and continue to build a printer that is so poorly designed one must question their integrity as a company. To think that so many people would experience the same problem and that their only solution is to continue to send people refurbished printers until their warranty expires.

  Oh, and the part that will really get you, is that they require you to purchase and install a new set of four Epson branded ink cartridges to insure that your currently installed cartridges are not what is defective. So before you can even have your printer replaced you must invest at least sixty dollars on ink. Of course they offer to send you new ink with the replacement printer. Still to ask me to sink my time, energy, and sixty dollars into having my printer replaced with another one, which will simply get me right back to where I began. I mean really, the nerve. Is this what our present day world has come to? Have we set ourselves up so that these large corporations can totally take advantage of us in this way? Is there no recourse? Are there no standards of business ethics that they can be held accountable for?

  The experience has left me feeling unusually sad. Epson has made me realize just how much I am at the mercy of these large corporations. I mean, if you want to print, who else can you buy a printer from?
  I know that even if Epson would own up to this, they would argue that they had to make the printers so cheaply to remain competitive. Without doing so they would go out of business tomorrow. We've heard all that before. Haven't we?

  Still though, this printer is made by someone in a Chinese factory. I know I'm going out on a limb here, but I would guess that that person is not well paid. Perhaps they are even exploited to some extent or at the very least we could guess that they are taken advantage of to some extent. Then as they role off the Chinese production line, Epson sends these defective printers all over the globe, wrapped up in fancy magazine advertisements. People like me buy the printer, use the ink, put in new ink, discover it no longer works, call Epson, ship the printer back to Epson, get the refurbished printer in the mail, and . Once the warranty is up we move our broken printer into the garage for a year or so, and then throw it away. It all seems so pointless.

  Don't think me a luddite either. I love computers, printers, and gadgets as much as the next person. It's just that it disgusts me that I am forced to deal with a corporation that is not held to any kind of moral or ethical principles. As long as they are making money and growing we think of them as a good thing, without worrying about who they are taking advantage of. What are we doing here? How can we let Epson get away with this? Really!

  Well it's not difficult for me to say I will be boycotting all Epson products in the future. I mean I'm sort of doubtful of their quality anyways. Oh and I haven't even mentioned the very unhelpful tech support and customer service representatives that I called long distance at my own expense. What a waste! Really what a waste!

  Sincerely,

  - Mark Whitney -
  Hollywood, CA

  P.S. I know the solution is to buy myself a do-it-yourself printer cleaning kit. If you google it you'll see that many companies sell them specifically for the Epson C80/C82. However, if you try to buy one you'll soon discover that they are all sold out, as I mentioned before I'm not the only one with this problem.
  
  

• Good Printer, but Watch the Ink Costs

  
  By on 2004-03-14
  Overall, this is a good printer. It was breeze to install and start using. The print quality of text documents and spreadsheets is great and can be improved by changing the settings at the expense of using more ink. And this--the use and cost of ink--is one of the most important factors to consider with this as well as other ink-jet printers.

  Keep in mind that you are likely to spend much more on ink cartridges during the first year than the out of pocket cost of this printer. PC World (March 2004) estimated the black ink cost per page to be 6.4 cents. Assuming that you will print just 3 b/w pages per day, the ink will cost you $70.08 per year. If you also print high quality color photos, expect to spend even more.

  I've had this printer for about 6 weeks and have already used up 75% of the "high capacity" black ink cartridge.

  Please note that the USB cable is not included. This is not really an issue since you can buy it for only $6 also from amazon.com.

  I would recommend this printer for those who need to print something occasionaly and are not heavy users.
  
  

• Great While It Lasted!

  
  By A11AKJCZQSSBYG on 2004-01-31
  I purchased my Epson C84 in September 2003. I was pleasantly surprised by the print quality - particularly the hi-res glossy photo paper color prints which truly were excellent! When it came time to replace the ink cartridges in December 2003 - three color and the single black - I went with generic (after-market cartridges) rather than Epson cartridges. Alas, now in January, I've started experiencing an apparently irreversible print-quality and page-coverage degradation; both color and black. I say 'apparently irreversible' because repeated print-head cleanings and alignments have made no impact on the print quality, and the printer essentially is now useless. I even installed the Epson driver on another computer and did some test prints, but could not solve the problem. I can't say for certain that the non-Epson cartridges are the culprit, or even a contributing factor, but the C84 worked perfectly before the generic ink-cartridge replacements. Fortunately, I kept my old, reliable Epson Stylus Color 980 which, after three years (including ALL-GENERIC ink cartridges!), still does a credible job. Bottom line: the Epson C84 is an excellent buy for the money; but, just to be on the safe side, stick with the recommended Epson-brand ink cartridges.
  
  
• great quality, expensive ink
  By on 2003-09-29
  This is an awesome printer for sure. I'm really happy to get this one under 80 bucks. I'm a student major in graphic design. You can see how picky I'm when shopping for a printer. After reading a bunch of review of printers, I think this is the one since c84 has much better dpi and great ink colors.

  The quality of prints are much better than what I get from Kinkos. Gosh! I'm so glad I don't need to go back to Kinko's for my school projects. The only turn-off is I found there are minor scraches on my prints especially when my prints have dark color background. Also, I noticed the c84 ink is quite hard to get and the price is at least 30% more espensive than other epson inks. I guess it's because it's durabrite ink which the color is truely much prettier than my old canon.
  
  

• New and Improved. . .
  By A3POLEU6T17739 on 2004-07-23
  What I thought was the best printer on the market for high-volume, home use was last year?s Epson C82. When Epson released this model, the third in the C80 series, I was amazed. The Durabrite Ink that Epson has boasted in these units has been improved for the new model. It sticks much better to photo paper than the previous incarnation. It is still just as long lasting and it is still waterproof!
  
  Perfect for the home office, the C80 series has always been used for high volume work on plain paper. The resolution has been very impressive and the output has been top notch. It is amazing how much ink can be stacked on a plain page of paper and not bleed through to the other side. These are all features of the Durabrite ink. While these features are still present in the C84, the fact that it can print pictures on something other than plain paper is impressive too. The C82 always printed the best pictures on plain and matte paper I had ever seen, but it did not react well with many photo papers until Epson came up with a paper specifically for Durabrite. It still wasn?t as good as printers meant for photography on glossy.
  
  The C84 works on a 4-tank ink system. The black tank is rather large. Consumer reports rates this between 3 and 4 cents per page in black and white, well under 10 cents a page for color. This beats almost all of the printers in its price class.
  
  If you are looking for a printer used for photo printing primarily, look toward the Epson R300 or R200, both 6 ink printers. If you are looking for a general printer that will print lots and lots for not a lot of money, and can print photos on the side, this is your printer. It really is good at what it does.
  
  epc
  
  
  
• great value
  By A3GVOPJWXAJ1WD on 2004-07-28
  I've had this printer for over a year now. I'm a full time college student, so I print a fair amount of text, and a few photos. It's held up well long term, and I've had absolutley NO problems with it at all. That's abnormal enough :) Also, I work in an office supply store that sells this printer, and it seems to get generally good feedback from the customers I deal with.
  I will say that for this price class, this printer is excellent. My only complaint is that it takes a while to warm up. After that,it prints fast, and it prints well. The photos off of this thing are amazingly good for an 80 dollar, textcentric printer; I've used them in presentations and projects. They're nearly photo quality.
  The text is sharp, clear, and readable. Printing rates, with text are good, with the photos, it's a little slow but not much. If you print mostly text (and a fair amount of it) with occasional photos, this is a great buy.
  
  
• Printed great at first - then died
  By A1RV5KO737VP2T on 2004-06-25
  I bought my Epson printer with my new PC. It was loud and jerky, but the print quality was good. The factory ink cartidges have almost nothing in them, so you have to replace them pretty quickly. When I installed all new cartidges my printer quit printing in black. I contacted Epson and they indicated I might have to buy new cartidges again. I searched on the web and found there are thousands of people who experience the exact same problem I have and Epson knows all about it, but they won't fix it. My Epson printer, new as it is, is now sitting in the trash. I put my old HP 722C back on my desk and have had no problem with it ever. I will never buy another Epson product again. And from what I've read of other user's reviews they feel the same way. Epson is junk.
  
  
• Great Value
  By on 2004-02-16
  I was looking for an inexpensive photo printer. I had taken thousands of digital photos and never printed any of them! I just dont have time to go to a printing place, or even to deal with a place like snapfish, which incidentally, seemed like it could get pretty expensive. So I decided to give this Epson a try based on all the great reviews and on Consumer Reports liking this Epson series. I am extremely pleased. Set up and installation was quick and easy. I print my pictures through windows XP explorer and it is as easy as can be. My pictures are beautiful! I am amazed that I can produce these photos at home! I have heard this printer can get expensive to maintain, as far as paper and the special ink, but it still seems worth it to not have to go to a store or deal with yet another internet company. I couldn't be more pleased.
  
  
• Planned obsolescence
  By ARK5SAGVLW3FY on 2005-08-24
  You would think a company like Epson would take a hint from what happened to the American auto industry when they made cars to last only until their warrenty ran out. They suddenly had to deal with people who would only trust Honda and Toyota. Most still do. With Epson it is Canon that has given consumers back the confidence that Epson lost. They have improved their low end printers AND dropped the price.
  Here are the cons on this ESPON machine...
  1. Fails suddenly and completely...warning signs include frequent head cleaning (which BTW can use up a third of your black ink in a heartbeat). When mine failed it started printing grey scale pictures in GREEN. I reloaded the CYAN ink because it was low and then it would print only in YELLOW. Go figure!
  
  2. It runs through ink like crazy and often refuses to print when the ink is low. You have to replace cartriges that can still pass the "shake" test.
  
  3. Ink costs about $65 dollars a set, which is about what I paid for the printer on sale. Epson obviously did this on purpose to make even more money off a cheaply made product. In the end I was paying more per month to feed ink to my Epson then gas to my car, even at $2.60 a gallon.
  
  Pros:
  1. As stated it works really well for a few months of light duty.
  2. Its pretty.
  3. Best of all, the USB cord and the power cord from this unit don't go bad and can be plugged directly into the back of your new CANON PIXMA series photo printer. Gee, how cool of them to anticipate my purchase decision.
  
  The USB cord is the only thing the EPSON has that the CANON doesn't. All kidding aside. This is a cheap peice of trash. Don't even think about buying it and don't touch it used.
  
  
• The New Jaw Droper its here EPSON STYLUS C84
  By A1LWY6YLMD81MV on 2003-09-25
  I beleive no one has review this Item yet, so let me share my experience with all of you but when the final decision its come you are your own judge. Let's begin!

  At first I was looking for a replacement from my old printer, I when to some many websites to find out which Printer are the best for my needs than I found the Canon i450 looks ok, everyonebody offer a good REVIEW on it than I when to a local retail store in my area I purchase it I pay for a total of $49.87 than I said what a DEAL right than I when home I try it, Pictures very nice detail, than I decide to browse a little bit more over the internet, I when to EPSON website and guess what I saw this EPSON STYLUS-C84 I compare the detail technical specification than I made my own final decision of course cost more money, than I read the whole page but I still not convince I try to find some reviews but no luck then I check on different online store to see how much guess what SOLD OUT, SOLD OUT, SOLD OUT, from every where than I when to Office Depot Store they HAVE IT two left I paid for it right away. The dollars differents is $27.00 including a after REBATE of $20.00 what a deal I took it home I try it and WOW DAMM AWSOME DuraBrite ink won't come out when is wet very sharp image compare with the Canon. So must have it I recommend it with no doubt.

  A powerful performer, the Epson Stylus C84 offers the precision required to consistently deliver sharp everyday prints and documents. Brillant DuraBrite inks ensure water-resistant, light-resistant and smudge-resistant results for long-lasting photos,text and more. High resolution of 5760 x 1440 optimized dpi offers photo-quality clarity and detail. True border-free printing on 4" x 6" and 8" x 10" facilitates frame-ready prints in popular sizes. Black text print speeds of up to 22 ppm increase productivity, while convenient individual ink cartridges provide more cost-effective operation. With USB and parallel connectivity, the Epson Stylus C84 offers the ideal solution for any Windows or Macintosh system. Cable is not included.
  
  

• JUNK!!!! - Too bad there is no option for zero stars
  By ADS52WJQETXS2 on 2006-04-17
  Same story as many of the other reviewers. I am a graphics professional, I know how to care for my printers. Thankfully, we received this printer for free with the purchase of a Mac powerbook. It's been a year-and-a-half, maybe two years... now the print heads are clogged and won't be cleaned. Avoid this printer unless you're into buying a new one every 18-24 months.
  
  Sure, the quality is good while it lasts. IT DOESN'T LAST VERY LONG.
  
  
• Worked fine at first, then declined
  By A2UZ4QYPTCIU9K on 2004-06-19
  The printer worked fine at first, printing beautifully. Set up was a breeze. I've had the printer for several months now, however, and I've noticed the print quality slowly decline.

  I keep regular maintanence on the inkheads, cleaning and aligning them as necessary. I only use Epson ink, I've never refilled or damaged the ink cartridges in any way. I am unsatisfied with this product, and will not purchase another Epson.
  
  

• Absolute Piece of JUNK! DO NOT BUY!
  By A3CL8R6AIRROQ4 on 2006-04-22
  I've had the printer a little over 2 years now and have replaced all the ink cartridges at least 4 times (and I hardly ever print photos on this machine, just basic documents with a few color graphics here and there). It sucks ink like there's no tomorrow. I also just bought a brand new black ink cartridge because it told me I was out of ink-so I installed it, and now the black ink will not print at all! After reading other people's reviews, I'm guessing there is a clog somewhere that will cost me a fortune to repair. No thanks! What angers me most is now I'm stuck with a bum printer and a full black ink cartridge that I cannot return (there goes $40 down the drain!). My husband is an IT consultant and has already had 3 of his customers need to buy new printers because each owned a C84 and each one went bad in just over a year (just past the lousy 1 year warranty!) In other words, I will never buy an Epson again. I used to have an HP printer and it worked like a dog- and I had it for almost 7 years with no problems. If I were you, invest in ANY OTHER BRAND of printer, I know I will.
  
  
• I would rather burn my money than use it to buy this printer
  By A1FKH87QX647VY on 2005-04-19
  I bought this printer because i wasn't looking for extremely high quality, i just wanted something to print out the occasional color print and mostly black ink spreadsheets and documents. it turns out that when one color ink runs out, YOU CAN'T EVEN PRINT IN BLACK INK ONLY!!!!!! Why should i have to spend money on color ink i am not going to use just so i can print stuff in black ink??????????
  
  
• Great when it works but useless when it doesn't
  By A18XDWZQ9GDYLL on 2005-08-26
  I bought this printer to print work documents as well as pictures. At first it worked fairly well. Not top quality photos but colorful and alright. After I replaced the color ink cartridges the color stopped working. The test print page shows color but the pictures and my reports come out in a grainy black and white page. I am very dissapointed and even more dissapointed when I got no help from the company.
  
  
• It's not only the product that is defective..
  By A11PRA5SXVFU9O on 2006-02-02
  It's not only the product that is defective, but the whole attitude of Epson company that is upsetting to me.
  
  I don't have a problem with defective products as long as the company stands behind it. Companies make defective products from time to time, that happens, even a reputable company get into that trouble. The bigger problem is how Epson responded to it. They didn't only try to keep the problem secret but even lie that the problem doesn't exist.
  
  I wish I had read all the comments in the review before I bought two packs of color cartridges. If I knew it, I would have bought another printer probably another brand. I think I should feel lucky, mine had lasted two years unlike other people saying a year to year and half.
  
  Here's the myth Epson want you to believe. "Printer head clogs if you use ink cartridges anything other than Epson" The truth is even you use nothing but Epson genuine cartridges, it still clogs. I have used only Epson genuine ink cartridges.
  
  First thing I did was sending Email to Epson. The rep. sent me a reply explaining how to clean and nozzle check which I had already tried several time. Naturally, that was my response in next Email. Their reply to that was, to send the printer to authorized repair shop and have them take a look. Having other printers before, I knew where this was going. Meanwhile, I searched the web looked for the reviews and if other people had the similar problem. Boy, did I ever. At this point, I knew I had a total lemon. Looking back now, I also saw that the Epson reps. answered my Email must have been aware of this but just were playing dumb.
  
  I sent another Email with address of this review site. They said nothing about the review just sent me a phone number to call.
  
  First time I called, they connected me to the tech support. I explained the problem then she told me that they were aware of the problem C84 had, and that they can't do anything about it. She also told me I should talk to customer service, so I did.
  
  The person I talked to in customer service, he must have gotten hundreds of the same calls and played very calmly. From the tone of the voice, he seemed to know everything and how to respond as told by the company. First he denied that C84 has a problem. Then I told him of the other user's complaints on the web and asked if he wanted the address. He turned down my offer, saying he doesn't need to see it. Then in no time, he started saying "If you are not happy with the printer, I'll make you an offer. Current model C88 we are selling at $80.- on Epson store, I can give it to you for $69.99 and......."
  
  Does this make sense to anybody? Denying everything about the defective product and all, why he need to make an offer? I couldn't believe there's an Epson CEO who gets paid millions of dollars to make such a cheap policy and a customer service rep. who gets paid to lie.
  
  I had enough of it and turned down the offer. Yes, I told him that I'll post my negative review against C84 all over the net.
  
  What I suggested Epson was to post a message regarding C84 problem in Epson web site so other people won't have to waste money on future cartridges purchase, not surprisingly that was denied. So the next best thing I can do is to let people know in other place of the net.
  
  I don't recommend not only this particular printer but purchasing all Epson brand products.
  
  I previously had two other Epson printers and had been a loyal customer for a long time, not any more.
  
  
• Great little printer for the price
  By A2YOGE3CF7BQR1 on 2003-10-23
  This little guy has one of the highest resolutions available today, and yet you cant beat the price.

  Setup was a breeze on my Windows XP machine, but make sure you follow the directions (on an easy to follow chart) and dont rush to plug the printer into your computer right away. Win XP will detect the USB device the second you plug it in, so make sure you are ready when you do it.

  Print quality is very good. We purchased this primarily because we wanted to save some money and print our own wedding invitations, save the date cards and the like. It handled the card stock we used perfectly, and the quality was outstanding.

  Photos look very nice as well, but make sure you use high quality photo paper to achieve the maximum results.

  The CD ROM included has all the necessary software for installation, as well as Epson's own Film Factory for photos. If you have Abobe Album, Photoshop or other similar programs, I would recommend you use those instead as they do a little better job than the included Film Factory.

  My only complaint is that it does not include a USB cable, so that will set up back another $20.00 or so at your local computer store. But overall this is a great printer for the price.
  
  

• This printer generally sucks
  By A2G1QTXMBCZAH8 on 2004-11-17
  I got this printer a few months ago to replace an HP Deskjet 880C. I got this one because it had a rebate that made it well-priced. It was fine for a while. Not good. Just ok. Printing was ok. It's not very fast. It takes a few seconds (sometimes about 20) before it starts printing and it makes some noises while "getting ready". Once it starts printing it is usually fast. But the total time it takes from pressing the print button to getting the page does not impress me.
  Well, today I was not impressed at all. I bought 4 new ink cartridges. They are quite expensive. After I replaced the cartridges, the printer wouldn't print. After doing some online reading, it seems I have, like many other people, a clogged printhead. I've run the printer through multiple cleaning cycles
  but it does not improve. I just spent a few hours and 65 bucks to turn up with a dead printer!!!
  My HP Deskjet 880C worked fine for years. The ink cost less. It printed as good as this "supposedly higher resolution" printer. It was quieter and faster.
  Well, that's my last Epson. My next printer will be an HP or Canon. My Lexmark experience was just as bad as my Epson experience.
  
  
• Ink Costs are way too HIGH
  By A1002PDE14MR4C on 2004-12-09
  This is a horrible buy! I have had this printer for less than a year and I have had to replace the ink cartridges monthly. If I do not get the double black cartridge, I have to replace the black cartridge every couple weeks. I do not do a lot of printing and I have yet to use it for photos. The cartridges run between $25 and $32 each and there are 4 different cartridges. I am going back to the HP, it may cost a little more on the start but the savings in ink are going to be worth it!!
  
  
• Die after warranty expire
  By A3SFVVC8JYDB81 on 2005-05-30
  I've heard a lot from reviews that the C84 will die after a year. I didn't believe and so bought one about a year ago. It was printing great. Ink goes out fast and had one full set replacement (Epson genuine). Worked fine till the one year warranty expires. Printing becomes terrible with blank strips when ink is close to empty (not empty yet). Thought that it's just because ink was low and so invested another set of expensive Epson genuine ink. That was the beginning of nightmare. Right after I replaced the whole set of ink, it just printed out blank pages. Tried cleaning head for 20 times without any improvement. Still blanks.
  
  Got Epson tech support and they just recommend head cleaning again. Tried another 10 times. No effect. Ink was shown 20% used already by then even though nothing had been printed. Head cleaning really throw away your expensive ink but does nothing good. Finally, Epson suggested that repair is needed and the repair would cost more than a new printer. That means I have to give it up and lost my expensive genuine Epson ink investment at the same time.
  
  Now, I have to believe those reviews that the printer dies after one year. So, if you like the Epson printer, buy it if you expect to work with it only for one year. Only replace ink if it's still printing fine. Don't ever bother to replace ink if you've got printing problems. Just junk it.
  
  
  
• Epson C84 completely clogged, won't print anything
  By A1PCKGNQD59T4L on 2005-08-17
  This printer quit printing (all colors) after a period of disuse, indicating low cyan ink. After purchasing/installing a complete new set of Epson ink cartridges, it won't print anything, even after repeated ink head cleanings. A complete waste of time and money. I have a similar problem with a more expensive Epson printer, but at least I can nurse it back to life with repeated head cleanings.
  
  Do not buy this printer, or accept it for free with rebate coupons.
  
  
• What a piece of Junk
  By A1M0GGHMYDP49W on 2005-09-05
  It's a decent little printer. When it prints. Which isn't often. I find it crazy that the printer tells me when it's out of ink. I think I can do a pretty good job of figuring out that myself. And when it says it's out of ink, it won't print anything, even with the other colors it's not out of. Not even when it's not really out of the color it says it is. There's only one reason for this: it's a scam. Epson wants you to run out and buy more and more of their over-priced ink. Do yourself a favor and don't buy this printer.
  
  
• The real problem with this printer
  By A36P4XVEICLO2O on 2006-03-28
  The "bad rap undeserved" review below points to the real problem with this printer, which I was able to directly confirm myself recently. The problem is the Epson Durabrite ink.
  
  A few weeks ago my Mom's C84 went on the blink exactly as described ad nauseam - we'd given her a laptop a couple of Christmases ago and the printer had come with it. She seemed to get everything set up OK, and we never heard anything more until after it started printing blank pages, and only then did she mention that it had been printing with blank lines for some time before then, if not from the very beginning. Since I used to do computer hardware for a living, including printer service, and my own Epson 1520 wide-carriage has worked like a champ for over 10 years, I took the C84 home and had a look at it. Now I did know that Mom hadn't printed all that much and only used the Epson Durabrite inks. Long story short: the quick-drying ink dries too fast. On disassembling Mom's printer, I found the rubber siphon line, which both cleans the nozzles AND primes newly-installed cartridges, completely full of ink that had clotted to the consistency of toothpaste. Neither pressure nor suction was sufficient to clear it - I had to physically remove the entire line (about 8 inches or so) and force the gunk out with a metal roller.
  
  This explains the vast majority of the no-print and no-cleaning behavior reported below - if that line is clogged, neither head-cleaning passes nor the priming procedure for new cartridges will work, since the siphon action both functions depend on doesn't happen anymore. But the printer will still think the cartridges are being depleted, since the printer rewrites a new estimated ink level to the cartridge chips whether the ink is drawn down or not. And without those functions, it's only a matter of time before the ink dries up in one or more nozzles.
  
  Like so many others, Mom had installed a new black cartridge hoping to fix the problem, and the new one soon started registering as "empty." Knowing perfectly well that it was still full, I took it to a local refiller who handles Epson and had him reset the cartridge (free of charge!), and after reassembling the printer and running a couple of clean cycles with nozzle checks I was able to get the black and cyan printing back 100%, the magenta about 90%, and the yellow maybe 50% although it's kind of hard to tell. At least it prints well enough for her purposes now.
  
  The only recommendation I can make is for preventive care - if you need to do a head cleaning pass, do the following first: turn the printer off, then back on again. When the print head moves left, clear of its cleaning station on the right side of the printer, quickly unplug the printer so the head stays out of the way. To the right of the rubber squeegee on the left edge of the cleaning station, you'll see a narrow, raised rectangular lip with both a sponge AND some raised plastic buttons inside it. Using an eyedropper, fill this lip full of rubbing alcohol and watch what happens. If the alcohol drains out, the purge line is disconnected and probably clogged; cleaning cycles will be useless until it's fixed. If the alcohol stays put, plug the printer back in and cycle power as needed to return the printhead to its normal position over the cleaning station. Run the cleaning cycle and watch the rectangular lip to see whether the alcohol got sucked out of it. If not, the line is clogged - no point cleaning nor replacing cartridges until it's fixed. If the alcohol has been sucked out, it's now in the purge line and should hopefully dilute the waste ink enough that it'll flush completely through. Hopefully this will buy enough time until the next clean cycle or cartridge replacement...
  
  
• Add Me to the List of Suckers
  By A2JU7HHPSZEUTH on 2006-04-10
  The C84 seemed like such a great deal. Only $[...] and the photo print quality is quite good--at first. But then you soon discover that the print quality declines quickly, so that you constantly have to run cleaning cycles--over and over and over--to keep the print heads from clogging. The cleaning cycles suck up your ink--and the ink ain't cheap. You quickly spend several times the printer price on ink, most of which doesn't ever end up on a printed page but is blown on cleaning cycles!
  
  Epson Dura Brite inks are the culprit. They dry very fast and very hard, which is great for photo prints in theory except that the fast and hard drying makes this printer extremely susceptible to head clogging.
  
  Eventually, more likely sooner than later, one day when you replace an ink cartridge, the printer will start printing blank or nearly blank pages. So you run cleaning cycles, which necessitates the purchase of a whole new set of ink cartridges. But this time the problem doesn't clear up. So you've just spent $[...]for ink cartridges for a printer that no longer prints. Of course, that same $[...]that was just wasted on ink cartridges would have gone a long way toward buying a whole new printer.
  
  My advice: Never buy an Epson printer that uses Dura Brite inks. And if you do already own an Epson C84, once it develops a serious clogging problem, don't waste your cash on a new set of cartridges. Just throw the thing away. In fact, even if your C84 is still printing okay, the next time it runs out of ink, instead of plopping down more good money for new ink cartridges, take that cash and invest it in a better printer, one that doesn't gobble ink like the C84. You'll end up money ahead.
  
  
• To be avoided
  By A1GRJRXT5OVUKZ on 2006-10-31
  This printer requires that all four ink tanks are not "empty": cyan, majenta, yellow and black. I put empty in quotes because, as it turns out, even if you do NO color printing, the three color tanks will still eventually report themselves "empty." This happens fairly quickly, by the way, making this an expensive machine to maintain. Also, the unit will not work with generic ink cartridges. There are periodic problems with print head adlignment. The procedure Epson puts you through to try and alleviate this situation does not solve the problem; it only wastes more time, paper and ink. I will not buy or recommend Epson.
  
  
• Careful with the Paper!
  By A1KMM1VNEGE1Z3 on 2004-01-27
  Best print algorithms yet, nice looking photos at even the faster 360 dpi, BUT....they still haven't got the pick-up mechanism right.

  The Epson 900 and 980 had such a great pick-up mechanism - you could do a ream without a single missed page, but Epson changed it for the C80 and the C82, and that pick-up used to sometimes pull and squeeze multiple sheets through the rollers (several heart stoppages!) The C84 is a little different, and I haven't had a multiple sheet pull yet after several thousand prints, but sometimes it doesn't push the card stock sheets into place and will print a whole page on the roller with the intended page hanging. Or sometimes with a light-weight 20-lb sheet, it will not get a good grab and skew the page throught the rollers and jam in the mechanism.

  Also - they shortened the tray input and output guides! Can no longer easily do a legal page (I stick a hard piece of cardboard on the output tray to hold any legal print-outs.)

  Sooooo, I love the increasing quality of these CHEAP printers, but beware the paper-handling foibles.
  
  

• Overrated
  By AAN9QPLS1OWPH on 2004-03-22
  This printer is not that great. There are many bugs that exist with it and I feel that Epson must do a better job in creating these printers.
  I bought this printer for its good price and high printing output. However, many times, I send documents to the printer and they say pending but fail to print and I must resend the documents many times before the printer actually prints them. Also, the print quality isn't very good. The actual speed is nothing impressive for the output even for documents printed on economy/draft mode. I sold this to somebody soon after getting this printer because I found it to be horrendous and I haven't been happier since. I bought a Lexmark and boy, my luck has changed.
  In the future, I will choose Lexmark as I have had wonderful experiences with the quality and speed of the product. (Note: the Lexmark Z series are really great.)
  
  
• Epson C84 is a rip-off
  By A20E4G4A7DX9S5 on 2004-03-28
  I purchased my Epson C84 because of of the advertised longivity of it's inks and because I've generally been pleased with Epson products.

  I should have done my research before purchasing, however. While the printer only cost me $75 dollars, the replacement inks cost almost the same. For some reason, it appears that the inks run out about the same time, which would seem to counter the claims that separate inks save money.

  And, upon inspection, I noticed two dotted lines running down both the long sides of my print.

  When I e-mailed Epson, the explaination was of no use. When I finally ran out of ink, I packed it away.
  
  

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