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143 of 146 found the following review helpful:
 What You See Is What You Get? Nope... It's Better! Nov 30, 2006
By Vladimir Ratner
"vratner"
Before I start reviewing the actual printer, I'd like to point out a few things first: I have a pretty extensive knowledge in digital photography. I'm not a Pro, but I do know more than a regular consumer - working at Kodak in Digital Imaging department testing the software for professional digital cameras for a few years, and Xerox, where I did pretty much the same, but for high-end printers, helped me quite a bit to understand the basics of digital printing and photography, as well as learn more advanced techniques. However, only recently I got into the post processing aspect of it, i.e. dealing with RAW format, learning about color management, monitor calibration, printer profiling, etc. I never owned a personal photo printer prior to purchasing this one from Epson, but I do know and can tell the difference between various papers and colors, and most importantly, I can easily tell the difference between a good print and a bad print. Until now, for my printing needs, I used a variety of online places, such as WinkFlash, DotPhoto, and several other ones, as well as local stores, such as Walmart, Target, and Rite Aid. Well, the quality was always between "bad" to "not so bad" to "acceptable". Never ever I saw a good print that came out of any of those places. And after purchasing this Epson, NEVER EVER again I'm going back to any one of those places, but I'm getting ahead of myself here. Now that I've given you somewhat of an introduction/background, I'm ready to review the actual printer. Once again, I think the easiest and most favorable review format is in form of Pros and Cons, so I'll do just that:
PROS (The GOOD things):
I'm actually going to start from the "end", and leave the best for last:
Price - Are you kidding me?! Epson is practically giving this printer away for free. I almost bought it from Amazon (love their return policy and customer service), but ended up getting it directly from Epson online store. I found a 10% coupon, and there was also a $40 rebate. The final price - 140 bucks. I think the replacement inks cost not much less than that.
Convenience - I used to collect at least 100 pictures before sending them out, uploading, or taking them directly to one of the online printing shops or local stores that I already mentioned. Why? Because it doesn't make sense to print one or two pictures at Walmart or Target - it'll cost you more, and there is also the "inconvenience" factor. Now, at my own leisure, I can print as many pictures as I want. I want one - I print one. I want more - I print more. I want a 4 x 6, or an 8 x 10 print - I print it. I want it on a glossy or matte paper - I choose the one I like better. CONVENIENCE - perhaps some people don't care about it, but for me it's important!
Features - I'm impressed - 3.5" LCD, which you can actually use not only for viewing pictures, but also for cropping, and removing red-eye; CD and DVD slot - YES, now your homemade DVD's can look just as good as the original ones; Memory Card slots - it takes anything from SD to those strange xD cards that only Fuji and Olympus cameras use; it even supports Bluetooth! Did I say that I'm impressed?! Indeed I am.
Picture Quality - As promised, I've saved the best for last. One might ask: How good can picture quality be on a $140 printer? The answer is Very Good. Or I should say Excellent. I was speechless, completely blown away when the first print came out and I held it in my hands. A lot of people spend hundreds of dollars on calibrating software, custom printer profiles, etc. to match up what they see on their monitors against the actual printer results. Well, I'm sorry to "disappoint" you here - I didn't get what I saw on my screen - I got BETTER results, without doing anything at all. I couldn't believe my eyes. The colors were vivid and natural at the same time. It was far beyond my wildest expectations. Since then (about a month now) I have printed numerous amount of prints, and they all came out great. Now, of course, the actual picture has to be good to begin with, so once in a while I might do some minor editing, like noise reduction, or adjusting brightness or sharpness. That's all. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to be able to operate this printer and to get excellent results.
CONS (The BAD things):
The only, and I repeat myself here, the ONLY reason for a 4 star review is INK CONSUMPTION. This "sucker" is thirsty for ink. It drinks it like a man on a hot day in a desert. Replacement ink cartridges are not cheap, so this could be a decisive factor for some. BUT... If you calculate the price per print, it doesn't come out to be all that bad. I mean, it will definitely be more comparing to online print shops, probably about 2-3 times more, but it's well worth it in my opinion, because of the fine quality of the prints.
Note: Another reviewer mentioned "Larger" ink cartridges, and said that they have 50% more ink in them - NOT TRUE. Those High Capacity cartridges supposedly offer 50% more prints, not ink. BIG difference. I will definitely give them a try, but I sincerely doubt that they will increase the number of my prints by the advertised percentage. So, I don't think that the price increase there will be justified. We'll see.
SUMMARY:
An inexpensive, "convenient", feature-packed printer that produces excellent results. One drawback - ink consumption. Do I still think it's worth it? Absolutely. Highly recommended!
31 of 31 found the following review helpful:
 Ink Hog Sep 27, 2007
By Michael Simpson
"Owner of KronosRobotics.com"
This printer prints a very nice photo. Its no slower or faster than any other printer in its price range. Expect to replace 2 ink cartridges for every 75, 4x6 photo that you print. That will cost you at least $32. That comes to a cost of $.42 per 4x6 print and $1.40 per 8x10 print. Please note that is the cost of ink not paper.
When printing photos it only uses the LightMagenta, LightCyan and Yellow cartridges. Even if you print black and white photos, only those three are used. The Other 3 colors seem to come into play when you print Text and images on plain paper.
I have tested the printer on several papers and found the Claria Ink has some issues with some glossy papers.
The print head has the ability to print different size drops so you will get exceptianl prints.
Due to the high cost of ink I converted my R380 over to a Niagra Ink flow system. My ink now costs me .015 per 4x6 and .05 per 8x10. If you plan on doing a lot of printing I sugest you look into this system.
All the other issues that come with a Ink jet printer. IE it must be used on a regular basis or the print head will clog.
60 of 65 found the following review helpful:
 Superb printer! Nov 29, 2006
By Michael J. Foley
The Epson R380 is an excellent printer! I bought it mostly to print on printable CDs/DVDs (sold by Amazon and which I have NOT tried yet), which alone makes it an outstanding purchase, but I am VERY impressed with it's quality overall. I've owned numerous printers, mostly Canons but also have a great HP 8700 professional. This is by far...BY FAR the best of them all. You can read about all the nice bells and whistles it offers, but I just wanted a great printer. It's really impossible to describe the level of detail and glorious colors that this printer provides. It ships with like $90. worth of inks, so they are pratically giving the printer away. It's like HD as compaired to standard television. It is really THAT good. The inks are fairly expensive and naturally the printer drinks them. But If you want totally professional quality...(Use the Epson Ultra Premium Glossy photo paper-sold by Amazon-, which is also the best high gloss inkjet paper that I've ever used). I'm using this for my business and print only the images that I'm selling, so their cost is justified. I've been into photography for a long time. I once printed my own photos in the lab. The idea that I'm achieving this level of quality in my office was once just an impossible dream. I just ordered a set of replacement ink cartridges (6) from the Epson website and opted for the larger ones, which reportedly contain 50% more ink for just a few dollars more per cartridge. I feel that this is a GIANT leap forward in home printing. THICK paper and excellent image. The dye based inks dry extremely quicking and are said to be waterproof. To me, there is no difference from what I'm getting from this printer and the finest photo labs that I've used. Other than the expensive inks, I recommend this printer without hesitation. If you want the best, this for me, is it... Don't let it's inexpensive price fool you. You will not be sorry for making this purchase. WOW!!!!! Added updated note: I received the set of larger capacity ink cartridges and as mentioned by another reviewer, they appear to be exactly the same size as the standard ones, so I don't know what's up with the 50% increase claim made by Epson. As he said, "we'll see"... But the expensive ink issue aside, this is an amazing printer!
UPDATE: I don't undersand just why, but the high capacity inks do last longer!
15 of 16 found the following review helpful:
Epson's printers when altered are great Sep 22, 2007
By hello
"safffff"
The epson cd dvd printers and others are great when the ink problem is solved. I just added a continuous ink supply with sponge-less cartridges for $50 which includes 720ml of ink, 1/10 the cost of ink when bought in bulk bottle and lasts longer. Go to ebay and put in continuous ink and your printers name. Or search "Super Smart Electronics" on ebay. Enjoy
15 of 16 found the following review helpful:
 Ink is a big problem and could be a scam Aug 24, 2007
By Mr. Thomas D. Wynne
In my usage of this printer, I believe Epson is making a killing on ink sales.
I only print on DVDs and only print black and just a few lines of text at that, yet the other colors also show the same decreased print level. I don't believe there is any actual sensor that detects the amount of ink in the cartridges. It is a counter so whether you use the color or not, each print counts against the cartridge. It is a falicy to say that it is because of 'cleaning', if that were true, I would have a whole lot of colored ink in the inside of the printer.
Also, I don't believe the cartridges that come with the printer are full cartridges either, they are pretty much just trial ones to get a few prints out of then they deplete very quickly. When I first plugged the printer in, the cartridges all read full, then printed a few prints, then they were already down to 75% full.
A big complaint also is that the cartridges are all sold separately - 6 cartridges all $14.95 or more each and black is more. But from my experience, all the colors deplete at the same rate and from other user's experiences, you can't just replace one if others 'say' they are low, so you will be forced to buy all 6 again when I am sure there is plenty of ink left in the cartridge when it says it is 'empty'.
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