Questions about printers that print on to CD's/DVD's

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Archived from groups: comp.periphs.printers (More info?)

Hi
Been looking around on line at printers that print on to C.D's and it
seems that Canon and Epson are the two main players at the moment and
i would value this groups opinion on them I am deciding between the
canon i865 and Epsons R200 and R300 ,my reasons for the canon our

Had canon in the past and no real problems (have S820D at moment) and
the ink cartridges will fit the i825
But the canon is slighty more expensive than the Epson

The Epson's are both slighty cheaper than the canon but replacement
cartridges are slighty more expensive ( I use generic cartridges with
no problem)

I have read that the printheads on epsons clog more easly than canon

Does anybody have any thoughts on epson or canon printers and does the
difference between the Epson R200 and R300 warrant buying the R300

The epson printers look good value for money but as i have never
bought a epson before i am a bit dubious

TIA
 
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Archived from groups: comp.periphs.printers (More info?)

On Mon, 3 May 2004 18:55:23 +0000 (UTC), osiris.luxor@btopenworld.com
wrote:

>Hi
>Been looking around on line at printers that print on to C.D's and it
>seems that Canon and Epson are the two main players at the moment and
>i would value this groups opinion on them I am deciding between the
>canon i865 and Epsons R200 and R300 ,my reasons for the canon our
>
>Had canon in the past and no real problems (have S820D at moment) and
>the ink cartridges will fit the i825
>But the canon is slighty more expensive than the Epson
>
>The Epson's are both slighty cheaper than the canon but replacement
>cartridges are slighty more expensive ( I use generic cartridges with
>no problem)
>
>I have read that the printheads on epsons clog more easly than canon
>
>Does anybody have any thoughts on epson or canon printers and does the
>difference between the Epson R200 and R300 warrant buying the R300
>
>The epson printers look good value for money but as i have never
>bought a epson before i am a bit dubious
>
>TIA

This is *my* opinion. I wouldn't touch the Epson if it held water and
I was dying of thirst in the desert. (Well, ok - I would - then I'd
bury it so no-one else would inflict its use upon themselves.) : )
Seriously, tho...

I purchased an epson that got head clogs within the first couple of
weeks. Epson directed me to their local repair technician, who
basically just forced windex through the print head (sheesh, I
could've done THAT!). He also charged me for it - even though it was
under warranty, because he claimed the printhead was not covered under
warranty. (I later found out from epson, this was a bold-faced lie!)

Note also, that the BLACK was what was blocked, and I mainly wanted
the printer to print COLOUR photos. The colour was still working
great - the best printout from an inkjet I'd seen up until that time.
The idiot decided he'd flush ALL the printhead intake nozzles, not
just the black - even though I specifically told him three times that
ONLY THE BLACK was blocked and had him note it in his notebook so he
wouldn't flush all my colour ink down the drain. When he returned the
printer to me, not only had he flushed the remainder of my nearly FULL
black and colour cartridges through the head, he'd also gone ahead
without asking and fitted two new cartridges, which he charged at a
price I could've bought them at the dearest shop for at least 30%
cheaper.

To add to this, I took it home and was shocked to find it was STILL
blocked. So I ran another 3 head cleans. Then I printed and found he
had destroyed the print quality of the entire head. All printouts now
looked like there were bits of lint sprinkled all over the paper -
little fuzzy ink "runs" if get what I mean. A 24-pin dot matrix now
looked better.

For this "warranty service" on my new $325 (AUD) printer, he charged
me about $105 (AUD) from memory - to totally ruin it. (I could've
done THAT myself too - for free.) I had saved for 12 months to buy
this printer and had spent months researching which to buy. Because I
was on such a low income, it had taken me so much time to save for it
and now I was nearly in tears when I rang Epson, who told me he that
while was their allocated technician for that area, because he wasn't
an actual Epson employee and had ruined the head - that my warranty
was now VOID - and that if I HAD taken it to one of their "genuine"
warranty repair depots, it would've been replaced! WHY ON EARTH
DIDN'T THEY TELL ME THIS IN THE FIRST PLACE!!! They also said it was
up to him, but he may replace the printhead, since he destroyed it.
So I then rang HIM back and he tells me "naw... bad luck mate!".

I was so furious at being lied to, cheated, and run around by epson
and their half-baked "epson-trained technician". That if I hadn't
become a Christian at that stage, I would've put him in hospital.

There are those here who will now pipe up and say they've had no
trouble from their Epson and I'm an idiot, can't use stuff correctly,
etc. ad nauseum. Before you listen to these children, just keep this
in mind. There's far more people with Epson problems that Canon
problems. You've heard it already yourself. Do a google search for
the words "epson" and "clogged" and have a read. The majority of
Epson problems are from head blockage. There are folks who have no
trouble - admitted. But not everyone who has clogs is an idiot - and
I know from the comments that not everyone without clogs is a brain on
legs.

You'll find the majority of Canon problems relate to other things that
can usually be worked out in a few minutes (without pulling the print
head and soaking it for a couple of days in a bowl of window cleaner
and then flushing ink through the printhead to clear the windex and
get ink flowing again).

Aside from this, the endless head cleaning cycles... Whirring,
clicking, beeping, rolling paper rollers, clunk-clunk-clunk...
beeeeeep-beeeeep-beeeeep! will drive you NUTS after owning a Canon.
The Canons also have far less problems with generic ink refills and so
are much cheaper on ink, because epsons use ink every time they do an
automatic head clean. And how often do epson do a head clean? I've
yet to print from mine, without a head clean taking place.

Someone was throwing out an ancient HP 670C recently and I took it
gladly. It's printout is terrible too - but at least it's leaves some
ink on the page. My epson is sitting here and about 5% of the nozzles
are squirting ink. The rest are blocked and I only freed them up the
day before. So I give up. I'm going to drive my car over it soon -
and after the "service" I've received from both them and the idiots
they train into technicians - will never purchase an epson product
again. I'm also an electronic technician myself, and as I've said
before to epson, people often ask my opinion (off this group) on what
gear to buy. The day epson conceeds they were in the wrong in my
case, return my $325 + $105 AUD and provide a *sincere* apology for
their and their technician's treatment of me, I will then consider
ceasing to direct people away from their products.

Epson? It's just not worth the risk - in my opinion. But without
drawing on my bias, just go with (one) your own experience with Canon
- and (two) your own intuition. Alarms bells must already be ringing
in your head to even ask the question. So listen to them and don't
make a mistake you'll regret, like I did. Remember, it's NOT about
the users intelligence - it's about luck. I hate gambling - how about
you? : )

Allan.
 
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Archived from groups: comp.periphs.printers (More info?)

I have an Epson R200 that I only use for printing CDs. It is fairly new
(printed 25 CDs so far) but everything seems to work well. I am having minor
problems with the supplied CD printing software that I am able to work around.
This is annoying but not a "show stopper". I agree that Epson support leaves a
lot to be desired.

Paul Core