Pros and Cons of an Epson R340, RX700 vs. modded Canon iP5200, MP780???

[CaveCanem]

Reliability
Quality
Usage Costs
Ease-of-Use (especially when printing CD/DVDs)
Maintenance
Speed
Difficulty and Expense of Mod


Are these the only solutions for a Multi-Purpose printer with CD/DVD printing ability??

I was leaning towards a Multi-function printer to free up some space, are they more reliable now?

Does the Canon MP780 function well as a multi-page copier and fax machine for a home office?

Do the Canon's include a print head in each cartridge? (The HP's do. The Epsons do not, which I think is a big mistake.)

Is the roller mod highly recommended?

What about third-party ink systems? (chip-in-cartridge)

Any other suggestions or advice?

Thanks!

CC

[Rich86]

I have an Epson R320 - which I believe is essentially the same as the R340 except for the location of the small color video screen. I've been using it for about 6 months.

Reliability - so far no problems.
Quality - printed output quality is excellent.
Usage Costs - ink usage seems typical for an inkjet. ink cartridges are expensive (which I expect is why the printers are cheap?). I plan to try some 3rd party ink cartridges when the current cartridges run out.
Ease-of-Use (especially when printing CD/DVDs) - very simple, using the program supplied by Epson with the printer.
Maintenance - so far no significant issues. the "yellow" cartridge started misbehaving once - but a single cleaning cycle cleared it up.
Speed - not terribly fast - but I always print in top quality mode since I care about how it looks and am not in a big rush.
Difficulty and Expense of Mod - no mod's here - ready to go out of the box.

I've been using Epson stylus color and stylus photo inkjets for many years - and never had one fail yet.

[CaveCanem]

Rich86,

I currently have a now defunct Epson Stylus Photo 900. The Picture Quality was always very good, text not-so-good, but it was difficult to keep running at peak performance. I had to run the cleaning cycle often, and it progressively got worse until the non-replaceable, black print head leaked like a sieve. It was like pouring liquid gold down the drain. It seems that I have also read posts from many users that have had the same problem as myself.

The only other Epson printer I had was an old Dot-Matrix printer which worked well for many years. Since then I have had only HP's, and have been very pleased with their reliability. I also liked the fact that you got a new print-head with each cartridge. Do the Canon's replace the print-heads with each cartridge, or are they just a tank of ink?

thanks,

CC

[slacker]

Love my r340. The Epson Print CD software that comes with the r340, however, is lacking. So, if you purchase the r340, also go out and purchase SureThing Deluxe Labeling Software which, by the way, works with several other manufacturers and models as well. Dynamite!

[rjessa]

Can you use this software to print directly onto CD/DVD using the printer R220? How do you do it?

[slacker]

The SureThing program does list the r200 as a supported device in the Help files. I would recommend downloading the free trial and give it a try. I have been very pleased with it.

Go to www.surething.com

Mark

[xxiangg]

I have used both EsponR200 and Canon6000D. Both printers produced
quality prints. But I gave up my R200 after its original set of inks ran
out. First, it is not easy to refill Espon ink set (at least not as easy as
Canon). Engineers in Espon tried very hand to make sure that you
would only use their inks. The second problem I had with Espon was the
printing tray jam. It happened a few times. I heard the newer models
have improvements for its printing tray. But I have no problem with
Canon so far. So I am not planning to give Espon another try.

[Balorn]

I've had an Epson R200 for some time. Aside from having to help push the tray in at the start of a job (from what I've seen most people with these have this problem sooner or later), it's worked fine.

I recently got a Canon Pixma iP4200 and modded it to print on discs (basically this means removing one small piece of plastic, hitting some buttons on the front before installing the driver, and getting a CD tray on ebay). Printing text and photos, it seems about on par with my R200 despite using fewer colors of ink (R200 uses cyan, magenta, yellow, light cyan, light magenta and black - the iP4200 has cyan, magenta, yellow and two blacks).

However, on CDs/DVDs, the iP4200 is clearly MUCH higher quality that the R200. When I printed out my first disc I was literally stunned at how much nicer it looked (though YMMV depending on what kind of graphics you use, of course).

I don't know how the R200 compares with newer models, but between the incredibly high quality of disc prints on the iP4200, the clear ink carts (so you can see how much ink is really left), oh, and did I mention it also has a bottom tray (I keep 4x6 photo paper in it) and it can do auto-duplexing? I don't think I'll be using my R200 much anymore. As for the iP5200, from what I've seen it's basically the same as the iP4200 with more nozzles so it prints faster (same resolution).

The only thing better about my Epson is that it's easier to get cheap generic ink for it - the new Canon iP4200/5200/etc are very new and generic ink doesn't seem to be available yet. I'm sure that will change though.

[JSB1]

I have used both EsponR200 and Canon6000D. Both printers produced
quality prints. But I gave up my R200 after its original set of inks ran
out. First, it is not easy to refill Espon ink set (at least not as easy as
Canon). Engineers in Espon tried very hand to make sure that you
would only use their inks. The second problem I had with Espon was the
printing tray jam. It happened a few times. I heard the newer models
have improvements for its printing tray. But I have no problem with
Canon so far. So I am not planning to give Espon another try.

Check out http://www.epsonsettlement.com/
R200 qualifies...
"Class action lawsuit against Epson because their printers would notify user that ink cartridge was empty when it wasn't and halting use of printer forcing them to buy a new cartridge.

They have agreed to settle to avoid fees. If you purchased an Epson on or after April 8, 1999 to May 8, 2006 then you qualify. You can receive a $45 dollar credit to the Epson estore as part of the settlement. There is an alternative to treceive a $20 check and $25 credit to the estore or 25% of an estore purchase up tp $100 dollars."

I guess the engineers worked a little to hard

JSB

[maduser74]

CaveCanem,
I have been using MP780 for a month now..I had to mod it in order to print on DVD. but the quality is really good. So far i have printed almost 15-20 discs on TDK PrintOn's and didn't have any problems. I use the Canon CD/DVD Label Print software that i got from canon europe and i am satisfied with it so far. I didn't do the mod for roller assembly, but its just simple to keep the tray there and printer takes care the rest. The mod is relatively simple and easy. It took 5 mts to do the mod and i was ready to print..I had to wait for the trays though. I am thinking of using 3rd party inks once the current inks are over.

I am also happy with the scan, copy and fax so for.

Hope that helps.

[mistertee]

Love my r340. The Epson Print CD software that comes with the r340, however, is lacking. So, if you purchase the r340, also go out and purchase SureThing Deluxe Labeling Software which, by the way, works with several other manufacturers and models as well. Dynamite!

Mark,

Have you tried any generic ink cartridges with the R340? I'm thinking about upgrading from my R300 but I have quite a bit of generic ink on hand. I've run across a few postings suggesting the R340 may have new firmware that doesn't recognize generic chips but nothing definitive.

Thanks
-Mike

[kitty]

I have a R200 and the wife an R340. I print DVDs on the R200 and it does a very good job. I do have to put a slight up pressure on the feed tray to get it to catch properly. I tried one DVD in my wife's machine once, I had a black streak on part of the disc, unsure of cause.

I am still using the starter ink, printing is not overly heavy. I did get my settlement info for the Epson lawsuit but I think I read that they are waiting a couple months for the codes to be valid on Epson's website - true?

[slacker]

mistertee,

No I don't use generic inks so I can't comment on that. However, I will search around though and see what I can find out!

Mark

[mistertee]

I have a R200 and the wife an R340. I print DVDs on the R200 and it does a very good job. I do have to put a slight up pressure on the feed tray to get it to catch properly. I tried one DVD in my wife's machine once, I had a black streak on part of the disc, unsure of cause.

I am still using the starter ink, printing is not overly heavy. I did get my settlement info for the Epson lawsuit but I think I read that they are waiting a couple months for the codes to be valid on Epson's website - true?

Yes, I've had that same problem with the feed tray. I have several and some work better than others. It's kind of an annoyance but the results are worth it

According to the settlement web site "The Court will consider final approval of the settlement at a hearing on August 15, 2006." Looks like it will be a while before any claims are finalized.

-Mike

[mistertee]

mistertee,

No I don't use generic inks so I can't comment on that. However, I will search around though and see what I can find out!

Mark

Thanks very much Mark! I've noticed that quite a few 3rd party ink suppliers are offering generics for "R300/320/340" but I wonder if they've actually tested for compatibility or is it simply assumed since all 3 models use the same cartridges? If you come up with anything of interest I'd love to hear about it

Thanks again,
-Mike

[mistertee]

Mark,

Sorry to bother you with another question...

Like yourself, I'm a SureThing user. My current version of SureThing Deluxe 4 includes templates for the R300/320 but nothing for the R340. Do you know if the R340 uses R300/320 templates or if not, can they be dowloaded somewhere?

TIA,
-Mike

[mistertee]

Duplicate posting in error (removed).

[mistertee]

Sorry to bother you with another question...

Like yourself, I'm a SureThing user. My current version of SureThing Deluxe 4 includes templates for the R300/320 but nothing for the R340. Do you know if the R340 uses R300/320 templates or if not, can they be dowloaded somewhere?

TIA,
-Mike

Well, I happened to be near Staples this afternoon so I went ahead and purchased an R340. For the benefit of anyone who comes across this thread with the same questions I previously posted, here's the story...

Q: Can the R340 use generic ink cartridges?
A: Yes, not a problem. The installation procedure is very similar to that of the R300/320 except that the R340 warns you that generics are evil and offers you the chance to redeem youself by removing them. Simply select "Yes" to acknowledge that you really do intend to use the cartridges you've installed and it's smooth sailing assuming you are using high quality ink.

Q: Do the R300/320 direct-to-disc printing settings in SureThing Deluxe work with the R340?
A: Yes, you don't have to change the printer template options for your existing labels. To print new designs simply select the R300/320 profile(s) and you're good to go.

Thanks to all who tried to help
-Mike

[hfs1986]

I've always gone with Epson printers in the past but have moved over to Canon and the difference is amazing. Better Quality, quieter print jobs and much faster.

No offense to all the people who love the Epson Stylus Photo R340 but it is the biggest waste of money I have ever used!

It takes about 2 minutes just to print one CD which is useless for the huge amount of duplication of promo CDs that I do. The other huge problem is that no one else in my office can seem to get it to work and it has taken me sometime as well due to the fact that the printer doesn't even feed properly!; The CD has to be manually pushed into the printer everytime. As for the screen, the only thing it ever seems to do is display error messages.

I personally bought a Canon PIXMA iP4000 a while back and it is quieter, feeds CDs and paper all on its own, prints a CD off in well under a minute, is of equal or better quality and is even more cost effective when it comes to buying new cartridges.

I would recommend the slightly cheaper but more effective Canon PIXMA series to anyone over the Epson Photo R Series.