Epson Artisan 800 All-in-One: Review

Rating:

3.8 out of 5

Features

An interesting feature that is not available on most all-in-one printers is the ability to print your own images or labels directly onto compatible CD/DVDs. The Artisan 800's CD/DVD tray is located below the paper trays, just press the eject button, insert your media and you're ready to print unique disks for friends and family. The Artisan 800 also contains a fax option, which is not common on most photo All-in-One machines and can come in quite handy. With the ability to fax in either black and white or color, a memory of up to 180 pages and a 33.6 Kbps modem, which is a really time and money saver, allowing the user to avoid having to pay additional fees to other companies who offer consumer faxing, for the occasional transactions that crop up.

Performance

Printing quality is better than most. With 6 separate ink cartridges in Clara Hi-Definition Ink in black, cyan, light cyan, magenta light magenta and yellow, the Artisan 800 saves you money by wasting less ink by having separate cartridges, and can print quality photos and documents in a reasonable amount of time. Color 4" x 6" Photos print in approximately 10 seconds, black documents print up to 38 ppm and color documents print up to 38 ppm. Printing resolution is a maximum of 5760 x 1440 dpi for both black and color. The Artisan 800 also has a built in menu option for printing graph paper or notebook paper on demand, which is great for the busy families who have just run out and realize its too late to get to the store to buy more.

Since this is an all-in-one machine, it does more than just print. The copier capabilities are up to 38 cpm for black documents and up to 38 cpm for color. There are also a variety of copy features available on the Artisan 800. With auto background removal for text, fit to page, reduction and enlargements(25 - 400%), photo reprints and enlargements, copy onto compatible CD/DVDs and color restoration of old/faded photos, the Artisan 800 provides a wealth of tools in one package.

Scanning quality is comparable to that of other all-in-one machines available on the market. The Artisan 800 has an optical resolution of 4800 dpi with scan to memory card or USB flash drive, scan to PDF, scan to pc and scan photos and convert to coloring book pages. The ability to scan in your own photos and turn them into coloring book pages is a great tool for families that don't have the time to run to the store to purchase more books to keep the kids occupied. There is also a scan to email option that will open your pc's email program add the scanned document as an attachment to the email, but this function only works when the printer is connected via USB to the pc, otherwise you will need to scan the document to a file and complete the rest of the steps manually.

Summary

In conclusion, the Epson Artisan 800 is a quality photo printer with a wealth of built in tools that are geared towards the home user. If you are looking for a quality photo printer that can do more for you and your family than just print photos than the Epson Artisan 800 would be the way to go.

Pros

• Energy Star rated
• Scan photos and convert to coloring book pages
• Print your own graph paper
• Print images or labels directly on compatible CD/DVDs
• 6 separate ink cartridges

Cons

• There are no cons for this product

Related Links

Canon PIXMA MP620 All-in-One Printer, Scanner, Copier:
Print speed: 26 ppm black and up to 17 ppm color, 4 x 6 photos as fast as 41 sec

Hewlett Packard (HP) Photosmart C6380 All-In-One Printer, Scanner, Copier:
Print speed: 33 ppm black and up to 31 ppm color, 4 x 6 photos as fast as 18 sec