Epson Stylus Photo RX595 Photo All-in-One Printer
See it at Amazon.com for $65.00Average Customer Rating
(3.5 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
Most Helpful First | Newest First
(5 out of 5)Worth every penny!
I recently bought a new laptop with Vista. When I bought my laptop, I took advantage of a promotion to receive a free Epson printer and bought the CX5000 which was free after the 79.99 rebate.
I gave my husband my old RX500 and used the new CX5000. Mistake. The CX5000 did not print pictures near as nice as my old RX500 and the pictures had a matte finish even when printed on glossy paper. I also noticed that the CX5000 used ink like crazy! I told my husband to bring my old printer home and gave him the CX5000. He only uses it for text copies anyway. However, I could not get my old RX500 to work with Vista and set out to find a new all in one that I would like as much as my old one. I'm very picky and expected this to be a hard task.
Before looking for a new printer, I did find out that the CX series only has 4 cartridges. The RX series has 6 cartridges. I read about this printer on Epson's site and read reviews of a few other Epson printers on Amazon and decided to give the RX595 a shot. It was on sale at Comp USA for $99 which is a pretty reasonable price. I took my SD card and some paper and went to try it out. I was extremely impressed with the quality of the prints straight from my card. The color was great, the picture did not look like it had a flat matte finish and they printed relatively fast and very quite too! I bought it and hoped that I would be just as satisfied once I got it home and unpacked.
I have not been disappointed. I find myself looking for things to print just so I can see how nice they look. I have also used the burn feature for printing labels to CD/DVD's a few times and am pleased with those results as well. My ink levels are still almost full and I've printed at least 20 4x6's and 2 8x10's plus printed a few text pages.
This is a really great printer! It's quite, fast, and prints beautiful pictures. The ability to burn a label on a CD/DVD is nice too. The only slight complaint that I have is that there does not seem to be a place to store the insert used to place the CD/DVD in when burning a label. Other than that, I could not be happier with this printer. It's the best replacement I could have picked for "Old Faithful" my RX500.
(3 out of 5)This line is getting a little tired
This is my third printer from this line, and the reason I had to buy it says a lot about what you should expect: the other two up and died after two years for one and nine months for the other.
A quick history: Look for my detailed reviews of the Epson Stylus R200 Photo Printer and the Epson Stylus Photo 260 Inkjet Printer to see some basics about this line. I've owned a couple of other Epson printers prior to buying these for DVD printing -- the ONLY reason to buy one.
Like its predecessors, the RX595 gives very good results on photographs, disappointing results on documents, and exceptional results on discs. The scanner works well, but it's nothing spectacular.
Other than the scanner and ability to handle memory cards, this unit is almost identical to the R260. Because an interface was necessary to print photos from memory cards, there is a little window and a couple of buttons not found on the simpler printers. These are welcome, especially the more sophisticated and less annoying low ink indicator (which tells right in the window which colors are about to run out).
The printer cannot handle SmartMedia, which is a disappointment, but it does have the ability to plug in a generic USB card reader which does serve as a kludgy work-around.
Like the other printers in this line, there are several distinct drawbacks to this model:
1. Ink is expensive and cartridges drain fast. There are new high-capacity cartridges available, but I have found them to last only slightly longer than the standard kind. I haven't measured it, but my gut tells me it's probably not worth the extra money.
2. Ink handling remains crude. For example, you cannot clean the nozzles if even one color is running low. You still cannot print at all if even one color is empty. Colored inks are drained even when you print only in black. Powering on requires a lot of ink. It's better to leave the power on all the time and let it go into sleep mode.
3. The printer is remarkably noisy. It's mostly hollow, and that acts like a big drum, amplifying every little movement inside.
4. Flipping the disc feeder down causes some sort of reset inside the printer which takes 10 seconds or so to clear, during which time you better not try to insert the disc tray or it will get sucked in (and not in a good way)...
5. The software has all of the same quirks of previous models, including seemingly random reset cycles which can run from one to five minutes. This is most annoying. To get the least annoying experience, turn off the print monitor software which is included (and installs automatically). You lose the ability to see ink status, but you also rid yourself of the annoying status window which jumps in front of everything and sits there until the printing is complete.
The only reason I have this is to print on discs. And it does that remarkably well. Unfortunately, the included software is a rather crude tool, and hasn't been upgraded at all for almost three years. This is inexcusable. Still, it works just well enough if you can live with its quirks.
This printer is just OK. Even with all its drawbacks, it's still the best solution around for printing on discs, but for everything else you can do better.
(1 out of 5)Won't recognize the original Epson cartridge that came in the box
I just bought this printer brand new after I saw a demo at a store. While it appeared to be a solid printer during the demo, it had one major drawback: the recognition of its own ink cartridge. It keeps giving me an error: "Can't recognize ink cartridge". After reviewing other online comments, I understand Epson devised this new chip to recognize and prevent the use of non-Epson made cartridges. Too bad it won't even recognize the original cartridge that came with the printer! I'm sure this thing has backfired on the company and probably causing losses in the millions for them. This is just stupid for an otherwise great product. I will be taking mine back tomorrow.
(4 out of 5)Great printer, so far...
I've owned this printer for less than 24 hours, so I'm still in the "honeymoon" phase. I'm concerned that I may fall victim to the numerous problems reported by people who purchased the RX680.
My previous printer was an Epson Photo 820. It served me well enough for several years, but annoyed me with it's extremely long startup/shutdown time, frequently clogged nozzles, and noisy operation. I was delighted to see the RX580 was MUCH quieter, much faster in every way, with outstanding print quality.
Features I've looked at, so far--
- setup & installation (Windows XP system): fast & easy
- startup/shutdown: speed=good, noise=quiet
- Usability (software & user controls): very good
- matte/glossy photo printing: speed=good, output=excellent
- color scans: speed=good, result=excellent
- color copies (on 100% recycled copy paper): speed=good, output=good
- print from memory card: speed=good, output=excellent
I haven't had it long enough to see how well it does with consumables (cartridge consumption, alignment, cleaning, etc). I also haven't printed on CD yet.
If I run into any issues, I'll be sure to update this review. In the meantime, I'm a very happy camper!
(5 out of 5)Great Printer for the Money
I love this printer. It allows me to scan photos. Then I can take that same photo and make it as a cd cover. By being able to print directly onto cd-printable discs, I no longer lose my precious moments of my children and family. I now exactly what's on the disc using the provided software to create great cd covers. We make dvd covers too. It's the best printer for the price and you can print on cds or dvds that look professional. This photo printer also prints some amazing pictures too with the hidef claria ink. Installation was a breeze. Follow the directions and you can't go wrong.
I would definately recommend this printer to everyone who is looking for high quality photos and the added bonus of printing on cd or dvd that no other manufacturer can provide.