EPSON R200 Refurbished Printer from Outpost $69.99/$75 Shipped Ground

[Miyh]

I also bought the R200 from Staples a few months ago for CD/DVD printing and have been very happy with it.

A good discussion about that capabiltiy is here R200 Quality Discussion

I also bought a continuous ink supply system for it from jlwsales that I learned about in this discussion Continuous Ink Supply. So far it is working great. I can't think of a better way to get the cost of ink any lower.

 

[Samus]

MY first epson printer sucked. It was a Stylus 500, way back in the day (1995-1996) when their piezzo technology was new and..crappy.

My second epson, I bought a C64 a few years ago (2002 I think) and I've run about 10 black cartridges through it, along with a few color. The ink is cheap on megatoner or ebay, running only a few dollars per cartridge. VERY cheap to run, VERY cheap to maintain. I have had absolutely no problems with it.

Epson printers make you wonder why HP is in bussiness, because incase you didn't know, HP printers are undesirably expensive to run. All their anti-competition tactics and smartchip-equiped ink cartridges that fry the onboard electronics when the ink runs low preventing recycling/refilling make you wonder why people buy them, but I suppose this information isn't widely known.

What is widely known is HP doesn't let people make generic cartridges for most of their ink based printers.

Epson, Canon and Brother do.

 

[racefan]

I love my Epson Photo 785 EPX printer as my boss just bought a new HP and the ink bubbles up on most papers as it just pools not imbeds itsef as he just tried glossy CD lables and the ink bubbled everwere and was just wet to the touch everwere as it just smeared and almost never dried.

Epson all the way so I will say this printer will do a great job and it is tempting me just for the CD printing alone.

 

[AStar617]

... ok I'm off the fence. I need one of these.

 

[funboy6942]

I have to admit aside of perople jumping on the deal i found saying it sucked I had no idea before I bought my printer just how much Epson is liked and how great of a printer they trully are.

 

[paulmob]

Okay, I really want to get one of these printers however my concern is this: I don't print *that* often, but would probably print more with this printer, but say if I were to let this printer sit for say 3 months, I read that the ink can dry out over a long dry spell, and you'll have to spend $$$$ (even if its only $15) to replace all the ink tanks because they will be dried out. Can anybody verify this?

 

[funboy6942]

That would happen with any printer. Just print something with it atleast 2 times a month and I dont think there will be a problem.

 

[paulmob]

hm.. actually i have an HP 882c that was give to me from someone 3 years ago and I haven't put a color cartridge in it yet, and I just recently replaced the black and they had it in storage for a while and it still prints perfectly (but the paper loading mechanism doesn't grab the paper properly anymore), and I'm looking to get some better quality and wouldn't mind being able to print directly to CD for a good price.... I guess I also like how the paper is stored perfectly flat and out of the way (from dust debris, sunlight)... will I be happy with the R200 ?

 

[JETninja]

I bought mine from Staples about 8 months ago....used a $20 off $100 code and free shipping to boot. I have printed dozens of CD's/DVD's with it and love it. I don't recommend the aftermarket Ink Carts, no one really likes the quality. The continuous Ink supplies work nice from what I hear. You can get a free Epson SCC utility here. Works with most all Epson Printers.

www.ssclg.com/epsone.shtml

SSC Service Utility allow you to do many amazing things with Your Epson printer :


1) Work directly with CSIC in Epson Stylus printers cartridges.
2) Freeze internal ink counters.
3) Reset internal ink counters even with empty cartridges.
4) Separate cleaning of color and black heads for all Epson inkjet printers, powerful cleaning mode.
5) Hot swapping of cartridges supported.
6) Resetting of protection counter (even then it is already full).
7) More then 60 different Epson printers supported

We discuss the Printer and Media here alot: www.videohelp.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=27

 

[esquared]

Originally posted by: Steven the Leech
Buy it New Here For 88 With 1 year Warranty

Epson's refurbs have a 1 year warranty just like the new ones. Both at Outpost and the Epson online store.

 

[rile0161]

My local Sams has this printer new for the same price but it's not on the website so YMMV.

 

[dc]

hm, i'm thinking either this or the canon ip3000, anyone with any 1st hand experience/comparisons?

 

[randomlinh]

anyone have any comparisons on what megatoners ink looks like in comparison to the default ink?

 

[ddebuss1]

I got the R200 just before Christmas 2003. Mine has had the problem with the feed as described above but I'm not complaining because it's the only reasonably priced printer that can print on CD/DVD. I've printed hundreds on mine. I'm going to try the cleaning trick next time I use it. Thanks for the tip.

The only complaint I have is that I wish I could use Durabrite inks. I had a couple get wet in my car and the ink ran a little. I was lucky that it didn't stain my seats. The durabrite inks are supposed to be waterproof. Anyone know where I can get aftermarket Durabrite ink cartridges for this thing? Does it matter what type of Media? I've used Imation for CD's and Memorex for DVD's. Both run a little when they get wet.

The way I look at it, assuming the aftermarket ink gives decent results, if it ruins the printer every other set of cartridges then I'm still ahead of the game since the printer costs nearly as much as the OEM cartridges. If it dies due to the aftermarket ink, just buy another one.

By the way, Costco has the 6 cartridge set (1 of eacy type) pack for $60 in my local store. I was not able to locate the same product on the Costco site though.

I LOVE THIS PRINTER! I can't recommend it more.

 

[brucekatz]

Originally posted by: dc
hm, i'm thinking either this or the canon ip3000, anyone with any 1st hand experience/comparisons?

What do you want to know?

Ink for Epson r200 is quite expensive, and head clogs more than other brands. I talked to Epson tech support, they suggest once a week print one 3x5 full color picture to prevent clogging.

Ip 3000 is faster than r200, cheaper ink and last long time (if you bought generic ink, it is really really cheap.) Also, Ip 3000 has two paper tray, duplex print (save you some papers). Although the text is not as sharp (it is fine, but if you are picky).

Look at this way, if you print a lot of junk, get Ip 3000 and use cheap ink; if you want to direct print CD label, get R200. If you don't print CD, and use original ink, it is not much different between those two. (They are both fine print quality, you may have perference on color tone, it does not mean one is superior to the other.)

 

[funboy6942]

Well I dont know what he means by ink is cheaper for the other printer. I said before and I say again I just bought from megatoners 3 of EACH color, thats 18 cartridges total, for under $52 shipped.

I said before and I say again that this printer sips ink. I have done over 100 cds, 10 full paper size photos, countless web pages all set at factory normal settings and color just went slightly under half and black is just above 1/4. After replacing a Canon I450 for this one the canon would of required atleast 2 cart changes for that many prints. I couldnt be hapier and for the tray problem a quick cleaning like I described fixes it. For the price and it comes with all 6 ink carts new I couldnt reccomend a different printer to anyone else.

Granted some of you may use lables why would you need one that prints directly? How about the fact that I too use labels (not all of my disks are printable) and unlike labels I dont have to set anything up. Get the picture set up using epsons software and the printer does the rest. All you do is slap a label on, stick it on the tray, set up the pic within the circle using the included software, and print. What would take you forever to set up printing label pages you can do double printing right on the cd. Not only that they come out perfect every time. The tray goes in and sets up the same way every time unlike printing on the labels through the paper feeder. How many have we all messed up because the paper never feeds in the same way every time??? I cant tell you all how many I have thrown away because I set the damn thing up only for it to go through the printer a little off messing up my labels. I thrown away and wasted so much ink on messed up labels its not funny.

With this printer I havent messed up one label in the over 100 I have done. That in itself paid for this printer already saving me money, time, labels, and ink.

All I can tell you is you can lead a horse to water but you cant force it to drink. It is proven that epson is one of the best printers on the market. It is proven that if you dont care for name brand ink it can save you a butt load of cash. I and another person have linked you to 2 places to pick it up cheap. And I can tell you the money and time your gonna save printing right onto printable cd/dvd's or just slapping a label on a non printable will pay for this printer in no time at all.

My last 2 cents and bump from me. I got more labels to do

 

[Johnbear007]

Originally posted by: brucekatz

Originally posted by: dc
hm, i'm thinking either this or the canon ip3000, anyone with any 1st hand experience/comparisons?

What do you want to know?

Ink for Epson r200 is quite expensive, and head clogs more than other brands. I talked to Epson tech support, they suggest once a week print one 3x5 full color picture to prevent clogging.

Ip 3000 is faster than r200, cheaper ink and last long time (if you bought generic ink, it is really really cheap.) Also, Ip 3000 has two paper tray, duplex print (save you some papers). Although the text is not as sharp (it is fine, but if you are picky).

Look at this way, if you print a lot of junk, get Ip 3000 and use cheap ink; if you want to direct print CD label, get R200. If you don't print CD, and use original ink, it is not much different between those two. (They are both fine print quality, you may have perference on color tone, it does not mean one is superior to the other.)

Only the UK version of the ip3000 prints to DVD/CD

 

[thunderroller]

thanks

 

[Shippy]

I just got my Epson R200 in the mail yesterday and printed out 15 DVD labels. I must say that i am blown away by the quality. I will never again use labels (and I have over 200 still shrinkwrapped). I'm using Ritek 8x DVD-r Injet hub printable, and unless you turned the disc over you couldn't tell it was a copy. I wish I would have picked this printer up when it first came out.

 

[funboy6942]

Originally posted by: Shippy
I just got my Epson R200 in the mail yesterday and printed out 15 DVD labels. I must say that i am blown away by the quality. I will never again use labels (and I have over 200 still shrinkwrapped). I'm using Ritek 8x DVD-r Injet hub printable, and unless you turned the disc over you couldn't tell it was a copy. I wish I would have picked this printer up when it first came out.

Dont throw the labels away bro! I have a bunch left as well but I put them on non printable cd's and print on them that way. It still saves me a butt load of time from having to set the sheets up and it prints with no problems that way.

 

[markrb38]

I have this printer and love it. I get my ink from Swiftink.com even though it's a little more money then
the others listed here. I have had issues with other 3rd party ink and none with these guys.
I think there is an ongoing thread about Swiftink here and how much people like them over the competition.
I use TY 8X hub printable DVD's I got at rima.com for around 70 cents each shipped.

Mark

 

[Kaido]

I have an R200 and I love it. I ordered some Swift Inks last week and they should be here this week. I've been using stock Epson inks since I bought it last summer. For the cost of inks, you can almost buy a new printer. I talked to an Epson rep at work who said that the printers come with full ink tanks, but it uses about 15% of the inks the first time you use it because they put some chemical in it which helps with shipping. The regular inks don't have that in there. Also, the inks are dye-based. The inks in printers such as the C66 and C84 use the pigment-based Durabrite inks, which are waterproof. However, those only have four ink cartridges, while the R200 has six. Prints look amazing on both discs and photo paper. Text doesn't look very good on the R200, it's always a bit fuzzy not matter what settings and paper you use. I occasionlly use it for printing general stuff like web pages and homework, but mostly I use it for photos and discs.

I use Ritek printable discs for my CD media. I've also tried Taiyo Yuden but I do not think they look as professional as the Ritek discs do. Here is a photo comparison:

http://www.kaido.net/temp/printables.jpg

You can see the shiny border on the Ritek discs matches the commercial discs better than the Taiyo Yuden disc does. If you buy Ritek, the CD cake pack is good, and you should only get G04 or G05 discs if you get DVDs. I bought printable G03 discs and they're horrible. I have a lot of coasters from that cake stack. It's about $30 for 100 CDs and about $30 for 50 DVDs.

 

[jpk]

Forget the R200.....go to Costco and spend a few bucks more and get the R300 for $99. out the door. It's on sale right now.

 

[quest55720]

I got this printer a few weeks ago and have done almost 150 DVDs with it. I love it by far the best printer I have ever bought. I wanted to thank the person who started this thread.

 

[funboy6942]

Your very welcome. and make sure you buy ink from swiftink if you cannot afford originals. Best ink I have tested that is slightly better then the originals in fact and alot cheaper too.