Heads Up: Don't buy the Epson 825 printer!!

I've bought and returned two of these in the past two weeks.

The first one couldn't be fed a business size envelope without jamming, so I returned it and ordered another.

The second one gave me a "Fatal Error" message as soon as I turned it on. After spending ten minutes on the phone with an Epson trouble shooting rep, he told me that I should send it back to them and they'd have a new one out to me in a couple weeks.

"Enough of my time has been wasted already!", I told him.

I returned it today and bought the one I've used faithfully for over a year: the Epson 820. Works fine as long as the operator doesn't pull paper out of it while it's trying to print!

[CJ]

It is funny that you are posting that. I just finished setting up a new network and the client bought a few of them. We experienced the same exact problems that you are describing. I thought it may be something that I did, but we found out the printers were faulty.

Yeah, the lady at Staples recommeneded the HP printers to me over the Epson. I didn't go with them, though, because she couldn't tell me specifically "why" they are better. Plus, the resolution wasn't as good as the Epson and I had just bought new ink ($40 or so) for the Epson 820 just before I broke it. The 820 also has just as good resolution as the 825. All the 825 adds is quiter, fastser printing plus the ability to print directly from a digital camera, bypassing the computer. I wouldn't be using that stuff anyway, since I send all my pictures through photoshop first.

What I've learned is that these things are easily broken. I paid an extra $9.00 and got the warranty extended for an additional year. That way, I've got two years to break it and it'll be replaced free of charge.