I'm done with Epson Printers.

Looks like I'm not the only one who had problems with the Epson C84. Read this list of reviews from other customers. That pretty much sums it up. Looks like several other people also had problems with the C84 soon after the 1-year warrantee expired. I also know that it's not worth me lugging this thing across the bay to get fixed. I'd rather put the $$ into getting a new, better printer.

I've had 2 Epson printers over the past 5 years. The first one (a 900G model) lasted for four years. That's pretty good. This last one bit the dust after 14 months. I didn't even use it very often. I don't print photos very often - it consumes a lot of ink, so I'd rather take my digital prints to Costco or Ofoto to be printed. I also make a habit of printing plain text in draft mode to conserve black ink. None of this really made a difference in hindsight: I still went through at least 3 large black ink cartridges, and 2 of each color. Plus, I have 2 extra black ink cartridges that I installed, trying to get the printer to work again. That's 50 bucks down the drain. I also have a box with 3 new color cartridges. I wonder if I can exchange that somewhere?

So now, we're looking at getting this HP PhotoSmart 8450 Inkjet Printer. It looks like a good printer - all of the reviews are quite favorable. It's also a good price ($199 - almost 30% off), without being "cheap" (the Epson C84 was only $99 when I bought it last year, so perhaps you get what you pay for.) One of the features that we're excited about it that it has a an ethernet port so we can easily share it on our network (wireless, even). I know I just said that I don't often print digital photos, but it is cool that it has a little LCD screen, and slots for memory cards. I know that my Mom has been using her HP Printer for a while now, and she's been very happy with it. She prints a lot of photos on it, and I don't think she's had any problems.

Any opinions out there?