Epson Artisan 810 All in One Printer - an Oldie But a Goodie!

     This is a printer I'd purchased 10 years ago, it was discontinued shortly after I got it. However it just died like  2 weeks ago! I never had any major issues the entire time I used it, and I worked it hard! It was not a "Business" type printer, it was marketed as a home all in one printer, and if any one knows the difference between business and home printers, home printers are built for occasional use, meaning printing out maybe 30 pages of text or text plus graphics a month, and a couple pictures here and there.

      I worked this printer hard, and it stood tall! over the years I have printed out thousands of pictures, I do not go to a drug store, or use online sites to have my pictures printed out, I take them with my own DSLR camera, I edit them myself when needed, and I print them out at home! I am cheap/ frugal what ever you want to call it, and I refuse to pay anyone to print pictures out when I am perfectly capable of doing it in the comfort of my own home.

      I have had several printers before I got this one, some only printed out text and text/graphics and didn't print pictures or didn't scan, or make copies. I've had several different brands over the years before purchasing the Epson Artisan 810. And none of them were worth what I paid for them, they didn't print well, paper jam every 3rd to 4th page that printed out, they were just horrible pieces of equipment! I had a Lexmark (Can't recall the exact model now) about 12 years ago that constantly flashed paper jam and there was not even a tiny piece of paper in this machine! it was brand new used 3 times, never had a paper jam to start with, but it kept telling me there was one!

     I barely ever had a paper jam with my Epson, OEM ink at the time I purchased this printer was extremely expensive, it uses 6 individual ink cartridges , 5 color and 1 black when I first got the printer I was buying them at Staples, to get a complete  set it was costing me roughly $100 every 3-4 months. I had tried some generic ink from 1ink.com - never will do that again, that ink was just terrible. But one day as I was browsing Amazon I saw non OEM ink that was compatible with my printer, it was an 18 pack for about $16 , So I bought it, and fell in love! It lasted longer than the OEM ink. it printed out just as well if not better on both text and pictures! so once I used all those up - well I didn't even use them all, but I was getting low and didn't want to run out and be in the middle of printing, and have to go to a "Big Box Store" and spend way more on ink than I needed, so back to Amazon I went - from the same seller this time it was a double of the 18 pack (36 cartridges total) for roughly $12 so I jumped on it, figured if one 18 pack lasted me almost 2 years then a double would last even longer, and it did ! it out lasted my printer :)  that was roughly 3 years ago and I still have about 20 ink cartridges I never even opened! It did not use ink fast, it did not dry out either if I did go weeks without using it, wasn't often but there were times I had not printed anything for a month or two and it printed out everything perfectly.

      I was not easy on this printer, I have had it print out 400 advertisements/flyers in one day in colored ink! and did not have to change a single cartridge!  I've had it print out 30 to 40 photos one after another, and never had a single issue, most of my pictures I print out are 4x6. Never smeared, never had lines, the colors were top notch! I don't know how many people have visited my house, looking at the pictures I have hanging on my walls, of my children, family, friends, pets, and so on. and ask me time and time again " Where do you get your pictures printed out? they're so professional looking"  My response has always been " Thanks, I print them here at home" they didn't believe me! so I just showed them instead of trying to talk them into believe me - like they say pictures speak louder than words , right?! They were floored! and many asked if I could print out some they had on their Facebook pages so they could frame them. Which I did :)

It's a printer, it's a catch all, it's a cat bed 

     This printer was bulky and heavy and really that is the only downfall to it! It also printed words/graphics on special CD/DVD's made for that, however I never used that feature, It had a fax machine, again never used it, It also had the feature on top where you could put many sheets in for it to scan or copy several at a time, never used that either. I copied, printed and scanned with it. My cats have jumped on and off it hundreds of times, never hurt it, they would sleep on it, I always had to wipe their fur off the glass of the scanner before using it, since it would sneak down in there from them sleeping on top of it.

    I miss my Epson Artisan 810, I was so sad when I had to throw it out, it just wasn't fixable. I've searched for a replacement, but all I am finding are used and they want just as much if not more than what it cost brand new! That is just crazy. But if you can find an Epson Artisan 810 new or like new for under $150 (I paid roughly $200-300 for it 10 years ago) Snag it up! You won't be disappointed!

She loved watching the printer in action 

I've never had a single issue getting it on line, no matter how many times I changed internet providers, or had to have my network key changed, due to a malfunctioning internet modem/router.  It always connected to my network with ease. I've never had any issues getting my computers to recognize it either, I'd just go to Epson's website, and go get the drivers I needed for it , downloaded them, and was on my way.

As I am reading reviews about printers now, after purchasing one right after mine croaked, I'm finding a common factor they all have, and I think it explains why I hated the quality  of the Canon MX490(that I now have) when I printed out a picture, all of these new printers only use 3 colors and black, and the low end less expensive ones have the 3 colors all in one cartridge, so even though you technically may only of ran out of yellow ink, it's telling you your out of color and you have to replace it even if the other 2 colors are not actually empty. This is a huge down side and gets very expensive, Also using only 3 colors and black, is why I don't think these printers are printing very vibrant, great quality photos like my Epson Artisan 810 always did. Especially if your picture has a lot of different colors in it, it's not going to be true to the actual picture when only 3 colors are being used. I am unable to find any printer (Ink jet) that takes 6 individual inks like the Epson Artisan 810 did. I have even looked into the ECOtank from Epson which doesn't use cartridges but bottles of ink you use to refill the chambers, and even those are 3 color and  1 black, the only one I found that was 4 inks, was 3 colors, 1 black and 1 photo black - not sure how two blacks are going to help any though. 

Well that's about it, Just wanted to write about the best Printer I've owned! I know not many people can say they had the same printer for 10 years and it worked flawlessly up until the day it finally died. I thought about a funeral for it, but I didn't want people thinking I was a nut case :)