Epson Artisan 810 all-in-one printer *Review*

When it comes to technology, I admit that I am a geek. I love to test out the latest and greatest, especially when it comes to being able to print out things from my desktop computer, laptop, flash drive and even directly from my camera. Who doesn’t want that ease of that luxury?

Epson has a new printer out that is so easy to use and the quality of the results I saw with my own eyes is simply amazing! The premium Artisan 810 all-in-one printer (all in one, meaning: printer, scanner, copier and even fax) is designed to handle all creative projects, such as printing those photos that are ‘stuck’ in your memory card or computer. We can all relate to that, right? The photos that you print are vibrant, easy to print and you can even make fun projects with the kids such as coloring book pages, party invitations and so, so much more!

We had some desktop computer issues, so the set up wasn’t the easiest to accomplish. I had to format our computer due to some space issues, then once all was set up and ready to install the printer, we had some connectivity issues. This was resolved quite a bit later by having to call Epson’s technical help desk, which by the way, is great! They were able to walk us through all the connections, cables, software, and testing of the unit before we got off the phone. If there is something that I look for in a company, I have to say that customer service is the main thing that is looked for. Why buy a product when you can buy the product, believe in the company, have their full support and have them help you in your time of need? We had all of that with this review and I might add, I am very impressed with everything.

Now, on to some technical specs about this bad boy!

Unleash your creativity with the Artisan 810, a sleek, high-performance all-in-one that powers through Ultra Hi-Definition 4”x6” photos in as fast as 10 seconds. Designed to keep up with your busy life, the Automatic Document Feeder allows you to quickly copy, fax and scan stacks of documents, while automatic two-sided printing saves up to 50 percent of paper supplies. In addition, printing, scanning and accessing memory card slots from any room in the house is simple with built-in Wi-Fi and Ethernet networking. The smart 7.8-inch touch panel also allows you to view, edit and restore faded photos or print CDs and DVDs without a computer. Offering a range of innovative features for creating one-of-a-kind projects like coloring book pages and note paper using your own photos, as well as the option to print directly from an Apple iPhone, this versatile Artisan 810 is all you need for your everyday printing needs.

Artisan Innovation Smart 7.8” Touch Panel with Tilt and Easy-to-View 3.5” LCD

• Lights up only the buttons needed to bring controls to your fingertips
• Easily select, copy, enlarge, rotate, crop, restore, and print photos without a computer
• Preview automatically corrected photos before printing
• View photo slide shows and print your favorite photos without a computer

• I have to say that I love this feature. I love everything about this. The screen is big and bright enough to read easily, but not too big for this machine. The touch screen capability is amazing to me in so many ways! You don’t need to have this hooked up to a computer to touch the screen and video the images you want to print. If you have a camera that takes an SD card, you simply insert the card in the slot on the machine, options pop up and Walah – tons of things you can do like print, crop and edit your pictures.

One of a Kind Projects – No Computer Required

• Turn photos or drawings into one-of-a-kind coloring book pages and personalized note paper
• Create and print photo layouts with various size photos on a single sheet
• Print college-ruled, wide-ruled and graph school paper
• Print directly onto ink jet printable CDs and DVDs

• We do a lot of art projects. Knowing I can create coloring sheets for the kids straight from a scanned image or a picture from my memory card is so cool and not time consuming at all. Fun, is a better word for this. There are, literally, so many things you can accomplish without even having a computer hooked up. There are so many times that, with our old printer, we would have to reboot just to get the printer to recognize our printer. This printer lets you do so many things straight from the printer device, itself.

• Another thing I liked about this printer is that you are able to print directly on a CD or DVD. You might ask ‘what?’, but if you are like me, you may send CD’s or DVD’s of images or videos to loved ones. Now you can put the CD or DVD rght through the printer and print ON printable CD’s and DVD’s, so no more buying the sticky labels that rarely come out straight on the labels and putting on CD’s and DVD’s. This is pretty much an all in one step and in my opinion, is less cost related.

Quality Beyond Compare – Six-Color Ultra Hi-Definition Claria ink

• Photo quality of Artisan all-in-ones is preferred 3-to-1 vs. the competition
• Delivers exceptionally smooth gradations, accurate skin tones, and sharp, grain-free photos that are smudge, scratch, water, and fade resistant
• Delivers photos that last up to four times longer than photo lab prints; prints resist fading up to 200 years in album storage and 98 years under glass
• Produces crisp, clear text for everyday printing needs

• While I cannot vouch for the ‘lasting 200 years from fading’, but I can vouch for the crisp, clear & vibrant images that this printer creates. Who wants to print a picture, place it in front of a fan to dry so that you won’t smudge it before you put in a frame or gift? If you have kids, you are always sharing or gifting pictures of them for family and friends. The quality and vibrancy of the images truly is beautiful.

• I am not too fond of having 6 separate ink cartridges. I am used to an ‘all in one’ or two separate ink cartridges, however having separate cartridges for your colors has been said to be able to extend the life of your ink. Since you are using separate colors, basically, the cartridge isn’t having to use all of the colors and ‘mix’ to make your main colors.

How much is the ink?

• You can get each in high capacity for around $17.00 each, give or take a dollar or two. (6 needed, for a total of around $100.00, or you can buy the Epson Artisan 810 All-in-One Printer Multi-Pack Color Ink Cartridges in a full set of colors for a lot cheaper)
• You can get the standard capacity for around $11.00 each (6 needed, for a total of around $66.00, or you can buy the Epson Artisan 810 All-in-One Printer Multi-Pack Color Ink Cartridges in a full set of colors for a lot cheaper)

To me, this is a bit on the high end, however, you do get long lasting and nice quality pictures and copies. You can probably find these for cheaper prices online, if you do searches, but these are to give you a ballpark for refill quotes.

Standalone Photo Printing Features

• Prints photos without a computer – compatible with all popular memory card types, including SD/SDHC™, xD-Picture
• Card, MemoryStick, CompactFlash, and MultiMediaCard
• Built-in Auto Photo Correction automatically evaluates and corrects digital photos while advanced face detection distinguishes people from scenery
• Automatically removes red eye
• Restores color to old, faded photos
• Offers a full range of photo layouts and paper sizes, plus options including, print-by-date, custom picture packages, multiple photos on an index sheet, passport photos, and photo greeting cards
• View and print still frames from video taken with a digital camera

• Again, I like that you don’t have to have a computer/device plugged in, you can print from memory cards, flash cards, pretty much anything. You are able to edit and print pictures from red eye to faded images. It is so easy to scan any image and restore it straight from the unit itself.

Printing From an iPhone and Charging Mobile Devices

• Prints outstanding images directly from digital cameras, mobile phones and USB Flash drives with PictBridge
• Prints several applications wirelessly from an iPhone, including business documents, PDF files, amazing photos, photo calendars, and more through ePrint and Print and Share applications available on the iTunes App store
• Easily charge a cell phone or MP3 player using the front USB port without tying up an additional power outlet

Artisan Performance: Ultra fast Print Speeds

• Maximum print and copy speeds of 38 ppm for black and color
• Laser-quality print speeds of 9.5 ppm black and 9.1 ppm color
• Prints 4”x6” photos in as fast as 10 seconds and an 8”x10” in as fast as 50 seconds

• I do have a home office and I do a lot of copies, prints for hubby and office work that I need to have scanned, printed or faxed. It is nice to have a machine that can finally keep up with me.

Shared Use at Home

• Wi-Fi and Ethernet 10/100 networking built-in (Wireless 802.11b/g; compatible with 802.11n)
• Bluetooth photo printing with optional adapter

• We have our main desktop, my main laptop and my Mini that I travel with. We have and rely a lot on our router in our home. Again here is where technology simply amazes me daily. I love knowing I can be in my office and have the ability to print from another room, or from our desktop computer.

Paper Handling Flexibility

• Automatic two-sided printing with built-in duplexer
• Two auto-selecting paper trays – adjustable tray for up to 8.5”x14” media; dedicated photo tray for 4”x6” and 5”x7” media
• Prints borderless in popular sizes – 4”x6,” 5”x7,” 8”x10,” letter, 16:9 wide
• 30-page auto document feeder for copying, scanning or faxing stacks of paper effortlessly

• This is able to print 2-sided? You bet! I print a lot, so this is nice knowing that this printer has the ability to print double sided. I love that this holds so much. I want to say the most that our old printer held, in front, was about 10 pages… on a good day.

Full-Featured Faxing

• Sends and receives high-speed (33.6 Kbps fax) color and black and white faxes, including photos
• Stores speed dial numbers (up to 60 numbers) and receives up to 180 pages in memory

High-Quality Scanning and Copying

• 4800 dpi resolution and 48-bit color scanning for high-quality scans of images and documents
• Offers standalone (one-touch) color and black and white copying
  o Copies up to 99 pages – no computer required
  o Reduces and enlarges copies (25 to 400 percent)
  o Scans to a computer, memory card, USB flash drive, and directly into PDF format
  o Photo reprints and enlargements
  o Fit-to-Page feature adjusts a variety of documents and photos to preferred media size

Eco-Features

• Estimated power consumption for one year is less than two dollars
• Save up to 50 percent on paper with automatic, two-sided printing
• Save even more by printing multiple pages on a single sheet
• PC Fax eliminates printing before sending a fax
• Supports printing on recycled paper
• Designed to be recycled
• ENERGY STAR qualified
• RoHS compliant

For more information on Epson’s environmental programs, go to www.epson.com/environment

Artisan Technology, Software and Support Smart Ink System

• Uses convenient individual ink cartridges – replace only the color needed
• Standard and High-Capacity black / color ink cartridges accommodate various printing needs at an affordable price
• Extends black ink printing – innovative technology conveniently combines color inks to produce black when black ink is low

• I said this above, but I do have to say that this is a nice feature. It can be costly up front, but in the long run, it is nice knowing that we can replace just what color is running low.

Epson Exclusive MicroPiezo® Printing Technology

• Advanced MicroPiezo® print head technology ensures sharp, accurate ink placement, while optimizing print speeds
• With “smart” nozzles, this powerful technology delivers droplets in as many as five sizes, some as small as 1.5 picoliters, ensuring remarkable precision, sharper detail and outstanding image quality – every print, every time
• Epson’s advanced MicroPiezo technology used in the Artisan series is the same technology featured in wide format printers used by professional photographers

Included Software

• Create greeting cards, invitations, photo calendars, photo books, and more with ArcSoft
• Print Creations™ software
• Use Presto!® PageManager® to combine various documents and photos into digital files for editing and sharing; convert printed documents into text for editing with the OCR (Optical Character Recognition) feature
• Design and print custom CDs and DVDs with easy-to-use Epson Print CD software
• Adjust Web pages to fit a printed page automatically with Web-to-Page utility
• PC Fax software included

Protection You Can Count On – the Epson Preferred Program

• Two-year limited warranty and two years of toll-free customer support with product registration
• Compared to competitive offerings, Epson’s special program offers an additional year of warranty and expanded toll-free support, plus quick and convenient product exchange
• Registered Artisan owners also receive free lifetime phone support with no additional charges beyond picking up the phone for help, even beyond the warranty period
• Registered Artisan owners also receive access to special offers, projects and resources

Sleek, Compact Design

• Enjoy the best of both worlds: a sleek and compact design coupled with powerful performance
• 18.3” x 18” x 7.8” (W x D x H); 24.9 lbs.

• I did notice that this printer does weigh more than our old printer and is a bit bigger in size, but it does make up for it with the additional features that it has. It is a very nice looking printer, that’s for sure! You won’t have to hide it, you may even want to show it off.

Windows and Mac Compatibility

• Windows 7, Windows®: Vista™, Windows XP, Windows XP Professional x64, Windows 2000
• Macintosh®: OS X 10.3.9, 10.4.11, 10.5.x, and 10.6x

Multipurpose Paper Options

• Ultra Premium Photo Paper Glossy, Premium Photo Paper Glossy, Photo Paper Glossy, Ultra Premium Photo Paper
• Luster, Premium Photo Paper Semi-Gloss, Ultra Premium Presentation Paper Matte, Premium Presentation
• Paper Matte, Presentation Paper Matte, Epson Bright White Paper, Matte Scrapbook Paper, Iron-on Cool
• Peel Transfer, Photo Quality Self Adhesive Sheets, Photo Sticker Refill, and plain paper
• Letter, executive, legal, A4, A5, A6, B5, envelopes, user defined 3.5”x3.5” up to 8.5”x44,” and half-letter;
• BorderFree® photos in 4”x6”, 5”x7”, 8”x10”, letter size, 16:9 wide

Availability

• Available through major computer, office and electronic superstores, a variety of retail stores nationwide, mail order, PC manufacturers, the Internet, and Epson’s own retail site, www.epsonstore.com

Estimated Retail Price

• $299.99 estimated street price

Overall, my experience with the Epson Artisan 810 all-in-one printer has been a nice experience. Very nice, actually. It is sleek, does a great (and fast!) job, and for the price, it is well worth it.

For more information, please visit www.epsonstore.com

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