If Ink Guzzling were an Olympic Sport....

This would be your champion hands down.

What can you get for $20 these days? The answer is quite simple - an Epson 480 SXU printer! Yes, at only $20 after rebate from Staples and you've got yourself a state of the art inkjet printer with software control. No more cumbersome switches, just PLUG and PLAY! So what are you waiting for? Come join the millions of satisfied Epson 480 SXU customers!

Being the cheapass that I was, I bit, hook, line and sinker. I have had previous experiences with Epson printers and had high regard for their products. This is one $20 product that will end up costing you much more than you anticipated.

When you buy an epson printer, be prepared to buy your own USB connection. Epson has never included cables with their printers BUT THEY SHOULD - especially for their low-end products. It's akin to selling someone a car and telling them to go "buy your own dang wheels". USB cables, btw, are obscenely priced - be prepared to pay at least $10 for the cable. In fact, the one that staples 'recommended' cost about $25.

The black/white print output is very good for such a printer - the lettering is crisp and there is no bleeding. It is better than the $300 epson inkjet I bought back in 1999. This is no doubt a quality black/white printer. With regards to color output, it was decent. It is definitely not a printer for photographs as I did experience problems with the color output - the printer did not translate the colors well. E.g. Light red would be more pinkish, light brown would look more like dark orange. Not exactly the kind of stuff that would inspire one to stick with digital photography.

This brings me to my primary problem with this printer - when you fork out that $20, you are buying an ink-guzzler. While it is well known that ink-jets printers are poor economizers of their fuel, the 480 SXU takes the cake as the worst offender that I've ever encountered. The first ink catridge I installed ran out of ink after about 30 pages of simple black/white text documents - as this was the first catridge the virgin printer was experiencing, I was understanding. :) However, the 2nd catridge only lasted about 150 pages. This is absolutely unacceptable b/c at 10 cents a page (the catridge costs about $15 a pop), it is an obscene price to pay. If you were printing hundreds of pages in one session, I believe the catridge would last longer. ( I define a session as the time your computer is switched on till the time it is turned off). The discrepancy in performance, I believe, is related to the fact that the printer "recharges" everytime it comes on (which IS everytime you turn on your computer b/c this printer has no switches and turns on in conjunction with your computer whether or not you intend to print). This 'recharging' uses up ink and it adds up - more significantly than past epson printers I've utilized.

This printer is turning out to be one leaky faucet that I'm in my right mind to replace rather than maintain!

UPDATE: I finally ditched this printer after 3 months of usage. I went out and bought a Brother HL-1440 Laser Printer. The printer is conclusively an expensive printer to use - laser printer output costs about 1-2 cents per page while this little 'cheap-o' costs anywhere from 6-10 cents per page (B&W). Be sure to look out for my review of the Brother laser.