An excellent buy if you are paying less than $29.99

I have been a long time EPSON owner and was crushed when my EPSON PHOTO 700 Refused to print after 2 years.... After doing some research I had settled on its successor the 2880 DPI Photo 780. At almost 200 bucks I was taken aback with price, almost all printers going for under 100 bucks these days! But I was seduced by the specs. And I have to admit that that the output was jaw dropping gorgeous! But all was not well with the the 780. It seemed to have a number of clogging problems.... And ink required newly fitted microchip ink carts costing almost 30.00 each for color and B&W.

While I was in the store looking for ink carts I came across a few ESPON 480's on clearance at Office Depot. $19.98 !!!! The price just sort of shouted out at me!!! I glanced in my wallet and I had just about 25.00 in there. I need to print out some flyers for a garage sale and I could only afford one or the other color for my 780. So I thought I would just pick up the 480 and use it til the carts ran out.....

The first thing I noticed about it was how quiet it was in comparison to the supposedly "state of the art: PHOTO 780. It goes about it's business in relative peace, with the exception of it loading its next piece of paper which can wake up the dead!

The second thing about it was how impressive the output is for such a humble little printer. I use Office Depot's heavy stock (69LB) Photo paper which I have found rivals output of both the thinner and pricier HP & EPSON stock. The colors are rich and vibrant and flesh tones are quite realistic. Output on ordinary paper is good.

CONS~ Two of the biggest cons are the DOG-SLOW output at highest resolution and the lack of a power switch.

Although output is very good -- at its highest setting you could print out a set of 24 prints (4 per pg) and literally have dinner and come back and there might be 2 pages to go. If you are thinking of using this printer for everyday photo printing be prepared to wait or at least have a copy of your favorite book nearby.

It seem almost unforgivable the EPSON not include an on/off switch in these days of energy awareness... I solved this problem by hooking it up to an under monitor power switch. I turn the printer on whenever I need to print something (which seems to run about every other day).

The software included is basic and servicable. No USB cable is provided so keep that in mind.

One last thing to say about this unit is the cost of carts for it! CHEAP!!! I have been using generics for years and was upset to learn that I couldn't use them in my other 780 printer (Damn those microchips!). I regularly buy ink carts for this printer for 2.50 blk and 4.25 color...... (sorry I can't stop smiling)...


Note: This has been replaced by the 40UX model which seems to bear a striking resemblence to the 777, and 780 bodies which might signal the end of cheap carts in this the EPSON 4 series.