This is my first time buying a multifunction printer and scanner or buying a printer as cheap as this so I'm still quite wary of anything going wrong but so far I'm delighted with how it's performing. I'm also loving the convenience of having an all-in-one copier, printer and scanner.
I did have one problem after setting the machine up. At the time of setup I chose to connect it to my PC using a USB cable rather than using the Wifi, seeing as I have them both next to each other. When I tried testing, the printer worked perfectly and produced a very nice quality print. However, I then tried to import an image from the scanner but my PC couldn't communicate with the scanner even though the print function worked fine. The Epson Scan settings simply refused to find the scanner. However, it did offer me the option to use either USB or Wifi so I decided to try the Wifi option. I don't have Wifi on my PC but I used the setup function on the printer itself to input my modem's password and the printer then successfully connected with the modem. Then I ran the 'Epson Scan Settings' from the start menu again choosing the wifi option and my PC was then able to connect via the modem.
I don't normally print pictures very much but having tried printing one that had a good variation of different colours the print result, while not spectacular, was plenty good enough for me. One thing I do a lot of is storing digital copies of home documentation on PDF files so I use the scanner a lot. The image quality it produced was excellent and the scanner software is really good and offers plenty of options if you use the 'Professional' mode. The scanner is also extremely quiet in operation. I was actually a little worried at first whether it had actually done the scan until I saw it appear on screen.
The machine is now performing all it's functions exactly as it should and, for a printer of this price, I'm very pleased with all the results.
My only other major concern was the cost of ink replacement. In the past I have always had HP printers and used compatible ink cartridges which worked fine most of the time. Having read all the reviews about the cost of replacement ink cartridges I looked first to find the best option for this Epson XP312. I have managed to find there are lots of people on eBay selling refillable cartridges to fit this machine which you can repeatedly fill up using a syringe. There is also 100ml bottles of ink and cleaning fluid for cleaning the print heads which are dirt cheap so it's just a matter of being picky to find the best quality ink. I managed to find some see-through cartridges you can buy empty that also have chips which auto reset so when you refill them the printer will show the cartridge as full. You can then also fill a set of empty cartridges with cleaning fluid if you want to clean the print heads. I haven't tested them yet as I'm still on the initial setup cartridges that came with the machine so I'll update this review to let people know how that goes but if this method works out it will drastically cut down the cost of ink replacement.
So far I would say if you're on a tight budget and want a decent all-purpose machine that would do a job this isn't a bad choice.
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I used to like the printer, it does all you need. It is very good for printing directly from your iPad/iPhone. However after about 16 month (conveniently after the warranty expired) it started to produce weird results which couldn't be fixed with head cleaning/head alignment etc.I've attached a scan - the printing/copy functionality has become useless.Update: The normal head cleaning etc all did not really improve the result and the local computer dealer told me it is more expensive to have it cleaned by them than to buy a new one. So I tried something else, I took out all cartridges and used a hairdryer on full power to 'melt' the dried ink. There was a drastic improvement but It took two more normal head cleans after that but now the Nozzle check produces a perfect result!Updated rating from 1 star to 4
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