Hi,
I had a HP psc 720 for a long time (~2005 -> 2013) but finally decided to replace it as it had become increasingly problematic, refusing to recognize ink cartridges, issuing a 'scanner warning' error on startup and then refusing to print etc. It had become a struggle every time I wanted to print. But I figured that with a new printer the technology would have advanced by 8 years so all these silly problems should have been corrected. So I purchased an Epson SX235W expecting a much better user experience. But same old crap and to be honest it seems the Epson is significantly worse given that I have only had it a year and already I am seeing numerous defects:
(i) refuses to print in black and white when the colour cartridges are empty
(ii) reports a 'paper jam' and refuses to print when I try to use photo paper to print photos, did the engineers at Epson not realise that photo paper is slightly thicker ?
(iii) if you want high resolution scans the speed slows down to an unusable level. Searching the manual Epson do admit that scanning at high resolution will be 'slow', I would take this to mean 5mins/per photo at most but in fact it takes about 25minutes per photo at a high resolution and I am NOT exagerating here, so 4 hours for 10 photos ! Now you see why they use 'slow' in the manual rather than giving you an actual time because if they did it would become obvious that the machine is actually defective.
(iii) Epson didn't bother to hire a professional translator to translate the manual to English, so while it is laughably brief to begin with, the poor translation makes it nearly incomprehensible at times.
(iv) Photo printing quality is absolute crap
The SX235W was very cheap but I though that this was the strategy of all the manufacturers, get you locked in with the cheap hardware and then screw you on the consumables.
So, what I would like to know is, is this really the state of the art in inkjet pritning? Is it still basically buggy as crap despite being at least 20 years old ? Or am I just not buying the right brands ? Can anyone suggest a model which will wont have a bunch of crappy problems like this ? I am an electronic engineer by profession, so I am not some technophobe or simpleton who has not read the manual I am just looking for a decent printer which is actually able to perform the functions it advertises reliably, does such a machine exist ?
Thanks,
Usjes
I had a HP psc 720 for a long time (~2005 -> 2013) but finally decided to replace it as it had become increasingly problematic, refusing to recognize ink cartridges, issuing a 'scanner warning' error on startup and then refusing to print etc. It had become a struggle every time I wanted to print. But I figured that with a new printer the technology would have advanced by 8 years so all these silly problems should have been corrected. So I purchased an Epson SX235W expecting a much better user experience. But same old crap and to be honest it seems the Epson is significantly worse given that I have only had it a year and already I am seeing numerous defects:
(i) refuses to print in black and white when the colour cartridges are empty
(ii) reports a 'paper jam' and refuses to print when I try to use photo paper to print photos, did the engineers at Epson not realise that photo paper is slightly thicker ?
(iii) if you want high resolution scans the speed slows down to an unusable level. Searching the manual Epson do admit that scanning at high resolution will be 'slow', I would take this to mean 5mins/per photo at most but in fact it takes about 25minutes per photo at a high resolution and I am NOT exagerating here, so 4 hours for 10 photos ! Now you see why they use 'slow' in the manual rather than giving you an actual time because if they did it would become obvious that the machine is actually defective.
(iii) Epson didn't bother to hire a professional translator to translate the manual to English, so while it is laughably brief to begin with, the poor translation makes it nearly incomprehensible at times.
(iv) Photo printing quality is absolute crap
The SX235W was very cheap but I though that this was the strategy of all the manufacturers, get you locked in with the cheap hardware and then screw you on the consumables.
So, what I would like to know is, is this really the state of the art in inkjet pritning? Is it still basically buggy as crap despite being at least 20 years old ? Or am I just not buying the right brands ? Can anyone suggest a model which will wont have a bunch of crappy problems like this ? I am an electronic engineer by profession, so I am not some technophobe or simpleton who has not read the manual I am just looking for a decent printer which is actually able to perform the functions it advertises reliably, does such a machine exist ?
Thanks,
Usjes