Epson PictureMate

Don't buy one!

I have owned an Epson Picturemate digital photo printer for 6 months and have just put it on Ebay. The average cost of each picture you print is about £0.50, which is very high. The main reason is that about a quarter of the ink cartridges you will buy (£25 each from Staples, but probably cheaper elsewhere) will be rejected by the printer with the error "The ink absorbing pad in the cartridge has become saturated, the cartridge must be replaced" when FIRST REPLACEED NEW!

As usual, there is no reply from Epson on the 'Customer support' line, and when I finally get through on a telephone call, the line either goes dead after I describe the problem, or they (probably reading from a screen) keep repeating that 'when the ink absorbing pad is saturated, the cartridge must be replaced' - completely ignoring my words "the cartridge is new".

The only good points are that when the printer behaves itself it is very easy to use with a good user interface, and very good quality pictures.

The bottom line is don't buy one. It is simply not worth the money; customer service is appalling (seemingly the norm these days for large companies), and the build quality is very bad.

I have owned the Epson PictureMate digital photo printer for 6 months, and it provides good quality prints. The prints are the same quality as developers, so in this respect it is good.

BUT...

It eats ink. The cartridges are not cheap (approx. £20), and then there is the cost of the paper; so it is not that economical.

The paper won't go in the slot, and it will try for about 10 minutes, and it will not tell you there's a problem. You have to switch the thing off, which is not that big a problem, unless it continues to mis-feed.

If you are using it as a standalone device, you have to print out an index, as the photo's are not in the same order as the camera, which is stupid!

The print heads need cleaning and re-aligning all the time, which is a waste of ink and paper!

The interface is lame, and it tells you zero about what is actually happening and what options you have,

So, all in all it is a great idea, but offers poor execution!

Better luck next time!

While the Epson PictureMate digital photo printer prints beautiful pictures, it is not worth the cost. The print nozzles jam up constantly, leaving you with a bad print. You also have to buy the ink cartridge and paper together, and the ink never lasts as long as the paper. Customer service for Epson is terrible; they are always rude and do nothing to help. I had trouble with mine after three months, and they would not exchange the unit, saying that I would have to return it to them at my cost and pay to have it repaired. Now, after 11 months, I get a General Error message when turning the unit on. Their website suggests that I return it to one of their service centers for service, at my cost of course.

The Epson PictureMateis the greatest printer. I absolutely love it. The slow printing is the pits, but quality makes up for it. Being able to take a picture and email or make a card immediately etc is awesome. Look around for the best price and best price on refill packs.