Epson Artisan 730 Color Inkjet Wireless All-in-One (C11CB18201)
Product Description
From the Manufacturer
Artisan® 730 Photo All-in-One
Print | Copy | Scan | Ultra HD Photo | Wi-Fi
FEATURES
What the press is saying:
QUALITY
CD/DVD printingMake professional looking discs by printing right onto ink jet printable CDs/DVDs
SPEED
PRODUCTIVITY
†What is ISO ppm?
ISO ppm is based on the international standard for measuring print speeds. Black and color print speeds are determined in default, single-side mode, in accordance with ISO/IEC 24734. Black and color two-sided print speeds are determined in two-sided mode, in accordance with ISO/IEC 24734. Actual print times will vary based on system configuration, software and page complexity. See www.epson.com/printspeed for details, including complete ISO reports.
ECO FEATURES
- Estimated power consumption for one year is less than two dollars11
- Save up to 50% on paper with automatic, two-sided printing
- Save even more by printing multiple pages on a single sheet
- Supports printing on recycled paper
- ENERGY STAR® qualified
- Designed to be recycled12
- Epson America, Inc. is a SmartWaySM Transport Partner13
†ISO ppm is based on the international standard for measuring print speeds. Black and color print speeds are determined in default, single-side mode, in accordance with ISO/IEC 24734. Black and color two-sided print speeds are determined in two-sided mode, in accordance with ISO/IEC 24734. Actual print times will vary based on system configuration, software and page complexity. See www.epson.com/printspeed for details, including complete ISO reports.
- Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n certified; level of performance subject to the range of the router being used. Visit www.wi-fi.org/files/11nbasics_glossary.pdf for more information.
- See www.epson.com/connect regarding compatible devices and apps.
- Compared to ink jet, photo all-in-ones priced at $299 or less as of April 1, 2010, based on independent testing.
- Display permanence based on accelerated testing of prints displayed under glass in indoor display conditions; album permanence based on accelerated testing of prints in dark storage conditions. Actual print stability will vary according to media, printed image, display conditions, light intensity, temperature, humidity and atmospheric conditions. Epson does not guarantee the longevity of prints. For maximum print life, display all prints under glass or UV filter or properly store them.
- Color photo in Draft Mode on Premium Photo Paper Glossy measured from start of paper feed. Actual print times will vary based on system configuration, software, and page complexity. See www.epson.com/printspeed for details.
- Adapter may be required.
- Compared to photo all-in-ones priced at $300 or less as of 11/1/08 in testing by Newman-Stein, Inc.
- Epson provides phone support without charge for the life of the product. Telephone toll charges may apply.
- Actual savings and yields may vary.
- Some applications and/or functions may not be supported under Mac® OS X, like accessing memory cards when the all-in-one is networked.
- Calculated copying five sheets of A4-size color documents per day; one day defined as 8 hours with the power on and 16 hours with the power off. Power consumption will vary according to the customer’s product usage. Based on a 2010 national average electricity cost of 11.70 cents per kWh.
- See our website for convenient and reasonable recycling options at www.epson.com/recycle
- SmartWay is an innovative partnership of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that reduces greenhouse gases and other air pollutants and improves fuel efficiency.
Artisan inkjets deliver incredible performance, with the Artisan 730 achieving the World’s Fastest 4" x 6" photo print speeds. Get 4" x 6" photos in as fast as 10 seconds.5 Speed through everyday projects. The Artisan 730 gives the tools with a smart touch panel and 2.5" LCD. Print, scan, and access memory card slots10 from any room in the house with Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ n wireless networking¹ and built-in Ethernet networking. Or, use Epson Connect to print directly from your smartphone, iPad tablet and more.
Product Details
- Product Dimensions: 17.6 x 18 x 5.9 inches ; 21.2 pounds
- Shipping Weight: 27 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
- Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
- ASIN: B005HFJFKE
- Item model number: C11CB18201
Price : $124.98
You Save : $75.01 (38%)
List Price :
Technical Details
- Rated No1 in photo quality by consumers photographers
- World's Fastest 4 x 6 inch photo printer 10 seconds
- Epson Connect to print from mobile devices
- Touch panel with 2.5 inch LCD
Customer Reviews
I've had Epson printers for about 10 years. They can provide years of brilliant photo quality prints, but can also be painfully frustrating. Time will tell how this new printer fits on that continuum.
This thing is huge. It takes up almost twice as much real estate as my Brother 2270 laser. The duplexer hanging off the back adds about 4 inches to the depth.
It has lots of surprising bells and whistles. Whether you need all that is up to you. More on that later.
The wireless setup was the best I've seen. Turn it on, it detects the network. Enter your SSID right on the panel, and your done. After that, setup on both XP and W7 machines went without a hitch.
The color printing by Epson is excellent. It makes Dye Sub printers just about obsolete. These'Claria' inks are dye based, but are supposed to have great UV resistance. I'll leave a photo in the Sun and let you know in 20 years.
Initial tests on photo printing are astounding. I use Kirkland Glossy Photo paper, best photo print mode, high-speed turned off. I compared it with a print (same photo) from Winkflash on Fuji paper. It was as sharp, or sharper. The blacks are blacker with more pop. It could use a little more saturation in the yellow and magenta. But without any tweaking, the profile is pretty much dead on.
I haven't said anything bad yet. What's not to like?
The only negative specific to this printer so far is the paper tray. It seems flimsy and complex. There appears to be no way to manually feed paper, so card stock probably won't work. Also, if you want to run a couple of sheets of full size photo paper, you have to replace all the paper. Or, put in 1 more sheet than you need on top of your regular stock. Otherwise it will snag on the last one and double feed, with disastrous results.
My general beef with Epson is their notorious ink costs. Epson has spent a lot of time and money in courts trying to make sure you can only buy their ink cartridges, with limited success. Instead of selling at competitive prices, they would rather sue. To me that's like Ford saying you can only buy Ford gasoline.
If you do a lot of printing, you can spend a lot on ink. However, I've found inksupply.com to be a great source to ease that pain.
If you don't use the colors regularly, the head can clog. They don't make cleaning the print head easy for you. They could make it pop out for easy cleaning and replacement, if they wanted to. A basic head cleaning cycle wastes a lot of ink and doesn't always work. That's when you start looking for the 2 lb sledge. I'm hoping these dye based inks are less likely to clog due to their smaller particle size.
Now for all those features. They really designed this printer as 'family-friendly'. They don't seem to be marketing it that way, though.
Duplex: Pretty handy if you do a lot of plain text printing. It is cool the way it prints the top side, then slurps the page back in to do the other side.
Scanner: The scanner is very accurate, and I've always liked the EpsonScan software. It's powerful, yet simple. You can mess with the settings, or just pop it in and do a quick scan to your desktop.
Copier: Really impressive copies. I couldn't distinguish between a print and a copy of the print. Try copying something with colored tape or similar on the original. You'll think you can peel the tape off the copy!
SD card slot: Print without the computer. I would never want to do that, but you can.
Print from your smart phone: There's an app for that. Reviews on the Android app are mixed so far. I haven't tried it yet, but it will useful, I'm sure.
Now for the family stuff:
CD printing: That could come in handy if your distributing wedding photos or something. You can also print a jewel case for your bootleg REM CD.
Coloring Book: Strange thing to build into a printer, instead of the software. You can only do it from an SD card or the scanner. But it will be fun for the kiddies.
Lines and Graphs: Make your own notebook paper and graph paper. Why no built in 3 hole punch?
Greeting card: Again, it seems this would be a sofware feature, but it's firmware on the printer.
I'm sure there's more features too numerous to tell.
I can't give it 5 stars yet until we see how it fares over time. But the engineering and design seem solid (if a little weird as noted). This printer does a lot, and it does it extremely well.
I will post some photos, and if I can find a way to make this review even longer, I will at a later date.
Edit 10/22/11: I've done a couple more full size photo prints. I'm almost out of 2 colors. But ohhh the sweet reproduction of color. I did a collage of some old photos using the copier function. One photo has a red ink mark. Another has a pushpin hole. For a second I thought the copy had a hole in it! The red ink mark looks like someone just swiped a pen across it. Also, I did borderless 8.5 x 11 and there was no smearing at the edges. Amazing reproduction. I was also pleased at the speed increase over the old EpsonScan software. Everything worked flawlessly.
Gotta go buy some ink...
Advisory: I did not test every feature of this printer. I will update review when I have tested printing from an SD card and a USB drive. I do not have Smart Phone so will not be testing Airprint feature. Not sure if I will be testing the CD printing feature.
Pros:
Set-up was a piece of cake. I had to use the printer's interface to set up the wireless as I did not have the right size USB cable, but printer found my network without a problem. I have a Netgear router ; Dell Inspiron Laptop running Vista.) Entering the password was somewhat like texting on my mobile phone but I had no issues. I was printing within 30 minutes after I began opening the box.
Black text printing looks good. Very fast.
Scanner worked fine; no problem.
Photos were astounding! Printer uses 6 ink cartridges which probably accounts for the vivid colors. I printed 3 photos right after set-up using glossy photo paper. One photo was from a low-resolution file. All came out great.
Paper tray holds both regular paper ; photo paper. You don't have to change the paper out.
Cons:
Depending on your needs, this printer might be a bit bulky. It weighs more than 20 lbs. so will not fit where my other printer was. However, it is geared for light commercial usage such as a home business so bulk/wgt. is probably appropriate for that class.
Will not print at all if any one of the ink cartridges is empty. This, for me, is one of the serious drawbacks to Epson printers. My other Epson is the same way ; it's really inconvenient as I do a lot more text printing than color printing.
Unless you need high-quality color prints or other color materials like brochures, six ink cartridges is hard on the budget. But, if money is not a concern and you want to be able to print your photos when you want, then this printer is top-drawer.
Paper tray is light-weight plastic that feels flimsy. You have to be very careful when pulling it out or in.
No fax capability. Not a problem for me but might be for some.
I will update this review when I have had the printer a few more months and have tested the SD ; USB features.
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