Epson TX810FW

The Epson TX810FW replaces the popular TX800FW and includes the AU$99 paper flipper that was sold separately for the TX800FW. The TX810FW is the best buy for an A4 colour printer to print quality colour photographs, to scan, to copy, and with a choice of a wireless or USB or wired network connection. Updated for Epson evil ink pad replacement problem.

The TX800FW printed single sided then you purchased an optional paper flipper to print double sided, making the TX800FW a touch expensive for printing double sided. The TX810FW has the paper flipper built in at no extra cost and makes the TX810FW the best buy for the combination of features in a printer that prints double sided.

Epson have cheap printers using four colours and slightly more expensive printers with six colours for better photographs. I recommend the six colour printers ahead of the four colour printers for photographs.

Epson uses separate cartridges for each colour which means you pay for only what you use, a big saving compared to printers from HP and a few other brands.

A wireless connection is extremely useful for direct printing from notebook computers and the TX810FW has 802.11g WiFi for fast connections to modern networks and 802.11b WiFi for connection to older networks. Update January 2011 The replacement Artisan 835 also has the faster 802.11n Wifi.

All modern Ethernet networks are Gigabit and, for some strange reason, almost all printers still connect using the ancient 100 Base-TX Ethernet. The TX810FX is no different. There is little difference when you have just one printer running on the network. You might see a difference if you had a laser printer churning out training manuals all day and tried to use the TX810FW to print hundreds of glossy manual covers.

Update January 2011

One of my TX800FWs ran into Epson evil. Epson makes their printers so reliable that the printers last too long. Epson is faces with limited sales because there are far more printer manufacturers than customers. Epson decided to make their printers deliberately fail after a limited amount of printing.

The series of printers including the TX800FW and TX810FW is called the Artisan series in America. The TX810FW is the Artisan 810. The Artisan 835 is a new model replacing the 810 and appears to have only one improvements, the wireless network connection can work at the faster 802.11n speed. Most of the printers in the series use the same technology with one change in the type of ink, from 4 colours to 6 colours, about half way up the range.

None of them run out of ink. Instead they count down the ink used then stop working before the ink is completely gone. The reason is the remaining ink stops the ink drying out in the print head.

You eventually get a message telling you the ink pad is full. When the printer starts printing, the printer first squirts some ink into a pad to clean the jets. At the end of printing the heads rest on the same pad to dry up any excess. Naturally the pad fills up and needs the occasional replacement. Here is where Epson becomes evil, evil as in Apple iPod battery planned obsolescence evil. You cannot replace the pad. Epson expects you will throw out the whole printer and buy a new one!

Epson provide a utility for some operating systems that resets the ink pad expiry count. There are other Web sites offering downloads of programs for various models. Some of the other sites look like cheap virus sites. Carefully check any download or use a disposable computer. The problem only goes away for a short time then the ink pad is really full and you cannot buy replacement pads. The Epson Australia Web site links to two spare parts suppliers and neither stocks the pads.

Photographs

You can print borderless prints up to A4 plus the regular photo sizes including 4"x6". You can print all the standard range of papers from matt to super glossy. These smaller printers handle flexible paper but not the hard card you might use for very large prints. Look at the Epson range of large printers from A3 up when you want really large exhibition prints or use an online print service when you need only the occasional very large print.

Scanner

The scanner scans at 4800 x 4800 dpi and can scan automatically or you can lift the lid for manual scanning. The automatic scanning is good for copying new documents. The manual scan is best for your precious old photographs and historic documents.

Fax

Fax is fast disappearing but there are situations where you have to either fax a document or scan then send the document. Faxing is quicker. The TX810FW includes the fax for no extra cost when compared to other printers with similar print quality and a scan/copy function.

Memory cards

There are slots on the front for printing from SD, CF, and Xd cards but it does not mention SDHC. On the back of the TX810FW, but not on the back of the TX800FW, is an add on label mentioning SDHC. The SDHC specification covers up to 32 GigaBytes. Some SDHC cameras and other devices handle only 16 GB or less. I did not test the TX810FW with a 32 GB card.

I do not print direct because I always check the images on a computer first, delete the junk, trim the images with annoying bits around the edges, rotate images the right way around, adjust colour biases, and clean out the less successful images where I have a lot for the same subject. printing from the computer makes more sense than printing direct from the card.

USB

Yes, there is a USB 2.0 connection and drivers for most operating systems. You might have to download some drivers from the Epson site. Look at the site first.

Purchase

Megabuy Epson printers at a great price with a reasonable delivery fee. Their total price delivered to Sydney is cheaper than the discount price in Sydney shops.