BigDaddy Loc: Pittsburgh, PA

No one would use 3rd party ink in one of these printers. The ink tanks are $60 for all four tanks and you can print A LOT, so ink is a non-issue as far as cost goes. Most ink usage for me has been in cleaning, as in deep cleaning the nozzles. Epson warns that deep cleaning uses a lot of ink, and that's putting in mildly.

There are other issues as well that I haven't gone into. For example, I've had trouble with the printer display screen not agreeing with the print software as far as paper size goes. I admit, my mind is not as clear as it once was as I age, but this thing is a nightmare. My wife does most of the printing around here, and 90% of the time she can't get the damn thing to print, and I have to come in and get it working again. I've been doing this stuff since the early 1980's starting with an Okidata ribbon printer, through numerous ink jet printers, and never has this much aggravation. As someone said, perhaps I got a lemon, but after reading lots of similar problems others have had with ink clogs and Epson, I've bought my first and last Epson printer.

Frank 2012 Loc: Olathe, Kansas

You can have it if you want to pay for the shipping. I will need to find a box and some of the bubble packing for protection. However, I am going to be delayed in doing it because I am scheduled for surgery Monday which is going to put me on the disabled/recovery list for about tree weeks. My email address is wickloh@gmail.com. If you are still interested in getting it three weeks from now send me an e-mail and I will check out the shipping cost with UPS. You might check to see if you can still get the epson ink for this Epson Stylus Photo R 1800. I have the software disk for this printer for your computer. It works good, but needs a real cleaning. I was told it would cost as much as a new printer to have it professionally cleaned.

one_eyed_pete Loc: Colonie NY

Generally speaking both Canon and Epson make excellent photo printers. Fundamentally they work differently and I've read horror stories about both. I have positive personal experience with Epson for over 30 years. I have periodically experienced nozzle clogs (typically after lengthy lack of use). My patience and persistence has been successful in clearing the clogs. I minimized my ink cost by using 3rd party cartridges and or refilling (clearing clogs does waste a good amount of ink). In some ways printers are like cars. If you let a car sit unused for a long time it is likely your gas will have soured and can clog your fuel line, filters and injectors requiring a large repair bill. Canon utilizes an automatic cleaning process to help avoid this problem. I recently purchased an Epson ET-8550 (dispite a user horror story I saw about 5 failed printers in 6 months). For a couple months it has been working perfectly and ink tank levels have barely dropped. Your mileage may vary.