Customer Reviews
Disappointed 
2008-04-22
After reading many positive reviews, I am disappointed about the quality of this printer. After printing only (5) 8 X 10 photos, I experienced lines across the photos, which I understand is a result of clogged print nozzles. Also - 2 of the ink cartridges are already so low that I had to order new ones and I've only had this printer for a week. I bought the printer from Amazon because it was the best price I could find. If it wasn't such a hassle to pack it up and take it to UPS, I'd probably return it. I also have an all-in-one HP printer that didn't cost much, but the quality is much better than the Epson 1400.
Great Printer 
2008-03-08
Printer arrived fast from Amazon and was very easy to set up with my iMac and on the network. Great quality prints, fits nicely on the cabinet I have (IKEA PS Locker) and prints at a decent speed. My only complaint is color. I really can't stand black or silver printers. Why is Kodak the only one making white ones? Epson needs to start making white printers to appeal to all of us Mac users. I wish my printer matched everything else in my office that is shiny white. :( But that's my only complaint.
great printer 
2008-02-22
I'm using Epson's "Ultra Premium Presentation Paper Matte" paper, images look great. I also used the "Ultra Premium Photo Paper Glossy" paper for smaller sized images. The colors are vibrant, but perhaps a bit too red and slightly over-saturated. I'm printing with Photoshop's default color profile and not Epson's, since Photoshop's starting point is more accurate (Epson's profile is too green). I've only had to tweak on the glossy prints, the archival matte surface paper is accurate from print number one.
Big win! 2008-02-20
I've had this printer for just a week and I'm amazed at the results. It was easy to set up and is easy to use. I took a look at "Real World Color Management," by Fraser, Murphy, and Bunting, before I started using the printer. It's a helpful book, even if you just skim a few of the early chapters. It helped me to understand the printer's advanced options and to get the results I wanted. You could just use the printer with the out of the box settings, and I suppose it would produce really nice results. I'm an artist, though, and I want to be in control. That's why I bought this printer, I was frustrated with unpredictable results from labs.
A note on ink:
I have been printing on glossy paper. At $18.99 per cartridge for ink (Epson website price, with free overnight shipping if you order at least three cartridges at a time), so far,
- my 8.5" x 11" prints are roughly $1.20 - $1.80 for ink
- my 13" x 19" are about $3.50 - $5.50 for ink
(Printing in "Photo" mode puts your costs at the low end of the ranges. Printing in "Photo RPM" mode costs about 40% - 50% more and puts you at the high end of the price ranges. I usually cannot distinguish between "Photo" and "Photo RPM" modes, so I almost always print in "Photo" mode. Occasionally, I notice banding or tones which do not appear smooth on very close inspection, then I switch to "Photo RPM.")
Warning: I believe ink use varies considerably with paper type. less ink for glossy, more ink for semi-gloss, and still more ink for matte and art paper. I'm not sure though.
I am printing on Inkpress Glossy paper (equivalent in weight, sheen, and brightness to Epson Premium Glossy Photo Paper) which I ordered from B&H Photo. It's less expensive than Epson paper and looks spectacular.
In fact, I recently gave two 8x10's to a friend as a gift. She thought they looked wonderful and was astonished to learn that they were inkjet prints. She thought they must have been "professionally" printed at a lab. I was pretty flattered (credit to the printer, too, of course...) She also happens to be an artist and professional web designer, so she's got a fine eye.
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Update:
I've used the printer some more. I'm still very pleased. However, I've looked closer at the Inkpress paper I mentioned above. From a distance, it looks great, but closer up, it has many problems. Almost every sheet is covered with fine scratches, and about half the sheets have at least one major defect (some as large as 1/8" in diameter) where the gloss coating did not cover the paper. The defects are like little potholes on the surface. At first, I thought I had caused these problems through poor handling. Epson Premium Photo Paper Glossy has an absolutely flawless surface, though, and I have handled the prints the same way. I don't recommend the Inkpress paper.
Love It! 2008-02-10
I also just purchased this printer for 12 x 12 scrapbooking. For over 12 years, I have had nothing but HP Printers. Since there was not another wide-format printer that had the individual ink cartridges close to this price, I went for the Epson. It produces stunning results - I am using matte and glossy and both are outstanding. I am sticking with my HP for every day use and 4 x 6 prints, but you cannot beat the quality of prints from the Epson 1400.
Epson Printer # 2 2008-07-23
This is my 2nd Epson printer in 7 years. My first printer was the Epson Stylus Photo 1280 (bought in 2001) and after 7 years of flawless service,..it finally crashed and it could not be resurrected. Nothing last forever, but the Epson 1280 paid for itself in print sales many times over. I have 25 plus years as a professional photographer and the Epson 1280 was a dream come true back in 2001. (Anyone who remembers darkroom /color enlarger film based printing should know what I am talking about).
The next printer I bought (in June 08) was the Epson Stylus Photo 1400. This printer is very similar to the 1280 and the print quality is as good if not better than the 1280. The 1400 print quality (color reproduction)is definitley top notch but the only sacrifice is ink consumption. Since I sell my prints and get 10 times what they cost me to print, well,...I really don't care too much what the ink cost. I can print an 8.5 x 11 for $3.00 each and sell that print for $30.00. To me, this is the closest legal way to print your own "money" but you can only do this with a high quality professional grade printer like the Epson 1280 or 1400.
I would recommend this printer to any professional photogrtapher or anyone who demands exceptional print quality good enough for resale.
Have a great day.
$$$Good quality (at a cost)$$$ 2008-07-09
I use this printer at work multiple times a day every day. Great quality, but I am ALWAYS changing cartridges. In the past I have had quite a bit of experience with other Epson printers and they all seem to use ALOT of ink. An epson representative once told me that with a single cartridge of black ink you should be able to get about 200 note cards worth of printing (black text). Not too good. I was printing onto 3x5 note cards. The thing I have noticed with Epson printers is that when the color is empty it will not allow you to print with only the black cartridge. You must spend the money on color cartridges even if you are only printing black text. Even more annoying than this is that you cannot refill Epson cartridges. Somehow the printer knows and registers the cartridge as empty and will not print. The software even goes as far as to not have any settings to allow you to use less ink (by lowering the print quality). Every single thing you print is at full quality. If you have the money to spend this is a good printer. We have an on standing order with our purchasing department for ink, that's how bad this thirsty beast is.
Great Prints but Lotsa Ink 2008-07-07
My old Epson Stylus Photo 200 died just when I needed to print flyers for the sale of our home. I ordered the 1400 direct from Epson because I needed a printer fast and it was cheaper than most new Epson printers.
Epson shipped the same day, but 2 day shipping instead of overnight, which I paid for. They quickly credited me with the entire shipping cost when I complained, so shipping was free.
Pros:
Setup was easy, right out of the box, on my Windows XP system. Print quality was excellent on the 8x10 test print of a photo of Monument Valley. My flyers are beautiful.
Ink easy and fast to get. Best price from Epson: buy 3 and get free overnight shipping. I was actually surprised to find, when I searched the Internet, that Epson has the cheapest prices, by quite a lot, on their ink. They ship the same day, if the order is in before 1:00 PM Pacific time.
Cons:
Ink use, especially LM, LC, and Y. Ink cartridges are smaller than R300.
(When printer didn't come overnight I went to WalMart and bought a HP D1520 for $36. I use it for all routine printing, and reserve the Photo 1400 for quality color)
Ink Use Tip: I noticed that the printer seemed to do a recharge cycle whenever I turn it on. So I have tried to leave the printer on all the time. I am not sure about this, but it seems to use less ink this way. I just print a nozzle check every few days if I have not used the printer.
Size: Its big, but I think any wide format printer is going to necessarily be big.
USB 2 Cable not supplied:
I went to Radio Shack and bought one, no problem, and of course found two more in a drawer after I bought a new one.
Summary:
All in all, I am satisfied. I will try to update this review after more extensive usage. The ink usage is expensive, but we are at the mercy of the manufacturer and if you want and need hight quality color you will have to pay the price in ink and paper. My advice, based on sad experience, is use Epson inks, not compatibles, and Epson paper when you need the highest quality.
Experiment with the driver settings, based on your own needs. Print only the quality you need. Use the black ink only/grayscale only setting, if printing text,etc only as in letters, etc.
Hang On A Second Before You Buy..... 
2008-07-07
I bought this printer to replace an Espon 1270 that I recently lost when my house went up in flames. This seemed to be the logical choice. Same basic functions. Same basic cost. Nope, not even close. When it arrived it was 50% bigger in size (almost 2ft wide) and uses 6 print cartridges instead of 2. The 3 things I really can't stand is that it feeds multiple sheets of paper no matter what I do. The online help says load fewer sheets, so as long as there is only ONE sheet in the feeder, it works fine. The second thing that really fries my schnitzel, is that I tried User Support 2 weeks ago and they still haven't responded. The third, is that when they say Window XP or Vista, that's exactly what they mean. The printer can't be used by any older software. My fault for not reading closer, but not all of my computers can run XP. So Epson, what happened? You used to make a great product. Talk to me, you are about to lose a loyal customer FOREVER. If I would have bought a $49 printer (any brand) I would have been much happier.
Good quality prints, driver interface somewhat convoluted 2008-05-08
This printer replaced a four-color photo printer which gave
less than acceptable prints. In short, the photos printed
looked nothing like what was seen on the monitor.
The Epson Stylus Photo 1400 solved this problem, but it took a
while to figure out how to get the prints to match the monitor
output. The first attempt, which was to install and use the paper
manufacturer's profile, failed. Apparently other users had this
problem as well.
Epson's printer driver provides a number of options for photo printing,
but it's not always clear which ones should be used and what the
result will be prior to using ink and paper to find out. With Ilford
5x7 Premium Glossy, these options produced the desired result:
- Epson Ultra Premium Glossy paper
- Best Photo
- Photo RPM
- No Edge Smoothing
- No High Speed Printing
- Gamma 1.8
Hopefully your results will be as good with less effort spent
twiddling the driver options.
