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I am thinking about purchasing one of these. I have seen them mentioned in Creating Keepsakes and everyone seems to love them. Does anyone own one? What's great about it or bad about it? I saw a package of 150 or 200
4x6 photo sheets w/ the ink for $39.99 and am wondering if the ink only lasts for that many pictures. Is it cheaper to just go to Walmert or Target to develop your pictures? Any input would be appreciated!
We have had ours for a couple of years now. I personally love it. Very easy to use. Sometimes we do get more pictures out of the one ink cartridge. I just plug my camera right into the printer and print. Good Luck with your decision. Jeannette
I also have one and love it. I'm still on my first ink cartridge and have printed about 100-150 pictures. As for cost vs. going elsewhere I don't know. What I do know is that I get my pictures printed. Back in the "olden days" of film, we had a tendency to take lots of pictures, but were bad about getting them developed. It was not uncommon to go to Walgreens with 10 rolls of film. On summer I had rolls of film developed and when we got them back I had two envelopes of Christmas pictures from 2 different years!
I have one and really like it. My mom has one and she DID like it but it just recently started acting up for her. She gets a "general error." She's basically done all she can with it (called tech support, etc.). I get this error occasionally with mine, but I just spray it out with canned air and it's good to go. The biggest thing to consider is that the ink can dry up if you don't use it very often. If you just plan to print one or two pictures every so often, then you might run into the problem of your ink clogging. BUT... if you will be printing quite a few pictures, then it is a pretty good printer. I've been able to print maybe 150-200 pictures per ink cartridge. The PictureMate printers that my mom and I have are the ones that were sold maybe three years ago for $199 that don't have the LCD screen. The newer models that are kind of square might have better 'dust protection' than the model that we have.
I do recommend using Snapfish.com for ordering prints online. I tested a few of the online photo places by uploading exactly the same photo and ordered a 4 x 6 print. I was really impressed with the color and quality AND it was only 12 cents.
Kimberly
__________________ "There is a very fine line between hobby and mental illness." -- Dave Barry
Also, I have an Epson C84 that uses the same DuraBrite ink... but I can print more than just 4 x 6 prints. I can print up to 8 x 10 borderless prints with this printer. So... just something else for you to consider. Do you want to be limited to only 4 x 6 with the PictureMate? I think the C84 (which is replaced by some other model by now) was about $100. Also with this printer, I don't have to replace all of the ink at one time. If I run out of cyan, I just replace that cartridge.
So... you might want to check into other photo printers as well.
Also.. different brand printers work better with certain digital cameras. For example, if you have a Canon digital camera, the Canon photo printers will give you better results. I have an Olympus digital camera and the Epson photo printers are recommended for this camera.
Kimberly
__________________ "There is a very fine line between hobby and mental illness." -- Dave Barry
First I have not found a personal printer that will print pictures cheaper than Walmart/Target or any of the photo processers. I have the Epson Picture Mate personal photo lab and really like it. I have had countless printers and photo printers. This one prints a quality picture with an exceptable price. I believe I pay $35 for a cartrige that should print 100 pictures. I believe my first on printed 130 or more. At 130 prints that equates to 27 cents per picture. This is more than at a photo processing place but I don't have to wait in line, I can go back and edit the picture if I don't like how it printed, I can print wallets, 4x6 and 4x6 borderless. A friend of mine uses a Kodak printer dock and hers average 63 cents per picture. Hope this helps.
I really like my Picture Mate Deluxe! You do get more than 100 prints per ink cartridge. Costco.com has the cheapest Epson refills (for the ink). I have also discovered that their Kirkland Signature 4x6 photo paper is a great buy. You can't tell the difference in the prints from what you pay someone else to develop and those you print yourself at home.
I bought a PictureMate Snap last month and I love it. The photos are fantastic, better than I've gotten from lab prints. It has an LCD screen and a lot of editing can be done with the printer itself. Just pop in your camera's memory card. It's a whole lot better than I expected for $119.99 (Amazon).
__________________ Debra ---artist * teacher * designer Say yes. Be generous. Speak up. Love more. Trust yourself. Slow down. ---Patti Digh
I have one and love it! A cartridge will print more than the recommended 100 photo's. The ink now comes in matt finish!! If you order ink online, you can get it cheaper and the cost will come down close to 0.21 per photo. I'm sure that Walmart or similiar stores are cheaper, but I can print what I want, when I want it. It's great for doing smaller size scrapbooks because if I want the wallet size photo, I can just print it!
I have one and love it! A cartridge will print more than the recommended 100 photo's. The ink now comes in matt finish!! If you order ink online, you can get it cheaper and the cost will come down close to 0.21 per photo. I'm sure that Walmart or similiar stores are cheaper, but I can print what I want, when I want it. It's great for doing smaller size scrapbooks because if I want the wallet size photo, I can just print it!
A question about this Epson... does it put a protective coating on the photo like you would get at a lab? I have an HP photo printer that prints good pictures, but any tiny bit of moisture makes the ink run. :( I have a kodak easy share printer and it puts a protective coating on the photos so they're protected against moisture.
I just love my Kodak printer, but if Epson has this coating, and I can save 40+ cents per picture, I think it would be worth me looking into!
There's a link there to request a print sample. They'll mail you a photo printed with the PictureMate. There's also a link with current rebates (for printers purchased from the Epson website).
Kimberly
__________________ "There is a very fine line between hobby and mental illness." -- Dave Barry
Check on eBay for refill packs. My mom and I have purchased twin packs for just under $40. Just make sure that you are getting Epson brand stuff. Some of those sellers are kind of sneaky about trying to sell a knock off.
Kimberly
__________________ "There is a very fine line between hobby and mental illness." -- Dave Barry
I have the picturemate deluxe that I purchased from Amazon.com I literally poured water over the picture to show my husband how well the picture stood up to abuse
Love my Picture Mate! I am also really bad about taking film to the lab and when I went digital, my photos just started to gather without being printed at all! I keep my Picture Mate downstairs in my stamping area; with my computer I have an Epson R340 which I use for larger photos. I love the ability of the Picture Mate to print the wallet sized, half-page sized...it makes scrapbooking easier because I don't HAVE to crop photos down too much, I can reduce the size instead!
I love my picturemate. I can transport it to friend's houses to share the printer. I have a fuji camera & can print from that camera or memory stick. My friends with other brand carmeras can use my printer.
My daughter took it to Whitewater (collage)for a while. Her friend had a koda carmera & printer and she could only print pictures from her camera while Brenda could print from her camera and others.
My printer is the older one. No picture screen. I miss that.
We run out of paper way before we run out of ink. We always get extra paper. The other brands of paper does not work well with my printer. I must use the papermate paper. It is thicker and does not jam the printer,. Maybe it was because I used cheap (thinner) koda paper and that is why the printer jamed?
Any maintenance issues? My mom has a Kodak printer and has had to replace the rollers because a line will print over her pictures. Anyone have any machine problems like that? I want to make sure that this purchase will last for years with a lot of use!
This thread really interested me because I am on my Third picture mate. Thank goodness I got the extra two year warranty. The first one worked the best and at first I got way more pictures than they claimed. After a while it started doing less and less. Did you know when you clean the heads it uses up ink? Well after a while I had to clean the heads so much it just used up ink and I hardly got any pics. I took it back and they sent it in to fix. Couldn't fix it so they replaced it. That one worked great for a while and then same thing. My third one is crap! I have only used on ink cartridge in it. It did ok. Tried a new cartridge just before Christmas and nothing but crappy colors and lines. Cleaned the heads and it used up an entire cartridge of ink. GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRR. . . I hate mine. I loved it when it worked.
I love mine. I've had it for about a year and wouldn't trade it for anything. It sits right on my work space since it is so tiny and puts out great quality prints. I had taken some pics of DD and someone actually thought they were professional because of the print job of the printer.
The picturemates don't last as long as others because they use pigment ink. The pigment ink is what makes the pics dry instantly and be super waterproof and long lasting, but it also clogs the print heads easily. My first one lasted almost 2 yrs and I still have the 2nd one. I love the print quality and the quick drying, and will keep replacing them because they're so inexpensive now and still worth it to me even if they don't last as long. Couple things I would do though-buy a warranty through Squaretrade.com. They are cheaper than the ones from the stores. Also here's a website that might help to make your picturemate last longer: http://www.inkjetreview.ca/Articles/...on_nozzles.htm
which reminds me-I need to print some pics. I try to print every week but that usually doesn't happen so it's been a couple of weeks now. Maybe more. eek.
Thanks for that link. I guess I will take it back again and try for a 4th. It is still under warranty cause I have rebought the two year warranty each time. I will try these tips and see if I can't keep the next one going. It has been frustrating because I want to love it.
I love my PM too! I have the Zoom which has the cd disk drive in it. So I can pop in my memory card (or a cd!) and print or save the pics to a cd all without using my computer. It doesn't say that it does this, but it's read a few of my dvds too.
Epson Picture Mate
