Epson Stylus Photo R300 Inkjet Printer

Printing directly on CDs and DVDs is a snap.

The R300 also does a splendid job on standard text documents, envelopes, labels or transparencies--you can even print on CDs and DVDs in both 8cm and 12cm sizes. When you're in a hurry, churn out draft-quality sheets at 15 pages per minute, or take your time and achieve the ultimate perfection of 5,760 x 1,440 optimized dpi photos. (All reported speeds are maximums [fastest possible]. Actual speeds will vary.)

Wireless connectivity: Print directly from your digital camera or, using the separately sold Bluetooth adapter, from other Bluetooth-equipped devices

What's in the Box
Epson Stylus Photo R300 inkjet printer; one each of a black ink cartridge (T048120), cyan ink cartridge (T048220), light cyan ink cartridge (T048520), light magenta ink cartridge (T048620), magenta ink cartridge (T048320), and yellow ink cartridge (T048420); CD print tray; CD-ROM with documentation, printer drivers, and CD printing and imaging software for Windows and Macintosh; printer cable not included

I'll start out with the negatives. I have 4 criticisms about the printer:
1. The ink warning light comes on long before you are out of ink.
2. The default print settings appear to be designed around (dark) Adobe Gamma PC video
3. It is not designed to make borderless prints on 3rd party (Kodak) photo paper
4. While the CD printing produces gorgeous images, the ink will smear if it gets wet.

Each of these issues is addressed very easily:
1. Don't change the ink cartridges until you really run out.
2. Use the advanced options to tweak the gamma, brightness and contrast and save the settings. Pros will make their own curves anyway.
3. Epson paper is better than anything else, but if you have to use other paper, you can "fake" it to get borderless prints with a custom paper setting.
4. Don't get the CD's wet. Excepting my own tests, I've never had the slightest smear on a CD that I printed from the Epson. Odds are that it'll never get wet, so don't worry.

I should add that when I print on quality Epson and Kodak photo paper, the ink sets very well, so that it won't smear EVEN if it gets wet. I swear, my friend dropped one of my photo-prints in my fishtank and it looks just as good today as it did before it got wet.

I've left prints in the sun in the back of my car. The r300 ink hasn't faded (on Kodak and Epson photo paper). The prints that I had from my old Epson and HP printers are very faded. This ink is durable!

I've discovered that I can even get superior iron ons from crummy inkjet iron on paper when I use this printer. It's more than just the resolution. Where other inks tend to vaporize under the iron, producing fuzzy edges, the r300 images remain sharp.

I've tested the output on this thing every way from Sunday and I haven't found the flaw yet.

I tried the smart memory slots and I hooked up a USB zip drive and yes, it all works although I'll probably never use those features for more than contact sheets. The uncorrected prints were exceptionally good.

Basically, what I'm saying is that the printer is vastly superior to any other inkjet that I've used in my home or at work -- and I do graphic design for a living. I find it hard to believe that anyone who tries an r300 won't fall in love with it.


A Smart Buy   March 22, 2004
kkrome25 (California, USA)
51 out of 54 found this review helpful

The prints made by this printer really do look like what you'd get from a photo lab, and I dare say better if you know how to use Photoshop or any similar image editing program. What I see out of my monitor is exactly what I get out of the printer, and this is without doing any calibrating whatsoever. This printer has exceeded my expectations, especially when one looks at the $180.00 price tag. I like how it monitors the ink levels by counting each drop that comes out of each cartridge. And each cartridge can be replaced individually. It prints best on Epson premium glossy paper, but Hammermill and HP premium glossies work well too. This printer is a smart buy.


Excellent Machine   January 14, 2004
27 out of 27 found this review helpful

I knew there had to be something about this printer, considering every shop, both local and online, seemed to be out of stock. I started seeing them turning up on ebay at 20-30 dollars above retail. After I finally tracked one down and installed it, I can understand why. This is one beautiful machine. All of the pet peeves that I had from my older Epson (Stylus Photo 740) are gone. It doesn't take time to warm up, it has a small "footprint" on my desk, it is very quiet, it has 7 separate ink cartridges, you can click a box and print in black and white even when the color inks are dry, and the software is top-notch.

The CD/DVD printing works...well, MUCH MUCH better than I ever imagined. I couldn't believe I was holding a CD-R when I was done. The fleshtones on the photos that I printed were very realistic. I asked my wife to pick which was the photo and which was the printout and she couldn't tell. Used in tandem with my Perfection 2400 scanner, the R300 printer is a powerful tool.


Best Epson Printer so far   January 11, 2004
skizot (Orlando, FL)
29 out of 30 found this review helpful

I had purchase the Epson Photo 900 printer because I really wanted CD/DVD printer capabilities. I also wanted it to do a nice job of photo printing. Several weeks after purchasing the 900, I saw the R300 in action and kind of kicked myself for not doing some extra research before buying the 900. I finally sold the 900 on ebay and purchased the R300. Let me tell you this, every aspect of this printer is simply awesome. I am using this with MacOS X and it is simply flawless. The CD/DVD printing is 10 times better then the 900, the media reader works perfect, the computer-less printing works amazing, design of how you go about printing onto CD/DVD is superior over the 900 or any other product in this price range I have seen. The only exception to this printer would probably be the R300M which has the color preview monitor. BTW, the photo quality output of this printer is literally second to none. I have seen this compared against HP and Canon and it holds well against both!!!

If you are looking for an awesome all around printer at only $180, this is definitely the way to go!!!


Just eats ink but a good printer   July 25, 2004
T. Crevoiserat (Oceanside, CA)
19 out of 19 found this review helpful

This is absolutely a fantastic printer for digital pictures. The colors are crisp, it uses 6 different color inks which give it much broader range in the colors it can make. The DPI is outstanding and it is very easy to use. You can either put a memory card (or stick or whatever medium you use) or you can connect your camera directly to the printer via a USB 2.0 cable OR you can put the pictures on your computer first, edit them, and then print them from there (recommended way).
My only problem with it is that it goes through ink fast! Now that might just be how these printers are but man, the ink is expensive and you have 6 different colors to maintain (however since all of the inks are seperate, if you run out of black you can just replace the black ink, it eliminates a LOT of waste when you still might have some magenta or yellow or cyan left but out of black, before you'd have to just throw that away) and they're about $20 each, from what i've seen. You can probably print out about 50-60 pictures b4 you'd need more ink so bear that in mind. But remember, you only print out the pictures that you like so it's a good trade off.
Highly recommend this printer, but be ready to mortgage your house to buy some ink.