Hi,

I'm thinking of investing on a cd/dvd printer. I was looking around and I saw the Epson RX595 and RX680 AiO printer. I was wondering if somebody could shed some light to my questions:

1. How good is the quality of the prints compared to HP or Canon cd/dvd AiO printers?
2. How about the ink usage? (i.e. How many cd/dvd prints can I make before I run out of ink?, How would the ink usage compare to my Epson CX4200?, etc.)
3. Normally, there is a print setting that you can adjust for print quality that can affect ink usage. How would the standard economy print (not draft) compare to the best print quality? (I have an Epson Stylus CX4200 AiO and I can barely see the difference between print quality between modes except for longer printing times, runs ink faster, and a bit sharper prints.)
4. The ink head is attached to the printer. How long is this ink head going to last me before it kills itself? (I used town a Canon printer, forgot the model. The ink head on that thing died in less than a year. I had to back to the store to have that ink head replaced again and again until I just switched to Epson printers.)

Thanks.

The Epson RX595 uses the same print engine as the R280-R380 printers. You can see my comparison with Canon HERE

Disc printing uses photo print settings, so ink consumption is relatively high. Using draft settings will result in pretty low quality discs. How much ink you use will depend on what you're printing, but again you should expect it to be similar to printing photos. Expect any of the Epsons and Canons to use similar amounts of ink.

The life of the print head will also depend on how you use it. Most heads are killed by lack of use and/or printing with clogged or empty heads and tanks.

Personally, I would not consider an HP product due to the relatively poor print quality and the many problems with software and drivers.

Disc printing is not a particularly demanding job for a printer. Photo printing is far more demanding. So, if disc printing is your primary intended use for a machine, go with whatever will be cheapest to buy and operate. If you want a full-featured workhorse printer/AIO, then the Canon models have a clear advantage with duplexing and dual paper feeds.

Thank you for your quick response CDan.

I'm now looking into getting the Epson RX680. It has two adjustable paper trays/built-in auto duplexing. It uses the claria 6 ink cartridge system as well and direct cd/dvd printing.

Can you give me an idea how many cds this thing can print to at document quality print vs photo quality print?

Can you also recommend me a good compatible ink system that works with this model and ships to or is available in canada? How would the cis prints compare to the genuine epson inks (i.e. quality, fade resistance and water resistance)?

Will the cis kill the print head?

I have no knowledge of CIS systems, but they are certainly available. I wouldn't expect them to have any impact at all on head life. www.alotofthings.com is as good a place as any for ink supplies, I don't know if they ship to CA, but you could still shop there. Compatible tanks are also available. As noted in the other thread, the Epson inks are in no way waterproof or smudge proof on discs, so I'd expect them to fade too if the disc is left out. On glossy surfaces they should be fine. Compatible inks should work just as well as Epson inks.

There really is no such thing as "document quality" disc printing. The Epson offers "regular" and "premium" media settings, I find that the regular setting is inadequate. How many discs you can get on a set of tanks will depend on what you're printing. Full face images will use a lot of ink, simple text and graphics will not. I'll make a wild guess that full-face images might empty a set of tanks after maybe 50 discs, but it could be less or more.

The Epson RX595 is one of the best printer for 100 bucks. The CD-DVD printing is WOW. Even in the regulare print mod. If you use the max DPI it will be smoother but will take a lot longer. as for the ink use im not to sure. i know i have printed alot to photos cds and web pages and this thing still has half the ink.

You can go wrong with this printer. one thing to keep in mindis the printers foot print very large. look at it in the store first.

just got the epsom RX 585,very nice printer but the software for printing on cd/dvds is shite.neato and surething are not supported yet anobby knows any good software that will work with this printer????

I just picked up a 680 and surething 5 works with it, so maybe there is an update at surething you might need.

no contacted surething no update yet ror the rx 585 is there any software that will work?

I just received my RX595 from Epson. My R340 has a ruined print head, and this is to replace it. I really liked the CISS for the R340. It sat for 2 weeks without printing, and the black ink clogged, so it's DOA. I have tried, distilled water, windex and wd40 as recommended by various sites, but it still doesn't print black. Anybody recommend a CISS for the RX595? Does it have an ink dump like the R340 and do you know how to mod it with an external tank if it does. The RX595 prints quite nicely so far and I am very pleased. I just ordered a second one in case this one has a break down. It only costs $96 dollars to buy it and have it delivered to my house from Epson. That is cheaper than WalMart and BestBuy. Wow.

Hi people, Is here somebody, who have experience whit ciss to epson RX 585?? I bought it, i think it is 5 months ago, and my printer have big problem whit it. printer write that cartridges are not compatible. Is here somebode who help me? Thanks. Peter