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Entered CNET Catalog: 08/14/2002
SKU: 0010343844186
Manufacturer: Epson
Manufacturer description
The EPSON Stylus Photo 960 is the successor to the popular EPSON Stylus Photo 890 and addresses the needs of a variety of customers including advanced amateur photographers, photography enthusiasts and hobbyists. With its amazing image quality and fast speeds, this printer is ideal for applications such as photo competitions, personal portfolios, professional illustrations and photographic presentations. The EPSON Stylus Photo 960 utilizes Epson's Advanced Micro Piezo ink jet technology, the world's first two-picoliter ink droplet and a superior six-color photo ink system for creating incredible detail, more accurate skin tones and an ultra-wide color range designed specifically for photography. This six-color system actually contains seven individual ink cartridges - two black cartridges for faster text printing - making this printer Epson's first dye-based model to use a separate ink cartridge system. The EPSON Stylus Photo 960 provides the best photo quality from inkjets today with its resolution up to 2880 x 1440 dpi, wide-gamut, dye-based inks and two-picoliter droplet size. This printer can not only produce "dotless" photo quality with smooth gradations for prints that are indistinguishable from traditional photos, but it can do it quickly as well. The EPSON Stylus Photo 960 offers fast photo printing speeds that are twice as fast as the previous model, allowing customers to print an 8" x 10" image in less than two minutes at 720 dpi on glossy and matte papers. Additionally, the printer can speed through black text with its twin black cartridges at up to 6 ppm. By utilizing innovations such as PRINT Image Matching technology and Epson's patented, true BorderFree photo printing technology, the EPSON Stylus Photo 960 is able to produce the best prints possible in a variety of frame-ready and portfolio-ready photo paper sizes. Customers can effortlessly print their photos on Epson's Borderless 4" x 6" and 5" x 7" photo papers without having to trim the borders or tear off perforations.Product summary
The good: Includes roll-paper attachment; 2,880x1,440dpi resolution; seven-color individual ink set.
The bad: Slow print speeds; color graphics look merely fair; expensive.
The bottom line: The 960 offers useful features for serious hobbyists, but its sluggish speed and mediocre output make it hard to recommend.
CNET editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 11/15/2002
 Inside the printer. |
 Individual ink tanks. |
The Stylus Photo 960 takes mere minutes to set up, thanks to a wealth of documentation. The illustrated Start Here poster covers basic installation for most Windows and Mac OSs. The printer connects to your PC via a USB or parallel port, but you'll need to supply your own cable. Beyond the basic installation poster, Epson includes a comprehensive, 94-page user guide, which covers printer basics, maintenance, and troubleshooting. The CD contains print drivers for Windows 98 and above, as well as Mac OS 8.6 through 10.x, and it features the Epson Printer Information Center, a program designed to help you use the 960. For example, the program includes an onscreen reference guide and printer animation on how to load and print on roll paper. The printer's front panel alerts you to basic problems such as paper jams and low ink levels in the cartridges, but you may need to refer to the user guides to decipher the code of flashing lights.
 Ports on back. |
 Epson Printer Information Center. |
Like most photo printers, the Stylus Photo 960 is larger than the typical inkjet. Space-conscious buyers, beware; fully extended, the printer measures 20.27 inches long by 26.10 inches wide by 11.77 inches high. It also features seven ink cartridges: two black, and one each of cyan, light cyan, magenta, light magenta, and yellow. And because the printer uses individual ink tanks, you have to replace only each color as it runs out, which could save you money in the long run. But there is a catch: although the printer uses two black ink cartridges, if one runs out, you must replace it before you can print again. It's not like having a second gas tank in your pickup truck.
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 Your own mini photo lab. |
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When it comes to software, Epson provides several handy utilities, along with a couple of not-so-useful trial versions. Epson's Film Factory software lets you collect and organize digital photos from scanners and digital cameras. You also get a PIM (Print Image Mapping) plug-in for Photoshop 6.0 and 7.0, as well as Photoshop Elements 1.0. The plug-in lets you retain PIM settings from JPEG images imported from a PIM-enabled digital camera such as the Sony Cyber Shot DSC-P30. Epson also offers a trial version of MonacoEZcolor, which provides color matching between your printer, scanner, and monitor, along with special offers on complete software bundles. You also get Applied Science Fiction plug-ins Digital ROC and Digital SHO for image correction. But these trial versions automatically place a watermark in your images, which you can't remove unless you buy a special code and register your plug-in.
 Excellent paper handling. |
 Epson Film Factory. |
Paper handling is one of the Stylus Photo 960's bright spots. You can use a number of photo paper types, from 4x6- and 5x7-inch snapshot sizes to custom rolls. You can also print on white-card stock or matte board that's up to 1.3mm thick. The printer handles the typical array of envelopes, transparencies, and iron-ons, as well as user-defined sheets, up to 8.5x44 inches. The input paper tray can hold as many as 100 sheets of plain paper, 10 envelopes, or one transparency.
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 Print samples. |
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We also found the Stylus Photo 960's cost per page a little high. It will run you 5.6 cents per page of text and 37 cents per color page, compared to 3.3 cents and 25 cents, respectively, for the Canon S830D.
| Inkjet printer text speed Pages per minute (longer bars indicate better performance) | ||||||||
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| Inkjet printer color photo speed Minutes to print a color photograph (shorter bars indicate better performance) | ||||||||
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Inkjet printer quality
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Epson backs the Stylus Photo 960 with its usual one-year limited warranty, standard for the industry. Toll-free phone support operates Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturdays from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. PT. Epson also offers a variety of automated and online help options via its Web site, such as driver downloads, FAQs, and e-mail support.
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 User Rating: 
8/10
Almost does it all.
Pros: DVD/CD Printing, photo printing, documents. Great quality.
Cons: A tad slow. But great quality output on all levels.
User Rating: 
9/10
Superb printer
Pros: After using this printer for a year, I can say that the reviewer is definitely wrong in almost every one of his conclusions. I purchased the printer directly from Epson. After 3 months I had just finished printing a CD and the printer jam light came on an
Cons: No card slots.
User Rating: 
2/10
I lost 200$
Pros: I bout refurbished Epson 960. Epson send to me broken printer!!! Service support work m-f only!!! . NO free toll!!! Problem: paper jam, blurry picture, lane in picture
Cons:
User Rating: 9/10
Amazing printer... thanks guys!
Pros: I bought it last week based on the many praises printed here. It is easily the best purchase I've made in awhile. I bought it refurbished from Epson for a good discount, but it came with all the contents listed and it works PERFECTLY. The setup was simple
Cons: Uhm, I haven't yet figured out how to control the auto-trim it does on some shots when going borderless; I'm sure it's only me. I don't fuss about lack of extras like a built in LCD screen or a card reader. The low price would take a hit with those featu
User Rating: 8/10
excellent for DVDs and covers
Pros: I use my Epson 960 for printing on DVDs and making covers for empty DVD cases. It works great. Multi-disc DVD cases usually require larger than 8.5x11 paper and the roll attachment makes this possible. I can print 8.5" by however long I need. Tip: whe
Cons:
User Rating: 
1/10
JUNK PIECE OF JUNK
Pros: lots of features.
Cons: Toner cartridge no fit. me try but no. printer break me call teck suport. teck suport is crap and they say insults from india. $9.95 for call teck suport after warentee is no more. toilet paper roll paper is junk and expensive. get the game boy printer it
User Rating: 
10/10
A great mini lab printer!
Pros: Photo lab quality results, especially on premium glossy and luster paper- nice printing options
Cons: Occasional dithering and smearing on back of photos when printing borderless prints
User Rating: 
7/10
Near Professional Results
Pros: Photos are very good quality. I have expected more tweaking a problems with the printer, but have been pleasantly surprised.
Cons: A little slow. Have had to clean the nozzles a couple times (to be expected).
User Rating: 1/10
Great pictures when tweaked!
Pros: Digital photos print beautifully on this printer, and text if fine too. The quality is comparable to film.
Cons: The drawback is that the default color management schemes all seem to produce dark pictures, both from scans from my Epson printer and from my Canon S40 camera. I have to manually brighten the photos and/or use fill flash processing in Adobe, and I have
User Rating: 9/10
Amature photographer....love it!!
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User Rating: 9/10
Awsome Printer
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