Epson AcuLaser C1100

Once I installed extra memory, this was a great printer. I invested in the duplex unit - all going fine but Epson have you all tied up - one thing goes wrong and you end up needing to spend the cost of a new printer to get it fixed. Lifespan of consumables, apart from toner, is poor. Drum unit didn't last long.

It is very temperamental and stops for breath every few minutes.

I wont be rushing to get another Epson.

Until now (3 years or so) I thought this was a good machine for my home based business.

BUT! The latest toner K ran out, so I got a new one. Tried with genuine EPSON spare (I've changed toners several times with no problem) and the machine refuses to recognise the new toner. Tried another new toner - still not working.

I tried on-line support: Got little real help from their 'agent' - who was new to that role. Suggested a service £141, (this after spending 2x new toners at £60 each). No guarantee that it can be fixed of course!

So it looks like this will have to go in the skip - and I'll look for a different brand!

Have this printer for 4 years now and haven't had a single problem with it.

No lines as described, good quality and the toner lasts long.

Alle in all I am happy with it.

The Epson AcuLaser is very good overall printer.

We run an Epson AcuLaser C1100 in addition to two Epson CX11s (same printer but with a scanner on top). So far, the c1100 has done just over 34,000pages and 2 years.

I run a speadsheet on all the running costs of these printers. Consumables are expensive, but genuine ones can be found at more reasonable prices on the net (such as amazon), even though prices have recently gone up (UK recession, I guess), black and white prints average at 1.2p per page and 5.5p colour (this includes costs of photoconductors as well as cartridges)originally this was 0.95p B&W and 4.5p colour before the consumable prices increased. Still, this is miles cheaper to run than our previous HP inkjets which averaged 3p black and white and in excess of 15p colour! Black toner lasts about 10,500 pages of mainly draft A4 prints and photo conductors last about 20,000pages (compared to barely 1000pages b&W and 400pages per cartridge for the inkjets). For 34,000 black and white pages, this equates to a cost saving of over £600!! In other words, this printer has paid for itself two times over in cost savings over our old inkjets.

We have however encountered print quality issues - Vertical lines down the page is from a damaged photoconductor. This usually occurs towards the end of the PC's life (A scratched drum surface; due to built up waste toner, this can be prevented by regularly emptying the waste toner from the PC unit, but its a very messy affair, which is why Epson prefers you to just to replace the PC unit instead).

The other issue is colour printing using Magenta appeared to not print uniformly, which varied across the page diagonally. It was found that the toner cartridge had run out or clogged (no errors or indications were given on the printer display). Replacing with a new cartridge didn't give immediate colour improvement until after 20 or so colour pages, and several recalibration cycles (which is automatic, this printer could do with a manual option just incase this happens again).

Other than that its been perfect for a small office, which needs high volume printing at low cost and occasional colour.

It is a large heavy printer, so be aware of this. And consumables are expensive, but their longevity pays in the long run as shown by the low running costs. Its also fairly noisy, and has developed the odd squeak whilst printing. Colour printing is also quite slow. Also the time to first print from power saving mode is quite long, as the printer needs to warm up, and the printer recalibrates itself every 40 odd pages, which can lengthen the time it takes to complete print jobs (especially if its 41 pages and it recalibrates on the 40th page - annoying!).

Biggest let down is the print driver is very basic. In Vista, we have had issues with the printer treating black and white pages as colour (taking longer to print, and reducing PC life), meaning for black and white pages we have to manually select black and white mode in the driver settings. Also draft mode is not very apparent, hidden away in a sub menu under the heading "toner save". The driver found on the CX11 is far superior and more user friendly, why this is not implemented on the c1100 is a mystery.

Given this printer's flaws, it has still served as a very economical workhorse. As such if this printer failed tomorrow, I'd happily buy another identical unit to replace it with. Although the recent increases in consumable costs may change this opinion if they continue to rise in price (costs of a genuine PC unit is currently £165inc VAT, a £40 price hike from last year, genuine black toner is now £58inc VAT a £10 increase over last year).

No longevity, useless if it can't be kept in good printing order.

After 1 year the Epson Aculaser C1100 printer has developed a series of thin white lines which spoil all colour prints. Self cleaning does not help.

I've bought 3 of these printers and was happy with them initially but colour print quality is now poor on all of them (lines down the page) and can find no way of resolving. Sorry, on balance, I would not recommend this printer

I purchased an Epson Aculaser C1100 printer in November 2006 for around £300. It was very bulky and heavy to move and after installation it didn't work. Epson engineer visited and said they would replace with a new machine as mine was faulty. More weight-lifting and all was OK. But white lines started appearing down the right hand side of the page. Used cleaning stick at the side but had to do this every few pages to get good quality. Asked the Epson helpdesk who said to take out all parts I could, clean them and replace. Did this then got a service light saying a new part was needed. This costs around £99 and the printer didn't work at all! I gave up and bought a HP deskjet printer from Tesco for under £20. Takes up far less space and so far works just as well. I would never recommend this Epson printer as in my experience it's not worth the money.

Absolutely stupid not to explain in the Manual how to bring the cartridge forward once the dial says low K toner (K poco toner, in spanish). Plenty of gurus offer to complement the Manual, I used one at 9.90$ to no avail either.

If you want to sell toners please make it friendly.

Why is it that Epson do not make this part easily accessible? I have tried Epson sites and other areas. I see Fuser units, fuser oil roller but none is linked directly to cx11n.

If for crying out loud, someone is out there that is able to help without having to throw this new printer away, please tell me where to obtain the fuser or what can be done to rectify the E537 error code.

Much obliged.

Meanwhile, Epson..this machine is rubbish. Try and give freedom to your customers. This is the age of free information. Other manufactures will tell you in their troubleshooting section what error codes mean and possible causes. Why can't you do this? Just a thought!

I have bought Epson 1290, Rx300, Cx11n and Photo 915.

To me this is a dedicated customer to Epson brand. I am now seriously disappointed and will probably be looking elsewhere.