Interested in 6-color Epson 870 because of claimed archival quality of pictures. Would appreciate comments on color quality compared to my 4-color Epson 900 (and old Epson 600).

-- Stan Munger (shmunger@worldnet.att.net), June 19, 2000

Answers

Can't compare the 870 (yet) to the 600, but can tell you that my old 600 can't begin to hold a candle against the output of my newer Photo 750! That output, plus using the much improved printing media Epson puts out, make color printing of images a delight! Go for the 870 or its larger output brother, the 1270!

-- Ted (ted.krohn@fra.dot.gov), June 20, 2000.

The 870 will give you output which is better than the 900 but the difference is not that incredible. The 870 will give you better image longevity, slightly better color reporduction from the six ink colors, and its an overall "better" photo printer. The Epson 900 is very fast though and for higher output, its a more efficient printer. I've sold quite a few 900's to people who are printing event type photography since its such a workhorse. It's your call, the 870 is a step in the right direction but it's not setup to print high volume, I'd say thats the biggest difference.

-- Cris Daniels (danfla@gte.net), June 20, 2000.

I chose the epson 900 over the 1200 (the newest at the time I bought) because I preferred its photo-quality printing. I thought the highlight detail was slightly superior and the color quality seemed equivalent. I now think it was the best choice because its color stability is almost as good as the X70 series and you can get excellent third-party inksets. There is a great comparison of the photo quality of Epson printers (which doesn't include the X70 series, unfortunately) at tssphoto

-- Darrell Spreen (dgspreen@aol.com), June 23, 2000.

I have both a 900 and an 870, they are really, really close. The 900 is faster and I use it a fair amount for "general" photo printing. For the stuff I want the best quality on though, which is typically portraits with more skin tones, I use the 870. Both are GREAT printers in my opinion.

-- Steve Steinberg (ssteinb1@tampabay.rr.com), June 27, 2000.