Epson WorkForce 545

Epson really dropped the ball – I purchased this because of Epson's reputation, was very happy at first and even sold my brother in law on buying one... After 2 months of trouble free use it started printing every other line, so I cleaned the heads...… now every time I want to print I have to clean the heads. It is good for a day, print tomorrow? clean the heads.... And Epson thinks that is normal! As soon as HP puts their all-in-one on sale I am throwing this trash away. I did like the ability to only change out the color that was low, but when you clean the heads it uses ink, so I am going through ink like crazy stupid (and before you ask, I have only ever used Epson genuine ink, no compatible crap here).

Bottom line? stay away from Epson, they have obviously forgotten the business model that made them a leader in the field.

Epsom One of the most reliable printers I have owned – The seperate ink tanks mean replacing only what you use. It has a good duty cycle for colours and black ink. As a wireless or air printer it operates seemlessly with most devices. It has a Fax function and duplex printing capability if you set it up. It rarely misses a beat and certainly does the job tasked. Ink is available but recommend do not use generics. For saving a few dollars you will throw the chip controller out and the viability of the printer then becomes an issue. The first reviewer likely used it more than the recommended duty cycle and generic ink replacement is far from ideal. Fatal errors occur when you don’t follow protocols.

Of course if you have not understood the amount of publicity surrounding the ACL Australian Consumer Law and the application of such to Warranties issued by Companies.

UNDERSTAND this. A warranty can not exclude consumer rights and that means that if a product fails outside of the warranty period then you can rely on ACL to have the product repaired or replaced with a new one. You are entitled to choose your remedy if the failure amounts to a major failure. If it is a minor failure then the Manufacturer has the choice to repair or replace. If major then it is the consumers choice.

Under ACL your rights are not extinguished by a warranty period. You are entitled to claim under ACL for a reasonable amount of time depending on the product and it’s usual life of the product. I.e. a computer has an expected life of 5 years. Yet is warranted for only 12 months. It has a major failure after 4 years. The manufacturer is required to replace or refund. The same product fails after 6 years. You may request it be repaired but the decision to refund replace or repair is up to the manufacturer. ACL is a little time sensitive but also relies upon the conditions the consumer uses the product in. I.e. the environment upon which the product is used as in climate use and circumstance.

So complaining about product death after the warranty runs out is a myth of mystical proportions.

Know your rights.

Act on them when necessary.

Don’t complain if you are an ignorant mug.

Great Multifunction Printer – I purchased via Dick Smith in 2011 to use it for domestic purposes. Got it for a bargain price at AUD 99 back then as an introductory offer. Setting up is not the easiest, but it is not that complicated either. It had worked well for me in terms of reliability, decent quality, reasonable speed (for a home office), and longevity. Its 2018 and all, print, scan, fax, copy functions works well. It is detected on apple and PC platforms. Being an inkjet the price per page is not the best, but decent when compared to other inkjets. Quality is not the best either, but decent for my requirements. Any printer if not used reasonably often could suffer from internal parts failure in my experience. Considering my 99 dollars has lasted 7 years and still running I think this is a great buy.

Pros:

1. Print, fax, Copy, Scan all-in-one

2. Reliability

3. Price (at least in my case)

4. decent quality

5. paper trays are of medium size

6. operational costs

7. Ink widely available

8. Reasonable speeds for a home office

Cons:

1. Does not have duplex printing option

2. Is not quite plug and play like the modern ones

3. Better competition is available over the past 7 years since I bought it

4. print quality is not the best in class

5. bulky compared to some of the newer versions

6. No longer in production

Built to fail AVOID – WORST PURCHASE EVER!!! Spent over $200 on this printer/scanner that has hardly been used and has died with in 18 months. The printer quickly (after about 4 months) stopped printing correctly to which I was told that I need to perform the head alignment and cleaning. I had to do that after every few prints but was told by epsons recommended service trader that was normal....(it isn't). My main printer doesn't need that!!! Now just out from warrantee the thing has a "fatal error" which can not be fixed and doesn't allow me to use it at all.

This is rubbish since it's rarely used and cost me a fortune to buy. Better value in cheap printers from cannon or hp that will surely last longer then this workforce rubbish.

Avoid Epsom like the plague they do not care once money is exchanged!