Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Most reviews list the pros and cons in that order. But I was so caught off-guard by one big con that I will start with it. CON #1: This printer is designed to fail early! In Epson's description of the ET-2650, they state that one might expect to print about 6500 pages from one ink fill. Refill, and you now are at about 13,000 pages. From what I have gathered, this about when the printer will stop working due to a "Waste Ink Pad Error". The Waste Ink Pad absorbs ink not put on the paper being printed. This includes ink used to prime and clean ink nozzles, overspray ink when printing boarderless photos, and ink that misses the paper due to a paper jam. When the printer ESTIMATES that the pad is full, it stops printing. The waste ink pad is not replaceable. This is a DESIGNED IN failure! It could be fixed with a printer firmware update (see below). CON #2: The printer cannot handle heavy paper like card stock. This is due to the initial bend in the paper path right at the paper feeder. Had a manual feed slot been provided in back, the printer could handle heavy paper since the rest of the print path is nearly straight through. PROS: The printing is sharp. The color is good enough for plain paper printing, but don't expect photo quality printing even with photo paper. There are alignment procedures built into the printer driver to minimize gaps in printing due to the ink nozzles and spacing of print swipes. ADVICE TO BUYERS: Know what you are buying. If you are happy with about 13,000 pages out of your new printer (I'm not - that's only two years of printing for me), then go ahead and buy it. ADVICE TO EPSON: As a user option (to greatly extend the life of the waste ink pad), have the printer prime and clean the ink nozzles into a piece of paper provided by the user, rather than using the waste ink pad. This could be done by updating the printer's firmware. Then the waste ink pad would be used only for boarderless photo printing (which I don't do), and the rare paper jam. In the future, make the waste ink pad replaceable.