Epson Expression Photo XP-970 Wireless Color Photo Printer with Scanner and Copier, Black

This is a great printer so far. I love that it has a footprint that is barely bigger than your average entry level inkjet but it will do 11x17. I am excited to do some large photo prints on this bad boy. I had no idea that the screen and the paper tray were motorized.I geeked out a bit when the screen pivoted up and the tray extended. Setup was easy and I have had no issues with wireless printing or scanning from windows or android. Do yourself a favor and spend the $10-15 for a ream of premium bright white inkjet paper. I did my first couple prints on $3 multipurpose copy paper and the ink absorbed in and was faded and blah. On the premium paper it's bright and laser sharp. I can't wait to see what it will do on proper matte or gloss photo paper, especially once I get the profiles dialed in. The feed tray is a little small and the per page speed isn't anything to brag about but this isn't intended to be a volume printer so I don't feel like that's a minus. The ink is dye and not pigment like on the high end HP printers but on Epson photo paper they say it is fast-drying, moisture resistant and 70 years color-fast. I remember old photo prints would get sticky against glass in a frame or fade quickly but this seems like it should have lasting quality up to the level of my needs.Very pleased so far.Update for 2021: I still love this printer. The scanner works very well. I haven't had any real issues with connectivity or jamming or anything. Photo prints look excellent if you use Epson photo paper. I tried some leftover glossy photo paper from 2 other brands and the results were poor. The Epson papers work flawlessly, though. My only complaint is that the cartridges are a bit spendy and don't seem to last very long.

This is my first Epson printer, previously owned Canon photo printers which were good but the ink head clogged constantly. This is a mid-sized printer, can copy and scan also.1. Photo printing - superb, BUT you need to fiddle with it to find the correct settings and you need to use quality paper. A cheap photo paper from Costco didn't work for me. I use Ilford Gallerie with great results.2. BW printing (documents, texts) is very good, too, on par with my laser printer. It has double sided printing which is super easy to use3. Scanning - Excellent, easy to use, great quality and with multiple options regarding resolution. Outperforemed a Brother laser printer I had4. Copying - also good, it's manual feed only5. Setup - Easy, no problemsCONSOnly one: cost of ink. This is a very expensive printer to use as your primary printer, if you need to print documents constantly (especially if working from home) it will cost you quite a bit. Consider a dedicated printer for BW documents - I recently got a laser for that and I'm happy with it.My opinion is that if you want to print color photographs and scan documents this printer is excellent. For daily use find a cheaper alternative.

Did not print properly right out of the box. I ran alignment after alignment and each subsequent page just got worse. I finally got to a point where I thought it would be acceptable if I slowed the printing speed down with high quality settings. Then, I tried to print a photo and the black ink just blotched all over the photo, and this was after a dozen alignment pages a few nozzle checks and a couple of head cleanings. I waited until the next day to call Epson about it, the tech did not listen to my observations, he just kept following his stupid script. He made me do nozzle check and head cleaning two times each, with no change in performance. It shouldn't be this hard to get this up and running properly. Also, quiet mode does nothing to improve the clunky sounds this thing makes. For what I paid for this printer, I would have expected better and quieter performance right out of the box. I've had an Epson RX-560 and RX-580 over past years, and they both worked pretty well, probably my RX-560 was the best photo printer I've ever had. I guess it's time to give up on Epson. I didn't want to buy Canon, but every time I set them up for the guys at work, the Canons always produce great photos. I wanted the XP-960 for the large format and CD printing ability, I always have liked Epson's CD print utility, it reminds me a lot of the old EZ CD Creator utility back in the early 2000's., It's very easy to use compared to Canon's "garden" software, which is a nightmare to use. Anyway, back the support guy on the phone, he told me to let it rest for a day, and then run the alignments again and then call them again if it doesn't improve! That was the most ridiculous thing I've heard as of late! How is letting it sit for 24 hours and running the same re-alignments over again going to help when I just did it? I ran all the same tests myself the day before I called Epson. I'm not a dummy when it comes to printer setup, I've done dozens of them over the years for both work, home, friends and acquaintances As an engineer, I think I know a few things about printers, I've set up everything from photocopiers for business to laser jet printers for the office environment and quite a few bubble jet and inkjet printers over the last 20 years and other than a frustrating HP one time, this has got to be one of the more frustrating printers I've dealt with, not to mention that the stupid HUGE automated door on the front gets in the way of the dinky, flimsy paper trays you can't get any paper in. I told the guy, if this is what the Epson product is going to be right out of the box, then I don't want it, I'm sending it back. I figure, if it's going to give me this kind of trouble brand new, then what surprises is it going to have for me down the road? Guess I'm still on the hunt for an affordable large format printer that can print on CDs. If they would have spent more time designing the printing section of this printer properly and less time on the stupid automated doors and whirring gizmos on this thing, I think they might have a better product, but it sucks. I will reconnect my old RX-580, it prints badly, but at least I understand why, it's several years old and is done. But, there's no excuse for a new printer to act like an old one! By the way, there are no sample papers with this printer like Epson product in the past. The support guy asked me if I had Epson paper, and I told him, how could I if they don't see fit to include anything in the box any more? Besides, a printer should be able to print on whatever you stick in it. By the way, I almost forgot, when I went to put paper in the rear paper feeder, it sucked the whole lot into the printer! None of my older Epsons ever did that! What a mess this thing is!