For a while now I’ve been wanting to find a printer that will actually print out pictures that I take, whether of us as a family or of the kids or of scenery and print them both functionally and beautifully. 
I love to take pictures, but it can be a pain to have to constantly be sending the pictures I want, off to be printed. Especially since I’m a scrapbooker and usually don’t have the patience to wait….not that it’s a choice.
My husband and I were both very pleasantly surprised and excited when we received the Epson Artisan 810 for review. He was excited because it has so many different functions; I was excited simply for its ability to print true quality photos. This printer is perfect for the ordinary person or for the business owner. One thing that is nice about the printer, a quality you don’t find in a lot of all-in-ones, is that it’s not huge in size. It fits comfortably on the end of my desk, taking up no more space than my old printer. It also has a touch panel that tilts out so I don’t have to get down beside the printer to see what buttons I’m pushing. 
Those buttons also happen to light up, but only the buttons I need for a specific project.
Just to share a few of my favorite features….
This blew my mind, but if I want to print photos and my computer’s not on, I don’t have to wait. The Artisan 810 will let me resize or edit my photos (from my storage media, such as USB or CD), also allowing me to preview and print them, plus view my photos in a slideshow, all without a computer. Not only that, but if I want to take certain pictures and make a very cool layout with them, I can do that, as well (without a computer). A neat feature that my kids love is that we can take a picture and turn it into a coloring page. So, if we want to take a picture of Papa and Grandma, for instance, and turn it into a coloring page, we can. The printer also has the capability to print onto CDs or DVDs. I have actually not tried this feature yet, but this could make a great project for Christmas.
We did print out a picture that we’d taken in Colorado, and it turned out beautifully, both on regular paper and photo paper. Our photo paper is slightly old, and it is not Epson quality paper, so we had a few, barely visible lines at the top; but I know that it’s not from the printer, because on regular paper, the picture turned out perfectly. I truly could not believe the richness of the colors….even my son’s very blue eyes showed up, along with skin tones and the colors in our background. Jacob’s eyes are so blue in the picture and shine right through onto the paper.
A project I’m excited about working on with this printer is a family wall for my living room with pics of family, from both long ago and present day. This printer will allow me to do that without having to spend tons of money at a photo center. Plus, an added feature from Epson’s fact sheet….The Epson Artisan 810 Delivers photos that last up to four times longer than photo lab prints; prints resist fading up to 200 years in album storage and 98 years under glass.  This quality alone is important for preserving our heritage for future generations. Photos print quickly, a 4″x6″ in as little as 10 seconds, and an 8″x10″ in as little as 50 seconds.
Now for the person who does business with their printer, it’s nice to know that the Epson Artisan 810 has the capability to also copy, scan, and fax. For me this is a wonderful quality, both with my business and with our homeschool adventures. This means I can copy any worksheets that are needed; I can scan Jacob’s work in if need be. The printer also has a 30-page automatic document feeder. Oh, and one quality that I love, love, love is that if I need to print on two sides of the paper, it will automatically do it for me, and it’s easy to set it up that way! This saves me both money and paper.
The Artisan 810 also has bluetooth and networking capabilities, so you can set it up on more than one computer in your home. You can print from your digital camera or iPhone directly. You can even charge your cell phone or MP3 player, using this printer. There is a USB port in the front for this.
We wondered how much ink it would use and how quickly. The nice thing is that the ink cartridges are set up in such a way that you only have to replace the individual color that is needed. If my black ink starts running low, the color cartridge will pick up to combine together to make black until either I replace the black cartridge, or the color runs out.
This printer uses less than $2.00 a year in power. It comes with software that will allow you to get creative and make photo calendars, cards, etc. The Artisan 810 also has a 2-year limited warranty. It works for both Windows and Mac users. You can purchase the Epson Artisan 810 for $299.99, free shipping. This printer is a product I highly recommend. You can follow @EpsonSmallBiz on Twitter. You can also read more on the Artisan 810 Fact Sheet.
(Disclosure: I received an Epson Artisan 810, free of charge, from Epson, for the purposes of this review.)
