Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!mit-eddie!husc6!genrad!charlie
From: charlie@genrad.com (Charlie D. Havener)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: EPSON LQ850 PRINTER - A Tale of Woe
Keywords: printer Epson LQ850
Message-ID: <21092@genrad.UUCP>
Date: 19 May 89 13:32:38 GMT
Sender: news@genrad.UUCP
Distribution: usa
Lines: 29


EPSON LQ850 Printer - A tail of woe

If you buy an EPSON you get a meager 1 year warranty. My LQ850
died after about 1 year and a month.  ( Panasonics have a 2 yr warranty).
Recent articles in this news group have advocated considering the
importance of paper handling and forms feeding in the printer. This
is what I did when I bought the LQ850. It has a very sophisticated
paper handling mechanism and therein lies the problem.  Even when it
was working we had frequent paper jams ( my wife hated it). Something
went belly up because it intermittantly thinks it has no paper in it
when it does.  This causes it to spew paper back off the tractor feed
when unloading or run single sheets thru without stopping.

I took it to an authorized Epson dealer for service ( Atlantic Computer
in Waltham Mass. ) for which I expected to pay a nominal fee to have a sensor
switch or something replaced. After a month they announced it would cost me
$200+ for a board swap. I had to pay the $35 bench minimum just to get
it back. Needless to say I have not invested another $200+ in this $500
printer. Instead I bought a Panasonic 1091i for $150. It is 9 pin and
simple ( My wife loves it!) The letter quality mode of the LQ850 was
excellent but a major disadvantage was the faintness of the characters
even with new ribbons. I suspect this may be endemic in 24 pin printers
but I am not sure.

I guess my next step will be to write to Epson and see if they will
stand behind their printer. Stay tuned for further developments ...

charlie@genrad.com