Epson SureColor P600 setup

The Epson SureColor SC-P600 is a pigment ink based printer, using Epson’s UltraChrome HDR ink set. Although widely listed as the SC-P600 it’s also listed as the Epson C11CE21201 Wireless Color Photo Printer at outlets such as Amazon.

Article Index

• What do you get?
• Installing Inks
• Connecting the printer
• Computer setup
• Conclusions | Summary

Epson UK kindly lent us a new printer for a while, to try out and test. This article is an extended look at initially setting up the printer.

Our main Epson SureColor SC-P600 review has full details of its use and performance.

Opening the box

The printer is well packed and light enough to be installed on your own, it’s bulky rather than heavy.

You can see the full set of ink carts, software install disk, and the black CD holder, used when printing onto disks.

What do you get with the SC-P600?

The SC-P600 is shown ready to set up (note a spare set of ink carts at the back – I did a lot of testing for this review…)

The two plastic items on the top are the holders for roll paper that sits at the back of the printer, if you want to use roll paper.

I’d just note that roll paper on a 2 inch core can show very noticeable problems with curl, particularly towards the end of a roll.

There is a lot of tape and protective packaging (mouse over image).

There is a useful printed start-up guide – read it first.

In my rush, I’d missed this orange plug – keep it, for if you need to ship the printer.

Roll paper holders fit at the rear, if you need them.

The control panel is touch sensitive and pops up to make it easier to see and use (mouse over image to see).

The carts need firm pressure to install – they click in place.

One of our carts didn’t lock in place the same as the others. If this happens, remove it and check the small plastic tab. Ours was slightly bent, but after a bit of -careful- bending, it locked into place OK.

Once the lid closes, you might as well go and have a cup of coffee, since the printer will be busy for 10-15 minutes moving ink through the tubes into the print heads. (mouse over image).

This ink loading takes up some ink, and is a one-off process at the start of using the printer. This is why the printer is supplied with special installation ink carts – I suspect mainly so that they show as ‘full’ after setup.

During the process, you will hear all kinds of interesting noises as the ink is pumped along the lines and the printer exercises itself. I mention this, since some of the noises connected with the ink supply system occur during normal printing and could lead to thinking that the printer is in some form of cleaning cycle during printing. It isn’t – it just makes a few odd noises when getting ink to the heads from the ink carts.

After the ink charging process, the ink levels are shown as full. The manual does note that initial print yield will be lower – see the main review for how many prints I produced before the first cart emptied (VLM).

Printer connection

The printer can be connected via Ethernet, wireless or good old USB. It’s worth noting that it does not have a USB cable included.

I just plugged in an Ethernet cable connected to our network, the printer found itself an IP address and was there, on my network.

WiFi is extremely easy to set up directly from the printer’s control panel (mouse over image to see more options).

There were plenty of networks available.

Ours is imaginatively named NI … this one via an Apple AirPort.

The touch screen makes it very easy to enter longer and more complex passwords.

If you’re unsure how the printer thinks it’s connected to the world, there is the option to print a connection report.

The report gives a concise list of current printer settings.

If you’re looking for more complex network setup, or don’t want to use the screen, then it may be better to configure the printer via a connected computer.

Computer setup

I’ve details about actually using the printer in the main review.

The install disk has only windows software on it. It doesn’t actually contain Mac drivers/software for your printer, just an easy way of downloading them via setup program.

The first things needed are the drivers. The network utilities are also useful for accessing a printer that may not have been fully configured via the front panel.

I found the front panel setup and configuration very easy, but then again I’ve set up a lot of network devices over the years.

The installer makes it easy to configure any of the three connection options.

There are helpful guides if you’re unsure of what you’re doing.

Once configured, the software found my test printer on the network – it can do this even if you’ve not yet configured it – just make sure it’s switched on and hasn’t gone to sleep.

I’ve a server that sets IP addresses on our network. For home use, this is typically done automatically by your router.

Useful numbers for people like me, but you rarely ever need to know this stuff…

On my Mac (OSX 10.9) the printer appeared on the printer preferences panel – we don’t have any Windows PCs here, but the process is similar. Move your mouse over to see the printer added into my available printer list.

Now it’s installed, I can run the normal printer utilities – here it is, still with ‘full’ ink carts.

I’d also note that the printer has its own built in web server, so you can connect to it just like any other site.

When connecting the printer, it’s quite possible to get several connection methods – not all have the link to the printer’s web page, but if need be you can always put the printers address (from the configuration printout) directly into your browser.

There are more logging and configuration options available via the web pages.

There are some minor printer configuration settings that I could only set via the printer itself(see main review).

Not long after setting things up the Epson software updater popped up and told me that I had software updates available.

This includes some of the application software (mentioned in the main review). I’d suggest running this software directly after installing software for the printer.

Conclusions

An A3+ printer that is very easy to setup for wired and wireless use

The detailed display screen and touch interface make it easy to configure and test without a connected computer.

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