Browsing Category: "Reviews"
The Epson Workforce 840 is literally the 4th printer we've had this year. Yes, we print alot, but not so much that we go through an inkjet printer every month!
Our journey to find a printer that works actually started after our Canon bit the dust. It wasn't a terrible printer, but it was old and hogged ink like no one's business (before you ask, we bought it before we started this blog - or yes, we would have reviewed it too). So, we headed to Costco and picked up an HP, and another, and another (damn, that thing was a piece of crap!) and finally when we were at our wits end, the nice people at Epson sent us their Workforce 840 to review.
Queue angels singing in harmony...
And it worked!
We've given it a pretty thorough test now (6+ months) and after printing mass quantities of stuff on both Mac and PC's we are happy to report that -- it still works! There are some things I've found are really cool about this all-in-one printer and only a couple of "iffy" things. Standouts that are make this my favorite inkjet so far are ease of networking setup, print quality and ease of installation.
Setting the printer up was actually pretty easy. Most of the printer is one piece and anything needing to be installed is clearly marked. I don't do instruction manuals... well, unless I absolutely have to. I get something home and I just want to take it of the box and make it work - reading is too time consuming 
The Epson Workforce 840 fit within my hopes for an easy setup. It was literally 10 minutes and I had it plugged in with ink installed. Going through the on screen setup prompts took roughly 10 more minutes, but I was multi-tasking while setting it up, so if that says anything about the on-screen prompts - you can safely assume they are pretty easy to get through without a single cuss-word.
The Workforce 840 has been the most straight-forward scanner/printer in our home office to date with regard to networking. Anyone with a networked printer can probably tell you that it's not the easiest task on earth to get a printer working on a network with both Macs and PCs. Epson's drivers were setup on the PCs straight off the disk and worked immediately. The Macs needed an update that was detected by OSX Lion, which once installed worked correctly without troubleshooting (A first!!).
Lastly, the print quality doesn't disappoint. We've run an entire paper ream's worth of flyers, printed photos and even some of those pre-fab perforated tickets with great results. I'm no printer connoisseur, so I won't go into major comparison here - I'll just tell you that everything so far has printed beautifully. There's not been any of those pesky "print head misalignment's" or any of the other anomaly's we have grown used to with the other printers we've owned. It's been pretty fricken nice to have a printer that "just works" without having to Google for support or rip out any hair during the installation process.
With all of that glowing good-stuff we've experienced with the Workforce 840, I have only one complaint: The paper trays feel super flimsy. Nothing has broken, but I feel like I have to be extra careful with them because they are very light weight. The parts that slide out for paper insertion don't fit together nicely, so your paper is somewhat loosely inserted into the printer. Although it hasn't caused any paper jams or anything so far, I could see how it would be easy to place the paper in the tray off center and cause a jam.
Overall we are very happy to have gotten this printer. It's actually become the go-to printer in our home office over our the laser printer because it's just easy to run off a copy here and there without the need to warm-up or clean heads or whatever else printers do that waste a ton of ink doing just to make one stinkin' print.
Epson Workforce 840 Benefits:
- Ease of networking capabilities with both Mac and PC
- Prints everything from photos to flyers beautifully
Epson Workforce 840 Drawbacks:
- Paper trays seem flimsy
The Mrs. gives Epson's Workforce 840 a 4/5
I really like this printer alot. Not because it was given to us to review either. I like a printer that just. plain. works. I don't need to micro-examine how every single pixel prints - I've always just needed a printer to do its job and PRINT. Network printing in a PC / Mac environment is extremely important to me and this is seriously the first printer I've had that's worked great with both right out of the box without Google'ing drivers and tech support - that to me is priceless.
This is the third time purchasing a Graco Travel System - thankfully they seem to be improving.
See this product in action at the bottom of this post!
At 9 months pregnant, amidst a major nesting spree, we purchased the Graco Quattro Tour Deluxe Travel System for our soon to be born, baby girl. When it arrived in its ginormous box, I was up for the challenge of putting it together - by myself. Nevermind that I couldn't get my shoes on by myself or sit in any one position for more than 5 minutes -- I thought it would be...fun (ahh the joys of nesting).
Thankfully, the majority of the pieces come put together already. You are left to do things like put the wheels together, snap plastic pieces into place and thread the nylon straps through the holes in the back of the carseat. However, believe it or not, I managed to put everything together myself.
The first thing I noticed about the stroller is how big it is. 
I am no stranger to Graco travel systems either, because I've had 3 of them now. This one however, just seems bigger and heavier than the others I've had; but on the flip side, it also seems much sturdier. I do like that the basket at the bottom is a bit larger than the others we've had because I have 3 other kids who inevitably need to put sweaters and other misc. stuff in the stroller when they are tired of carrying it.
When we were bringing our daughter home from the hospital, the first thing I noticed is that the Snugride 32's head support does anything but support a newborn's head. Her little head was slumped forward all the time. Soon after bringing her home, I read a report about babies suffocating while in their car seat because they are so slumped over that their airway closes off - so, in the coming months I would worry about her all the time when I drove around. I placed a mirror in the back of our car so I could see her while driving and would have to pull off the road to hop out and adjust her head while she slept. I'm not sure what was more dangerous, me pulling off the freeway with cars going 80 MPH whizzing past or my newborn baby sleeping slumped forward in her carseat.
As our daughter grew, we soon needed to adjust the straps on the carseat and as difficult as it is, it's far easier to adjust the straps on the snugride 32 than any of the previous Graco carseats we've owned. The most difficult part of adjusting the height straps is threading the straps back trough those tiny little holes in the seat and the cover. Also, be forewarned, you will likely need the instruction book the first time you do this, because it looks more confusing than it actually is.
Another nice thing about the straps on the carseat is that they are easy to loosen and tighten. There's an really simple mechanism built into the seat that allows you to press and loosen the harness. When you need to tighten it, you just pull the strap at the bottom to easily make the harness nice and snug against the baby's body. I have always hated having to practically disassemble a carseat each time just to adjust the harness - so this feature was a huge bonus to me!
It is also worth mentioning that while the carseat says it can hold a baby over 30lbs. it seems to me that it would be impossible unless your baby is the kin of jabba the hut (short and round).
Now that our daughter is 10 months old...
We purchased a new car seat because she was getting too long for the Graco Snugride 32. As she grew, I realized also, that she didn't like being so reclined and would force her head forward trying to see out. I wish there was some way to adjust the incline on the carseat, but there isn't. It was somewhat a challenge just to get the level on the carseat to sit at the right angle in our SUV. Once it was level, we didn't want to mess with it!
Now, with regard to the stroller in the travel system, I will say again - It's ginormous! It takes up half of the back end of our SUV no matter which way we try and put it in there. It is also pretty heavy, but not any moreso than I would expect for its size. I do like the fact that there's alot of room in it for my tall baby and all the junk I tote around with us. I also love that it's sturdy (a BIG plus for me). The frame of the stroller is pretty much all metal, unlike all of the strollers we've had in the past. This one seems like it can take a lickin' and keep on ...umm rolling?
I've actually gone for walks on dirt roads that are really uneven with the stroller and even though it wasn't easy keeping it rolling in a straight line, it kept rolling and didn't get stuck on anything (to my surprise). I've probably walked 50 miles with my daughter in this stroller on paved roads and sidewalks with no problems at all. I really like the clips that are on the stroller to keep the carseat safely in place as well. The last thing I want is for the carseat to fall out of the stroller if I hit a bump or something.
The stroller also has a much better tray design than previous Graco models we've had. The carseat fits into it snugly and when baby is in the stroller without the carseat, the tray pops off on one side so you can let your little one out without struggling to get the tray off or out of the way. The only thing I don't like about the tray is that when you fold the stroller down, sometimes the shade gets stuck on the tray and you have to fiddle with it to get it to open correctly. It's not a big deal, but it is a bit annoying.
Overall, I've been really happy with my purchase. It was more expensive than the others we've purchased in the past, but I feel like that is justified in the overall quality of the build and the materials.
Graco Quattro Tour Deluxe Travel System with SnugRide 32 Benefits:
- Super easy to adjust carseat harness
- Lots of room at the bottom of the stroller to carry stuff
- Stroller has a sturdy metal frame construction
- Stroller is a bit taller than other strollers (Graco brand and others)
- Stroller rides very smooth and seems pretty rugged (in my own testing on dirt roads/gravel etc.)
- Stroller is large enough for tall babies to be comfy
- The stroller has a really easy to setup infant sleeping area
- Love the pattern we bought (Townsend) because it could work for either a boy or girl
- The material is very soft and plush with a velvet feel
- The carseat clips into the stroller to keep it more secure
Graco Quattro Tour Deluxe Travel System with SnugRide 32 Drawbacks:
- Stroller is heavy and large (if your car is small, this sucker will take up a good part of your trunk) likely due to the fact that metal is used in the construction
- Carrier is heavy and handle is a bit awkward in comparison to some of the other brands (but this isn't new to only this model of carrier)
- Carseat caused my baby to lean forward frequently and fall asleep slumped forward
The Mrs. gives Graco Quattro Tour Deluxe Travel System with SnugRide 32 4/5
There are only a couple of things that I don't love about this travel system - one of them is pretty important: my baby's comfort and safety. I can live with a large, heavy stroller, but the fact that my newborn was slumped forward alot of the time really worried me -- however, to be completely honest, I don't know if any other carseat would alleviate that problem.
I really love this system otherwise. I love that it's really easy to use and to adjust as my daughter grows (which is WAY too fast). It's nice that the stroller will last my little one for quite sometime and I seriously doubt it will fall apart like the last one we had (that's another story).
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Photos of the Graco Quattro Tour Deluxe Travel System
Getting up in the middle of the night and stumbling across the room to get a crying baby is a thing of the past - YAY!
With all of my kids, I've had to go through the same routine - baby cries, I wait a minute or so to see if they will go back to sleep (hoping desperately that they will), when they don't return to slumber-land I roll out of bed, try and find the switch to turn the lamp on, stumble across the room and fetch the baby from her crib - most times, this ended in baby sleeping with me because I was to exhausted to get back up and put them back in their crib.
Then came the co-sleeper...
With my youngest (who is now 10 months old) I bought the arms reach co-sleeper while I was still pregnant. I thought it seemed like a really good idea to be able to keep baby close enough that I didn't have to get up every time she woke up (which we all know, as infants -- that's alot of waking up).
We purchased the large model, because I really liked that it was able to change into a play pen when the baby got too big to sleep in it. I researched it and found the best deal at the time on Amazon, and because I was too pregnant and lazy to measure - I had no idea really how large it was; when it arrived and we put it together, I realized that it was pretty darn big! Looking at it now, I realize that the footprint is almost as big as my daughters crib! Thankfully we have a large bedroom and it all worked out, but if you happen to have a bedroom that's on the smaller side, you might want to get exact measurements to be sure that it will fit (or go with the smaller model).
The way the Arm's Reach co-sleeper is designed is actually pretty cool. It has straps that keep it secured to the side of the bed and directions that weren't too difficult for a 9 month pregnant woman to set it up. There were a few parts that I needed help with, but the instructions were at least clear enough that I was able to get it together in about 20 minutes. You do have to lift your mattress up in order to attach the co-sleeper to the bed and there is no way a prego should be doing that - nesting instincts only go so far!
When the baby arrived and we put her in it I thought - "wow, I wish I knew about the co-sleeper when the others were born!"
It was so nice to have her near to me, because I am one of those mom's that has to randomly check to see if my baby is still breathing - The co-sleeper actually let me rest easier because I was able to have her next to me, but not in bed where we feared rolling over her or having her suffocate in our crazy mound of pillows.
The only downside was that in order to get out of our king size bed, I had to scoot to the end of the bed to navigate around it. It's really not that big of a deal, but if you have a C-section or are in pain, I would imagine that might make things a bit rough. Although, on the other hand, this thing is high enough to where you don't have to bend down too far at all to pick up the baby and that's always nice - C-section or not.
Now that our baby is older and grown out of the sleeper, I have it setup as a playpen which resides in our office or living room (or wherever we drag it). I believe it's actually quite a bit larger than the pack-n-play we had with our other kids - which does mean it's a bit heavier, but it's still light enough that one person can lift it. I do wish it had wheels, but then again, if I had my way it would contain a microwave, refrigerator and maybe drink holders - haha!
For what it is, I think the Arm's Reach co-sleeper really a good product. It's well made, sturdy and the fact that it converts into something that lasts well beyond those infant bassinet years (that are all too short) is priceless in my opinion.
Arm's Reach Co- Sleeper Benefits:
- Keep baby close, so no stubbing toes on the way to get baby from a crib
- Enables mom to have baby close to bed without having the baby in bed where it could be dangerous
- Transforms into a play yard when baby is done with the bassinet
- Super sturdy construction
Arm's Reach Co- Sleeper Drawbacks:
- Large version is big and bulky (there is a mini version which is not nearly as big)
- More expensive than a pack-n-play (but to be fair I think it's made better)
The Mrs. gives Arm's Reach Co- Sleeper 5/5
After owning an Arm's Reach for nearly a year, I've used it daily and still think it's great. My daughter is in it right now playing next to me as I type this. She's a tall baby and she's got all kinds of room to play with her toys in there! This thing was well worth the investment.
One last note: If your bed is tall you may need leg extenders, which are unfortunately sold separately. You can get the legs online too, but if you're handy, you could probably make something that would work to boost the height. Just be sure it's safe...don't go stuffing a book under each leg or anything
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 Arms Reach Bedside Co Sleeper  US $30.00
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 GREAT Condition Arms Reach CO SLEEPER US $54.00
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