Epson is only shit if you get one of those crappy budget printers. I have a RX685 and it's awesome. I guess their prices are kinda high, never gone wrong with any of them though. I won't even describe my experience with Lexmark... ugh... wait, I will... so it was back in '06, we just got a new PC and were looking to complete it with a sexy printer. There was a pretty cool Lexmark printer on sale, so we got that. In the morning, when my Dad tried to insert the ink cartridges in, something broke. Don't know what, but I'm guessing it was pretty important since the INK wouldn't go in then. So off we go to return it and get a new one. We got the same printer and tried to install the ink again. Once again, the plastic thingy broke.
Overall, the printer itself looked nice however the only downside was the cheap plastic used.