Epson Road Test

November 29, 2006 by gonzo.pete
Filed under Apple Mac, Cameras, Computing, Desktop PC, Gadgets, Laptops, Mobile Phones, PDA, Reviews, Visual

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Epson’s new generation of Printers come equipped with the biggest specification yet. With all in one printers the space saving choice of the savvy we’ve put the DX6000 through its paces.

Out Of The Box
First thing i noticed was the funky silver finish and well laid out controls. The LCD screen is cleverly tilted towards the user and all the buttons are grouped nicely to the left of the printer, out of the way of paper and scanner function.
You get in depth instructions a power cable and software CD.
One thing that does annoy me is that nearly all printer manufacturers still refuse to supply a USB cable and Epson is no exception. Still a quick visit to eBay rectifies the problem.

Fire It Up
The good thing about Epson’s all in one range is that you don’t necessarily need a computer at all. You’ve got a Memory card reader which supports the following cards:-
CF Type II, Memory Stick, SD/MMC, and xD-Picture card.
Its Pictbridge enabled and will print direct from USB 2.0 connection.
Installing the software took quite a while, but you do get some very handy programmes. Epson file manager being particularly intuitive and simple to use.

Quality Counts
My first print run was on some budget photo paper from my local pound shop. I wanted to see how the print quality laid down on cheap and nasty paper. It actually did very well. The depth of colour was realistic and vibrant and the edges of objects remained consistently sharp throughout the photo.
Epson quotes approximately 28 seconds to print a colour 10×15 photo depending on the options chosen and the level of PhotoEnhance used. I felt this time was a little on the generous side however and most prints took a little longer.

Using quality Epson photo paper gave my photos a true photo lab feel. With a quality MP camera you really need never visit a photo processor again. The cost of the top quality paper is a little daunting however and you may find yourself being quite economical with regards to which holiday snaps you print.
The new DuraBrite ink comes in four coloured cartridges so you should save money by only replacing the colour you’ve ran out of. The price of each colour is quite reasonable at around Â£7.99.

Scanning And Copying
A photo copier is a handy thing to have and firing of quick copies of your CV is quick and simple. Simply select your paper type and size, then choose how many copies you want and the quality then press copy.
The scanner facility is great fun and the quality is better than any other i have used. You still get that ever so slight grain effect when scanning old photos but on the whole the colour stays rather uniform and vibrant.
There are three modes for scanning, full-auto, home mode and professional mode. Each mode has varying options and gives you the capability to save photos at anything from a few hundred KB up to double digit MB.

The picture to the right was scanned using the full-auto mode and has been resized from 611 KB down to 140 KB using Paint.net for the purposes of display on this site. It was taken with a cheap disposable camera four years ago

Conclusion

I could go on all day about this printer as its one that truly does have everything i need. A great little addition for a recreational user or even a small/home office.

The only real disadvantages being the lack of a USB cable and the time it takes to install software.
Also the three colour ink levels are down to fifty percent after about 20+ full colour compact photo prints and 5 A4 colour prints. So you may want to limit the amount of A4 sized prints.
Though the manual states the first time you use the printer a certain amount of ink is used to charge the head which will remain charged through your next cartridge change.

Get yours from any of these outlets at prices ranging from Â£79.99 to Â£99.97

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