Quality in office use

Quality in office use: color fidelity and precision

If there were text readability problems, we sometimes grouped two or three models on the same line. The reason is because these products use the same print heads and cartridges and they are identical in quality.

On the bottom of the page we added the HP Color LaserJet 2600n, which does not really belong here. It serves as a reference to compare the precision of these printers with that of a laser printer. You will be pleased to see that the majority stand up to the challenge!
The "HP color + photo" printer is actually a C3180 with a combination of cartridges, not recommended for office use, a color printer with an optional photo cartridge.

Graph, original version couleur	Original text, original
X3 color enlargement	Original text enlarged X3
Brother DCP-130C/330C/440CN/750CW	Brother DCP-130C/330C/440CN/750CW
Canon Pixma MP160	Canon Pixma MP160
Canon Pixma MP510	Canon Pixma MP510
Canon Pixma MP600	Canon Pixma MP600
Epson DX5050/DX6050	Epson DX5050/DX6050
Epson RX560	Epson RX560
Epson RX640	Epson RX640
HP C3180/C4180	HP C3180/C4180
HP C6180	HP C6180
HP : color + photo	HP : color + photo
Lexmark X2550/X3550	Lexmark X2550/X3550
Lexmark X9350	Lexmark X9350
HP Color LaserJet 2600n	HP Color LaserJet 2600n

Our opinion

Brother wins the readability test;

HP wins in color fidelity ; Lexmark isn’t far behind with its entry level models ;

for text printing quality there are a number of winners, but especially, one sure loser: Epson with its photo printers.

Canon doesn’t finish first anywhere here, but distinguishes itself with consistent good results each time. We particularly appreciate this stability in performances for their products.

Photo quality

Photo quality, enlarged X3 and X6

Like in the previous test, we added a reference, here, the Canon Pixma CP730, a small 10 x 15 cm thermal sublimation printer. This is an example of what can be obtained on a high quality photo printer with results similar to photo labs. Invisible dots, good sharpness and contrast, nice images can be produced at home. Some of the ink jets we tested here stood up well to the comparison, others did not.

Please note that the below extracts are enlarged X3 on the left, and X6 on the right. This isn’t what you really see, but what can be determined by a meticulous study of photos. Either way, the more drops are visible, the less pleasing the photo will be, while some models are capable of photo lab quality.

Photo 1 original	Photo 2 original
Enlargement X3	Enlargement X6
Brother DCP-130C/330C/440CN/750CW	Brother DCP-130C/330C/440CN/750CW
Canon Pixma MP160	Canon Pixma MP160
Canon Pixma MP510	Canon Pixma MP510
Canon Pixma MP600	Canon Pixma MP600
Epson DX5050/DX6050	Epson DX5050/DX6050
Epson RX560	Epson RX560
Epson RX640	Epson RX640
HP C3180/C4180	HP C3180/C4180
HP C6180	HP C6180
HP : color + photo	HP : color + photo
Lexmark X2550/X3550	Lexmark X2550/X3550
Lexmark X9350	Lexmark X9350
Canon CP730	Canon CP730

Our opinion

Epson has for some time been the choice of professional photographers, and this page shows us why. The prints of the Stylus Photo RX560 and RX640 are closest to photo lab quality, with a nice brilliance on paper, true colors, and invisible drops. After this, there is the Canon MP600 and then HP’s C6180.

Scanning quality

Scanning quality at 300 and 1200 ppp , the recommended resolutions to respectively identically reproduce a photo and to enlarge it 16 times.

Photo 10x15 @ 300ppp	Stamp scanned at 1200 ppp
Brother DCP-130C/330C/440CN	Brother DCP-130C/330C/440CN
Canon Pixma MP160	Canon Pixma MP160
Canon Pixma MP510	Canon Pixma MP510
Canon Pixma MP600	Canon Pixma MP600
Epson DX5050	Epson DX5050
Epson DX6050	Epson DX6050
Epson RX560	Epson RX560
Epson RX640	Epson RX640
HP C3180	HP C3180
HP C4180	HP C4180
HP C6180	HP C6180
Lexmark X2550	Lexmark X2550
Lexmark X3550	Lexmark X3550
Lexmark X9350	Lexmark X9350

Our opinion

Once again, the excellent reputation of Epson scanners is proven here, and their colors are reproduced the best. After this, the sharpness of the RX560 and RX640 can be surprising and Epson probably thought that users would want to personalize their settings. You just have to activate the sharpness filter, for example, to find a level comparable to the other multifunctions. However, once you start adjusting, you might be tempted to modify everything. Despite a rather old fashioned interface, the pilot is efficient in professional mode.

The Canon scanners are maybe a little more suited for the "general public" in this respect. Corrections are automatic in the default settings and are well chosen.

Print speeds

Basic printing rates

Here are the basic speeds for the printing of a color office document and the time it took to produce a 4x6 inch (10x15 cm) photo. These weren’t the only tests carried out in this area, and we also took a look at the maximum engine speed, draft mode, monochrome, A4 prints, etc. When useful, this information was included in each product page in the print and scanning speed section.

Our opinion

Four products are clearly faster than the others: the Canon MP510 and MP600, the Epson RX560 and the HP C6180. This represents two mid-level and two high end products.

Normally, for less than 100 euros you should expect office print speeds of around 4 pages per minute and photo speeds of one 10 x 15 every 2 minutes.

A fast product can go as high as 6 ppm and will produce photos in less than a minute. This can be factor when doing large volumes, for example, printing fifty photos, and becomes a very important characteristic.

Scanning and copying speeds

Scanning and copying

We tested the printers at all resolutions, from 75 to 2400 ppp. However, to make these relatively complicated tables more readable, we limited the results to 300 ppp, which is the resolution used to identically reproduce a photo. Results are in seconds, and so the shorter the bar the better.

The « color copy rate » was measured on a rather light document. The value given in pages per minute is the page printing rate. Here, the higher the value, the better. There is no result for the Lexmark X2550 because we ran out of cartridges at the time of tests.

The last table is the time in seconds needed for a color photocopy and so the smaller the figure the better.

Our opinion

Canon wins with its MP510 and MP600, always amongst the top finishers and here the best.

Clearly, if scanning often avoid Lexmark. We were not impressed with the quality and in addition it was slow.

The Epson scanners have excellent quality and are in the average time category. This test is another good result for them.

Ink costs

Ink costs

Finally, manufacturers have agreed on a norm to compare ink consumption in their printers. This was done with the help of the ISO. The procedure is serious enough that when a manufacturer makes the effort to provide these ISO values, we won’t have to do the tests ourselves. And in fact it‘s better that we don‘t do them at all. We readily admit that their test conditions are more rigorous than ours for at least two reasons:

- The base document is neutral in the way that no manufacturer is favored. Although it appears minor, the conception of this document was the product of bitter negotiation.

- and especially, the given values are an average of autonomy tests in which three complete sets of each cartridge are used up. We had trouble even getting a second set from manufacturers.


All the same, the adoption of this norm is still recent and dates to the end of 2006 and beginning of 2007. On the one hand, all the latest models released have not undergone this procedure, and on the other, manufacturers that do carry it out, don’t necessarily give the ISO autonomy for office AND photo. At times we only find one value and it will be up to us to take up where they left off...when we have the cartridges, of course.

In the end, compiling these mixed figures with our tests gives the following:


When you see a zero, this means that the manufacturer didn’t give the ISO value and we did not have the cartridges to perform our autonomy tests.
Note: for Brother, the figures are based on their product claims and not on the ISO values. They should adopt this norm in the near future.

Costs were established with the cartridges that came with the printers. However, it is possible to reduce this. For example, the HP C3180 can take C4180 cartridges. These are more expensive at the cash register, but a better value in use because they allow us to save 20 cents per 10x15 photo.

So overall, we should keep in mind:

In the lower level (less than 80 euros), the most economical printer for ink use is the Canon Pixma MP160.

In the 80 to 130 euros slot, the winner is the Canon Pixma MP510. The Epson RX560 also does well here. Note that the per photo costs of the HP C4180 and C6180 include ink + paper (and not just ink for the competitors), because of the HP photo packs that are particularly attractive. However, with the C4180, this photo cost is not with the photo cartridge. If you want to make the drops disappear, you will have to buy this, increasing the price to 56 cts per print, which includes ink plus paper.

It’s only in the high end that Canon has competition with the Canon MP600, Epson RX640 and HP Photosmart C6180 being almost equal. All are separate cartridge models with photo ink and very fine drops assuring very high quality for photos. If you are hesitating between the three, office print quality could be the deciding factor. Here, HP is in the lead, followed by Canon, and then Epson. HP also has the large advantage of offering an interesting paper + ink kit.

One last useful detail…The costs given here are those made with the cartridges that came with the printer. The concept here was that consumers will then buy them again instead of looking for alternative compatibles. In each product’s page, especially that of the Lexmark X2550 and X3550, we come back to this characteristic giving you the compatible ink costs, which are sometimes a lot more expensive. However, they may lead to ink costs that are cut in half.

Brother DCP-130C

Brother DCP-130C

Quick presentation and ergonomics

Brother offers a base model and then makes it available in several versions with more and more options the higher you go in class. In the end there is nothing too surprising, except that Brother doesn’t stifle the performance of its entry level products. We find the same components, speeds, cartridges, and quality on more expensive models. So, with the 130C there is a monochrome screen (already a plus at this price) and no fax.

Brother is a unique manufacturer. They were late to enter into the inkjet field, but what’s even better is that they succeeded unlike Sharp and Xerox (Olivetti soon?). The first products were far below rivals, but little by little, the differences disappeared. Today their printers have certain characteristics that can win you over, such as their small height and cable system, allowing you to easily place them against the wall.

Printing and scanning quality

Brother definitively caught up in terms of precision and has even a slight advance in text readability and ink interaction. Characters are perfectly drawn, black ink doesn’t spill onto others-it’s impressive. There is, however, a weakness in color fidelity, and whether it’s office prints or photos, there is a slight lack of intensity and contrast. The printer’s color table, in our opinion, should be reviewed. It’s undeniably clean, precise and drops are almost invisible, however, it isn’t flattering to the eye. For this reason, we often prefer the more vivid prints of the competition.

The evolution affected more the printer than the scanner, and Brother seems to have skimped in this domain. You can’t afford to be to demanding here, and images appear overly compressed and borders aren’t too clean. However, if you just want to scan some text to make a quick photo copy, it’s more than enough.

Speed

The scanner and office prints are well in the average and it’s only in the photo mode that lags behind. Either way, this should not be its main use. In copy mode, the 130C produces 2.5 monochrome pages per minute, which isn‘t bad.

Ink costs

Brother has not yet adopted the ISO norm. So, it’s difficult to compare its office print costs based on the (dubious) information they provide. On the other hand, we did measure photo cartridge autonomy. Here we were a little disappointed, because Brother left us with a good impression in previous tests. This printer has four cartridges, which comes to about 42 euros without the black one (24 euros). With a complete set, we were able to print roughly 150 10x15 cm photos. Without paper this already adds up to 28 cents, which is rather expensive.

A serious defect?

Sound in normal use was a problem. It’s not that it was too loud, but rather there was a whining especially noticeable in photo mode. It wasn’t too strong but very distinct and all Brother products we tested were affected. For example, here it is on the 330C, the model just above the 130C:

Brother C330 : it whines

Brother DCP-330C

Brother DCP-330C

Quick presentation and ergonomics

The color of the cover varies, a color LCD screen, and the control panel now authorizes navigation in menus. For the rest, this product is completely identical to the DCP-130C. It’s up to you to determine if the commonly found 20 euro difference is justified. In our opinion, it is. The small monochrome screen like that of the 130C’s does not really allow autonomous use. To print photos without a computer or make several copies of documents, the color option is a little clearer.

Quality of printing and scanning

The cartridges and print heads are same as the 130C‘s, and we find the same advantages and weaknesses.

The good points are: surprisingly good precision (an evolution for Brother) and superiority in detail even to HP‘s high end product. Characters are perfectly reproduced, black ink doesn’t spill into colors. Another strong point is the small size of ink drops, which gives us photos without any visible dots. (There were, however, rows that were slightly visible indicating a repetition of an imprecise setting, perhaps a poorly adapted ink drying time for the chariot speed, or a slight recovering of the precedent layer). We didn’t expect such precision.

The bad point: color rendering. Colors from the original document weren’t respected and prints of all types lacked intensity and contrast.

Speed

Without attaining the announced 25 pages per minute, the 330C and its 4.2 ppm finished before Epson models but slightly behind all the others. This was not by much (except for high end models) and all printers are more or less together.

On the other hand, it is a bit slower than the average for photos and scanning.

Ink costs

Cartridges don’t have integrated print heads, and they are simple ink blocks. For this reason, we were hoping to find very low ink costs, inferior to even those of Canon. We were wrong, and the cartridges are too expensive to make Brother AIOs (All In One) economical products in use. It’s better to avoid printing photos (27 cents each without paper!) and to be content with the more interesting office use.

A serious defect?

Sound in normal use was a problem. It’s not that it was too loud, but rather there was a whining, especially noticeable in photo mode. It wasn’t too strong but very distinct and all Brother products we tested were affected. For example, here it is on the 330C:

Brother C330 : it whines

Brother MFC-440CN

Brother MFC-440C

Quick presentation and ergonomics

This time it’s a 440C complete with fax and a document loader, all for less than 150 euros. The intended consumer is those who work at home and need a good printer at the lowest price. Well anticipated, Brother.

Each additional function complicates the control panel a little more. Brother, however, did things well here, and the product is still easy to use. There is no need to consult the instructions and everything is quite intuitive. By the way, Epson could learn some things here for its mid-level products.

If there is one thing it lacks, it’s in the capacity of the document loader. It’s useful for sending faxes and photocopying but only holds 10 sheets instead of the 100 of the paper tray. This could be a bit light for professional use, and it‘s best not to have large printing needs or to receive faxes the entire day.

Quality of printing and scanning

Like on the more economical 130C and 330C, Brother’s precision of characters surprised us. And by the way, it surpasses HP and Canon, which are references in this domain. Brother wonderfully masters the ejection of its inks as well as their interaction. On the other hand, for color fidelity, there is some room for improvement. The printing of a logo could be disappointing and Brother tends to produce bland colors.

Speed

At 150 euros, this product lies between the mid-level and high end. In practice, its print rates are identical to the 130Cs‘, which is half the price. For this reason, the gap between the competition widens. In this price range, Canon and HP are roughly 30% faster in office use, and two to three times faster for photos.

Ink costs

The 440CN relies on the same cartridges as the 130C, and the verdict here remains the same. Don‘t print photos! Besides the bland colors, it’s too expensive.

A serious defect?

Sound in normal use was a problem. It’s not that it was too loud, but rather there was a whining, especially noticeable in photo mode. It wasn’t too strong but very distinct and all Brother products we tested were affected. For example, here it is on the 330C, the model just below:

Brother C330 : it whines

Canon Pixma MP160

Canon Pixma MP160

Quick presentation and ergonomics

In the entry level, the Pixma MP160 stands out for us. It appears to us to be the only one to combine a quality economical printer with a good scanner. On the other hand, in terms of functions, it’s the most meagre. There is no screen not even a small monochrome, and therefore it’s difficult to work autonomously, except to make a color or monochrome copy.

Launched at 89 € in the second quarter of 2007, the price of this printer was reviewed and can now be found at around the 50 euro level in certain stores. If you are looking for a good product for next to nothing, in our opinion, this seems to be the best option. Note that a MP160 is nothing more than an MP150 in disguise, a printer that was released about a year ago.

Quality of printing and scanning

It’s excellent and this is one of the particularities of this product. The quality of Canon prints is more or less the same for the entire line, or at any rate, the entry level models aren’t necessarily less capable than the others, at least for office prints. The test text was precise, ink dries relatively fast, blocks of color are homogenous, and the desired tones are true. On this point, this differs with Brother, whose characters have even more precise curves, but original colors aren’t reproduced exactly.
If you always need monochrome prints, don’t hesitate to set this as a default setting, because it is more economical and consistently good (for example, printing maps). And to save even more, you can also opt for the draft mode in default. It’s of good quality and faster than normal default settings.

In photo mode, the MP160 sets itself apart with its ink drop size (2 picoliters instead of 1) from the more expensive MP510 and MP600. If you examine its prints up close, they are actually a bit less precise, because larger ink drops are noticeable, however, this is only if you are extremely meticulous.

Finally, the scanner is very good and even equal to Epson’s. In other words, it’s much better than HP, Brother and Lexmark.

Speed

The MP160 is one of those printers that do not try to draw attention to itself with announced print speed. They announced "only" 22 pages per minute in monochrome. With our rather light test document we obviously were under this with 5.3 ppm. In color it was 4.2. This is more modest than what was claimed by Canon but in the end is quite good. At this price level, only HP stands up to comparison. Above, we mention the option of setting the draft mode to default for good economical monochrome quality. This is also interesting for speed as on our test document we go from 5.3 to roughly 14 pages per minute without a significant loss in quality.

10x15 cm Photo printing is in the average at around 2 minutes, but with quality a step above the others. So, here again a point for Canon.

Last area, the scanner. Canon made a good product with excellent automatic processing and they assume that scanned images will not be touched up afterwards. For this reason, color correction, sharpness, contrast, everything is automatic and works very well. In addition, it’s amongst the quickest in this domain.

Ink costs

The MP160 gives you the choice of Series 40 cartridges, supposedly low capacity, or the Series 50, which last more. Concretely, the former print about 310 pages versus 560 for the others. The cost per page of the Series 50 turns out to be slightly less expensive at 9 cents per page versus 10 for the Series 40. On the other hand, and even with Canon’s own info (they publish ISO autonomies on their site), in photo mode this difference fades. 120 10x15 cm photos are possible with the Series 40 compared to 200 with the 50, but with the difference in price of the two cartridges, this gives us 13 cents per print without paper.

Conclusion : it’s better to go with the 50 only if you are a big consumer of ink and changing cartridges is annoying for you. Just don’t expect any huge savings, at least when comparing these two Canon offers. On the other hand, compared to the competition, the MP160 is a great deal. For example, HP prints turn out to be 2.5 more expensive in office use!

A serious defect?

No, there isn’t one. Noise is bearable and feeding is good. There is only the question of if you should go up in class. The MP180, 20 € more, has a small monochrome screen and the MP460 a color one.

Canon Pixma MP510

Canon Pixma MP510

Quick presentation and ergonomics

The transition from the MP160 to the 510 is quite radical. Higher quality (slightly), speed, more economical as well with the change to separate cartridges and finally there is also a color screen. In short, everything is improved, but the printer is twice the price.

For those who know the previous MP500, the change is even more impressive. Canon has succeeded in making its printer much more compact than in the past. The quality of prints has not evolved, but there is a lot less bulkiness. Closed, this AIO is no bigger than a mono function.

Quality of printing and scanning

Honestly, we have not seen the quality of Canon’s prints change for years, and we are waiting for the next jump in technology. However, we aren’t that impatient, because prints are already of excellent quality. Text is precise without spilling over into other colors, colors are quite good and ink drops are invisible.

Speed

Compared to the MP160, the office print speed of the MP510 is almost equal, but in photo mode it is much faster. Photos really do come out in 50 seconds (as Canon announces) versus about 2 minutes for the MP160. And this is for the same quality. It’s not necessarily a luxury and if you wish to print a dozen photos at a time, this difference is appreciable.

Ink costs

Here, it’s more simple than with the MP160 as there is only one cartridge. Where is gets complicated is in the different categories of printing. The MP510 is more economical than the MP160 in office printing (as low as 9 cents a page, or the price for the MP160 with high capacity cartridges) but significantly more expensive with photos at 17 cents in ink alone for a 10x15 cm, versus the MP160’s 13 cents. One possible reason for this difference in office printing is the particularly long lasting black cartridge for the price, which isn‘t used for photos. This just goes to show that separate cartridges don‘t automatically mean gains in autonomy-or at least if we print photos with various colors. According to our results, which uses a different set of photos than the ISO, we get a net advantage for the MP510 in photo costs compared to the MP160.

If we base our conclusions on the ISO numbers, the MP510’s cartridges hold 500 (black) to 900 pages (cyan) for office prints, and about 300 photos with a complete cartridge set.

A serious defect?

No. If you want to reduce its noise it has a silent mode. After the first few days when you might push it to its maximum, in normal functioning it’s almost unnoticeable.

One last point that could be in favor of HP…Canon’s separate cartridges are economical, however replacing them one by one could be bothersome. While we just need one extra cartridge handy for HP products, with Canon we have to keep an eye on the four colors. Sometimes we get the impression – most often false, except if we print a lot– of spending all our time just changing cartridges.

Canon Pixma MP600

Canon Pixma MP600

Quick presentation and ergonomics

The screen diagonal gains 1.5 cm, speed increases, and there is now a black cartridge. In terms of ergonomics, we find an accessory found on high end cameras; the Easy-Scroll Wheel, which facilitates navigation in menus.

In fact, it is the best Canon tested, but paradoxically, it’s the one that has the most difficulty in finding its place in this survey. While the MP160 and MP510 do well in their price ranges, it’s less justifiable to fall for the MP600 despite all that it offers. Epson and HP also become competitive at this price level, and so you should really determine your specific printing needs. For photos, Epson is our preference with its RX640. For the office, it’s either the HP C6180 or Canon MP600. For multi use : the Canon MP600.

Quality of printing and scanning

Despite the addition of a second "black photo" cartridge, the improvement in quality is moderate. 99% of users won't see the difference.

On the other hand, colors are a little better than with the two models below. They aren’t necessarily nicer, but truer. On a pro or semi-pro model like this one, Canon seems to have place less emphasis on flattery and this is for the best. Tones in prints are closer to those in the originals.

Speed

This is the area where the MP600 has the biggest advantage over models below, and it definitely prints much faster. 10x15 cm prints without borders doesn’t take more than 40 seconds. In color we get as high as 6 pages per minute with our document (which starts to come close to entry level laser printers). However, it is in monochrome that we see the real results with 20 ppm in draft mode (excellent quality and really can be used on a daily basis), or 14 ppm in normal mode.

The scanner is in the average for speed at 15 seconds for a 10x15 cm, 22 for an A4 and 36 for a stamp scanned at 1200 ppp.

Ink costs

Adding the "black photo" cartridge doesn’t change anything for office prints, because it is not used. We can print 520 pages with the black cartridge, about 700 with the magenta and yellow, and 890 with the cyan. The office print cost per page with coverage of 5% is 9 cents like on the MP510 and MP160 with its long lasting cartridges.

We do gain in photo mode, because the printer no longer has to add magenta, cyan and yellow to make dark zones. The new cartridge carries out this function and for this reason we go from 17 to 14 cents per print (ink only).

A serious defect?

It’s quite silent, and we didn’t find any hidden defects…except one: the price of Canon‘s photo paper. Don’t buy it. From our experience, Epson paper works just fine. It’s time that Canon finally takes some action here to offer an affordable paper. Let’s hope that Kodak’s next arrival (October 2007 for France) of prints at 10 cents a piece (ink + paper) will shake things up.

One last small point to go against Canon is Epson’s great photo performance with its RX640. Some prefer its softer rendering to that of Canon‘s.

Epson Stylus DX5050

Epson Stylus DX5050

Quick presentation and ergonomics

The DX5050 is Epson’s current economical product and, like all of this manufacturer’s printers, has separate cartridges.

On this DX5050, Epson promises « quality, flexibility, and an excellent quality/price ratio ». Add to this the claimed speeds of « up to 27 pages per minute for documents and from only 28 seconds for a 10 x 15 cm photo », and we ask ourselves why should we look any further. All the more so that Epson has traditionally integrated the best scanners. Separate cartridges, quality in print speed and scanning, the DX5050 seems like a potential winner for entry level printers.

Quality of printing and scanning

The DX series is directly descended from Epson office multi-functions. This can be easily identified by the very good and precise quality of text and graphics, and the poorer quality of photos. Ink drops are too big to allow real photo production, and this is easily detectable. At best this can be mistaken for photo noise. Just for casual use this could be largely enough, however, other manufacturers, starting with Canon, do better in this price range. Epson’s advantage here is that their photo paper is generally less expensive than the competition’s.

The quality of office prints is excellent! For its price, this printer will make you happy with its precision of text, homogeneity in blocks of color, and color fidelity.

As for the scanner, as usual it is quite nice. We appreciate Epson’s initiative of integrating quality components in this domain for the entry level.

Speed

As soon as it concerns speed, Epson systematically lacks modesty. It’s not outright lying and we can find the mode which produces the figures on the package. For example in this case, you will have to work in draft mode and accept inferior quality. This attitude is rather misleading and not consistent with this manufacturer’s reputation.

If we believe the characteristics, we read a photo print time of 28 seconds. However, this does not correspond to normal settings because it took us 1 minute 25 seconds for a 10x15 or triple the time in normal photo mode without margins.

Another example, is that the DX5050 is supposedly able to produce 27 pages per minute in black and 26 pages per minute in color. With our test pages, which are light in text and images are small, we obtained 3.5 and 3.4 ppm, respectively. These are the slowest speeds of this survey.

Actually, when you are in stores, there is only one indication of speed on the packaging, a big « 27 ppm » and a small asterisk. We examined the box, and there was no explanation except « For test conditions, check our website at www.epson-europe.com ». Right next to this, for those interested, you can read that the USB cable is not included.

Suppose you do have immediate internet access and wanted to check this information. You will find the product sheet, but this time, you only see the 27/26 ppm without an asterisk. In short, we didn’t look extensively. There was no readily available explanation for these claims nor any information on print speed for the various modes. For us, this means that Epson deliberately tries to mislead the consumer and here this merits a point against them.

Ink costs

Epson opted for separate cartridges for its entire product line including the entry level. This can be economical if you use one color more than others in photos or for office presentations. This necessitates, however, juggling four cartridges with different autonomies. For the ISO norm, the black is at 245 pages, versus 270 pages for magenta, 475 for yellow, and 485 for cyan. This equals an average office print cost with a 5% coverage of 12 cents...or 30% superior to what we find with the Canon MP160 equipped with long lasting mono-block cartridges.

Unfortunately, we did not have enough cartridges to measure photo autonomy, and Epson could not give us any figures here.

A serious defect?

The 5050 and 6050 are identical except for a few ergonomic details. For this reason, they share the same advantages and weaknesses, the biggest is in noise. Here it is in the below video clip. Everything is calm and then, the printer starts up...

All in One: the Epson DX6050

Another problem is that the ink indicator is not entirely reliable. We went from having a third of a cartridge left to suddenly nothing.


At this point with Epson (and contrary to Canon) the machine is blocked. Printing can‘t be forced and the pilot won’t go any further as long as the cartridge has not been replaced. This is frustrating!

Epson Stylus DX6050

Epson Stylus DX6050

Quick presentation and ergonomics

Barely more expensive than the DX5050, the DX6050 has the same base but is supported with better ergonomics. The 10 or 20 euros difference between the two models is justified by the addition of a color LCD, which is quite practical when we want to use it autonomously without your PC. Here, Epson took the opportunity to add commands, but this initiative wasn’t necessarily the most efficient. While offering more functions and making them accessible with text instead of international codes (symbols), this complicated the control panel.

Some might like the challenge of trying to interpret each option, however, we think we also have the right to simplicity. For this reason, it’s a swing and a miss with too many buttons, icons, and expanded menus. We only had one desire, to find the two or three basic functions and stay with them. One thing is for sure, those who own this printer will quickly learn how to launch a color or monochrome photocopy. However, in autonomous mode and despite the presence of a memory card player and LCD screen, going further than this may seem a little precarious.

Quality of printing and scanning

Like on the DX5050, we appreciated the quality of office prints and the precision of the scanner. However, for photos there is better elsewhere (with Canon, for example). Drops are slightly visible, something that won’t bother everyone as maybe they will be more concentrated on the content of the photo. At any rate, no one will be fooled and we are sure of its numeric origin.

Speed

In terms of speed, it’s almost exactly the same as the DX5050 and here we also find Epson’s exaggerated figures. They announce print speeds of 27 pages per minute, and in reality it’s a fifth of this number with our light test page. Once again, this is hardly admirable on Epson’s part.
Also, on the box they claim photos in 28 seconds, while it’s really 85 without a border and for a simple 10 x 15 cm print. We discussed this for the DX5050 and we think you get the point.

Ink costs

Epson opted for separate cartridges for its entire product line including the entry level. This can be economical if you use one color more than others in photos or for office presentations. This necessitates, however, juggling four cartridges with different autonomies. For the ISO norm, the black is at 245 pages, versus 270 pages for magenta, 475 for yellow, and 485 for cyan. This equals an average office print cost with a 5% coverage of 12 cents...or 30% superior to what we find with the Canon MP160 equipped with long lasting mono-block cartridges.

Unfortunately, we did not have enough cartridges to measure photo autonomy and Epson could not give us any figures here.

A serious defect?

The DX6050 also has the main defect of the 5050, it’s noisy. Printing isn’t free in this domain, the worse being that this is due to cleaning cycles or paper feeds. It even became somewhat absurd after a while. Everybody in the office knew when a printing cycle started.

All in One Epson DX6050

Finally, like on the DX5050, we found a lack of precision with the ink indicators.

Epson Stylus Photo RX560

Epson Stylus Photo RX560

Quick presentation and ergonomics

Once again, Epson makes amazing claims. If we believe them, this is an AIO capable of 30 pages per minute, photos in 13 seconds, and images last – with proof – 200 years.

Obviously, the printer doesn’t keep any of these promises (except maybe for the duration of images, we’ll see you in 200 years). However, this time differences are more reasonable than with the DX series. This RX560 does print pages rather quickly and photos are done in 37 seconds. Yeah!

The control panel is also more intelligent than the DX6050‘s. Things are clearer and more intuitive. Finally, Epson especially remedied the biggest defect on entry level model and the RX560 is quiet.

Quality of printing and scanning

Results are almost opposite those of the DX6050. Photo prints are of high quality with no visible dots while office documents are a bit disappointing. By themselves, it could be satisfactory, however, side by side with Canon or HP, and you start to see that curves aren’t as clean and colors run into neighboring ones. This is too bad, and it seems Epson has specialized its printers to excel in one domain, here photos, while failing in multi-use tests. Or at least other products do better.

Speed

Forget Epson’s wild claims (when will there be a widespread ISO tests so that manufacturers stop announcing whatever they want?). The RX560 is fast and well in the average, which is already good. However, where they announce 30 pages per minute, we measured 5.5 ppm with our light test document and up to 6.3 ppm if it just black and white.

Its photo mode is also one of the quickest at 37 seconds for a 4x6 inch (10x15 cm) without borders and 2 minutes for an A4.

Still in the speed category, copying is at 2.3 ppm, which is still amongst the highest as well as its time of 36 seconds for a single page.

Ink costs

Epson has not yet adopted the ISO norm for this printer. At the same time, we found the ISO autonomy for the same cartridges but with another product. We could reasonably assume that results will be similar with the X560. In this case, you can print 400 pages with all of the cartridges and twice this amount with the cyan, described by Epson as the longest lasting. Based on this, we then arrive at a credible office print cost of 9 cents per page, which sounds normal and similar to what we find with Canon.

On the other hand, the photo mode seems to consume more ink than Canon, whose separate cartridges print 300 10x15 cm photos. In our tests, Epson was at 200, with the RX520 using up each one additional light magenta and light blue cartridge. This results in a higher final photo cost of 24 cents. Luckily, Epson offers inexpensive paper to back this up, because this is one of the highest ink costs.

A serious defect?

Less versatility compared to Canon is its first weakness, and the second is the high price of photos. And for those who like the simple life, managing 6 cartridges with variable autonomies could try your patience, especially when they run out so quickly in photo mode.

Epson Stylus Photo RX640

Epson Stylus Photo RX640

Quick presentation and ergonomics

It’s the luxury multi-function from Epson, while, it’s announced (and measured) print speeds are more modest. Actually, this printer’s interest compared to the RX560 is the better autonomy of its cartridges. They are more expensive but last twice as long. This means we will spend less time replacing them if you are print photos often and they are more economical.

Quality of printing and scanning

Cartridges have indeed changed between the RX560 and RX640, while we find the same qualities and weaknesses of products below it. This printer is very gifted for the entire photo domain with invisible drops and real photo rendering. Its office prints, however, are not as good. Characters are less precise than on the entry level DX5050.

Obviously, versatility is not one of the strong points of this manufacturer, to whom we should turn if we have a more specific use in mind. On this point, Canon is better with models better for all uses (even if a pro or semi-pro user prefers photo quality on the RX640 to that of the MP600).

Speed

Epson even says in its characteristics, the RX640 is slower than the RX560. And we can confirm this. The color print speed is slightly under 4 ppm on our test document, versus 5.5 for the RX560, and 4x6 inch (10x15 cm) photos take 48 seconds (versus 37).

This slower print rate obviously affects copy speeds as well, and we are at a rhythm of 1.7 ppm (versus 2.3).

Ink costs

The RX640’s cartridges are definitely more expensive than the RX560‘s, but they do last longer. At least this is what we were able to establish in our own photo autonomy tests. The RX560’s cartridges give on average 186 10x15 cm photos, while those of the RX640 give us 336, or the double. For this reason the per photo cost noticeable decreases, and we go from 24 to 14 cents per print in ink alone. The RX640 is one of the three most economical printers of this survey, equal to the Canon MP600 and MP160, while at the same time offering the finest in photo quality.

A serious defect?

Separate cartridges have the advantage of only having to change the one that is totally empty. We saw this in our tests, and this isn’t a luxury for this product. Our photo autonomy test sheets have 8 diverse images in order to not empty a single color. In spite of this, the light magenta only held out for 232 pages, versus the cyan’s 520. Luckily, this isn’t a monoblock system. The other side of the coin is the feeling that we spend all our time changing cartridges.

The other main problem of the RX640 is its lack of versatility compared to the Canon MP600. We want to be able to do everything with our printers, from office documents, photocopies, photos, reports, etc. The RX640 is especially gifted in photo, but for text it’s not as perfect. This could be enough, but it’s more difficult when we know the competition does better.

HP Photosmart C3180

HP Photosmart C3180

Quick presentation and ergonomics

HP is by far number one in multifunction printers. They have a reputation for reliability and offering solid quality products. Knowing this, choosing one of their machines when we aren’t too sure what to take may seem like the right thing to do.

In the concrete good points, we have reduced bulkiness, which in the end is important. They also have cartridges with integrated print heads, which means they are changed regularly, assuring print quality throughout the life of the product. Changing the heads also means less risk of clogging. Epson and Canon owners know what it is to launch a manual head cleaning to correct failing magenta, a temperamental blue, etc. Here, theoretically you won’t need to do this.

The inconvenience of HP cartridges is that they aren’t too environmentally friendly. Already, they are monoblock and are changed as soon as one of the three magenta/yellow/blue inks are empty. This could mean that some of the others are still full. Next, we not only throw away cartridges that aren’t just foam and plastic like with Canon and Epson, but the whole system of print heads is made of metal.HP users, don’t hesitate to send back your cartridges to HP when they offer recycling, or you may drop them off in some stores.

Coming back to the C3180, we have before us a particularly economic product and for this reason it is attractive. This low price is justified for at least two reasons: absence of a color screen, you have to upgrade to the C4180 for this option, the cartridges that come with the C3180, are the reference numbers 342 (color) and 336 (black), instead of the 343 and 337 (which can also be used with the C3180) and come with the C4180. These first two empty rather quickly. It’s not necessarily a good bet to save the few euros that make the difference between these two products, as the ergonomics aren’t as good and cartridges have less ink.

Quality of printing and scanning

HP’s reputation for quality in office printing is not exaggerated. However, they should not rest on their laurels too long because at one time HP was well ahead of the competition. This isn’t the case today. The precision of characters is still above average, curves are especially well formed and the C3180 is comparable to laser printers. On the other hand in graphics and images on 80 g/m² paper, there is a slight interaction between colors, which affects readability. On this point, the competition is sometimes better and even an outsider like Brother, masters the juxtaposition of colors.

In photos, if you go with the classic color + black combination, colors will be lively, rather true, but ink drops are easily distinguishable. No one will be fooled into thinking they come from a photo lab. However, if you choose to replace the black cartridge with the (expensive) photo one, prints become more costly but nicer and the ink drops disappear.

Speed

Another reason to go a class higher, is that HP limited the C3180, which is a common practice for this manufacturer. Product lines are identical in terms of the print motor and models are differentiated by additional functions. In fact, the more you go towards the entry level, the more the speed is limited.

Concretely, this translates into an office print speed that is 10% slower on the C3180 and photo print speeds that are twice as long. All of this for strictly the same quality.

Ink costs

Here it gets complicated. HP sells its C3180 with a 342/336 cartridge kit, but as we said above it can also take the more expensive but longer lasting 343 and 337. Should we make things even more confusing? We can add another optional photo for better image quality.

Cartridge 342 (color) + 336 (black) : 200 of office autonomy or 55 4x6 inch (10x15 cm). Office print /photo costs : 19 cents/36 cents.

Cartridge 343 (color) + 337 (black) : 350 pages of office autonomy or 85 4x6 inch 10x15 cm. Office print /photo costs: 13 cents/29 cents.

Cartridge 343 (color) + 348 (photo): 110 10x15 cm. Photo cost: 49 cents.

For photos, there is actually another interesting option, a kit composed of a 343 color cartridge + 60 sheets, for about 17.50 euros. This turns out to be 29 cents per print, ink + paper, and at the same time after the 60 photos, you will still have some ink left (because the autonomy of this cartridge is around 85 photos).

A serious defect?

The HP tool suite! HP has you install a bunch of extremely heavy tools, which load with Windows and can even affect your PC’s performances. For this reason, installation is long and uninstalling is even worse.

Another classic HP defect is that the scanner is of poor quality. In addition, its automatic processing of images is heavy and degrading. It’s suited for an occasional use to photocopy a document, but for fine editing forget it.

HP Photosmart C4180

HP Photosmart C4180

Quick presentation and ergonomics

The C4180 isn’t meant to revolutionize its class. HP simply offers a product that was a former mid-level for a very attractive price. In terms of performances and rendering, it’s classic. HP has stagnated for a while now and we are starting to ask when the next evolution will take place?

The C4180 has two advantages over the C3180. It has a color screen, which considerably simplifies autonomous use, and it comes with higher capacity cartridges. In terms of cartridge autonomy, this difference alone can equal around 15 euros.

Quality of printing and scanning

HP still offers the choice between two cartridge configurations: color + black or color + photo cartridge. The C4180 comes with a black + color set, which is ideal for office use. There is more contrasts, details are sharper, and black is deeper. This isn’t necessarily the absolute best quality, as the competition has caught up, but it is nevertheless very good and perfect even for professional use. Moreover, once the black ink dries (by the way, don’t touch prints right after they come out!), it’s difficult to know if they are from a high quality ink jet or laser printer.

In photo mode, however, this configuration gives colors that aren’t as true, details aren’t as precise and drops are visible (for those with good eyesight). You can acquire the optional 348 cartridge, but avoid using it for office prints as colors lose their intensity and black in text starts to lean towards gray. For photos though, the difference is striking and you do indeed get nice photos. The other side of the coin is that it’s more expensive.

Speed

We said that it was good in the for office print quality, it’s the same for print speeds, noticeably more so than the C3180. In color, it is at 5.6 pages per minute and the same in black and white. Activating the monochrome option reduces the cost of prints, but it does not increase speed. If you are really in a hurry, go into draft mode, and you get an amazing 23 pages per minute with our test document. The quality of black is still very good.

The photo mode is also fast at 1 minute 10 seconds for a 4x6 inch (10x15cm) and 4 minutes for an A4.

Ink costs

Here it gets complicated. HP sells its C4180 with a 343/337 cartridge kit, but as we said above it can also take the less expensive but shorter lasting 342 and 336. Should we make things even more confusing? We can add another optional photo cartridge for better image quality.

342 cartridge (color) + 336 (black) : 200 pages of office autonomy or 55 4x6 inch (10x15 cm) photos. Office print/photo cost : 19 cents/36 cents.

343 cartridge (color) + 337 (black) : 350 pages of office autonomy or 85 4x6 inch (10x15 cm) photos. Office print/photo cost: 13 cents/29 cents.

343 cartridge (color) + 348 (photo) : 110 4x6 inch (10x15 cm) photos. Photo cost: 49 cents.

For photos, there is actually another interesting option, a kit composed of a 343 color cartridge + 60 sheets, for about 17.50 euros. This turns out to be 29 cents per print, ink + paper, and at the same time after the 60 photos you will still have some ink left (because the autonomy of this cartridge is around 85 photos).

A serious defect?

A serious defect?