Articles & News ::  GeneralNews

Printer Review (by DT Member Julie Ann Shahin)

TECHNOLOGY REVIEW: Epson Stylus Photo R320 Printer




I give it 4 out of 5 stars!

Having had the Epson Stylus Photo R320 Printer in my possession for about a week, I have not had the chance to fully put it through it's paces, however I am happy to offer you the information that helped me make this purchasing decision. Previously, I was using the HP All-In-One Officejet 6210 for all of my printing - and after 13 months the creature just upped and died. After much research, I decided to go with Epson mainly because the ink cartridges are separate for each color, so you only have to replace the color that you run out of.

In addition, I have purchased a CIS (Continuous Ink Supply) System to get around the cost of replacing ink cartridges - claims are that you can save 90% of your ink costs. You can watch a video about this system here: http://www.dvdcenter.org/swf/EpsonInkDemo.htm

Bottom line for the Epson Stylus Photo R320: Insanely affordable for high quality prints

Pros: Output quality outstanding, inexpensive, able to print directly on cd/dvd's, able to use without PC, Zoombrowser software, fantastic for home photo enthusiast, crisp images outweigh slow printing, quick drying inks

Cons: 1.5" LCD screen a little hard to read, minor faults such as slow photo printing speeds compared to Canon Pixma iP4000, landscape prints might have slight reddish tinge, largest size print is legal size

Specifications
Technology: Ink Jet
Potential Use: All-purpose
Maximum Paper Size: Legal
Number of Cartridges: 6
Number of Ink Colors: 6
Direct Printing from Cameras: Yes
Direct Printing from Media Slots: Yes
LCD Preview Screen: Yes

Overview
"The R320 has a rounded front and is gray/silver in color. There are card slots for several memory card formats, and a USB port in front where you can plug in a PictBridge camera, storage devices like USB keys and Zip drives, or an optional Bluetooth adapter. You can also save photos from a memory card to a storage device plugged into the port. "
Source: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1668290,00.asp


"The Epson Stylus R320 easily handles border-free printing at resolutions as high as 5,760x1,440dpi for 4x6, 5x7, 8x10, and full letter-size pages with a slight trim border. If you are sick of labeling your burned CDs or DVDs with a Sharpie, you can create custom software discs, music compilation gifts, or your own break-out album using the Stylus R320's direct-to-CD print option."

"Assuming you take a minute to follow the brief but detailed Start Here quick-installation guide, the printer and driver installation is straightforward. Ink cartridges have a color coding to ensure that you put the cartridges in the correct slot, but it would be nice if they also had the cartridge code number, as newer HP models do. When printing from the computer, the printer management software is also relatively easy to use. We especially like that the Stylus R320 notifies you when a cartridge is reaching low ink levels (there's a warning LED on the printer's front panel). The ink yield of each cartridge is rated at 450 pages at 5 percent coverage per primary--about 18 cents per page--so you won't be rushing out to get a new cartridge every week unless you are running a photo lab from home. Still, the advance warning is nice, especially since you'll have to budget for the $12 cartridges." (See the video link above for information on how to save 90% on printing costs).


Printing
"You have to be patient when printing "best quality" photos with the R320, but the output is quite good when printing on Epson's Premium Glossy paper.

"The R320 handles multiple copies of photos as well as multiple photo selections easily, so you will be able to print a set of photos without much fuss. The printer ink dries quickly and is resistant to humidity and water spillage, provided you use Epson's Premium paper.

"As we mentioned, text and business graphic printing is slow, but it's of good quality. Straight text printing on plain paper is also good, but using the R320 to print out all your documents may not be the best option, given both the cost of ink cartridges and the speed issue."

"The R320 comes with great quick-reference guides and a thicker Printer Basics manual for those who really want to get to know their printer. In the Printer Basics manual, you'll also find numerous Mac and PC troubleshooting tips, a good reference for resolving print-quality issues. If you misplace your reference guides, you can always download a PDF version of the latest manual set from the Epson Web site. There you will also find updated driver and printer management software as well as an interactive troubleshooting guide. For non-Web-based support, you can call the company's automated system 24/7 via a toll-free number. For interaction with a live human, you can use one of several tech-support numbers (which are not toll-free) from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. PT in the United States or from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. PT in Canada. The printer comes with Epson's standard, one-year limited warranty, which includes the Epson Exchange Program."
Source: http://reviews.cnet.com/Epson_Stylus_R320/4505-3166_7-31117282.html?tag=sub

"The R320 is a six color (CcMmYK) printer that outputs a maximum 5760 x 1440 dpi and supports all print sizes ranging from 4x6 up to 8x10. It uses six individual ink cartridges for more accurate color reproduction. It is a more economical solution as well because if you run out of one color, you only need to replace the cartridge for that particular color, rather than replace the entire cartridge like some previous generation Epson printers. Pricing for the individual cartridges are $17.09 for the black cartridge and $12.34 each for the individual cyan, magenta, yellow, light cyan, and light magenta ink cartridges. One nice feature about the inks are they are quick to dry. As soon as the printer is finished printing the picture, the ink is dry.

Epson's Print Image Matching is also supported in the R320. Print Image Matching was developed by Epson several years ago in an effort to get better quality prints from digital cameras . In its basic definition, PIM-enabled devices let your printer "talk" to your PIM-enabled digital camera to automatically enhance images from the digital camera so they print out equally well in the printer. Not all camera manufacturers support PIM, however, and I wasn't able to test this because my digital camera is made by Epson rival Canon , which has its own line of inkjet photo printers.

How important is speeed?
Is a speedy printer necessary, especially a speedy photographic inkjet printer? The whole speed factor with regard to printers of any kind probably harkens back to the day when laser printer manufacturers touted how many pages per minute their devices could spit out. This could be an important feature in a corporate setting where obviously time is money. But is it really that important how fast your photographs print? Personally, and especially with regard to photographic printers, I'd take image quality over speed every time. Epson touts in its literature that the R320 can print a 4 x 6-inch photograph in approximately 39 seconds. Although unscientific in my testing, I was able to print a 4 x 6-inch photograph in approximately 2 minutes and 8 seconds on a 2GHz Power Mac G5 with 2GB RAM. The test commenced as soon as the printer picked up the paper. The image was printed on Epson Premium Glossy Photo Paper, set at 720 pixels, and the image quality was set at Best Photo (The choices are economy, normal, fine, photo, best photo, and photo rpm). An 8 x 10-inch image printed at the same image quality and settings took 4 minutes 19 seconds. So for those who care about speed in a photographic printer, those are my unscientific results, and results obviously will vary depending on the print quality, resolution, computer,and other factors.

Conclusion
How does the R320 perform? For a street price of $199, the Epson R320 does not disappoint. It outputs very vivid and lively colors and lays down the ink very crisply and cleanly. It produces very high quality prints. A nice touch to the printer is the slot for loading 4 x 6 and 3 x 5-inch photographic paper. No guesswork needed as to what side of the printer you need to place your smaller photo paper. It comes with a one year warranty and offers a variety of ways to get your digital camera images into the printer for printing. And, you can print on CD/ DVD media, which is absolutely the most fun I've had with an inkjet printer, that is, if you can have fun with one. For more information, visit www.epson.com
Source: http://www.digitalproducer.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=28379


Ratings
PCMagazine: 3.5 out of 5
Cnet.com 7.3 out of 10
Zdnet.com 7.3 out of 10
photographyreview.com 5 out of 5


Coming Next Month: Review of Epson Perfection 3170 Scanner