I had been wanting a new printer for some time and was unsure of what I should buy. These days the range of printers available on the market is extensive, ranging from inkjets, to bubblejets, laser printers and multi function devices. I already had three printers here but none of them worked anymore and although it may have been worth repairing them, the price of printers these days is so reasonable that it made sense to buy a new one rather than spend a similar amount of money on repairs.
And so without much research it was with a feeling of an authorative air that I strolled into PC World to persuse the rather large selection of printers on offer. Lets make one thing clear, I didnt have pots of money to go spending on some hi tech piece of equipment that was only just onto the market, although that said, neither did I want to buy some piece of scrap that wasnt fit for purpose.
If you know nothing about computers or printers or the like and take a walk round PC World I guess it could seem quite daunting, so if you dont have a clue about printers I suggest you seek advice from family and friends, from a review site such as this, or simply ask someone in store for assistance.
I do a lot of graphic work on my computer,
as I generate a series of online reports for work. So it was important that my new printer would have exceptional print quality for graphics and photos. I was looking to spend around £100 and I particularly wanted an Epson printer, having had several in the past and always been pleased with their quality and build. Together with that, compatible cartridges are available for most Epson printers that are certainly good enough to give the originals a run for their money.
After wandering aimlessly around the shop for some 20 minutes or more my eyes finally settled on the Epson Stylus Photo R220. With its sleek design and fantastic silver/grey finish I fell in love with it immediately. I stood there for a while, picturing it on my desk at home and decided that it was the perfect accompaniment to my other gadgets, and a vast improvement on my old, white coloured printer.
The main selling point for me was that the Epson StylusPhoto R220 can print on nearly any type of media you can imagine, in particular CD's and DVD's. I fancy myself as a bit of a singer and have recorded a few CD's in the past, and so I thought it would be ideal if I was able to print CD covers directly onto the discs to make a professional looking CD.
After weighing up the pros and cons I decided to buy the R220 and paid around £140 for it at the time, although it is now available for a much more reasonable approx £40.
Lugging it home on the bus was a laugh as it came in quite a big box which was heavy and awkward to carry, but eventualy I made it home and proceeded in unpacking the printer with much glee. The printer was packaged very well and came complete with 6 cartridges in the box as well.
The ideal thing with having a printer with 6 cartridges is that if one colour runs out you dont have to replace all the colours as is the case with 2 cartridge printers. Although the cartridges are pretty expensive (approx £20 each) you can buy compatible cartridges both in shops and online for around £3-4 per cartridge and you can also get significant discounts when buying in bulk.
And so, with the printer out of the box, I set about connecting it to my computer. It was at this point that I realised there was a bit of a snag!
The printer is not supplied with a USB cable, and not having a spare one at home I had to go back out down the shop and spend another £17 on a USB cable before I could connect the printer up. Having finally got back from fetching the USB cable, it was time for the fun to begin. In fact the R220 is extremely easy to set up and install. Just plug the USB cable into the printer and PC and bung in the supplied driver software and follow the on screen instructions.
Another remarkable idea that Epson have come up with for this printer is a USB socket on the front of the printer, in addition to the standard one on the back. This makes it quick and simple to also plug a laptop into the printer as well from the front.
The first thing I attempted to print on my new printer was a CD. I followed all the instructions, designed my CD using the software supplied with the printer and sent it to the printer.
Disappointment!
The CD had printed but the ink wouldnt stay on the CD and kept coming off all over my bed and clothes and paperwork. I left it on the side but even after a couple of days the ink had not dried. I since discovered that the CD's must be printable media. i.e. have a kind of Matte finish on the surface to enable the ink to settle and dry. So to put this to the test I bought a sppol of printable CD's. Having gone to all this trouble, I was astounded at the results. The CD's looked so professional it could have been one I bought from the shop pre-printed. It was amazing. The graphics quality is excellent and far superior to any print quality I have seen before. The only downside to the print quality is if you are printing just plain text. Although the quality is good I wouldnt have said it was amazing or exceptional.
If you want to print professional looking documents I would always recommend that you use genuine cartridges and photo quality media. Unfortunately photo quality media tends to be expensive but if you are looking for professionalism then it is definitely worth it.
The paper input tray goes up the back of the printer and has a handy little dust cover which folds down when the printer is not in use. They tray can hold up to 120 sheets of plain paper or 20 sheets of photo paper.
The output tray is pretty standard and comes out of the front of the printer,a gain with a handy dust cover that folds up when the printer is not in use. This can hold around 30 sheets of plain paper.
Borderless printing is something which has come on in leaps and bounds in recent years, and this is the ability to print right up to the edge of the paper. The Epson Stylus R220 does this with ease in sizes from 4x6 inches to 8x10 inches.
The print resolution of the R220 is up to 5,760 x 1,440 dpi and in general the output quality is excellent to exceptional apart from when printing text where I would describe the quality as average to excellent, dependent on the document.
The only added extra that I think this printer would have benefited from is an LCD display. I think this would have finished off the look of the printer superbly.
Included in the box are six ink cartridges, which are black, cyan, magenta, yellow, light cyan and light magenta. A CD printing tray, documentation for the printer and a CD-ROM. The CD contains a user guide for the printer, the printer drivers, Epson PrintCD software for printing on CD's and DVD's, and ArcSoft PhotoImpression 5, a basic image editing tool that can also create photo calendars, albums, and slideshows.
Overall I would absolutely definitely recommend this printer to anyone who is looking for a professional look to there documents with very little hassle and relatively cheap. But do remember that you will need to buy a separate USB cable for the printer.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Advantages: Cheap photo printer. Excellent photo quality. Prints CDs Disadvantages: Cartridges are pricey and you need 6 but you only need to replace one at a time
Advantages: excellent quality - perfect printing on most media including glossy Disadvantages: too expensive (priced the same as individuals) no savings for buying bulk
exceptional by (10%):
very helpful by (90%):
