Epson Stylus SX425 Ink Review

On the market for £60, Epson's Stylus SX425 wireless MFP costs less than many single-function inkjets. It makes absolutely no claims of business-grade speeds nor professional-standard picture printing but rather is designed to deliver an all-round balance of overall performance as well as value. The MFP has a 1,200x2, 400dpi scanner, good memory card support and even a small colour screen which allows you to - with a fair bit of button-pressing - link the printer to your wireless network and not having to initially manage its wireless configuration settings by means of USB. Because of this, getting the SX425W to speak to your Pc is virtually as effortless over WiFi as it is using USB.

The unit takes four particular ink cartridges from Epson's Fox and Apple varieties. These are filled up with pigment-based Durabite ink. This pigmented ink may possibly not have the flawlessly precise colouration connected with the Claria inks used by Epson's more photo-oriented printers, but it's vibrant, resilient and also not too expensive. We definitely advocate purchasing the highest-yield inks the printer can deal with. In this instance, this is the Apple series, which will set you back approximately £10 per cartridge, producing page costs of 5.6p with regard to colour as well as 2.3p for black ink. That adds up to 7.9p for each mixed-colour page, and this isn't bad for a low-cost MFP. A 6x4in picture on Epson's Premium Glossy paper costs around 28p.

Print quality is certainly fine, also. It experiences the typical Epson consumer inkjet predicament of ghostly-pale draft text, but we were completely satisfied with both the good quality of the mono letters its Text setting produced and also the reproduction of the colour business documents with Text & Graphics mode. Mono text was dark, with clean edges to the letters, while the colour graphs and illustrations were beautifully clear and vivid.

We were additionally happily surprised by the good quality of the SX425W's photos. Traditionally, pigmented ink does not generate the greatest photos and may be susceptible to a reflective effect referred to as bronzing. In this case, colours were precise and also realistic, and contrast was outstanding on even the extremely tough photos. Black tones, when using the Epson Stylus SX425 ink cartridges were beautifully dark and even white areas suffered exclusively from a practically imperceptible magenta touch. Epson's Premium Glossy photo paper was reflective, but there were not any kind of unusual tints on it.

Scan quality turned out to be of the high standard we have come to count on from the CIS scanners utilised even in Epson's less costly MFPs. The resolution of 1,200x2, 400dpi is undoubtedly suitable for the majority of home users, although you may want a specialist higher-resolution scanner if you're archiving family pictures or records for posterity. Both photo as well as document scans were well-defined and very correctly coloured. Copy quality is equally suitable for both colour and mono documents.

The Stylus SX425W represents an important move in the right direction for Epson's less expensive MFPs. The print rates of speed are generally none too fast, however with top quality as well as reasonable print expenses it is worthwhile buying. It is a Budget Buy and, amazingly, still worth possessing in the event the price goes up a bit.

Epson Stylus SX425 ink cartridges can be found here.