Epson Stylus SX415

19. Feb, 2010 0 Comments

The SX415 is one of the latest multi-function printers to come out of Epson HQ and it’s certainly very reasonably priced, but how does it perform under testing? We sent one of our agents into the firing line to bring you a full report.

The Good

On first look the Epson Stylus SX415 presents itself well, with a shiny black plastic finish and sleek lines and 2.5 inch LCD screen it certainly appears stylish and modern.

Setting the SX415 up was a breeze, just pop the supplied installation CD into your computer and it hand holds you the rest of the way, we were up and running very quickly. Installing the ink cartridges was also a pain free experience, this model features four seperate colour ink tanks each using Epson’s excellent DURABrite ink.

This printer is capable of 5760 x 1440dpi printing using Epson’s Resolution Performance Management and comes equipped with various printing modes. Printing performance was on the whole very good, we printed out several full pages of text and it notched up a time of 4.1ppm and the quality was very presentable for an inkjet. Moving on to photo mode and it produced our pages of text at 1.8ppm but it gave the text more definition and sharpness, overall we were impressed with the SX415’s text output.

It worked beautifully on colour images as well, completely disregarding the fastest printing mode we went straight in and tested with the medium mode and it managed to knock out a vibrant reproduction at a good 3.2ppm, the images were suffused with colkourand consistantly without any sign of banding. Even when printing onto a glossy medium in photo mode it produced a decent rate of 1.5ppm and the print quality was even better.

We also managed some great results from using the built in 1200 x 2400 dpi scanner, after playing with a few of the settings we were soon able to do a full colour photocopy in 30 seconds, with reproduction quality being of a very reasonable standard.

The memory card support is vast, covering pretty much the full range, from Memory Stick to SD to xD-Picture as well as a PictBridge port, it really does have all the bases covered in this respect.

The Bad

Some may consider the Epson Stylus SX415 to be a little nosier while printing than some other models available today, but we didn’t find it too distracting. Also the buttons on the unit feel as though they are made of a cheaper plastic although it doesn’t affect the look of the printer and they do work as intended.

Conclusion

The Epson Stylus SX415 is an excellent all rounder with a lot of features, it stands up very well against it’s peers and is a bargain price. If you are looking for a multi-function printer for your home or small office then you won’t go far wrong with this one, plus Epson ink cartridges are a darn sight cheaper than most of it’s rivals!