Epson Stylus SX425 Review

Now available for £60, Epson's Stylus SX425 wireless MFP costs less than many single-function inkjets. It makes absolutely no claims of business-grade speeds or even professional-standard picture printing but rather is designed to offer an all-round balance of general performance and value. The MFP includes a 1,200x2, 400dpi scanner, good memory card support and also a tiny colour screen that enables you to - with a fair bit of button-pressing - link the unit to your wireless network and not having to first of all arrange its wireless configurations by means of USB. For this reason, getting the SX425W to speak to your Pc is virtually as easy through WiFi as it is with USB.

The machine takes four unique ink cartridges from Epson's Fox or Apple ranges. These are filled up with pigment-based Durabite ink. This pigmented ink might not have the flawlessly precise colouration associated with the Claria inks used by Epson's more photo-oriented models, however it is vivid, long lasting as well as comparatively cheap. We invariably recommend getting the highest-yield inks your machine can handle. In this instance, that is the Apple variety, which costs just over £10 per cartridge, generating 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 really bad for a low-cost MFP. A 6x4in picture on Epson's Premium Glossy paper will set you back about 28p.

Print quality is certainly good, too. It experiences the normal Epson consumer inkjet predicament of ghostly-pale draft text, but we were completely happy with the quality of the mono letters its Text option produced and with the reproduction of the colour business documents with Text & Graphics mode. Mono text ended up being dark, with sharp edges to the letters, whilst the colour graphs and illustrations ended up being wonderfully clear and vibrant.

We were likewise pleasantly surprised by the quality of the SX425W's pictures. Typically, pigmented ink does not create the very best pictures and can be susceptible to a reflective effect referred to as bronzing. With this, colours were precise as well as realistic, while contrast was superb on even the more tough images. Black tones, while using the Epson Stylus SX425 ink cartridges were perfectly dark and even white regions suffered solely from a virtually imperceptible magenta touch. Epson's Premium Glossy photo paper was reflective, yet there weren't any kind of unusual tints on it.

Scan quality turned out to be of the great standard we have come to expect from the CIS scanners made use of even in Epson's cheaper MFPs. The resolution of 1,200x2, 400dpi is unquestionably sufficiently good for most home users, despite the fact that you might want a specialist higher-resolution scanner if you are archiving family photos or records for posterity. Both photo as well as document scans were sharp and very precisely coloured. Copy quality is also suitable for both colour and also mono documents.

The Stylus SX425W is an impressive move in the right direction for Epson's less expensive MFPs. The printing speeds tend to be none too quick, although with superior quality and also fair print expenses it is worthwhile buying. It's actually a Budget Buy and, incredibly, still worth having should the price tag goes up a bit.

Epson Stylus SX425 printer ink cartridges are available here.