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Digital Photography Now Printer Reviews

Printer review: Epson Stylus 810 Photo

20th February - 2002
By Ian Burley

Epson’s Stylus 810 Photo, at just £89 + VAT, has a tempting price, but are there hidden costs?

Introduction

The Epson Stylus 810 Photo (Also called the 820 in some markets) has a considerable act to follow. Its selling price of under £90 (excluding VAT) is remarkable. So are there any catches?

Strong reputation

Epson has established a strong reputation with its Stylus 79x, 87x, 89x and 12xx-series photo ink-jet printers. Our experience of these printers is that they are capable of high quality photorealistic results out of the box when used with Epson’s own Premium Glossy Photo paper and Heavyweight Matte paper.

Running costs (click here for feature on ink-jet running costs) using Epson ink and media are very competitive with rival make printers using branded ink and paper.

In the last year, Epson’s Stylus Photo 895 has, in particular, been a star in the ink-jet photo printing sector. It has been steadily reduced in price and is unrivalled in affordability considering it includes the capability of PC-less printing from memory cards.

But for around a third less, you can opt for the newer Stylus 810 Photo.

Few frills

The budget-priced 810 has few frills. Compared to the 895, you don’t get the utility of a memory card reader nor a roll paper facility. However, borderless printing and Epson’s Print Image Matching (PIM) system are featured.

Like the 895, the 810 is a Perfect Picture Imaging System printer. This means it exploits Epson’s latest photo ink-jet printing technologies, from a 240 nozzle micropiezo print head, light cyan and magenta ‘photo’ inks, to AcuPhoto half toning and quick drying inks used in conjunction with matching photo papers.

Our tests do reveal where Epson’s cost cutting shows through, but does that mean the 810 isn’t a good photo printer? Not at all…

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