The latest addition to Epson's range of home inkjet printers is a little on the bulky side, but is fast and produces excellent photo prints for well under £100.
The Stylus Photo R265 measures a somewhat rotund 45cm wide, 41cm high and 21cm deep, so you'll need a fair amount of desk or shelf space to make room for it.
However, the R265 can pump out an A4 page of plain text in just 18 seconds. An A4 photo print takes 90 seconds, while a 6x4in postcard takes 45 seconds using the printer's highest quality settings.
Setting the printer up is very straightforward - apart from the slightly annoying fact that Epson doesn't include a USB cable with the printer, so you'll need to have one spare or buy one separately.
The R265 can print from Pictbridge-compatible cameras and through USB Direct Print but has no LCD screen or memory card slots.
The photo print quality really is impressive, though. It may cost £90, but the R265, which uses six ink cartidges, boasts high-resolution printing at 5,760x1,440 dpi. Photos are finely detailed, with bright, rich colours even when using cheap photocopier paper. And, as you'd expect, results are even better when you use more expensive glossy paper.
We printed a number of 6x4in postcards (costing about 15p per sheet) and it was difficult to tell them apart from conventional photo prints.
Ironically, our only criticism is of the R265's simple monochrome text output. The printer's high resolution ensures that text is smooth and detailed, but the ink colour doesn't look like 'pure' black. There's a slightly blue-grey cast to the text that definitely leaves room for improvement.
Still, as the name implies, the Stylus Photo range is designed primarily for printing photos, and on that score it performs very well. Its photo quality is excellent for a printer costing less than £100. Also, it costs under £38 to replace all six ink cartridges, which is comparatively good.
However, it's probably not the best choice for people who need a more conventional office printer for letters and other text-based documents.
Also consider
Canon Pixma iP6220D
Overall: The Canon Pixma iP6220D is an inexpensive photo printer which produces
high-quality prints, though slowly.
Rating: 4
Price: £70
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