Epson Stylus C80

The Epson Stylus C80 is aimed at both small businesses and users who dislike having to wait too long for printouts. It shares many features with the more graphics-specific Stylus Photo models, so will suit those who need a fast, colour printing solution for small runs.

The printer is quite bulky at 452 by 320 by 201mm, without the paper tray or 150-page sheet feeder extended, and uses the L-shaped paper path common to inkjet printers. This allows it to handle acetate, photo film, envelopes and plain bond stock up to 90gsm and A4 in size.

The Stylus C80 is a standard four-colour machine. However, it has the advantage of separate cartridges for each colour, which can be individually replaced. The print capacity of these is quoted at 870 pages for the black cartridge and 420 for the colours (five per cent coverage of each colour at 360dpi).

The cartridges are filled with Epson's pigment-based inks and are fitted with its 'Intellidge' chip, which records the amount of ink used for an accurate display of the remaining quantity.

For print quality, the C80 is difficult to fault. It offers a maximum setting of 2,880 x 720dpi with options for edge smoothing and microweave, as well as a lowest droplet size of three picolitres. Black text is crisp and colours are excellent, although we did notice slight banding on solid colour test prints.

Colour management settings incorporate standard Image Colour Matching, sRGB profiles and Epson's PhotoEnhance4, which now includes a digital camera correction option to help smooth out pixellation.

The key advantage of this printer is its speed. Epson cites a figure of 20ppm (for monochrome), making it one of the fastest inkjet printers available. An enlarged 256Kb internal print buffer also helps.

Printable area is impressive, with a smallest margin of 3mm from the paper edges at its maximum setting.

It's not without its irritations, though. If one ink cartridge runs dry, you'll have to replace it before you can continue. There's no sensor to tell the printer the paper collection tray isn't down, which can cause paper jams, and the high price tag doesn't include a USB or parallel cable.

Contact: Epson 08702 416 900
www.epson.co.uk

See also:

Canon S750

A 'photo-quality' inkjet printer at a fair price.  04 Jul 2002

Epson Aculaser C1000

A fast and simple to use printer at a great price  27 Mar 2002

Epson Stylus C80

A pigment ink printer put through its paces.  20 Mar 2002

Kodak Picture Maker 200

Print your own photos without a PC. This printer will even let you view, edit and caption images on its built-in screen.  27 Feb 2002

HP Photosmart 1218

A versatile printer to do your photos justice.  19 Feb 2002

HP Deskjet 960C

A new inkjet printer for the discerning home user.  18 Feb 2002

Epson Stylus C80

High-quality, large-volume printing with a big price to match.  13 Feb 2002

Canon S300 and D646U bundle

A sleek and well-priced scanner and printer bundle.  07 Feb 2002

Epson Stylus C20UX

Epson launches its budget option printer for home users.  30 Jan 2002

Like this story? Spread the news by clicking below:

 del.icio.us     Digg this     reddit!