iPhone 3GS from AT&T. Free Shipping
CNET editors' review
- CNET editors' rating: stars Excellent
Detailed editors' rating
- Reviewed on: 05/17/2001
Balancing act
The $249 Stylus Photo 875EPX is a midpriced photo inkjet--about $50 more than the Kodak Personal Picture Maker 200 and about $150 less than the Hewlett-Packard PhotoSmart 1215. Yet all three printers share major features, such as memory slots for printing directly from your digital camera's memory card and small displays that let you perform some printing and photo-management functions. What the Stylus Color Photo 785EPX has that its competitors don't is the best balance of speed, output quality, and price.
The Stylus Photo 785EPX is compact, measuring just 18.4 by 10.1 by 8.4 inches out of the box. Count on needing an extra 6 inches above and in front of the printer, however, once the paper trays are extended. The printer also has a sleeker, industrial look compared to that of recent Epson inkjets, with a rounded body and cool blue-gray colors. But one hereditary characteristic couldn't be hidden: that Epson's printer noisiness, which seemed particularly amplified on the Stylus Photo 785EPX, especially during the printhead alignment.
The printer's built-in Type II PC Card slot can handle the memory cards used by most popular digital cameras. A CompactFlash Type I adapter is included with the printer, along with a coupon for a SmartMedia or Memory Stick adapter. Simply send Epson the coupon and the CompactFlash adapter, and you'll receive the one you want, postage paid. The Stylus Photo 785EPX also supports IBM and Secure Digital memory cards; however, you must buy an adapter for those cards. The HP PhotoSmart 1215 offers more slot options in its standard configuration but for a much higher price.
Fun with photos
To use the Stylus Photo 785EPX as an everyday inkjet would be a waste of its prodigious photo-printing powers. Once you insert your camera's memory card into the printer's Type II slot, the printer lists the photos on the card via its generously sized, 2.25-by-1.75-inch LCD panel. You can't view photos on the LCD panel, as you can with the Kodak Personal Picture Maker 200; for that, you'll need Epson's $99 preview monitor. However, you can print a thumbnail index for reference. The Stylus Photo 785EPX also allows you to change various settings via the front panel; images can be brightened, darkened, color-balanced, or sharpened. You can even turn a color photograph into a monochrome image or apply sepia tones, all without turning on a computer.
Hook me up
The front-panel features on the Stylus Photo 785EPX work fine, but for finer touch-ups and a much bigger view of your shots, you should connect the printer to your PC. Installation takes only a few minutes using the easy-to-follow Start Here poster. The CD-ROM includes drivers for Windows 98, 2000, and Me and Mac OS 8.5.1 or later. (Note: The printer connects solely via USB, and you must provide your own cable.) The CD-ROM also includes two image-editing packages: Epson's Film Factory and ArcSoft's PhotoImpression. For users who can't afford Adobe's standard-setting Photoshop program, Film Factory is an adequate image-organizing program, but as a photo-enhancement package, it's pretty limited. We found Arcsoft PhotoImpression even less impressive. Continue reading
Most helpful user reviews
- Average user rating: 2.0 stars out of 14 reviews
- My rating: 0 stars Write review
-
Showing 3 of 14 user reviews
-
1 out of 1 people found this helpful
"Good prints for both text and photos at the right settings"
- See all 14 user reviews Write review
Submit your review
Where to buy
Epson Stylus Photo 785EPX: $150.00 | store | price | in stock? | rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon.com Marketplace | $150.00 | Yes |  |
