All posts in Printer Reviews

Epson Stylus S22 Printer with Individual Ink Technology ReviewThe Epson Stylus S22 printer is a great value printer, which RRP’s at around £20-£25 depending on where you get it from.  It’s cheap as it does just what it says – printing – but has no other functions that can be used such as scan and copy.  Setting this printer up was very easy to do, however it doesn’t come with a USB cable so that is something to bear in mind.  The size and weight of the printer is very good, its small and compact whilst also being lightweight, meaning you can put it away when not in use if you are limited for space.

This Epson Stylus S22 printer prints both black and white and colour documents, and for the price the print quality is very good, even for photo prints and colour print outs.   One thing to note with this printer is that it does seem to use ink very quickly, meaning that if you like to print out colour documents regularly this may not be the best printer for you.  However, if you are mainly going to be printing out black and white documents and printing colour only occasionally this should be fine for your needs.  The Epson Stylus S22 ink cartridges are also reasonably priced which makes the quick use of ink a little bit easier to cope with.

I think this printer is fine for home use, particularly if you are just needing to print standard black and white documents every now and then.  However, if you were thinking of using this printer for printing photos, power points or anything that uses a lot of colour, this printer will not be the most economical for your needs.  Final comment would be that for a cheap, standard printer that does produce quality print outs and is jsut needed for normal use this printer is a good option.

Kodak ESP7250 Wi-Fi and Network Ready All-In-One Inkjet Printer ReviewWhen looking at this printer on Amazon the first thing I noticed was the number of reviews it had and how varied they are.  T put into context the printer has been rated in all star categories by different customers – with the number of reviews marked as 1 star and the number marked as 5 star very similar, i.e. 24 people have given this printer 5 stars whilst 23 have given it 1 star.   Why are the reviews so varied?  My testing of this printer aims to find that out.

Okay so starting with the negative reviews, many people state that the documents printed from this machine are coming out blotchy and that paper jams are a common occurence – up to now I have not yet experienced any of these.  The negative reviews state that photo printing is not very good either, whilst those who have wrote good reviews rave about the photo printing stating it is excellent and that the prints are high quality even when Kodak photo paper is not used.  Again, I have to agree with those that say that the photo printing is very good, all Kodak printers are well known for the photo prints they produce and I have to say that this model is no exception, all prints have been clear and of very good quality.   The Kodak ESP 7250 Ink Cartridges are also good value for money, which enables you to reduce your printing costs by running off the same ink cartridges for longer.

So, my view of the printer is a good one, and here are some more positive features of the model.   The printer is nice and compact and looks like a good bit of equipment, duplex printing is an added feature on the model, there is a clear display screen which tells you how much ink and paper is in the printer and also displays the wi-fi signal and the process of connecting the printer wirelessly is straightforward.  One negative is that it is not the cheapest of printers however it is very smart looking and is packed with features.

Brother MFC J6510DW - Multifunction Printer ReviewMy first impressions of this Brother printer are that it is quite big in size, on the plus size this means that it looks durable and like it will last, on the down side it is quite bulky and so may be a little big for home use.   However the number of features built into this printer do account for its size, it allows you to print, photocopy, fax and scan documents making it ideal for a small office environment.  As you would expect from a new, multifunction printer this model can be set up wirelessly allowing you to print from any location with ease.

The size of the printer also owes to the fact that it also allows you to print A3 as well as A4 documents, it does this with ease and the printing is both speedy and quiet.    The wi-fi is fairly easy to set up and once done it works very good – I have not experienced any problems with it up to now.  The Brother MFC-J6510DW Ink Cartridges come in the standard colours of black, cyan, magenta and yellow and they are well priced – making this printer economical to run.

The printer also allows you to do duplex printing which is great for when you need double sided prints or like to limit the pieces of paper you are using.  The print quality received from this printer is also very good; it is worth noting that when printing photos it is definitely worth investing in the correct types of photo paper – A3/A4/matte or glossy – in order to get the best prints possible.  The LCD display is very smart and easily allows you to change the relevant settings for whatever feature you are using.  One negative point to note is that the printer has only one paper tray, therefore when switching between A3 and A4 printing the paper will always have to be changed.

Review: HP Deskjet 3050 All-in-One PrinterHP are well known for the good quality printers the manufacture and for this reason they are on of the market leaders in the computer market.  This is one of their lower priced printers but still features the ability to print wireless which I think is excellent for the price.  Setting it up on a wireless network is also incredibly easy to do, you simply put the set up disk into your computer or laptop and click next through the different screens – literally only takes around five minutes.

This printer also has built in scan and photocopy functions – this really is a good all rounder for a very decent price, you could spend a lot more on a printer and only get similar features.  I think this model retails for around £40.  Wi-fi printing has worked very good for me so far, also scanning documents on the wireless network is very easy to do.  The printer comes with ink cartridges and the HP DeskJet 3050 Ink Cartridges are very reasonably priced making this printer cheap to run as well.

The HP Deskjet 3050 comes packaged well and the style of the model is very good, it is a little bit bulky but it has a nice look and wont look big and out of place in the home.  The quality from printed, scanned and photocopied documents up to now has very good – I definitely cannot complain.  The ink also seems to be lasting well I have printed around 300 pages and the cartridges have not run out as of yet.  Printing speeds are okay, a little slower when printing colour documents but this is to be expected, it is also very quiet when running – noise can sometimes be a problem with cheap printers.  This is a highly recommended, easy to use piece of equipment, great for the home!

Review: Canon Pixma ip4950 Colour PrinterThis is one of the latest printer models from Canon who are well known for producing quality printers and associated products.  I haven’t tried a canon printer for a while and so I thought I would give this one a go.  This is advertised as being an excellent colour printer and I think people opt for this model particularly for printing photos.  I think the quality and the clarity of the prints that come from this model are excellent and it is more than suitable for printing high quality photos.

The set of this printer was very easy with the instructions being simple to follow.  It comes with five colour cartridges and all of these Canon Pixma iP4950 Ink Cartridges are reasonably prices to buy replacements.  The printer itself is smart looking in a glossy black design which looks modern and sleek and would suit any office or modern home environment.  Built in is the great energy saving feature in which it automatically switches itself off when not in use, but at the same time it quickly comes back on when you do need to print again.  For printing text documents in black and white the printing speeds of this Canon Pixma ip4950 model are very fast whilst producing clear, sharp prints.

The printer comes with a duplex function allowing to print on both sides of the paper along with lots of great features.  The software included with this product is very good allowing to print on to CD’s amongst many other things.  One key benefit of the model is that if you do ever get a paper misfeed it comes up on the display screen and informs you to remove the jammed piece of paper but then it automatically reprints these missing pages which I think is a rare but useful feature on a printer.  All in all a good colour printer, where the running costs are helped by the fact that you can buy individual ink cartridges compared to having to replace them all at the same time.

HP OfficeJet 6500A e-All in one web enabled printerThis HP printer does everything that you could ever need from a printer including print, scan, copy, fax, wireless and e-print.  The set up of this was pretty easy, installation of both papers and the ink cartridges went smoothly and my computer found the printer straight away meaning the installation drivers all worked smoothly and efficiently.  The air print feature allows you to print directly from an i phone and this printer also has its own email address so you can documents from anywhere you may be to the printer where they will be waiting for you when you return home or back to the office.

The LCD display located on this printer is very good, detailing instructions on how to install ink cartridges amongst other things.  It is also very easy to use and follow for changing the different settings i.e. print size, print options etc.  This HP Office Jet printer prints in both black and white and colour and takes the standard colour cartridges of black, cyan, magenta and yellow.  The HP OfficeJet 6500A Plus Ink Cartridges are reasonably priced and the cartridges seem to last well meaning you wont have to constantly keep replacing them.

Running costs are good for this printer and it is useful to have a fax function included in the model, a good scanning function and also the ability to be able to print duplex and it does all of these jobs very efficiently.  To save electricity and energy the printer does automatically switch itself off when not in use, however sometimes it can take a while to start back up – which is a bit of a pain.  Noise wise I think the printer is makes average noise levels, its not overly quiet but I wouldn’t say the noise is a problem.  This is a good buy for those needing a variety of office functions from the one product.

Review of Brother DCP - 195C Colour Inkjet Multifunction PrinterBrother may not be the most obvious choice when it comes to purchasing a new printer – many people are loyalists to specific brands in particularly Canon, HP and Epson.  However, some of Brother’s more recent printers have given other brands a run for their money offering all in one models at much cheaper prices than their competitors brands.  Considering this is a four ink colour inkjet printer the price is very reasonable and definitely a great product on the market at the moment.

This printer looks okay – it isn’t an eye sore, which cheap printers can sometimes be and the size is good, it would fit quite happily on a medium sized desk or table.  The printer was very easy to set up with the instruction booklet being simple and clear, I followed the instructions step by step and hey presto it worked straight away.  A great feature that brings the price down for this printer is that each ink can be replaced individually, the Brother DCP-195C Ink Cartridges  are also very reasonably priced.

This Brother printer is  a great option to go for if you want a product that will do everything you will ever need i.e. print, scan and photocopy and you don’t want to spend a lot of money on either the initial cost of the printer but also the ink costs of running it.  The printer runs very quietly, noticeably quieter than other printers I have tried in the past, the printing and copying quality is also very good for such a cheap model.  There is an LCD screen on the top of the printer however it is quite small which is a bit of a negative point and it can also be quite hard to see.  Photo quality is okay and more than suitable for home or student use.

HP Photosmart 6510 e-All in one printer - ReviewThis printer is one of the latest additions from HP, offering all the functions we have come to expect from a modern day printer it has the option to print, scan, copy, print wireless and also e-print whereby you can send documents to print straight from the internet from different devices.  The model is a good size and is built with two paper trays so one for standard paper and one for photo paper.  Another great feature of the model is the option to duplex print and so gicing you the ability to print on both sides of paper.

The great thing about this printer is that it is easily compatible with Apple and Mac computers and this can be a problem with many printers – so this is an added bonus.  There are numerous document templates set up on the computer and so printing all different types of things is quick and easy – it is particularly good for printing childrens games and colouring exercises.  The HP Photosmart 6510 e-All-in-On Ink Cartridges are very good value for money, it is possible to get all 4 colour inks for around twenty pounds.

In order to use the e-print function you have to set up an account with HP which doesn’t take long at all, and then you need to create an email address which will allow you to send items through to print straight to your printer.  This then allows you to print from your phone, ipad, work, school, university – anywhere really – I think this is such a useful feature.  Changing the different settings for each function is very easy which makes doing whatever you need to do on this printer very quick and without hassle.   For what you get and the quality of this model in terms of how it is built and the quality of the prints, it is well worth investing in this printer.

Review of Brother HL2130 Mono Laser PrinterThis is a good printer from the entry level range, it is a laser printer compared to an ink jet, and this I think makes the print quality a lot better.  It is just a black and white printer and so is more than suitable for the average home use.  It is good value for money as at the moment it is cheaper than some of the ink jet printers on the market and laser printers are known to be better quality machines.  It is a good size printer about 12 inches in size and so will fit perfectly on most home desks.

The print speed for a basic printer is good, printing around 20 sheets of paper per minute, it does make a slight noise when printing but nothing major.  The set up was easy with the toner cartridges already installed in the machine so it was just a case of removing a tag and it was ready to go.  The pre-loaded drivers were installed and the printer was up and running within a couple of minutes.  You get a lot of prints out of the Brother HL2130 Toner Cartridges making this printer a good value for money purchase.

This is a good, simple black and white printer, ideal for home use for those of you want to just do basic text printing.  For the price it is built well and it comes with a toner cartridge installed which will last you a long time if you only do frequent printing.  It doesn’t come with a USB cable so bear this in mind when purchasing, however if you are replacing an old printer you should already have one of these ready to put in to this new one.  It’s cheap to run, I’ve experienced no problems with it and so I would say a great, cheap little buy.

 

Canon Pixma MG5250 All in One Colour Photo Printer ReviewAnother all in one printer offering from Canon, this printer has it all; print functions, copy and scan functions, wi-fi connection, colour printing and photo printing.  The build and style of the printer is very smart, it is a medium size – not too big, not too small, with a smooth, black finish (which is by the way a magnet for dust).  It is built with two paper trays, one at the front and one at the back, so you can have plain paper in one tray for everyday printing and have photo paper in the other, you just need to choose which one you want to use at the time of printing.

It comes with a simple step by step instruction booklet which allows for a very easy set up in no time, the wi-fi connection was also very easy to set up allowing for simple and quick printing from numerous locations.  The built in on screen display is also a very useful feature to have just in case you do experience any problems.  I have found the printing to be very quick and efficient when printing on both normal paper for producing letters and glossy paper for photos.  The Canon Pixma MG5250 Ink Cartridges are very reasonably priced and come in the four standard colours of black, cyan, magenta and yellow.

The ink cartridges also last well which makes this a cost effective option for frequent printing, the price also gives the average user the chance to be able to print good quality photos from home.  It also has the handy duplex printing as a mode on the settings so allowing for double sided printing without any messing, this again cuts costs by saving paper.  One final good point to note is that I have also tried printing on card and again this has worked really well – so an excellent printer all round.