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Epson Expression Home XP-202
by alyson29
My husband and I have wasted a small fortune over the years where we have purchased printers that have been too costly to run due to the ink cartridges lasting for only a short space of time. I had always left the research of printers to my husband, particularly as I would describe him as computer expert. However, on each occasion he ... failed to consider the overall costs of running the printer as he did not research the costs of replacement inks.
Fortunately, printer inks have not been an issue for us for the last few years, as a previous neighbour handed us an Epson printer that he no longer required and it proved to be the best printer we had ever owned, particularly as the inks were long lasting and reasonably priced. However, a few months ago, the printer gave out a few clunks and died, so we were once again in a position to research a suitable replacement or should I say that I was in a position to look for a replacement, as I did not trust my husband to find a cost effective model.
WHAT WERE OUR REQUIREMENTS?
With a budget in mind of around £100, our first requirement was that the printer needed to be colour with a high resolution, particularly as both my husband and I are keen photographers and frequently print out photographs. In addition to finding a printer which offered reasonably priced inks, I wanted one that offered individual inks. As a result, I would only need to replace those that had run out as opposed to placing them all at a high price. Another requirement was that the printer needed to offer Wi-Fi capabilities, as whilst we own a desk top computer, it is never used with both my husband and I carrying out all of our computer tasks on our laptops.
We wanted to be able to place the printer in our upstairs study whilst sending documents to print whilst we were sat downstairs in the living room. Whilst we didn't require an all singing and all dancing printer, we wanted it to be able to copy documents without the need to switch on our laptops or desk top computer. In addition, the printer needed to be fast, as I often print out lengthy documents for work purposes. Armed with all of our requirements I set about the task of researching the best product, which I must admit, was an absolute nightmare, particularly as there are so many options available.
MAKING MY SELECTION
After a few days of researching, I discovered the Epson Home XP-202 with the specifications seeming well suited to our needs. We were keen to purchase another Epson, particularly as our previous model had served us well and other brand names had let us down miserably in the past. My husband agreed with my choice although I must admit that I would have bought it anyway, but he need never know that! We have now owned the printer for approximately three months and have had a considerable amount of use out of it and this review discusses our experience.
THE EPSON HOME XP-202
The printer is compatible with Mac OS 10.5.8 or later, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows XP x64. The Wi-Fi printer is also a copier and scanner and is considerably stylish in appearance due to its glossy black finish. It offers dimensions of 390 mm in width, 300 mm in depth and 145 mm in depth with a weight of 4.1 kg. Accompanying the printer in the sturdy cardboard box were four individual ink cartridges, which were the usual printing colours of black, cyan, yellow and magenta. In addition, we received a power cable, set up guide, CD software and the 12 month warranty document. I would point out that a USB cable is not provided. Unfortunately, there was no user guide, but in all honesty, I did not feel one was necessary as the printer is fairly straight forward, but you can easily download a copy free of charge.
SETTING UP
Setting up the printer was extremely easy although my husband insisted on doing it himself and I watched as he popped the CD software into our desk top pc and after a few minutes we were away to go. It is necessary for Windows XP users to attach the USB cable for the initial Wi-Fi set up although this can be unplugged once completed. However, as we use Windows 7, we did not need to use our USB cable.
USING THE PRINTER
I like the fact that the paper tray has a capacity for 100 standard sheets, particularly as our last printer would only accept around 30, so there's no need to refill when printing large documents. The capacity is pretty good when using photo paper as the tray will accept 20 sheets. The ink technology is by way of Epson Claria Home Ink, which is competitively priced on Amazon where a pack of four inks (black, cyan, magenta and yellow) is currently priced at £21.15 inclusive of postage and packing.
In addition, the tray will accept a multitude of different sizes of envelopes although I cannot admit to ever having tried printing on an envelope as I rarely send out letters. A problem we would previously experience is that several sheets of A4 paper would feed the printer at the same time and subsequently cause a jam. I cannot speak of any issues with the paper becoming jammed, but I am very careful when loading the paper and fan it before placing into the tray to ensure there are no sheets stuck together. Unfortunately, the printer does not offer a duplex feature, which isn't really a major problem for me although there have been a few occasions when it would have proved to be handy, particularly as it would have cut down on the number of sheets I was using.
The printing method is Epson Micro Piezo print head with a configuration of 128 nozzles for black printing and 42 nozzles for colour printing with a minimum droplet size of 3 pl. As soon as I send a document to print the printer comes into operation within seconds and is fairly quiet when in use. The printing resolution is of a high quality with 5,760 x 1,440 dpi and as a result, printing of documents and colour photographs is crisp and clear.
My husband and I print quite a few photographs with the quality offering an identical appearance as if we had taken them to a professional. The printing speed is by far the fastest when making a comparison with the other printers that we have owned at ISO Speed: 6.2 Pages/min Monochrome, 3.1 Pages/min Colour, Draft Speed: 30 Pages/min Monochrome, 15 Pages/min Colour, 54 Seconds per 10 x 15 cm photo, Normal speed: 30 Pages/min Monochrome, 15 Pages/min Color, 54 Seconds per 10 x 15 cm photo
I favour the fact that I do not have to switch my laptop on in order to scan and copy documents, as it's simply a case of placing the sheet of paper onto the glass and pressing a button where it is printed in seconds. The scan and copy operates with a resolution of 1,200 dpi x 2,400 dpi (horizontal x vertical) with the scanner type being a contact image sensor. This feature is extremely useful and saves a considerable amount of time, particularly as to carry out the same task with our previous printer entailed signing onto the computer. The speed of the scanner in relation to a black A4 sheet is 300 dpi 2.4 msec/line, 600 dpi 7.2 msec/line, in respect of A4 colour it is 300 dpi 9.5 msec/line, 600 dpi 14.3 msec/line. During the time that we have owned the printer, we have only needed to change two of the inks, which is an easy task by way of simply lifting up the upper section of the printer and pulling the old ink cartridge out and pushing in the replacement.
A LITTLE TECHNICAL INFORMATION
The printer connectivity interfaces are WiFi, USB with a high WLAN security of WEP 64 Bit, WEP 128 Bit, WPA PSK (TKIP), WPA PSK (AES). The printer is supplied by AC 100 V - 240 V,50 Hz - 60 Hz and uses 12 W (standalone copying, ISO/IEC 24712 pattern), 2.7 W (sleep mode), energy star qualified all-in-one. The Epson can offer mobile and cloud printing services although I am unable to comment on my experience with using these. Software included with the printer is Abbyy FineReader® Sprint 8.0 (MacOS), Abbyy FineReader® Sprint 9.0 (Windows), Epson Easy Photo Print and Epson Event Manager
MY RECOMMENDATION
I can highly recommend the Epson Home XP-202, as it has by far exceeded our expectations in relation to its performance and affordability when replacing the inks. This is the best printer we have ever owned and for such a low price I am surprised that we received so much for our money. In addition, we have gained more space since making our purchase as we have been able to get rid of our old scanner. This printer deserves nothing less than five stars.
PRICE AND AVAILABILITY
We paid £49.99 for our printer from Tesco, but at the time of writing, both Currys and Amazon are selling this model for £39.99, which represents excellent value for money.
I hope you found my review useful and thanks for reading.
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