Epson Stylus Color 850 (Epson Stylus Color 850)

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Product:	Epson Stylus Color 850
Date:	01/07/00 (7 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Competitive printing speeds, good connectivity options.

Disadvantages: Even with coated paper, we've seen better output.

If you're going to spend more than $300 on an ink jet printer, you probably have high expectations. Though the Epson Stylus Color 850 turns in brisk speeds, you can spend less money and get faster and better output.
Fast Printing, Middling Output Quality
Printing at 3.5 pages per minute (ppm), the Epson Stylus Color 850 is on a par with HP's more expensive DeskJet 895Cse. But rapid as these speeds may be, they're not even close to those of the Canon BJC-6000, which prints at 4.9 pages per minute.

Output quality is so-so on plain paper but better on Epson's coated ink jet paper (12 cents per sheet). On plain paper, characters look blurry around the edges, as if the ink had been overabsorbed--our jury rated the output fair. On ink jet paper, characters appear crisp and very black. But closer inspection revealed visibly jagged edges at standard point sizes, prompting our jury to give it a rating of just good. Graphics printed on plain paper were fair, with obvious dithering. Ink jet paper more or less took care of the problem, but there's still better output to be had elsewhere.

Low Print Costs, Mac Support
Ink cost per page is negligible: 3 cents for black--the lowest of all ink jets we've tested--and an average of 30 cents for color. The printer's drivers are simple to use and allow for sophisticated manipulations, such as adjusting color levels, saving custom settings, and using custom paper sizes. With a $329 optional interface board, the 850 is networkable. (Or you can buy the network-ready Epson Stylus Color 850N for $549.) You can also simultaneously hook the 850 up to a PC and a Mac and switch automatically between the two.

For the $349 price, we expect much better output quality from the 850 and find it hard to recommend when there are other fine choices. Lexmark's Z51, for example, delivers all-around great-looking output for less money, and you'll have to sacrifice
only a little bit of speed.

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