Epson Stylus Color 900 (Epson Stylus Color 900)

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Product:	Epson Stylus Color 900
Date:	01/07/00 (77 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: The fastest ink jet in the bunch; excellent coated paper output.

Disadvantages: So-so plain-paper output

Thought ink jet printers couldn't print fast? If so, then you haven't seen the Epson Stylus Color 900. Not only did this printer clock the fastest speeds of all sub-$500 ink jets we've tested, but it also produced knockout output using Epson's Photo Quality Ink Jet Paper (12 cents per sheet).
Blazingly Fast and Cheap to Operate
At $449, the Epson 900 is one of the larger, more expensive printers in the bunch, but its long-term printing costs may make the price worth it. Costs per page were very competitive, coming in at 7 cents for text and just 22 cents for color.

Clocking an amazing 6.5 pages per minute (ppm) via the included USB connection, the Epson 900 is in a class by itself. Even with the slower parallel connection, the 900's 6 ppm on our speed tests kept it well ahead of the pack. The closest competitor we've found is the Canon BJC-6000, which achieved just 4.9 ppm.

Good Coated-Paper Output
Think speed means you won't like the output? Not even. In fact, our jury ranked the Epson 900's coated-paper text number one. The letters were dark, crisp, and well formed--you'd be proud to print your resume from this printer. Unfortunately, the quality isn't quite as good with plain paper, rating just fair. The letters were definitely overabsorbed and generally fuzzy. Plain-paper graphics output suffered a similar fate, with lines that weren't overly sharp and had noticeable dithering in some colors and photographs. Pop in the coated paper, however, and you'll be impressed: the Epson 900 ranked second behind the Epson Stylus Photo 750. The 900's photographs were so smooth and its colors so sharp and vibrant that you'd think it was a dye-sublimation printer.

Multiple Connectivity Options
The Epson 900 is versatile, too, shipping with a parallel, USB, and Mac-compatible serial interface. You can also purchase a $299 network interface for printer sharing. Or,
you can opt for the network-equipped $649 Epson Stylus Color 900N.

Though we like most everything about this printer, we did find that changing the ink cartridges was nowhere near as easy as it was with the Lexmark Z51, which has cartridges that slide into place the moment you lift the cover. The Epson forces you to press a series of buttons and wait while the cartridges clunk and churn and only eventually slide into a position that allows you to replace them.

Though the Stylus Color 900's price stands out, so does its print speed and great-looking output. It's also one of the few ink jets that is actually fast enough to consider networking--which is much cheaper than putting a printer on every desk.

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