Jack of all trades...master of...? (Epson Stylus Colour 680)

Member Name: harryuk106

Product:	Epson Stylus Colour 680
Date:	16/12/00 (394 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Versatile, good value, good output

Disadvantages: Not excellent output, not fast

Having bought this now pretty old printer fundamentally due to its price, I have been really impressed with the actual quality.

Printing in 'Econofast', '360dpi', '700dpi' or even '1400dpi', this printer is certainly very versatile. The top resolution, 1400dpi is greater than that of many more expensive models currently available, and is excellent for printing off photos etc. Having said that, sometimes the detail is a bit muddy, so for someone wanting to use it purely for high-res graphics a higher specification printer would be better.

Speed is moderate - obviously with the photo-quality setting taking quite a while to print off anything. The actual design is pretty basic and intuitive - facilties for envelopes, differing sizes of paper up to A4. It's quite a compact printer, although not particularly good-looking. If it hasn't been used for a while it can decide to clean it's print-heads which can take a time. The two cartridges, black and colour, are easily installed and widely available, and the Printer Drive program lets you know when you're running low.

Although the Printer Driver is fine, the Help Program is incredibly irritating. Taking on a totally irelevant and obscure Jungle theme, you have to wait for example for a Monkey to swing across the screen before you can click on a certain question. The information is useful once you get to it, but loud Lion noises, and slow cartoon graphics are just pointless and are not the sort of thing to calm you down when you're printer's just done something it shouldn't.

However, all in all this is a great little budget printer. It's wide range of functions means it's ideal for general non-specific home use - ideally for printing off text, the occasional graphic and photo etc. Yes, you will find better, sleaker, quieter, faster, cooler printers, but not for anything like this price.

Summary: