Epsonâ

A good printer for the price that can also print on your CDs and DVDs.
Note, at the time of posting this, this printer was not yet announced
for the US market, so no US pricing is available. Check with the local
Epson web site www.epson.com some time later to see when it is
announced for North America.

One of the latest Epson printers is the R230.  This printer uses
six individual ink cartridges and Epson’s new HQ dye based color ink
for brighter images. Using Epson’s Variable Sized Droplet Technology
(VSDT) to deliver ink droplets down to 3pl (picolitres), the Epson
Stylus Photo R230 can produce borderless photographs up to A4 (Letter)
size at a resolution of up to 5760 optimized dpi (dots per inch).

The Stylus Photo R230 uses Epson’s new HQ dye ink with enhanced
longevity in six individual ink cartridges (Cyan, Light Cyan, Yellow,
Magenta, Light Magenta and Black) for more realistic colors. On Epson’s
photo papers the HQ ink is rated at a 22 year life while a 36 year life
is possible when teamed with Epson’s ColorLife Photo Paper or their
Semigloss Scrapbook Photo Paper. With individual ink cartridges the
Stylus Photo R230 provides economical printing, as only used cartridges
need to be replaced.

The R230 has claimed print speeds of 15 ppm (A4 pages per minute) in
both color and monochrome and BorderFree print speed of 57 seconds (6×4
print on 720dpi) – a 20% increase from the previous model. In actual
testing the R230 took 4 minutes and 6 seconds to print an 11″x7.5″
photo on glossy paper in quality mode. CD printing took 2 minutes and
37 seconds.

The Stylus Photo R230 prints directly onto compatible CDs and DVDs for
professional looking, easy to organise home videos or photo albums. The
Stylus Photo R230 also prints iron on transfers and can create fun
photo stickers.

Bundled with the Stylus Photo R230 is Epson Creativity Suite, so users
can be creative and have fun with home printing. Epson Creativity Suite
includes Epson File Manager, Scan Assist, Attach to Email, Web to Page
and Send to Web.

This is not a fast printer. Both plain paper and photo printing are not
at all fast in reality. Print quality is great, though. Colors are spot
on out of the box and the dots are small. I can pick no difference from
that of the R350, reviewed elsewhere on the site.
CD/DVD printing works well. There is some slop in the positioning of the CD/DVD transport tray in
its guides, but this can be adjusted out. Out of the box the R230 mis-aligned the print circle a bit (about 1mm).

The Epson Stylus Photo R230 is $199 RRP (including GST) in Australia
and is available for purchase at consumer electronics retailers,
computer superstores, mass merchandisers, office superstores and
selected photo specialty stores. It has not yet been released in most
other countries.

With the above qualifications, this is a very good printer for the
price. It works well, has great print quality and a lot of flexibility.
How does it stack against the competition? Well both Canon and HP have
faster printers at the same price point with comparable print quality.
The equivalent Canon (the Pixma iP6210D) offers a longer print life and
faster printing. Which would I buy? Probably the Canon. The R230 is
definitely worth a look though when available in your country.
Personally, I feel that the Epson models only really offer a clear
advantage when you get up the range a bit, certainly into the models
with pigment inks, but possibly also with models like the R350.

For full product specifications on this and other Epson products please refer to <http://www.epson.com.au>.

PRODUCT NAME

STYLUS PHOTO R230

PRODUCT CODE

C11C626091

PRINTING METHOD

On-demand Inkjet (piezoelectric)

NOZZLE CONFIGURATION

6 x 90 nozzles (Black, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Light Cyan, Light Magenta)

PRINT DIRECTION

Bi-Directional with logic seeking

PRINT SPEED

BLACK TEXT (MEMO) A4

Approx. 15 PPM (Economy) *1

COLOUR TEXT (MEMO) A4

Approx. 15 PPM (Economy) *2

PHOTO 4″ x 6″

57# sec per photo *3

“Second” rating refers to the time taken to print one page. “ppm”
rating refers to the number of pages printed in one minute. The
computer environment we test under is as follows: CPU: 1GHZ Pentium
III; RAM: 128MB; OS: Windows ME; Interface/Connectivity: USB

# When printed on Epson Premium Glossy Photo Paper

RESOLUTION

5760 Optimised dpi using Resolution Performance Management (RPM) Technology

PAPER HANDLING

PAPER FEED METHOD

Friction feed with Paper Feeder

PAPER SIZES

A4, A5, B5, 4″ x 6″, 5″ x 7″

Envelopes (No. 10, DL, C6, 123 x 220mm), Executive, Half Letter.

INTERFACES

USB 1.1 Ports Front & Rear

OPERATING SYTEMS

PRINTER DRIVERS

Mac® OS X 10.2:4 or later

Microsoft® Windows® 98 / 2000 / Me / XP / XP 64-bit

PRINTER SOFTWARE (AVAILABLE ON CD-ROM ONLY)

PRINTER DRIVERS

ON-LINE GUIDE

Epson Creativity Suite

Epson PRINT Image Framer

Epson PRINT Image Framer Designer

Epson Easy Photo Print

Epson Web to Page

Epson Print CD

COLOUR MATCHING

Epson Colour Management System included in Windows® and Mac® drivers:

 

Windows® ICM (Windows® 95/98/Me/2000/XP)

Apple® ColorSync 2.0 compatible

SRGB (Windows® 98/Me/2000/XP)

WARRANTY

 

12 months return to base

 

Optional Additional 2 Year Warranty

3YWR230

 

Epson Warranty

ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS (OPERATING)

TEMPERATURE

10 ~ 35°C

HUMIDITY

20 ~ 80% RH

ELECTRICAL SPECIFICATIONS

RATED VOLTAGE

AC 220 ~ 240V

RATED FREQUENCY

50 ~ 60 Hz

POWER CONSUMPTION

12W (ISO10561 Letter Pattern)

DIMENSIONS

W462 x D297 x H474mm

WEIGHT

5.2kg

INK CARTRIDGES

BLACK INK

Black (T0491)

COLOUR INK

Cyan (T0492), Magenta (T0493), Yellow (T0494), Light Cyan (T0495), Light Magenta (T0496)

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