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)