Epson Stylus CX6600 review

This satisfyingly rotund multifunction device isn't as compact as the HP and Lexmark but still saves quite a bit of room compared to a separate printer and scanner.

There's a collection of card slots which, unusually, includes xD Picture Card slot. The front panel controls are the best here, offering greater control than the HP and Lexmark but without the confusing menu system of the Canon. Epson still relies on menus and function keys, but it's relatively easy to get to grips with.

Installation was a little tedious. The CX6600 got a bit upset because we loaded it with paper before inserting the ink cartridges, leaving the empty cartridge holders to chug aimlessly back and forth for a couple of minutes before settling down and waiting to be loaded with ink. Bizarrely, the USB socket is located inside the device - you have to open the thing right up and feed the cable along a groove that runs through the inside of the device. It's as if the CX6600 is a bit embarrassed to be associated with a computer.

Admittedly, it manages pretty well without a PC. The four copy quality settings take from 19 to 140 seconds per page, and all but the Draft setting give good results. The Best setting looks excellent, either in monochrome or colour. You can print an index sheet from a digital camera memory card, tick the photos you want to print and the paper type you're using, scan the index sheet and leave the CX6600 to print them out. You can even scan directly to a memory card.

Photo prints were slow at 6 minutes 34 seconds for an A4 print, and quality wasn't as good as we'd hoped for. Prints looked reasonably smooth on photo paper, but when printing from Photoshop colours were rather dreary. Surprisingly, printing the same image from Epson's own photo printing software gave better results. However, all photo prints suffered from faint dotted white lines across dark areas, caused by the serrated rollers Epson uses to feed the paper. It's only just noticeable, but once you've spotted it you can't help noticing it on every photo you print. Text printing is disappointing too - it's not as dark or as smooth as the HP's and Canon's output.

The CX6600's scanner is quite the opposite, producing the best quality scans here in the fastest times. The only problem we could find in any of our test scans was a little more image noise in the background of one image, while sharpness at 2,400dpi was way beyond the competition. A choice of Full Auto, Home or Professional TWAIN driver modes and some neat timesaving tricks ensure the scanner is a treat to use.

A friendly, versatile copy function and an excellent scanner aren't bad going for £128, but the card slots are rather redundant in the light of flawed, slow photo prints. Text printing could be better too. With this much going for it - good controls, copy quality, decent prints and the best scans on test - the CX6600 almost got an award. It's a shame that the photo print speed and quality pulls its overall score down.