Epson Stylus DX7000F review

At first glance, Epson's DX7000F looks like great value. An all-in-one printer, scanner, copier and fax machine with a specification list that promises fast, high-quality prints and pristine copies, for £120. Sadly, all is not what it seems.

Let's start with the good news. In addition to the scanner, printer and fax modem, there's a memory card reader that supports all the major formats and XD. There's also a USB socket, which allows you to print directly from a PictBridge-compatible digital camera. The fax has an auto-answer facility and can store up to 60 addresses, and the software bundle includes, in addition to Epson's own suite of applications, ABBY Fine Reader OCR software.

The DuraBrite Ultra Ink used comes in four separate tanks, and each can be replaced for a very reasonable £6.99. There are a number of omissions, as you would expect in an all-in-one at this price. There's no colour LCD for previewing images, no automatic document feeder on the scanner, and only one paper input tray. And the DX7000F connects to your Mac using USB 2 - there's no Ethernet or wireless option. However, none of these are serious, given the price.

More serious is the build quality of the device. It feels distinctly flimsy, particularly the scanner lid and door to the memory reader compartment. In contrast, the control buttons on the DX7000F's surface are stubbornly sturdy, to the extent that you have to press down hard to activate them.

Setting up the DX7000F is a straightforward but lengthy process. The Easy Install process dumps 1917 items onto your hard disk and the whole thing takes upwards of five minutes, with 12 mouse clicks, six authentications and five licence agreements along the way.

Performance was mixed. Colour copying an A4 sheet onto plain paper was speedy and the results pleasingly punchy and very accurate. However, printing a 6 x 4in photo from an SD card took three minutes, and the results were grainy and underwhelming. The print was tacky for several seconds after output, while text quality, too, left something to be desired. At Fine quality, with High Speed printing turned on, a single A4 page took 60 seconds to land in the output tray. Examination of the text showed that it displayed a high level of bleed into the paper and smudged easily. When printed at the highest quality setting with High Speed printing switched off, text was much crisper and closer to laser quality. However, one A4 page took 140 seconds to arrive in the output tray.

Although it makes a decent fist of copying and doesn't occupy too much desk space, we wouldn't be happy using the DX7000F to print photos or text documents. Lexmark's X5470 produces better photos, has an automatic document feeder, and costs £20 less.