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Epson Stylus Photo PX720WD review

Our Rating :
Price when reviewed : £133
inc VAT

It's not ideal for office work, but if you want a superb MFP for creative projects you needn't spend more.

Epson’s inkjets have long used individual ink cartridges attached directly to the head assembly, but the Stylus Photo PX720WD is something of a departure. Its cartridges fit into a front compartment and ink is fed to the moving print head through tubes.

We’re enthusiastic about the squat design that this arrangement makes possible. While it’s not quite as slick as Canon’s latest PIXMAs, this MFP’s orange-lit, touch-sensitive control panel and the slot underneath it remind us of a very expensive VHS player from the mid-1980s. Unfortunately, the duplexer protrudes at the back, making it much deeper than it looks.

Epson Stylus Photo PX720WD controls

The PX720WD confirms button pushes with a beep, but it’s so annoying that we had to turn the notification off. Fortunately, the controls are quick to respond. You can de-select parts of the bundled software during the install process, but it’s still fairly long – allowing you to mutter at the dubious grammar of messages such as “Epson Easy Photo Print lets you print photos from PC easily and in fantastic layouts”.

A couple of small details help you set up this MFP. Once it’s on the network (there are both wired and wireless interfaces) it automatically prints a sheet with details of the connection and, once the software has installed there’s an automatic print test sheet. Unfortunately there’s no automatic head alignment, but the single-sheet process is easy enough.

Epson Stylus Photo PX720WD memory card slot

Like other Epson inkjets, this isn’t a great printer for black text. Draft output isn’t black enough, but it isn’t striped. Normal-quality text is good enough for occasional use. It’s quicker than many Epson inkjets we’ve reviewed in the past, rattling off draft text at more than 20ppm, slowing to 8.8ppm at the default Text quality.

Things aren’t much slower in colour. Our mixed-colour test appeared at exactly 6ppm and, even at the highest-possible quality, 6x4in photos printed from a PC or memory card took less than a minute and 20 seconds each.

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Basic Specifications

Rating*****
Maximum native print resolution5,760×1,440dpi
Max optical resolution2,400×4,800dpi

Quoted Speeds

Quoted speed, mono A440ppm
Quoted speed, colour A440ppm

Tested Print Speeds

Time for two 10x8in photos 1.04m 31s
Time for six 6x4in photos 1.07m 51s

Physical and Environmental

Standard printer interfacesUSB, PictBridge, 10/100 Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n wireless
Optional printer interfacesnone
Size446x458x150mm
Weight9.6kg
Noise (in normal use)36dB(A)

Paper Handling

Maximum paper sizeA4/legal
Maximum paper weight300gsm
Standard paper inputs2
Standard paper input capacity120
Duplex (code, cost if option)Yes

General

Printer technologypiezo inkjet
Supported operating systemsWindows XP/XP-64/Vista/7, Mac OS X 10.4.11+
Other inkjet features6.3cm colour screen
Other inkjet optionsnone

Buying Information

Price£133
Consumable parts and prices£8
Price per colour A4 page4.9p
Quoted life of supplied black cartridge330 pages (ISO/IEC 24712)
Quoted life of supplied colour cartridge(s)855 cyan, 435 magenta, 620 yellow,330 light cyan, 620 light magenta pages (ISO/IEC 24712)
Quoted life of supplied photo cartridge(s)N/A
Warrantyone-year RTB
Supplierhttp://uk.insight.com
Detailswww.epson.co.uk

Print Quality

Number of ink colours6
Number of ink cartridges6
Maximum number of ink colours6
Maximum number of cartridges6
Quoted photo durability98 years
Quoted photo durability sourceWilhelm Imaging Research

Tested Scan Speeds

Full scan area preview11s
A4 document at 150dpi12s
A4 document at 300dpi18s
6x4in photo at 600dpi16s
6x4in photo at 1200dpi1m 7s

Tested Copy Speeds

Time for single A4 mono copy 1.015s
Time for single A4 colour copy 1.020s
Time for 10 A4 copies using feeder 2.0N/A

Photo Features

PictBridge supportYes
Borderless printingA4
Direct (PC-less) printingYes
Supported memory cardsCF, SD, SDHC, Memory Stick Pro, xD
CD printingYes

Copy Features

Maximum number of copies99
Max mono copy resolution600x600dpi
Max colour copy resolution600x600dpi

Fax Features

Max mono fax resolutionN/A
Fax memory (maximum mono pages)N/A