Skip to navigation
Login|Register
Log In

Remember me

RSS Feeds

Epson Stylus DX8400 review

Verdict:

The DX8400 has fairly high print costs, particularly for colour printing. A high-capacity black cartridge is available, but the price from some retailers actually makes this poorer value. The DX8400 produces adequate prints, but its high running costs are a problem.

Review Date: 12 Nov 2007

Price when reviewed: inc VAT

Reviewed By: Kat Orphanides

Our Rating 3 stars out of 5

Epson's Stylus DX8400 is the cheapest printer with a full-colour screen in the group, and this welcome addition makes tasks such as copying easier.

The printer is easy to set up, although a deeply recessed USB port made it hard to plug in the cable at first. Once you have installed the ink cartridges, the printer spends a few minutes initialising the ink system. Software installation took a surprisingly long time.

Like many Epson inkjets, the DX8400's draft print setting sacrifices readability for faster prints. Sadly, the balance is wrong here, and draft prints were virtually illegible. Characters were pale and so poorly formed that details such as the line across upper-case 'A's weren't even printed. Normal-quality prints were a great improvement, and while they weren't particularly fast to appear, the quality of the lettering was good enough for formal correspondence. Colour documents looked good and were produced quickly, with accurate colours and only slight graininess.

The DX8400 was the slowest MFP in the group for printing 6x4in photos. The colour on some prints looked dull and flat, particularly on pictures with a lot of brown and grey tones, but overall quality was good, with particularly intense reproduction of dark colours.

Epson's scanner interface is excellent, and its advanced controls were powerful and easy to use. The scanner has a maximum resolution of 1,200x2,400dpi. It produced sharp images, but colours weren't as accurate as those from Brother's cheaper DCP-135C, and 1,200dpi scans were slow. The quality of mono photocopies was good, but pale colours in our colour copy acquired a lurid yellow tone.

Prev Next
< Previous   Reviews : Printers Next >
Sponsored Links
Be the first to comment on this article

You need to Login or Register to comment.

(optional)

advertisement

Award-winning Printers

Kyocera Mita FS-1030MFP review

Kyocera Mita FS-1030MFP

Category: Printers
Rating: 2 out of 5
Price: £346
HP Photosmart 5510 e-All-in-One Printer review

HP Photosmart 5510 e-All-in-One Printer

Category: Printers
Rating: 3 out of 5
Price: £50
Samsung ML-2955DW review

Samsung ML-2955DW

Category: Printers
Rating: 4 out of 5
Price: £132
Epson Stylus Photo PX730WD review

Epson Stylus Photo PX730WD

Category: Printers
Rating: 5 out of 5
Price: £126
Xerox WorkCentre 6015N review

Xerox WorkCentre 6015N

Category: Printers
Rating: 4 out of 5
Price: £246
Laser printer buying guide

Laser printer buying guide

Find out all you need to know about choosing the right laser printer.

Read more

Multifunction printer buying guide

Multifunction printer buying guide

Find out all you need to know about choosing the right multifunction printer.

Read more

 

advertisement

Also in this category...
 
Computer Shopper

advertisement


advertisement


 
 

Expert Reviews Printed from www.expertreviews.co.uk

Register to receive our regular email newsletter at http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/registration.

The newsletter contains links to our latest PC news, product reviews, features and how-to guides, plus special offers and competitions.