Epson Stylus DX9400F review

Epson's Stylus DX9400F is aimed at home office users, and has an integrated fax machine and automatic document feeder (ADF).

A 2in colour screen makes it easy to use the standalone functions, which include photocopying, direct printing from digital camera memory cards and sending faxes. We would have liked an automatic duplexer and a 10/100 Ethernet connection, but this is still a good price for a home office MFP with fax capabilities. A WiFi edition is available for around £30 more, which should please users who want a network printer.

Like many other Epson inkjets, we found that the pale grey draft quality text was unsuitable for all except the roughest of proof copies, despite a quick print speed of 14.2ppm. Full-quality text was clear and dark. We had to wait 37 seconds for the first page of text and its normal print speed was just 4.3ppm. This is a big problem in an office printer. A colour print speed of 2.7ppm was among the best here, and our colour graphics were reproduced accurately. The DX9400F printed six 6x4in photos in just under 10 minutes. Fast, high- quality photo printing is great, but it's not a priority feature in a business MFP.

The scanner interface software lets you select between a default Office mode, offering all the options you'll need for document scanning, a simplified Home mode, and Epson's excellent Professional mode, with a full range of image-optimisation and colour-adjustment tools. The1,200x2,400dpi scanner produced detailed scans. Some looked a little dark, but no subtlety of shading was lost.

The Stylus DX9400F has great all-round print quality and a decent range of features. We also liked the low mono print cost of 2.2p per page. Unfortunately, in trying to combine home and business printing, Epson seems to have compromised on both. Most home users will prefer HP's Photosmart C4380, while the fast, high-quality text prints of Canon's Pixma MX850 make it a better choice for business.

Author: Kat Orphanides