Epson Stylus Color 440 review

The first test of any printer is how easy it is to get it up and running, and how easy it is to keep it working well.

A big help is a proper printed manual - the kind you can read anywhere, and use a highlighter pen on. We're not so keen on Epson's manual for the Stylus Color 440, which exists on CD. Admittedly, the quality of this online document is exemplary, covering such things as the technology involved and (most importantly) including troubleshooting guides. It's just a pain either reading it on screen or printing it out.

The 440 offers a facility allowing you to compensate for misalignment of the print heads within the printer's driver software. This improves the quality of printed output. In an ideal world you would be promted to do this during installation, but Epson merely suggests in its manual that you might want to align the heads before use.

The driver proved easy to use. It featured a progress indicator, showing (as a percentage) how far it had reached in the print job. It also had a gauge showing how full the various ink reservoirs were.

Build quality was not exceptional, but still good, with a solid, blocky design. The front cover that lifts up to allow access to the print heads felt strong.

Most inkjet printers use a cartridge that integrates print head with ink reservoir, so you get a new head each time you restock with ink. Epson's printers use separate, replaceable ink reservoirs. The advantage of this is reduced running costs, with these ink reservoirs coming in at around two-thirds the price of traditional cartridges.

For mono printing, the 440 gave average performance. It produced an impressive black tone, though feathering was quite apparent. The text appeared slightly dirty, but enough to irritate only the most pedantic reader.

Colour output was very impressive considering the price of this printer. On coated paper dithering was slightly apparent, due to the 720dpi resolution, although this is by no means low. Banding was also apparent, but less marked than with the more expensive Epson 640. The plain paper test at 360dpi avoided this problem, but the dithering at this resolution was much more obvious. It didn't handle our flesh-tone test images well at all in this regard, though colours were otherwise acceptable.

The Epson 440 was fastest in our coated paper test, largely because it prints at a lower resolution than its more expensive rivals. The plain paper tests provided a more even test: here, the 440 came near the bottom.

If you can't stretch to the mid-priced inkjets, the Epson 440 is an excellent choice. Its colour printing was comparable that of to pricier models, and the print speeds were fairly respectable too. At £103 (£121), it's still enough of a bargain to retain its place in our Top 50.