Epson Stylus Photo RX640 review

Like the Canon PIXMA MP800R, reviewed on page 25, Epson's Stylus Photo RX640 is a high-end inkjet MFP aimed at creative users and digital photographers.

The RX640's printer has a lower resolution and larger three-picolitre ink droplet size than the MP800R, but it prints photos with six inks, which can help to reduce grain compared with four-ink prints.

Like most MFPs, the RX640 comes with a USB cable. Several inches of its length are wasted in reaching the RX640's USB port, though, which is secreted away under the scanner bed. Epson's installation program is quick and painless, although it doesn't prompt you to align the print heads. You can do this from the RX640's front panel - the manual process involves choosing the best patterns on a single page.

The RX640's scanner has a transparency backlight for scanning film and a higher resolution than most MFPs. HP's Photosmart 3210, below, can scan at higher resolutions, but images captured by the RX640's scanner were exceptionally good with sharp focus for a flatbed scanner. Using the default settings, the background to our office document scans took on a blue cast, but we cured this by switching the Auto Exposure type from Photo to Document.

As with many six-colour Epson inkjets we've tested, the RX640 produces excellent photographs with extremely accurate and natural colours. Our test prints lacked the crisp detail of the MP800R's results, but we preferred their higher contrast and more saturated dark colours. Unfortunately, the RX640 is no match for the MP800R or Photosmart 3210 when it comes to plain paper prints. Its Draft text quality was just about acceptable for our draft speed test, but we had to use the Photo setting to get acceptable quality on our normal tests, leading to slow performances. At this setting, graphics had solid colour and crisp outlines but seemed a little sombre.

Using the RX640's memory card slots for direct photo printing makes good use of the MFP's large, high-quality screen. The control system is easier to use than those of some recent Epsons, but we were frustrated by the lack of a dedicated mono copy button. Copies are colour by default, with mono available through a menu option.

The RX640 is a good choice if you want an MFP only for photo prints and scanning. It's expensive, though, and its slow plain paper performance means it isn't suitable for quick everyday jobs.