Like buses, we have waited a long time for a new multifunction device (MFD) and then two come along together. The first, HP’s LaserJet 3015, with its compact design, broke away refreshingly from the bulkier, more box-like format of its competitors, even though this meant downgrading some of its features. And the second, Epson’s Stylus Photo RX600 shows the same willingness to break from the pack, but with very different intentions, setting its sights firmly on the photography enthusiast.
Now, most MFDs are made to be small office or home office (SOHO) workhorses, expected to handle the bulk of all printing, scanning, photocopying and faxing. The RX600 is a rather different breed of animal. Yes, the scanner and photocopier functionality remain, but there is no fax and the laser printer, the backbone of most MFDs, has been replaced by a six colour inkjet photo printer - hardly the thing to use for spinning out rough copies of web pages and emails.
Straight out of the box, the RX600 made a very favourable impression. Its chunky black and silver Dell reminiscent styling is pleasing to the eye and with dimensions of 45.6 x 43.9 x 25.6cm (WxDxH) it may not have the smallest footprint in the world, but it is conveniently squat. Tipping the scales at approximately 10kg, it is lighter than most MFDs as well, with the exception of the LaserJet 3015. Perhaps this could be expected with the removal of the fax and the loss of heavier laser printer, but it is nice to see that Epson has capitalised on this.
I have to say that the lack of fax capability surprised me a little. Even though this function may not be used very often, it’s still worth having in a multi function device. That said, if you have a modem in your PC you can still scan documents and fax them via the PC modem. But of course this means that you have to power your PC on to fax anything.
Build quality is good too. It feels sturdy and almost everything from opening the scanner lid to installing ink cartridges responds with a firm click, clunk or beep. However, one exception to this is the front panel. Much like the snap on fronts available with mobile phones, this pushes over the device’s buttons providing descriptions for each, but once attached, it feels loose and cheap. I can only presume Epson’s thinking was to produce a convenient way to cover all its language bases, but surely spraying the relevant language onto each machine would have proved simpler than designing this fiddly system.
It is worth noting the that RX600 comes with a captive USB cable, and while its fixed nature might not be to everyone’s taste, to my mind it is an improvement over the majority of manufacturers who still consider providing a printer cable with their hardware too much of an extravagance.
The software bundle provided is also thorough, installing nearly 400MB of software and putting a rather indulgent six shortcuts on the desktop. Epson has taken a total package approach to the RX600 and though this may frustrate advanced users who prefer a more barebones approach, none of the software is mandatory and nothing is proprietary.
So how was it in use? Well, Epson’s decision to take a six colour ink approach was a smart one. For one thing, it means that each colour can be replaced separately reducing the cost of individual cartridges and eliminating the waste that comes from multicolour cartridges. Also the six colour cartridges produce brilliant results. Using premium glossy photo paper, the prints from the RX600 are nothing short of outstanding. The colours are rich and thick and to my eye, indistinguishable from a photograph. My test prints of a satellite map only showed up the deficiencies of the source file under magnification, not the printer. Printing out a high-resolution publicity picture of Buffy, the RX600 even managed to pick out the red veins in her eyes when producing a full A4 size photo-image.
Truly borderless prints are also an option, and though many photo printers claim full bleed functionality, I have found that not many do it well without smears or special paper. The borderless prints from the RX600 also highlighted an improvement Epson has made from its previous printers: there were no marks from pulling the paper through.
But, like Brad Pitt, the RX600 does have an Achilles heal, and that is speed. It takes nearly five minutes to produce a full page print at best quality and you can add an extra minute onto that if you don’t have a machine that supports USB 2.0 . Of course, in the manner of good things coming to those who wait, this did not put me off too much, but this is not a printer for heavy duty cycles or even general office use.
Getting just two pages in the first minute when printing a standard web page with normal settings on plain paper is little more than a crawl. This does speed up to roughly 2.5 pages per minute (ppm) after the first page has staggered through but where Epson gets its claimed 17ppm from it beyond me, though it is not a new tactic. When we reviewed the Epson Stylus Color C64 back in October, it made the exact same 17ppm claims and yet also kicked out at pages at no more than 2.5ppm. With both the HP and Samsung multi function devices we have had on test running very close to their boasted speeds, this is something Epson needs to improve upon. Although to be fair, a laser printer is always going to produce much faster results than an inkjet one.
It’s also worth remembering that this is an enthusiasts’ printer and if quality is your main concern, it will delight even the most demanding photographers.
Scanning quality is of a similarly high standard, and happily much faster. Producing 2500 x 3400 resolution 7MB scan took less than 20 seconds and as a guide, when scanning its own printout of the Buffy image, those telltale red veins still remain. Photographers will also be happy to know that negatives come out extremely well and though I wasn’t able to test its ability to scan from slides, due to not owning any, its overall performance leads me to believe results will be extremely positive.
Now naturally, evaluating the RX600’s photocopier couldn’t be easier. It is just a matter of combining the scanner and the printer. And as you could guess, what you get are wonderful quality reproductions at rather slow rates, with the average photograph or page of text taking roughly as long as the scan plus the printing time. That means an average page of text will be superbly recreated in about a minute and a photo, depending on quality can take anything up to six minutes.
Again, if time is not a major concern to you, you will find this to be a wonderfully competent machine.
Other small quibbles? Well, Epson sticks with top loading paper with the RX600 as per its conventional inkjets and occasionally the first page will drag a couple of extra sheets behind it, and while the colour menu is clear and logical, there can be a slight delay in response times and when loading larger images.
Verdict
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