Epson Stylus SX515W

Have bought all my Ink Cratridges from Internet Ink since I purchased the printer 3 years ago. Reckon to have saved a fortune vs OEM items and have found that they give great results for all types of printing. Would and have recommended supplier to numerous contacts and have got same feedback from them too! Multi packs are superb value. Used their cartidges on last 2 printers and have only ever had 1 dud which I didn't bother returning.

Brief Review of the Epson SX515w

This printer is a fast, cheap to buy and cheap to run all-in-one (printer / scanner / copier) device.

Let us understand one point right from the beginning. THIS IS NOT A PROFESSIONALS DEVICE, it is a home/office BUDGET all-in-one and quite frankly, you get what you pay for, but in my opinion, this device offers value and a quality hitting way, way above it's weight in price terms.

Key points that interested me:

WiFi enabled

Print speed up to 35 pages per minute

Photo quality prints available up to and including A4 size

Max Scanner resolution 2400 x 2400 dpi

Replacement inks/cartridges of all types are readily available at sensible prices

Review

I bought this device as a replacement for my 5 year old Epson RX425 that eventually, after much abuse, died. I saw this printer on offer at "Best Buy", researched it and decided to purchase one.

Initial findings are;

It is a neat, and some may say, aesthetically pleasing device offering a reasonably small desktop footprint. It can connect permanently to one computer via USB and still allow access to all other computers on your WiFi network via your router.

Now I am not I.T. expert by any means, and I found preparing the device and getting ready for set up to be straight forward.

Similarly, after a brief read of the "getting started" booklet gave me enough information and confidence to forge ahead and install on my main computer via USB, and to be frank this was as easy as you like, though the software installs did take a little time to complete.

Setting up the WiFi was similarly easy, and as I utilise MAC address filtering on my router, the devices MAC address did take a little finding, but it wasn't long before I realised that printing off the devices status sheet provided me with ALL the information required. Like another reviewer, I found the method of entering alphanumeric information, such a security keys into the printer to be clumsy, but really NOT difficult once you read the install pamphlet.

You then need to install software on each computer that you intend to access the printer via WiFi, and as I said, that can take a little time but is easy-peasey.

Using the Device

A dream.

Yes, when the printer initially "picks the paper up" it is noisy for that brief second, after that it's fine, and compared with my previous all-in-one, it is fast, noticeably fast in fact. Even on normal print mode which still gives you letter quality prints, it's fast, on draft mode it verges on scarily fast.

Photo's printing is a dream. Some say that all Epson's produce photo's that appear pale and dull.

Well like beauty, I suppose that is in the eye of the beholder. I find them fine and I print a LOT of photo's (I'm a semi-professional photographer) and find that as in earlier versions of the print driver, when printing photo's you are offered the chance to tone up or tone down the colour level (vivid print). The printer interface is simple, logical and straight forward. It does not take a techno-being to understand and use it, and produces good reliable results.

Scanning

Once again, I was familiar with the scan interface and once (for me) I have selected professional mode, all the settings I am used to playing with were offered and easy to use. The basic mode is similarly straight forward and good results are easy to come by. Don't forget to set this device as your default "import" scanner in which ever photo program you prefer, be it Photoshop or PaintShop Pro or whatever.

Scanning is easy and straight forward, producing excellent results, though I did have a few little niggles once I started playing with super high resolution scanning at 2400 and above.

One point that has annoyed me is that the scan plenum (the glass scanning screen) slopes slightly forward toward the user. I can see why as it offers slightly easier viewing when setting items to be scanned onto the plenum. Sadly what the effect is, is that if you are scanning, say a small photograph, as the plenum is not perfectly horizontal, as you close the scanner lid, the photo WILL move (it will slide down the plenum glass) this is a pain in the botty and I have found it so annoying that when I need to scan such things that are likely to move, I put a thin book under the front of the printer to level it up!!! I should NOT have to do this - Epson, TAKE NOTE PLEASE. For this and this alone, I will be marking this device down one half point (star)!

Copying

I have in fact only used this twice so far, but it is easy to use, in both colour and monochrome and you can scale both up and down, copy in normal or photo quality selecting different paper sizes and ALL with no computer connected; excellent.

I have printed a couple of photo's direct off a CF card direct to paper on this and it worked fine producing the results I both wanted and expected. I have NOT played with all the stand alone photo features yet, but feel they will be similar to those I have used on my old RX425 all-in-one and that was straight forward and easy to understand and use.

On Board Facilities

You do have a few handy on board facilities that I have played with on this device. One of the most useful perhaps is the ability to leave you laptop for example in one room, go to the scanner and scan single or multiple pages direct from the scanner to any computer connected on you WiFi network, by selecting which computer to send to from the on board printer screen and scanning them there and then. This system is NOT fast, but it does mean you don't have to keep alternating between computer to scanner if scanning multiple pages. IT APPEARS THIS SYSTEM DOES NOT WORK USCCESSFULLY WITH A COMPUTER CONNECTED VIA USB. Then again, as you are likely to have the two in close proximity, it's not a big deal.

I hope this brief review has been of some help to you. I paid £59 for this device and as I said at the beginning, you get what you pay for. In this instance I feel at this price I am very happy with the purchase and £59 was a bargain and well worth double that price at least and I am happy to score it 4 out of 5.

Multifunction printer with WiFi, USB and cabled network access. Also has USB and memory card readers for direct photo printing. WiFi set up on a secure network cumbersome due to lack of keyboard to enter security keys, much easier if your router has WPS. Purchased during an offer for £49.99.

Good paper capacity. Too early to comment on cartridge life but individual ink tanks are an improvement over my earlier Epsons with 3 colour tanks.

Great value for money and easy to use.