Epson R350 Detailed Information & Reviews

Following on from the soon-to-be-discontinued R310 comes this even heavier-duty photo printer from Epson. It may not be cheap, but you get a host of goodies for your money.

The R350 boasts pretty much every feature the digital enthusiast could hanker after - from extensive support for PictBridge and USB Direct Print-compatible digital cameras to a memory card drive. Wireless capabilities are an optional extra. The R350 comes with a CD and DVD compartment so you can print images onto suitable media - an excellent alternative to Light Scribe or Label Flash. And thanks to the 2.4 inch colour LCD and extensive control panel, the printer is easy to navigate without connecting to a PC.

The R350 doesn't just aim to please the digitally minded, and the paper-handling facilities feel rather more substantial than some of the flimsy holders found on cheaper inkjets. With the ability to take up to 120 sheets of A4, this printer is excellent for large jobs.

But if you're looking for an everyday printer, be warned that print speeds aren't stunning. Even in the lowest quality mode, the Epson printed out text at the slothful rate of 8.6ppm (pages per minute) - 1.6ppm faster than its predecessor, but hardly impressive. Furthermore, to get good-quality text you really have to push it up to the higher modes and be content with less than a page every minute.

However this is a photo printer and, while its speeds aren't searing, the Epson still compares favourably with many of its direct rivals. Crucially, the results are extremely eye-catching: prints are packed with color depth and detail is sharp. We doubt you could be anything less than enthralled. The Photo R350 faces fierce competition from the HP Photosmart 8250, and we think the HP retains a slight edge on overall quality and performance, but this is a good model.

Most photo printers these days come with an onboard colour LCD for previewing pictures, built-in memory card readers and a host of connectivity features. Targeted at the home and small office users, Epson touts the Stylus Photo R350 as one of it full-featured printers that does away with the need for a PC to output photos. If you can live without a LCD, then the less-featured AU$179 Stylus Photo R230 may be for you.

Connectivity features on this inbox are run-of-the-mill. You can print directly from your dig cam or a USB flash drive via the PictBridge port. There's also a built-in memory card reader that reads most media formats, though an adapter is required for Memory Stick Duo, Memory Stick Pro Duo and miniSD cards. With an optional Bluetooth dongle, you'll be able to pair the printer with your mobile phone and print directly from the handheld.

Epson claims its PhotoEnhance feature can automatically adjust the exposure of your pictures. For the record, some consumer digicams offer similar capabilities in the form of built-in editing functions, for example, D-Lighting on Nikon's Cool pixels. The 2.4-inch, 960 x 240-pixel colour LCD on the unit allows you to preview your images or make enhancements.

The printer can also print directly onto the surface of inkjet-printable media which is fed into the machine on a tray. Our previous reviews found the CD printing feature easy to operate and we don't expect anything less from the R350. Printing options are selected on the LCD panel, among which is the ability to print right from the centre to the edge of the disc so you don't get random blank spaces.

The Stylus Photo R350 uses six separate ink cartridges, one each for black, cyan, magenta, yellow, light cyan and light magenta. The good thing is you can replace only the tanks that run out, though it's a lot more hassle compared with printers that use only one cartridge.

This Epson retails for AU$249 and comes with a one-year standard warranty.