TCPglobal - news, views and issues on total cost of printing

Issue #0628/2 - New range of inkjet machines from Epson include three that bristle with new technologies that should be attractive to users.

In the same vein as the reinvention by Hewlett-Packard of its inkjet technology, in the form of its Scalable Printing Technology (SPT) a year ago, Epson has announced a raft of new technologies that not only push the company forwards in terms of its offering but represents a degree of technology reinvention that is set to offer increased value for money to users.

Although there are five new desktop products launched this month – two general purpose printers, two photo printers and one photo All-in-One – it is only the photo capable products that are based on the new print head.

Because full details and specifications are not yet available for the machines with the new printheads, so it is unfortunately not possible to run detailed cost comparisons on these particular printers just yet.

Epson High Speed Print Head

Part of the new technology set is a new print head, described as a ‘high speed’ print head. All Epson’s print heads are micro piezo technology, so they still have a low nozzle density –just 90 nozzles per colour for the new print head (six colours = 540 nozzles) in comparison with print heads from Hewlett-Packard that have more nozzles in just one colour (650 nozzles per colour, six colours = 3,900 nozzles @ native resolution of 1200dpi).

Epson claims that the new print head will print 30 pages per minute in both black and colour (draft print mode) and can produce a draft 10×15 photograph in as little as 13 seconds. In default print mode, the 10×15 print speed is 31 seconds.

Advanced Variable-sized Droplet Technology (AVSTD)

With new droplet capabilities, the print head can produce more flexible drop sizes and is claimed to be more accurate in the placement of those droplets.

Droplets are now possible in 1.5pl (particularly used for fine detail and smooth tonal gradations in photographs), 2pl, 6pl, 13pl and 22pl. Larger drop sizes are used for text and in areas of graphics and photographs where there is a wide expanse of the same colour (for instance business charts and large expanses of sky). This new droplet size compares very favourably with the 5pl drops produced by Hewlett-Packard print heads, though it does not quite match the droplet size from Canon, at 1pl.

Claria Photographic ink

Adding to the range of inks from Epson, UltraChrome (photo inks) and DuraBrite Ultra (water and smudge resistant on plain paper), Claria photographic ink is a new dye-based formulation that Epson hopes will bring professional print quality to the home digital photography market.

With six colours in the Claria ink set, the colouring agents have been designed to have stronger and more stable molecular structure – the factors that determine characteristics such as light fastness and durability – allowing Epson to claim 200-years archive durability in a closed album (in other words, protected from light and ozone/air – Epson tested). In addition, Epson claims that the inks offer better durability under a wide range of conditions.

Epson Photo Enhance

Epson Photo Enhance is designed to bring the user “vibrant and bright photos” by automatically analysing each photo and making the necessary adjustments to ensure that the print is optimised for the subject matter.

For instance, the intelligent analysis is capable of recognising faces, shoulders and groups of people and automatically adjusting the colour balance to give correct skin tones and lighting in the faces, particularly where those faces are in shade (I wonder how it copes with different skin colouring, especially where found within a group or where some members of the group are in shade while others are in sunlight?).

Similarly, where the analysis reveals skylines or landscapes and horizons, prints are optimised by adjustment of colour, tone and contrast.

So, let’s review the new devices briefly.

Stylus D78 and D88 Plus

These models are general purpose inkjet printers, with photo capabilities, aimed at updating the range without incorporating the latest technologies that are targeted primarily at photo-designated printers.

Both are 4-colour systems based on the existing print heads combined with DuraBrite Ultra pigment inks, which are ideal for printing of text because they offer sharp edges on plain paper and better smudge and water resistance. While also capable of printing photos, pigment inks are not photo optimised.

Emphasising, though, that these printers are photo capable, Epson has included its new Photo Enhance technology in these printers.

Priced at £60 / €89 including tax, the D88 Plus has a 3pl minimum drop size capability and prints at 23ppm in mono and 14ppm in colour (draft) using a print head with 180 nozzles for black and 59 nozzles for each colour. Both Macintosh and PC compatible, it is equipped with both Parallel and USB 1.1 interfaces and ships with ArcSoft’s PhotoImpression 5.1.

Comparing this printer with similar ones from competing manufacturers, we see that Epson actually places itself very much as the lowest cost contender. Both Canon and Hewlett-Packard are significantly more expensive to run, both nominally and long-term.
Certainly this is a segment of the market where one would expect the Cost of Printing to be high.

This happens largely because companies tend to ship and restrict cartridge usage on these printers to low capacity cartridges – which are designed to minimise ticket shock to the buyer by keeping the purchase price a little lower but, in the long term, require changing much more often and are more expensive per millilitre of ink. There is no option to purchase high capacity cartridges with a lower CPP.

UK (ex tax)	Purchase	Print Speed		Nominal CPP	Mixed mono/colour CPP over 3 years
Epson D88 Plus	£51	Mono Colour	23 ppm 14 ppm	2.38 pence 9.52 pence	5.13 pence
Canon PIXMA iP1600	£49	Mono Colour	19 ppm 16 ppm	6.54 pence 14.83 pence	9.26 pence
Hewlett-Packard DeskJet 3845	£51	Mono Colour	18 ppm 14 ppm	5.03 pence 12.19 pence	7.60 pence

Note that for this level of machine, the mixed mono/colour CPP over three years shown in the accompanying table is calculated on the basis of 250 pages per month; is based on the use of maximum capacity supplies; takes into account any standard, or starter, supplies shipped with the device; and also includes the cost of purchase. All prices are manufacturer’s recommended prices without tax.

Epson, on the other hand, does not market different ink tanks in the same way, meaning that there is a tendency for CPP figures for Epson printers to be much more consistent across the range - in this instance, significantly lower.

Stylus Photo R265 and R360

Moving further up the scale, the Stylus Photo R265 and R360 both include all of the new technologies mentioned above, including the new print heads with their enhanced variable drop size and high speed capabilities.

Both are 6-ink Claria-based machines, producing a minimum drop size at 1.5pl. Print speeds are 30ppm in mono and colour (draft print mode) and draft 10×15 photos will print in 13 seconds.

Ink tanks are independent, allowing the user to change just the ink that has run out.

A word of caution should be repeated here, however. Because the Epson print head technology uses a lot of ink in cleaning cycles, users should attempt to minimise the number of artificial cleaning cycles they force the machine to undertake.

By this I mean that changing an ink tank forces a cleaning cycle. Users should never, therefore, remove the tanks for any reason other than replacing an exhausted tank for a fresh tank because, when the tanks are replaced, the machine will run through a cleaning cycle and use a significant quantity of ink from ALL colours in the printer – not just the colour that has been removed or changed.

Therefore, to be changing two tanks within a matter of a few pages is very inefficient and expensive. Users are better advised to evaluate carefully the levels of ink remaining in the other tanks when required to change one tank and, if the status page has shown a second tank with less than 5% ink remaining for more than a couple of dozen pages (text) or a handful of photographs, then that tank should also be changed at the same time regardless of the fact that it has not yet been rejected as empty by the printer.

Both R265 and R360 are equipped with PictBridge interfaces, with the PC interface handled by USB 2.0, and are capable of printing directly onto the surface of suitable CD and DVD media – a feature that both Canon and Epson have offered on selected printers for some while but that Hewlett-Packard and Lexmark have never brought to market.

Pricing on the Stylus Photo R265 is £90 / €129 including tax.

At a tax inclusive price of £150 / €199, the Stylus Photo R360 also features memory card slots and a 3.5” LCD display – allowing users to edit, crop and remove redeye in the printer; direct connection to an external CD/DVD drive for additional printing and storage versatility; and optional Bluetooth adapter for printing from Bluetooth enabled devices such as mobile phones.

At the top end of the group of newly announced devices, the Stylus Photo RX560 is an addition to the range, not a replacement, and uses the same print engine as the Stylus Photo R265 and R360, thus offering the same features and capabilities – but has a smaller, 2.5”, LCD display.

Pricing on this model is £149 / ~€199.

In summary, these new technologies and devices clearly push Epson forwards in the game. Although print speeds do appear to be pushing a little closer to those from Canon and Hewlett-Packard, especially with office colour printing and photo printing, concerns do still exist over excessive ink usage in the cleaning process, together with the susceptibility to ink clogging in the nozzles when the printer is left unused for a period of time.

Having said that, Epson is producing some very attractive machines at the moment with very high levels of functionality, certainly making them good value for money in the market.

~End~

This entry was posted on Friday, September 29th, 2006 at 12:02 am and is filed under Hardware, New Products, Pricing, Comparisons, Financials. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.