The Epson R210 includes many useful features and a price point that's sure to please digital photo enthusiasts.The Epson Stylus R210 looks pretty much like its fuller brother, the R310. Apart from the missing LCD, card slots and control panel, you'll be hard-pressed to find any other discernible differences. Still, while the Stylus R310 is perfectly capable of running as a standalone, the Stylus R210 needs to be tethered to a PC.
Delving deeper, you'll find that the innards of both printers are identical, each touting similar print speed claims of 15.6 pages per minute (ppm) for text and a timing of 39 seconds for 4R photos. Likewise, both Epsons sport the same mechanism to allow users to print straight onto blank CDs or DVDs. Using the included Epson Print CD software, users can create a design easily, insert a blank CD or DVD disc, and just click print.
Setting up the Stylus R210 is seamless. Included is a quickstart guide which details simple steps and instructions that are easy to follow. Unfortunately, it appears that our usual pet peeve goes unaddressed once again. The manufacturer has neglected to include a USB cable. Therefore, you'll need to obtain one if you don't already own one from a previous unit.
Unlike most printers, the Stylus R210 sports a non-active translucent plastic top. This means that lifting up the cover does not pause printing and move the printheads for the installation of new cartridges. To install new inks, you'll have to press the ink button on the top of the unit. There's ample room to work with when replacing or installing the INKdividual cartridges, so users with big hands will not have much trouble with the unit.
The Stylus R210 gave us mixed feelings with regard to performance. The 6-ink unit produced respectable scores in our photo tests and with good quality. However, the printer was noticeably slow when printing normal-quality text. It completed our 10-page test in 82 seconds or approximately 7.3 pages per minute in draft mode--which is commendable. Yet repeating that same test in normal-quality mode took a shocking 5 minutes! For "borderless" A4-sized photo outputs, the R210 managed to keep up with Canon's speedy MP730 and even Epson's more expensive RX510, churning out prints in 5.2 minutes.
In terms of quality, the results were generally good. Text was slightly blotchy but came out legible to 2.5 pts font size. Photo prints turned out great, producing sharp prints with little visible dithering and no banding. The colour outputs were also accurately matched. Even prints on plain paper managed to impress.
In all, we were impressed with the R210's photo prints. However, we were also put off by the sluggish text output speeds and quality. If all you're after is a great, affordable photo unit with the ability for occasional text prints, give the R210 a serious look. Otherwise, you'll find your needs better answered elsewhere.
Epson Stylus Photo R210
Company: Epson
Price: AU$264
Distributor: Selected resellers
Phone: 1300 361 054
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We purchased the Epson Stylus R210 and found incredibly fast speeds and high quality printing when referring to text as well as photos. Unlike mentioned in the printer review.