Review:
Epson Stylus Photo 925 Ink Jet Printer
by Steve
Becker
Company: Epson America
Contact: www.epson.com
System Requirements: OS 8.5.1 or later, OS 10.1 or later,
Windows 98 or later, and a USB Port
Price: $249 SRP (less a $50 rebate that expires on
8/30/03)
The Epson Stylus Photo
925 is an attractive two-tone grey printer that is capable
of printing stunning pictures. However, more about that in a
moment, as I want to start this review by covering the
versatility that has been designed into the
925.
In addition to
accepting a multitude of paper types and sizes, the 925 can
print from either 4" or 8.3" roll paper (at the moment, this
feature can't be used in OS X ). A paper cutter is built
into the 925 which makes it easy to work with the roll
paper. Also, the printer can print borderless photos in
several popular sizes.
The Stylus Photo 925
includes built-in slots for SmartMedia, Memory Sticks,
CompactFlash cards, and Microdrives. Additionally, some
digital cameras can be connected directly to the USB port
that's on the back of the printer.
On the top of the 925,
there's a LCD display (there is an optional $79 color
preview monitor) and a nicely designed set of controls that
provide myriad options for working with your images directly
from the printer -- this means there is no need to tie up
(or even boot up) your computer when you want to print
pictures.
However, the 925 comes
bundled with Epson's Film Factory and ArcSoft's
PhotoImpressions. Since both of these programs provide many
options for enhancing and editing your pictures (and because
the optional Preview Monitor is very small), you'll probably
want to use your computer for any serious photo editing
work.
Over the years, I've
worked with more color ink jet printers than I care to
count. While each successive generation of printer has
gotten faster and produced better pictures than its
predecessor, they all have had several serious deficiencies;
this includes inconsistent color fidelity, drivers/software
that was poor at correcting problems with the printers'
output, and slow performance.
I've spent more time
testing the Epson Stylus Photo 925 than I usually spend when
testing a printer. This is not because it has serious
problems (it doesn't) or because it's very slow (it's not)
or because it's difficult to use (it isn't). The reason is
that it is such a pleasure to work with; the results are
consistently excellent, it's reasonably quick (though I
wouldn't describe any photo ink jet printer I've used as
fast), and it's easy to use. Getting consistently very good
to outstanding output from this printer encourages one to
keep on playing with -- uh, testing -- it! It's really a
pleasure to get very good -- even great -- looking pictures
right off the bat without having to waste a great deal of
time experimenting with ways to correct serious defects
introduced into the images through the printing
process.
While the 925 does
tend to produce prints that are slightly darker than their
original images, color fidelity is quite good. And when
printing on high quality matte or glossy paper, the small
dots that make up the image are virtually invisible to the
naked eye. Also, the undesirable banding that occurs with
some ink jet printers is completely non-existent on the
925.
Epson says that the
version of its Micro Piezo technology that's used with the
925 combines a 4-picoliter minimum droplet size with the
ability to use up to 8 different size droplets. According to
Epson, this simultaneously enhances quality and
speed.
By the way, if you
work in a small office, you'll be glad to know that the
Stylus Photo 925 is fairly quiet. You should also know that
like most ink jet printers, the 925 goes through its
cartridges quite fast. (In my case, I'd estimate that my
color cartridge would last for about 50 4x6 glossy color
prints.)
Most photo ink jet printers aren't
known for doing a particularly good job when printing text.
When printing to plain paper, this also is true for the 925.
However, when printing text on high quality ink jet paper,
even at only a moderate resolution, the Stylus Photo 925
does a very nice job.
Another nice feature of the Stylus
Photo 925 is that it supports both the P.I.M. (Print Image
Matching) and Exif (Exchangeable Image File) technologies.
The software included with the printer (and the included
P.I.M. Plug-in for Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements)
is able to process image information that's embedded in your
picture by most modern digital cameras. This information is
used by printers that support the P.I.M. and Exif standards
to automatically adjust the printer so it more faithfully
reproduces the original image.
The following table provides some
sample times I observed when printing with the 925. I tested
the printer with a G4/450 (AGP) that's running OS
9.0.4.
Epson Stylus Pro 925 Print
Times
Paper
|
Print
Quality
|
Print
Time
|
4x6 Premium Glossy Photo Paper
|
Photo
Best Photo
|
2 Min, 40 Sec
4 Min, 17 Sec
|
8.5x11 Premium Glossy Photo Paper (image size
is 8x10)
|
Photo (High Speed Setting On)
|
7 Min, 30 Sec
|
8.5x11 Premium Heavyweight Matte Paper (image
size is 8x10)
|
Photo (High Speed Setting On)
Photo
Best Photo
|
4 Min
7 Min, 38 Sec
12 Min
|
To my pleasant
surprise, when I printed a 4x6 proof of an image onto
Epson's Premium Bright White Paper at the printer's "Normal"
setting for this type of paper, it took only 19 seconds --
and the quality of the picture was surprisingly
good!
I also found it
surprising that in most cases there was no discernible
difference in image quality when switching between Photo,
Best Photo, and Photo RPM modes. In most cases, using the
printer's high speed setting also did not noticeably affect
the quality of the printed images. However, as you can see
from the above table, these settings have a significant
affect on print times. The moral is you'll frequently save
time (and presumably ink) without sacrificing noticeable
quality by using the "Photo" setting.
With a SRP of about $250, the Epson
Stylus Photo 925 is a little pricier than some good photo
printers that don't include built-in card slots. However,
while Epson's $50 rebate is in effect, the 925 is a bargain.
Even without the rebate, I've not seen a photo ink jet
printer at the 925's price point that can match its stunning
photo print quality!
Pros:
Consistently produces excellent photo-quality prints; on
high quality paper, text output is very good; is easy to use
and versatile; is quiet; uses quick drying, water-resistant
and fade-resistant ink; includes good software and printed
manuals.
Cons:
Printer not as fast as claimed by Epson; images tend to be a
little on the dark side; goes through ink very
quickly.*
*PrintMagic
and WebPrint
Plus can
more than double the life of your ink
cartridges.
© Steve
Becker. All rights reserved.
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