Epson has for years been a leader in the printer market and has delivered good products to consumers. The NX415 is Epson's budget 3-in-one printer, with print, scan and copy capabilities. It is not perfect but it is difficult to overlook the price advantage.

Setting up the NX415 is simple and easy, except that there is no USB cable in the box. This is an aggravation that is easily avoidable. Considering that USB cables cost less than $3 US to wholesalers, there's little reason to not include one in the box. That said, the instructions for configuration and setup are clear and easy and the printer can be ready to go in a matter of just a few minutes.

This is one of the fastest printers I have worked with, though it is a bit noisy when churning out pages. There is a configuration setting that allows the user to print in "quiet mode" but the print speeds are reduced. I recommend using this mode, as the speed difference is not large and the noise difference is very appreciable.

One of the nicest features of this printer is the easy-to-follow display panel. Even though it is small it is very easy to read and the directions for changing settings are very clear. It is also tilt-able which makes reading it easier depending on how it is set.

I like the size footprint of this printer. This is much smaller than my Canon Pixma printer, and that's important to me as there is a premium on desk space. It tucks away neatly into a corner and is still very accessible.

I have not tried printing photos, but I have used it for multiple print tasks, specifically printing charts in black-and-white and in copying forms. It performs these tasks well.

There is one negative that is really worth mentioning - this printer guzzles ink. The printer itself is inexpensive but keep in mind that cartridges add up quickly. For volume printing, this is not a good choice; for light or even moderate print volume this printer is acceptable.

Epson also has an NX515, which is the same as the NX415 but includes wireless networkability. There is a cost difference, of course, and if wireless connectivity for the printer is not needed then the NX415 is a better choice from a price perspective.

Epson's NX415 3-in-one inkjet is a fine printer. It will serve a family or a small office well. It does tend to cost more per page to print as the ink consumption is high, but the speed and quality of output is a good counterbalance. Consider this printer when looking for a good quality budget 3-in-one.Get more detail about Epson Stylus NX415 All-in-One Printer.

I have to say I was surprised at how rickety this printer was. It's got a very cheap feel. You put the paper in and think it's going to jam as it hems and haws, grabbing the paper and releasing it, doing all kinds of things before it actually feeds (and many times it does jam). Plus, it constantly thinks something is wrong with the printer cartridges. Well, they're the ones that came with the printer, and they're brand new, so I just keep messing with things until it recognizes them and prints. Very annoying though. Copying is easy. I haven't tried scanning yet. It is a little slow, but print quality is fine. For the money, it does function, but I also think that in the same price range you might be able to get something a little less flimsy. Don't forget to get a USB cord if you don't have one; I forgot, and was lucky I had my old printer to "steal" it from. Get more detail about Epson Stylus NX415 All-in-One Printer.

Although I did not buy this from Amazon, and picked it up for a great price, I guess you get what you pay for. A huge disappointment in this printer. I've had Epson and HP printers and will go back to HP with the next paycheck. This Epson does print a good quality photo print -- but if you're wanting an easy, reliable machine for all your other general printing, this isn't the machine for you. It jams easily, won't let you print to the edge on plain paper setting, you can not print on transparencies, and often will not let me input instructions for which it is suppose to be able to do. The scan is OK, the copy part of the machine is fine. Using the #69 ink cart. I printed out 50 pictures and ran out of ink with fresh cartridges. That was about 72 cents a photo (and poor quality to boot) -- I can do better at a photo shop. Get more detail about Epson Stylus NX415 All-in-One Printer.

We Purchased this printer a few months ago (August 2009): A Total Piece of Junk.
It printed 4 documents - read that 4 - and the ink tanks where down 50 per cent.
After 15 documents at non-photo quality, the ink tanks where empty. The printer
spent more time cleaning itself time after time. Don't spend your good hard-earned
money on this piece of junk. Epson laid a egg with this model (Like most of them).
The Ink Cartidges are expensive, as usual, but we dumped it in October (2009), for
a Laser printer (we purchased a separate scanner). Save your money - stay far away
from this monster - its sucks more liquids than a runner on steroids.
Danxo (WJ Group)Get more detail about Epson Stylus NX415 All-in-One Printer.

I tested the Epson NX415 on both an iMac 24" running OSX 10.5.8 and on an HP laptop running Vista Premium. It seems lately that I'm reading a lot of misplaced reviews. That gets confusing. Seeing the actual product number mentioned in the review assures the reader that everyone is on the same page. First off, I have yet to find the perfect printer. And what one considers a PRO might be another's CON, so I'll lump them all together. The finish on the NX415 is glossy black plastic. Its snazzy, contemporary styling shows off every smudge and fingerprint like a lighted display counter in a jewelry store. The recessed USB cable connection is a pain. I've done hundreds on past jobs. Even using a headlamp and correct positioning, it took a full minute to get it seated. The power cord plugs directly into the wall outlet. There is no bulky, in-line transformer as with most other printers. I like that. The control Panel is easy to use. I like it better than the Cannon or HP. The petite ink carts are easy to install, however, they are half the size of most Canon and HP ink carts which leads me to suspect a short ink life. I did a side-by-side comparison using like paper with a Canon Pixma 480 and an HP Photo Smart printer. The Epson was as quiet as the HP and 5 times quieter than the Canon. My Canon prints great but sounds like a raccoon trapped in a utility closet. There is a slight difference in hue between Epson, Canon and HP ink carts with the major difference being in the reds. This could be attributed to the generic ink carts we use. It was equal in definition quality to the Canon and HP. Scanning, printing and running photos from either a PC or Mac is a breeze. No problems. Here's where I'm confused: Other reviews state that copying is fast. Copying is a stand-alone function. The type of computer the printer is cabled to is irrelevant. When copying in the color mode, I had time to shower, wash the car and have a cup of coffee. I'm talking up to five minutes. Even a page with only 3 lines of print takes the same amount of time. The printer head traverses and reads every micro-mm of the blank white page at the same speed as it does a fully printed page. B&W is a bit faster but still slower than the Canon and HP. Everyone knows that the manufacturers make their money off the ink, not off the printers. They offer the printers at a bargain and then charge a fortune for the ink. Before buying any printer, I always research the generic ink cost and availability, especially the volume discounts offered by 3rd parties on Amazon.Com. I have had excellent results doing this with both Canon and HP and have saved a bundle on ink. The Epson NX415 was acquired via Vine Voice and I've not yet purchased any generic ink carts, however, there are bulk offers on Amazon.Com for as low as $3.58 per cart including shipping. If the quality is less than or equal to the HP generic ink carts, my wife says she'll keep the Epson in place of the HP because most of her copying is done on the Canon. I willingly accept her decision knowing that a woman has the inalienable right to change her mind at any time.Get more detail about Epson Stylus NX415 All-in-One Printer.

Inkjets have come a long way and the inks no longer fade as rapidly as in years past. The photo results can be beautiful. But most of the technology is in the print head cartridges and the business model of the makers is to sell as many of those as possible. Low cost printers like this one from Epson are viewed by their manufacturers as a loss leader whose main purpose is to addict you to buying their cartridges. To do this, they basically give away the printer. This Epson Stylus NX415 sells on Amazon for $69 including a full set of four colored ink cartridges. But when time comes to reload the cartridges - which will be sooner than you think - the replacement set costs $48! This is as if you bought some cool very low cost car for only $2,000 but then discovered it requires special fuel which costs $1,400 per tank!

Since the print cartridges are the real core of the function, you may ask what does it matter which printer you buy? It matters because the printer unit is what aligns everything to perfection and transports the media precisely - the mechanical stuff. Of course mechanical precision and robustness is exactly what you don't get with a very cheap printer. Since, exclusive of the cartridges, this entire printer with its internal computer, LCD and motors, and free shipping is being sold in effect for about ten bucks, you will not be surprised that it is constructed from very flimsy bits of plastic. Plastic gears, etc. It's not designed as a workhorse. Epson is subsidizing this to get you hooked on consumables, not unlike a cellphone contract. This is also why Epson engineers a few tricks into the mechanism to make sure you keep buying their own cartridges. Once you've removed an ink cartridge for example, it cannot be reinserted. The sole reason for this is to keep you from committing the sin of refilling the cartridge with third-party ink. Also, the printer is programmed to stop operating if any one of the four cartridges is low; you are not allowed to make your own decision whether to continue with black-only use for documents for example.

I don't know about you, but I find these marketing manipulations a bit offensive. The low initial price of the printer is misleading. Serious users of inkjet photos would be better off buying a better quality and more durable model. Over time, its higher cost is overshadowed by the cost of the ink anyway. Not only ink but high end photo paper is expensive; about a dollar per 8 ½ x 11 sheet. Taking into account that you may print a photo more than once to get it perfect, this is is not a cheap process. Better equipment saves paper from do-overs.

An inexpensive all-in-one inkjet like this is intended for households whose workload and usage are light. Most people who do lots of printing don't use inkjets at all. For routine daily text document printing, a small laser printer is a better choice. And for photos, you will get more permanent, less expensive results in the long run by printing on real photo paper (Fuji Crystal) using online services such as Shutterfly, Ritz or even Costco - with no cost for capital equipment and paying just for little bits of materials as you use them. The NX415 is a good match for the home or home office user who needs only occasional color photo printing, occasional document printing, occasional scanning, occasional copying, nothing to overstress the flimsy construction. Perhaps it would be placed with a computer you use only part time. Here's a rule of thumb; if you replace the ink cartridges on this unit more than once a year, it is not such a good deal.

I set the printer up and performed some color and black-and-white copies; this does not require a computer. Results were good and color copying was surprisingly accurate, close to the original with only a bit less contrast. For example this would be just right for copying a few old photos from grandma's album to give to other family members.

Scanning worked fine and the Epson scanning software for my MacBook with OS 10.6 operated smoothly. As an experiment, I tried scanning a small object - a steel ruler - at the highest resolution, 9600 dpi. This worked essentially as a microscope, giving a highly detailed magnified scan - quite fun and great for your kids' science projects!

Printing color digital images onto good quality Epson photo paper produced variable but sometimes lovely results with bright, soft colors and good skin tones. Overall the images lacked snap and contrast; they were not the very best I have seen from inkjets, but generally good. Also, I had trouble with banding. I adjusted the alignment and cleaned the nozzles in an attempt to eliminate the banding, but was not entirely successful, hence four stars. (Those plastic gears you know.) All of this playing around uses paper and ink.

Bottom line: Although it is probably not durable, I am giving this unit four stars because it does most of what it is advertised to do - printing, copying scanning - with pretty nice results for a price less than taking your girlfriend out to a good restaurant. But consider it a light duty, limited life unit. The consumables are very expensive - once you start replacing cartridges, you have fallen into Epson's marketing trap.Get more detail about Epson Stylus NX415 All-in-One Printer.

This is my initial review of features and function after testing the machine for a couple hours. I'm giving this machine five stars because of its price/features value. I've seen better printers, but many of them cost twice as much and don't really offer a lot more features.

I'm using it under Mac OSX 10.6.2 (Snow Leopard), connected both via USB and via an Airport Extreme wireless router.

Document Printing:

Printing works great, similar to any other budget inkjet. It takes about 5 seconds for the machine to begin printing after sending the job to the printer. I sent a 10-page spreadsheet to the printer to test speed, and ten full pages of text took 140 seconds, so expect 15-seconds for one full page of B&W text. I honestly have no idea where epson gets the absurd exaggeration of print speed listed on this product page, but the claim is so absurd I doubt that anyone believes it.

Printing a full-coverage 8x10 color graphic takes about 50 seconds. Text print quality is really really clear, and color graphics are sharp (image quality is adjustable in case you want to compromise quality for speed). Printing works great both wired or using a router designed to allow wireless printing.

Scanning:

Scanned photos look great. I scanned one photo using both Apple's "Image Capture" app and Epson's included software using the full auto setting. In both programs, the scanner automatically pre-scanned to detect the image dimensions, rescanned at high-res, and exported a jpg to my computer's pictures folder by simply placing the photo on the scan bed and pressing a button on my screen (using these automatic settings, my 3x5 image was about 1500x1000 pixels). I haven't tried any of the custom scanning options yet, and may never try them. It is capable of higher resolution and exporting other formats like PDF. The automatic photo scanning is probably all I'll use it for. Scanning isn't super-fast but the automatic detection and exporting makes it the fastest and easiest one I've used. The scan function will not work wirelessly with Apple Airport.

Photo Printing:

I don't have any photo paper so I can't really comment on the print quality. The features of the print-from-cardreader are really nice. I plugged in an SD-HD card and it gave me options to view and print individual photos, print all photos, print photos by date range, or print a sheet of thumbnails. It's very similar to the machines that are at most photo processors these days. The display screen is tiny and low res, but it is still quite functional. I had hoped that the card reader would allow me to view the card contents on my macbook while connected wirelessly through my Airport router, but it doesn't. You can see the cards in the printer's card reader if you are connected via USB. Photo printing at drug stores is so cheap, I doubt that I'll do much photo printing, but it's nice to have the option.

Copying:

The copy function works great. It scans B&W print-documents quickly and bangs them out in about 15 seconds after scanning. The copy control buttons and software on the unit are really logical and easy to adjust. Basic functions like Color/B&W and number of copies can be selected with only a couple key presses. Making a single B&W copy literally only requires that you press one button. Basic options include color/B&W, print quality, and exposure. There are also more advanced controls for things like enlargement. It even copies photos well to plain paper if you turn the quality up and reduce the exposure a bit. I'm sure it would copy photos beautifully to glossy photo paper (which I don't have).

Design, Build Quality:

The aesthetic design and the gloss black color is every bit as attractive on my desk as my much more expensive ML-1630. Operation isn't quiet but it isn't any worse than any other ink jet I've encountered. I like that it uses four separate carts for each ink color (three individual colors and a black cart). Prices for ink are competitive with other ink jet models. I don't like that the paper tray is exposed to dust when loaded with paper, but this is a design that all budget ink jets share (a closed paper drawer is the main reason I selected the laser printer I also own). It feels pretty solid, but I can't really comment on durability because I've only owned it for a few hours.

Edited to add: I just finished reading a lot of reviews while shopping to buy some spare ink for this printer. It seems that Epson has a really lousy reputation for ink cart life. One reviewer even stated that the entire printer and scanner shuts down if it detects that one of the carts >may< be out of ink. I can't confirm this, but it is definitely a deal breaker for me if it's true. Several reviewers stated that the printer uses some color ink even when printing only B&W images, which I cannot confirm. I'm leaning toward the Canon MX860 if the ink life of this unit proves to be as bad as other reviewers are stating. I'd definitely suggest reading some reviews for the replacement ink before buying.

Setup:

I use Apple's Airport Extreme router so that I can plug my printers into the router and print wirelessly from my laptop. This is not a wireless printer unless you have a router designed for use with printers, like the Apple Airport. The wireless print function of the Airport router works great with this machine, but for scanning you must plug the USB cable into the computer (which is the case with any scanner on Airport).

To install printer and scanner in Snow Leopard and Airport: go to Epson and download the install package (easy to find), run the installer, plug the printer into your computer's USB port, go to settings> printers and add the printer and scanner as separate items. If you are using airport, plug the printer into your router (or a USB hub connected to the router if you have multiple printers/drives), and add the printer again as an airport printer. The entire setup takes about 15-20 minutes including downloading and installing the scan/print driver package, adding the printer on the Airport router's wireless network, and installing the printer and scanner via USB. If you are only installing via USB or using an older OS that is included on the Epson disk, you can cut that in half.


Full disclosure:

I received this printer through Amazon's vine program and didn't pay for it. I have been shopping for an all-in-one ink jet to supplement my monochrome laser printer and was considering several models that are priced about twice what this one is. I didn't know that this kind of quality was available in this price range. When Amazon offered me this one for free I couldn't resist. I'm very glad they sent it because hopefully my review will prevent someone else from paying too much.

The NX415 is a very capable home printer/scanner/copier. It meets or exceeds all of my expectations.

Get more detail about Epson Stylus NX415 All-in-One Printer.