Cheap 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.

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