Epson - Stylus SX115 review
lightweight, cheap but disappointing All-in-One printer
Review date: 10 August, 2009. Review by: Martyn Clayden
Considering all of the functions it offers, this is a compact, lightweight (just 4.6kg) machine that will hardly take up any space on your worktop, measuring 434 x 327 x 185mm. It looks smart, too, with a totally jet black exterior and large, clearly labelled action buttons on the left of the lid.
There's a drop-down output tray at the front, a pop-up input tray at the back that holds a maximum 100 sheets of A4 and a USB port for connecting to your PC. For the price, we suppose it would be churlish to expect a media card reader, flash card USB input or wireless connection but some or all of these functions are increasingly becoming standard with Epson's rivals; even the Stylus SX200 has a memory card reader and PictBridge capability and it costs less than £65.
The SX115 uses Epson's proprietary DURABrite Ultra Ink with four individual colour cartridges that are easy to install, and the ink is resistant to water and smudging. In terms of actual performance, however, the results are not especially encouraging. Epson claims up to 30ppm for black text yet even at the lowest Draft setting we could only muster 14ppm at best, where the quality was indeed poor. As soon as we switched to normal black text the rate dropped dramatically to just 3ppm.
When it came to colour printing, a normal quality A4 colour image took around 5 minutes and 10 seconds to emerge and there was a noticeable yellow tint to the finished product, while edges were slightly soft. By contrast, we waited 11 minutes and 20 seconds for the best quality A4 colour print to complete and although the image was sharper, the same tint was there and generally the colours were darker than the original.
Copying colour prints was markedly quicker using the Copy button on the machine but, although the same A4 image arrived in only 1 minute and 20 seconds, there was significant banding and the yellow tinge was even more pronounced.
The scanning function was the most impressive overall, where A4 colour photos zapped through in 45 seconds at the native resolution of 300dpi and the quality of the finished image was a much more authentic reproduction. On the other hand, when we set the resolution to the maximum 1200dpi we had time to get a cup of coffee and some toast while we waited 9 minutes for completion.
Because it's Energy Star qualified, you shouldn't be using much juice to run this all-in-one and, although it's obviously meant to sit in a snug corner of your office, it's sufficiently lightweight that you might consider taking it with you when you sling your notebook in the back of the car.
Verdict
If you're relatively strapped for cash and need a lightweight, compact all-in-one printer for day-to-day operations at home or in a small office, then you might briefly consider the Stylus SX115, although its slow speeds, decidedly average print quality and dearth of inputs do it no favours at all.
Company: Epson
Contact: 08702 416900
