Its huge size aside, the Stylus Photo RX650 prints, scans and copies. Unfortunately, you cannot send faxes on this machine, and neither does it hook up to a network. The RX650 also comes with several interesting features including an option to scribble on a proofsheet and print it out as a text overlay on your photo.
Beyond that, this inkbox doesn't disappoint in terms of performance and image quality. With a list price of AU$499, this multifunction printer costs the same as its counterpart from Canon (PIXMA MP800) and slightly less than the HP (Photosmart 3310 All-in-One), priced at AU$599. But of course, you give up certain features which you'll have to decide if you can live without.
Design
Epson's Stylus Photo RX650 is no small machine and we reckon it isn't made to be. The printer measures 450mm across, 414mm deep and 218mm high. At this size, you'll need a considerable amount of space on your desktop to accommodate the printer. You'll also need to budget for a little bit of room on the back and front of the unit for paper loading and print output, respectively.
When you lift the scanner cover, it reveals a removable tray underneath the lid which holds the film adaptor for scanning of 35mm negatives and positives strips. That's not all. You can further raise the scanner body to reveal where the print cartridges (a total of six) are held. On the lower left corner, there's a caved-in compartment for plugging in the printer USB cable, which leads out via a tunnel (or irrigation canal, or whatever affectionate names you call it) out of the machine to your personal computer.
Another user-friendly feature on the RX650 is a lock to prevent the scanner carriage from being displaced, especially since we know carrying the product from the shop to your home involves a bit of jostling and fumbling.
The fun doesn't end here. Right in the centre of the control panel sits a 2.5-inch colour LCD. You won't miss the Start and Stop buttons to the right and the five keys arranged in a circle to the left of the screen. Flip down the translucent box right beneath the LCD screen to reveal the built-in memory card slots for the various card formats, including the more commonly used Secure Digital, CompactFlash, xD-Picture Card, SmartMedia and Memory Stick Pro media.
Your prints are released further down. There's a lever on the left side which, when pressed down, shifts the output tray for the CD burning adaptor slot. Further left is a PictBridge connector for you to print directly with your digital camera.
Features
Other than the usual print, scan and copy functions, the RX650 comes with a number of features which may not be used on a daily basis, but would delight users once in a while. In Specialty Print mode, you get a number of options: You can reprint photos, restore faded photographs by scanning in your old pictures (according to Epson, the RX650 is the first All-in-One Stylus to have colour restoration), print unique labels on CD/DVDs and create personalised photos by adding a handwritten message or sketch. Though it's not as convenient as the Neoprint machines, this feature provides enough room to exercise your creativity cells in the convenience of your home.
We began our quest by printing a personalised photo and adding our handwriting on a picture. The process was simple, very simple indeed. First you need to print a template (also known as the Combo Printing Sheet) from your selected picture. Then you choose the type of font you want (not a lot to pick from) and the size by filling the circles on the sheet. After that, you continue your scribbles on the picture and follow the instructions on the paper on how to place the sheet onto the scanner so the machine can read what you've written. Take note that you shouldn't remove your memory card, otherwise you'll have to start from scratch again. Press Print, and viola, you can get your own personalised picture.
Custom-making blank CD/DVDs was also a walk in the park. You need to select the picture you want as a background, insert the CD/DVD holding tray and then press Print. Of course, there are actually several options for customising. You can select 1-up, 4-up, 8-up or 12-up among other editing functions like increasing the saturation and adjusting brightness and sharpness. To top it off, you can even print your CD jacket to complete your own personalised CD/DVD.
When you look into the Setup menu, you'll find more advanced options like defining the inner and outer print positions to cater to the different sizes of media used. The machine also allows CD-to-CD copy -- which means to say if you have a previous CD with your picture on it but you have lost the image file, you can place the disc on the scanner and the printer will duplicate the same copy on a new CD. Of course, you got to make do with less-than-perfect quality compared with the original.
The machine comes with a built-in card reader that supports a large range of media including CompactFlash (Type I and II), xD-Picture Card, SmartMedia, Secure Digital, miniSD, MultiMediaCard, Magic Gate Memory Stick, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, Memory Stick Pro Duo (with adaptor) and IBM Microdrives -- enough for most needs we say. In addition, the printer supports infrared printing which is located to the left of the card reader. We're surprised the unit didn't come with an integrated Bluetooth connection, so you'll have to purchase an external adaptor.
However, if you wish to hook up your printer directly to a network or want one with wireless Internet connection, you'll have to look at HP's Photosmart 3310 All-in-One. For AU$100 more, you get these two extra connectivity options plus fax capabilities. Not to mention that the RX650 doesn't come with an automatic document feeder.
As a multifunctional printer, the RX650 does copy and scan as well. You can scan a photo and save it on a memory card plugged into the onboard reader; or you can scan your document to a connected PC. There's also an option to save your scans as PDF (Portable Document Format) files and to import your scans directly into your email.
Performance
Navigating through the menu system on the RX650 wasn't an uphill task. There are directional keys on the control panel and the selected portions are highlighted in colour with accompanying descriptions for some of them. We plugged in our Imation Secure Digital card and SanDisk Memory Stick Pro Duo and scanned through the photos with ease and minimal lag.
The Stylus Photo RX650 was a quiet performer. We powered up the printer in 30 seconds (not lightning fast we know) but shutting down the unit was light years faster at under three seconds. A status window pops up during print jobs showing the progress, remaining time, ink levels and even printing tips.
Our 10-page text printout took approximately three minutes 46 seconds to complete. A page of graphics and text, on the other hand, rolled out to our output tray in 35 seconds from the time we pressed Print on our HP Pavilion m7377d Media Center PC (3.2GHz, 512MB DDR2 SDRAM).
We managed to output an A4-sized test photo in 2 minutes and 20 seconds using general photo-printing settings on Epson's Premium Glossy photo paper. A second test photo with the same settings took approximately 2 minutes 11 seconds. We repeated the same tests, but this time with borders, and both test photos took about one minute 58 seconds. Printing photos using the Best Photo setting took nearly twice as long in both instances.
Each 4x6 printout took a respectable 52 seconds. Printing in the Best Photo setting took about two minutes and 15 seconds, and that's more than twice the time. We figured most people wouldn't need to use this setting unless you are looking for more saturated colours in your prints.
During our tests, we also noticed minor vibrations due to the size of the printer. To overcome that, make sure you place the machine on a stable surface.
Scanning an A4-sized photo in Auto mode took about 40 seconds. Do note that the scanner does need to warm up, which could account for slightly longer scan times in some instances.
According to Epson, the black cartridge in the printer is able to churn out an estimated 550 pages of black text and graphics.
Image Quality
Printouts from the RX650 were a pleasure to look at. The colours were true to the originals and rich. We had one grumble, though. Our photos that were printed using the Best Photo setting had slightly more saturated colours compared with the standard configuration, but they also lost some details in the shadows. Unless you are incredibly picky, the latter is more than sufficient for home printing purposes.
Printouts were dry to touch almost immediately from the time they were released onto the tray but we still recommend airing it first, then storing in your photo albums. Check with the instructions that come with your photo paper on the recommended amount of time to leave your images untouched.
Text quality was decent and readable at size 2.5 in Times New Roman. Italics and bolded text were also easily recognisable. We didn't have any issue with the graphics and text test prints as well.
Service and Support
Product enquiries can also be sent via email to Epson's online helpdesk. In addition, registering the printer on the company's Web site will entitle the user to another three months of warranty. More assistance is also available in the form of driver downloads, online manuals, interactive help and FAQ sections.
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organs galore
08/08/2007, 04:16 PM
rating
7/10
The Epson stylus photo RX650 is listed under "Scanners that do OCR". I have purchased one for that purpose but nowhere can I find out how to do OCR. Are you able to help?
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wayn echilds
15/01/2007, 11:24 PM
rating
9/10
Thought I needed a fax machine. No, with this high res. scanner you can .pdf the same document and even multipages into and email attachment.
Pros: CD printer, hig res. scanner, mutipage scanner, negative printer, high quality photo prints, memory card slots, able to print of cards without having to turn your computer on !
Cons: a little slow printing. Would like more options of reducing quality of print especially if you are doing a draft.
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