Epson Stylus C80

The story behind the C80 is its use of pigment ink. Dye-based inks soak into the page, often causing feathering on photocopy paper and, because the colour does not physically sit on top of the surface like pigment, it is neither as vivid nor as durable. Pigment ink is water-fast and immune to smudging.

We had been expecting great things of the C80, but were a little disappointed with our standard test photo, which was a bit muted and lacked the vibrancy of the Stylus Photo 810's equivalent. While colour edges were sharp, the output was a little grey overall, even on glossy photo paper, and our sunny photo looked like it had been taken on a cloudy day.

On plain paper, though, the colours were more like we had hoped. They were vibrant and strong, making this printer a good choice for those who want to produce business graphics or presentation handouts.

The rendering of plain text was similarly impressive, in a confident, solid black that neither feathered nor smudged, reinforcing our view that this is a printer more for the small business than digital photography market - there is no 'photo' in the C80 name, after all.

It didn't dawdle. The photo completed in six minutes 18 seconds, and the last sheet of our 50-page text document dropped into the output tray after eight minutes, 27 seconds. Had this unit appeared in our November group test these results would have placed it fourth and first in the photo and text tests, respectively.

Computer connection is by parallel or USB cable, and you'll find drivers for both Windows and the Mac in the box. Inks live in four individual wells, so if you run out of just one colour you won't end up throwing away what remains in the other chambers. There are many interesting touches here, but before buying think carefully about how you'll use it.

Contact: Epson 0800 220 546 www.epson.co.uk