Epson Expression Home XP-445 Printer Review (Brief)

Our Brief Summary of the New Epson Expression Home XP-445 Inkjet Printer.

Printer Case and Buttons

The printer case is not very hard, but has a nice 6.8 cm screen. Relevant at the time disguised loud click buttons light up but do not always work. The control panel can be vertical or set to a 45-degree angle which can get in the way of the scanner.

Memory Card Reader

You can preview images from an SD card, then print them off. You can scan images directly onto a memory card. You can copy files to your PC from an SD card in the printer

Excellent Scanner

Very high-quality scanner with wide colour gamut. Quick scanning at low resolutions. 30 seconds for a 600dpi scan. Better than average photocopies. Black and White photocopy takes approximately 13 seconds. Colour photocopy 33 seconds.

Printing Quality and Speed

Bold and fairly crisp text. Colour graphics good but take a long time to print. Good to OK results when printing A6 photographs, but slow (taking approximately 200 seconds to print).
WiFi hard to set-up

Set-up instructions not as clear as they could be. Added complication of compatibility with different operating systems. Reports of WiFi connections dropping out.

Ink Cartridges Expensive

Uses Epson Strawberry Claria 29 Ink Cartridges (Multipack around £30). Cost per print can be high. Compatible 29 xl cartridges prices are currently higher than expected. Refillable cartridges or CISS systems are not currently available.

Overall

The Epson Expression Home XP-445 printer is capable of producing decent quality prints, however print speeds are slow. It has a very good quality scanner, and the photocopy quality is better than average. Printer is let down by the flimsy case and buttons, WiFi setup that can be difficult to set-up, and the higher cost per print price. The XP-445 does however have some redeeming features like the iPrint application for printing from mobile phones, and data transfer from the memory card reader. Overall we estimate the printer will score just short of 4 out of 5 stars.

Compatible Strawberry 29 xl Replacement Ink Cartridges

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