Product Reviews

Epson demonstrated a new set of priorities with the Stylus Photo 870 (reviewed issue 68, p159), not only improving on photo quality and print speed but also throwing in a new range of features, including edge-to-edge printing on a 4in-wide paper roll and ten-year light-fastness. The Stylus Photo 1270 brings these new features into the A3 printing world. With Epson's new Premium Glossy Photo media also available in A3 format, it looks like large-scale, high-quality photo printing could be the way of the future.

As you'd expect from an A3 printer, the 1270 will require a lot of desk space, especially if you're actually printing on A3 and need to utilise the extended paper holder and feed tray. However, despite its sprawling branches, the 1270 is actually quite stylish, adopting the tinted casing of previous Stylus Photo models. Epson has also put a lot of work into improving the acoustics, with an incredibly quiet print mechanism.

As with the Stylus Photo 870, the photo results were exceptional, being incredibly smooth with no discernible grain. Assisted by its six-colour cartridge system, the results were much smoother than those from the A3 Epson Stylus Color 1160 (reviewed issue 64, p159). Although it wasn't as good at picking out fine detail in darker areas, this pales in significance when considering the otherwise substantial improvement in quality. Just like the Stylus Color 1160, it was particularly fast on this task, printing out an A4-sized photo in just four minutes, 40 seconds. Comparatively, the Stylus Photo 870 took eight minutes, 54 seconds on the same task, making the 1270 almost twice as fast.

Unlike the Stylus Color 1160 however, the 1270 isn't as quick on other tasks. Black text printing in standard mode proved disappointing, averaging at 1.75ppm on a 25-page document, a long way from the 4.7ppm achieved by the Stylus Color 1160. Epson claims that it can push out approximately 9ppm in economy mode, but we found that even on a sparsely covered document it could only manage an average of 7ppm with the text quality in this mode quite poor, being very faint and shaky. In standard mode the text quality and print speed are similar to those of the 870, although the quality is far from the crisp

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and clear results produced by the HP PhotoSmart P1100 (reviewed Labs, issue 67, p132). When it comes down to it, this machine is intended for photo printing, so while it may not double up as a business workhorse, it performs its intended task with apparent enthusiasm.

Epson's new print media gave life to the already excellent photo results. The Premium Glossy Photo paper is much thicker and glossier than previous Epson papers, giving your photos a more genuine feel, and is also available in A3 format, which will be great for wall mounting your photos. With the edge-to-edge printing and paper-roll facilities you'll also be able to produce high-quality smaller photos with no margins on high-quality media, for a professional look. Epson guarantees that this new media will keep your prints light-fast for up to ten years. However, it isn't just the Premium Glossy Photo paper that offers this. The heavyweight Matte media is also guaranteed to stay light-fast for ten years, with very aesthetic results, retaining the rich colour depth of glossy media.

Excepting the improved photo printing speed and A3 carriage, the 1270's performance is otherwise remarkably similar to the Stylus Photo 870. The Pantone reproduction was identical to that of the 870 and, although not 100 per cent accurate, it's certainly in the top end of inkjet printer results. One similarity not so welcome was that it also had a problem with greys that often came out with a brown or slightly green tinge. The colour fades showed smooth transitions that made those from the 1160 look quite grainy in comparison. As with the text-printing tests, colour-graphics printing was substantially slower than the Stylus Color 1160, but this is easily made up for in the higher-quality of the print-outs.

At £340, the 1270 comes in at £19 less than the 1160 and offers a wider range of features to boot. However, there's a difference of £137 between this and the Stylus Photo 870, and this is justified not only in its A3-sized carriage and improved photo-printing speed, but also in its economic running costs. Although it uses the same mono cartridge as the Stylus Photo 870, the 1270 uses a higher capacity colour cartridge, working out at 4.9p per colour A4 CMYK page, compared to 5.5p on the 870.

While the Stylus Photo 1270 may not be able to match the fast pace of the Stylus Color 1160 on text and graphics, the colour accuracy and photo quality is exceptional, with the added advantage of the A3 format. If you want superb high-speed photo printing with A3 functionality, the 1270 will perfectly suit your needs at an appealing price. However, if you're looking for an all-in-one multipurpose printer, where speed is more important than quality, the Stylus Color 1160 may be a better bet. Either way the Stylus Photo 1270 should be on your shortlist.