Epson Stylus Color 880 review

It doesn't seem long since 720dpi was a stunning inkjet resolution, but recently we've seen claimed resolutions bordering on the extreme, with the HP 990Cxi (reviewed issue 74, p176) claiming up to 2,400dpi, and Epson now taking things a step further with the 2,880dpi Stylus Color 880. In our own tests, we've found that despite their claims, many high-resolution inkjets struggle to print a high-detail pattern at anything above 150dpi, so it will be interesting to see whether these high numbers actually improve image quality.

This time around Epson has abandoned its white chassis of the previous Stylus Color range, and incorporated the dark translucent hood formerly reserved for Epson's Photo models. The chassis itself has the same shape and layout we're familiar with, although the paper support is now more minimal and stylish looking. Also gone are the irritating start-up noises, and while the 880 isn't as quiet as the HP 990Cxi when printing, its acoustics are still minimal and a welcome improvement to Epson's cheaper range.

Performance tests kicked off with our A4 photo test on Epson Photo Paper using the standard Quality setting, which it completed in an impressive three minutes, 58 seconds. However, the high resolution of 2,880dpi is reserved only for Epson's high-end papers in the Custom options, and printing the same photo on Premium Glossy Photo Paper at the full resolution slowed the process down significantly to 25 minutes, 27 seconds. Nevertheless, the quality at the highest resolution is well worth waiting for, with the full and rich colour balance you'd expect from a six-colour printing system, incredibly sharp detail, and no noticeable banding or track marks. That said, graininess was still apparent in lighter areas, and the results weren't quite as smooth as those from the Epson Stylus Photo 870 (reviewed issue 68, p159); nevertheless for the £135 asking price the results are superb.

Epson is not only boasting high resolution from the Stylus Color 880, but also high print speeds, with up to 12ppm in mono. In reality, however, it fell below our expectations, averaging out at 5.6ppm on our 25-page plain black text test in Standard mode. Dropping down to economy resolution only knocked ten seconds off the time, and the quality deteriorated dramatically with characters broken and coming out light grey instead of black. However, this is still impressive when you consider the price, and in Standard mode it's even faster than the 4.9ppm achieved by HP's 990Cxi, although the Epson's scratchy characters lack the HP's sharp black precision, and are also a long way from the laser sharp quality of Lexmark's Z42 (reviewed issue 73, p167) with its pigmented black ink.

In colour prints, the Stylus Color 880's overall image quality is really quite respectable, and even on plain paper it still managed to produce bright and vivid colours, although in comparison to the HP it was very slightly grainy and speckled. It's worth bearing in mind though, that while it's not as good an all round printer as the HP, it's substantially cheaper and the results are still more than adequate for most people's purposes.

The Epson's colour accuracy was also impressive, with Pantones reproduced faithfully and slightly more accurately than the HP with regard to purple and green hues. However, a closer look at the shades showed that while the colours were accurate, the composite makeup of the shade is easily visible and looks grainy rather than smooth. This was also borne out in the greyscale tests, and while the shades were completely accurate, with none of the green tinge seen in the Photo 870's results, they start to look rather speckled and less smooth at a closer glance. The colour fade tests showed a nice smooth transition between colours with minimal stepping, although again there was a slightly noticeable grain and it was easy to see the makeup of what should have been solid colours.