Epson Stylus Photo 925

The Stylus Photo 925 is similar to the Canon S530D and HP 7550 in that it can act as a standalone direct photo printer, sporting an LCD status panel and several memory card readers. There's also an optional colour preview display (not cheap at £67) and a USB port for external storage devices.

With six dye-based colours, the 925 has a larger gamut than the Canon S530D, but the HP includes a secondary pigment black for seven-ink printing. Another of the 925's advantages over the S530D is its resolution - the 925 is capable of 5,760 x 720dpi, while the Canon manages 2,400 x 1,200dpi. In case you're wondering about the maths here, the Epson lays down around 50 per cent more dots per inch. One slight disadvantage is that the 925 doesn't use individual ink tanks and, as the cartridges are relatively expensive for their yields (particularly the colour tank), it doesn't offer the lowest running costs.

However, the 925's lower purchase cost and the fact that it's packed with features like the auto-cutter make up for the higher ink cost. Naturally, it will accept roll paper for easy photo printing and supports borderless prints even at A4, ensuring no wasted media.

The other good news is that the Epson delivers much better print quality than the Canon. Skin tones on the photo montage were realistic and the fine 4pl drop size meant that no graininess was visible at normal viewing distances. Colours were vivid and fades were smooth without the stepping seen on the Canon. In fact, we thought the 925 was slightly better than the 950 for printing raw colours and fades. Plus, if you can ignore the practically invisible banding, the 925 easily rivals the expensive 950 for overall photo quality.

On plain paper, the 925 performed almost identically to the 950, delivering a sharp, clean print, but colour did suffer compared with prints on coated paper. Text quality was second only to the Canon and, despite lacking the pigmented ink, still appeared jet black with only a little feathering. Our four-page report on coated paper was competently printed, and the three-page business report was only slightly worse for being printed on plain paper.

Sadly, you'll have to wait considerably longer for your prints than with the Canon, but the extra quality is worth it. Plus, the PhotoQuicker software allows you to easily tag a selection of photos, leave them to print and cut them ready to put into an album. The bottom line is that if your budget can't stretch to the Stylus Photo 950, the 925 makes a worthy alternative.