Dan Littman

Epson Stylus C80

First, speed. The Stylus C80 is one of the fastest we've seen at 6.9 ppm for text and 1.5 ppm for graphics. We liked the good shading and lighting of its color graphics, and glossy photos looked luscious, with realistic detail and textures. Epson also cuts you some slack on ink costs, at only 3.8 cents per page for black and 12.5 cents per page for color. Because the Stylus C80 uses pigment-based inks instead of dye-based ones, photos are less susceptible to the effects of light, humidity, and air pollution--and therefore should last much longer.
The Stylus C80 produced pale, rough text. In our line pair tests, it made narrow parallel lines that overlapped into a pinstripe pattern.
The Stylus C80's boxy, oddly attractive shape bears a passing resemblance to a toaster oven, but the unit feels sturdier than most low-cost printers.
This $179 unit makes a fine choice for high-volume home-office printing, and it doubles as a great photo printer.

Buying Information

Epson Stylus C80 Rated 12-ppm monochrome/5-ppm color, 2880-by-720 dpi maximum resolution, 150 sheets input, 30 output. $ 179 Rated 12-ppm monochrome/5-ppm color, 2880-by-720 dpi maximum resolution, 150 sheets input, 30 output. http://www.epson.com 800/463-7766