Dan Littman

Epson Stylus C82

Epson's Stylus C82 is the fastest printer we've tested this month. In our tests, it whipped out text in normal mode at 7.4 ppm, faster than this month's average of 5.0 ppm. Color pages slide out at 1.6 ppm, easily beating the 1.1-ppm average. At $149, the C82 costs less than average for an ink jet; and its inexpensive inks cost only 2.4 cents for a page of text and 11.1 cents for a page of color graphics (versus its sibling Stylus C62's 7.1 cents for black and 17.1 cents for color).
For the money, we expected the C82 to produce better print quality than it did. In our tests, text looked rough on big letters, while small or light text faded away, and narrow lines overlapped to become broad stripes. Colors looked better but not great, showing too much red and a dotty texture throughout our color test image. Even high-resolution photos on glossy paper had somewhat muted colors, though they had superb detail and textures.
The input and output trays both fold snugly against the printer when they're not loaded with paper, saving desk space and keeping dust out of the printer. The Stylus C82 shares the C62's thorough documentation, easy installation, and yearlong warranty. The C82 comes with a free copy of Epson's Film Factory image-editing software, and you also get a free account on Epson's photo-sharing Web site.
The Stylus C82 offers page-pumping prowess, inexpensive ink, and a tidy design--but this attractive package is undermined by fair-to-middling print quality.