Epson Expression Premium XP-520 review: $130 printer delivers beautiful output and surprisingly affordable ink - confernotilen

At a Glance

Proficient's Military rank

Pros

Humbled leverage price
Disorienting output quality
Adenoidal-yields inks are economical

Cons

Tiny video display can be hard to study
The lack of a 'Back' button makes command panel navigation a shrimpy unclear

Our Verdict

The Epson Expression Superior XP-520 is 1 of the few low-priced printers we've tested that's worth recommending. Its high-proceeds inks are surprisingly cheap, and it also delivers beautiful output at a decent speed.

If something does what it does genuinely, really fortunate, and doesn't cost you and arm and a stage, you tend to forgive, operating room even forget its foibles. That's what you hold with Epson's new Reflexion Premium XP-520 color inkjet multifunction, which offers transcript/CAT scan/print capabilities for $130. The output from its five-ink Claria system of rules is so good, it's easy to overtop its squinty little display and less-than-spontaneous controls. And, grow this: You can print a four-color paginate for 12.5 cents. Non as inferior as a business inkjet, merely practically unheard-of cheap for a under-volume, cheap multifunction.

The XP-520 is also decently fast and sports two-sided printing, a feature not always set up at this price point. If you're reading this connected your phone while shopping low-mass home MFPs at your local box store, you can stop reading now—this is the one you wish.

epson expression premium xp 520 scanner — What you don't get for the Epson Expression Premium XP-520's low cost is an automatonlike document feeder. The flat scanner handles just one sheet at a time.

But I don't get paid if I don't give you the particulars. The XP-520 sports both Wi-Fi and USB connectivity. There's no ADF, so you're express to one-murder scans victimisation the A4/letter-sized platen, and the theme capacity is a specified 100 pages. But this is an occasional-use printing machine designed for the home, and for that, the capability is more than adequate. My only, extremely minor gripe is that all time you close the bottom cassette after adding wallpaper, you bump the output tray and mustiness re-extend it before the printer will operate.

The XP-520 also supports Wi-Fi direct printing, also as the usual host of email and outback printing features. The always-capable Epson software bundle leverages all the MFP features. At that place's also an SD media card expansion slot ahead for printing photos and else data flat.

epson expression premium xp 520 output tray — The extendable panels of the output tray have to constitute repositioned every clip you load the stimulant tray.

The XP-520 renders some of the finest, most realistic photos we've seen from any pressman at any cost. The color palette is a little cool, merely flesh tones are liveliness-equal, subtle sweater patterns read up, and the overall contrast is marvelous. They're possibly non As dramatic at the default on settings A the output from some strange exposure printers, but you wish the colors you capture reproduced accurately on the paper. There's Photoshop and the like-minded if you want to add drama. Text is very sharp, honourable shy of laser quality.

Ink costs are a tad dear if you opt for the XP-520's $12.99, standard-sized cartridges. The black tank lasts for 250 pages or 5.2 cents per varlet, and the colors last for 300 pages or 4.3 cents per color, per pageboy. What you really desire are the $18.99 utmost-capacity cartridges which last for 500 pages (black) and 650 pages (teal, magenta, and yellow) respectively. That lowers the cost of colorful pages to 3.7 cents, and four-color pages from 18.1 cents to only 12.6 cents. We've seen quasi MFPs that cost you upwards of 20 cents per four-colourize page.

epson expression premium xp 520 ink cartridges — The costs of the regular-size inks connected the Epson Expression Premium XP-520 are a little on the tall side, but the high-capacity inks are surprisingly economical.

On that point's also a photo-black cartridge, which is good for 200 (standard-size pickup) and 400 (high-capacity) pages. As this replaces the regular black in photos, it doesn't affect the cost of normal printing. Note that photos usage a mickle more ink than the ISO standard four-color page we quote, so expect lower mileage.

epson expression premium xp 520 control panel — The board on the Epson Expression Premium XP-520 can be a little awkward to use, because the display is small and there's no formalised 'Back' release.

I go back and forth all but the XP-520's tiny, 1.44-edge expose. It's truly operational only if you have young eyes, or get really approximately it. For me that meant removing my three-stern strength computer glasses. Frankly, I didn't idea it overmuch, but I didn't the likes of using the Tonic key for backspacing, etc. A Home important should get you to the homepage, period. Eastern Samoa the XP-520 has a cradle cursor control, I'm not destined why this was done. Those are child gripes and piddling concerns considering the quality of the yield.

epson expression premium xp 520 input tray — The slide-out input tray on the Epson Expression Premium XP-520 holds 100 pages.

The XP-520's speed was also a idyllic storm. It printed text and mixed pages at 7.4 per minute on the PC and 7.2 on the Mac. Rich-page photos printed to plain newspaper publisher at 3.2 per minute, and to glistening photo stock in a little over cardinal proceedings on some the PC, and Mack. Scans were tolerably fast at two per atomic at 600dpi and slightly under one per minute at 1200 dpi. Previews took only if 10 seconds.

Okay, I'd comparable it if the XP-520 had a big display and a couple more buttons to make navigating the menu system more intuitive. Its higher-end cousins, the $150 XP-620 and $200 XP-820, consume nicer screens and add CD/DVD impression and an ADF. But, the XP-520 is viable as-is and provides sterling outturn, decent cannonball along, and affordable inks that involves alone a moderate initial Cash outlay. For that I'd be willing to live with cranks, levers and potentiometers.

Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/435107/epson-expression-premium-xp-520-review-130-printer-delivers-beautiful-output-and-surprisingly-affor.html

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