Epson Stylus Photo TX650 inkjet multifunction

Epson's mid-range inkjet multifunction produces decent photos for its price

PC World Australia (online)

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As its name suggests, the Epson Stylus Photo TX650 inkjet multifunction is better suited to photo printing than office work. Its speed and the quality of documents make it a poor choice for the office, but the quality of photos and ability to print directly to CDs and DVDs should help bring out the creativity in your family. Utilising six individual colour cartridges, the Stylus Photo TX650 inkjet printer produces decent photos at a reasonable price.

Pros

  • Prints vibrant and crisp photos, easy CD/DVD printing, reasonable consumable costs

Cons

  • Slow print speeds, no Wi-Fi, can't print from USB flash drives

Bottom Line

The Epson Stylus Photo TX650 inkjet multifunction works best as a photo printer with extra features, rather than an all-purpose machine for the home office. Printouts using glossy media are fantastic quality for the price, though documents leave something to be desired.

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  • Where to buy

    Priced from: $ 94.00
    Selling at 2 stores
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Epson Stylus Photo TX650 inkjet multifunction

The grey lever lets you adjust the output tray when printing directly to CDs or DVDs

Epson claims the Stylus Photo TX650 inkjet multifunction has "cutting-edge Italian styling", though to us it looks like your average printer. There's no paper cassette so paper must be fed through the rear tray, but this is much sturdier than we expected. Adjusting the printer for feeding CDs and DVDs is much better than on other Epson printers we've tested like the Stylus Photo 1410; just flick a lever on the left to adjust the output tray and insert the included pallet.

The Stylus Photo TX650 offers USB connectivity, as well as a PictBridge port and card reader support SD, Memory Stick, xD and CompactFlash. Unlike the Canon PIXMA MP560, the PictBridge USB port won't recognise flash drives. Bluetooth connectivity is available through an optional dongle for $79.

The control panel sits flush with the printer by default but can be tilted upwards. The panel is fairly easy to operate, though some things seem counterintuitive; scan and print options are segregated into "Memory Card" and "Specialty Print" menus, for instance.

Print Speed Results
Model Price Type B&W Draft
(ppm)		 B&W Normal
(ppm)		 Colour Draft
(ppm)		 Colour Normal
(ppm)		 4x6in photo
(seconds)		 A4 photo
(minutes)
Epson Stylus Photo TX650 $199 Inkjet 19.4 4.8 21.4 5.4 28 1m 49s
Kodak ESP 5 $199 Inkjet 13.3 3 13.3 3 38s 2m 12s
HP Photosmart Plus B209a-m $219 Inkjet 18.9 11.5 14.2 6.6 24s 1m 9s
HP Photosmart C5380 $219 Inkjet 20.6 10.9 18.75 6.3 27 1m 14s
Canon PIXMA MP560 $229 Inkjet 10.2 8.7 5 4.6 34s 1m 35s
Epson Stylus Office TX610FW $249 Inkjet 19 15.1 20.1 8.4 57s 2m 40s
Canon PIXMA MP640 $299 Inkjet 10.4 8.7 5.7 3.8 32 52s
HP Photosmart Premium C309g-m $299 Inkjet 18.5 10 16.2 5.6 26 1m 8s

The Epson Stylus Photo TX650 sprints when printing in draft mode but documents appear faded and are largely unusable. When printing at a more acceptable quality print speeds drop dramatically. Even when printing at normal quality the multifunction is noticeably noisy. A "quiet mode" option works, though it slows normal print speeds to 4.3 pages per minute (ppm) and 4.8ppm for mono and colour documents, respectively.

Printing on matte paper doesn't produce the best results; colours are undersaturated while text characters are over-bold and inaccurate, particularly at smaller font sizes. On glossy media, results are much sharper and more vibrant. Some colours appear slightly dark, making red and purple hues inaccurate, though the Stylus Photo TX650 produces surprisingly clear black and white photos. At an average of 19.1c per A4 page, it isn't too expensive to print from this inkjet multifunction either.

The quality of printed CDs and DVDs is largely dependent on the optical discs themselves; while matte discs can appear oversaturated, glossy media can look good but smudges easily. The software is easy to use and the process simple enough to pickup, but the standalone pallet can get lost when not in use.

Scan quality is limited by a maximum resolution of 2400dpi. You will have to upgrade to Epson's more expensive Stylus Photo models to get better scan quality, though the Stylus Photo TX650 inkjet multifunction is sufficient for scanning documents and the odd photo.

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