Main Review

As the Epson Stylus R265 is a budget model you don’t get PC-less direct printing from memory cards, or a colour screen, or CD printing. The taller shape of the R265 does endow the printer with a small desktop footprint and you can push the R265 right up against the wall because the power and USB ports are recessed.

Performance-wise, the R265 is not particularly fast or slow, with best-quality borderless A4 photos taking more than five minutes, though the very usable lower quality driver setting reduces the time to just over two minutes. Similarly, 6x4s take over two minutes for a best-quality print and just 30 seconds for a standard-quality one, with little obvious penalty in terms of print quality.

Epson has long enjoyed some superiority in its black ink density and this continues with the latest-generation Claria inks. Unfortunately, the R265 failed to reveal shadow details we could see in the prints from the Canon and HP printers. That said, we rated the Epson prints higher for colour accuracy and contrast. It’s just a shame the shadows are too dark.

Verdict

Fundamentally, the R265 is a very competent printer, but its main rival is the slightly more expensive R360, which offers a great deal more for not much extra outlay.

Reviewer: WDC Team