Epson Stylus Office BX635FWD

The Stylus Office BX635FWD adds to the Epson range of inkjet printers for small companies. BX stands for business models (in opposition to PX for photo prints and SX for individual consumers). The F stands for on-board fax, the W for wi-fi and the D for double-sided, all of which makes this a 4-in-1 model, with wi-fi (and Ethernet) connectivity designed for small businesses. With this model, Epson is promising to gain users time and reduce costs. Promises kept? Answers below.

Design and build: do you like buttons?

Those of you who like keyboards will like all these buttons! Going from the HP Photosmart 7510 e-All-In-One to this model is a bit like going back in time. Navigation on a screen is a lot easier and more intuitive than this forest of buttons! All the same, Epson tells us that companies find the buttons reassuringly solid and easy to use. It’s all a question of taste! Once we’d installed the drivers (a long and fastidious process), we got to know the machine. On the programme: a full panel of features (print, copy, scan, fax), card readers (Compact flash, Memory Stick), a 250 page paper loader and double-sided.

Front of the screen: buttons, 6 cm dialogue screen

The paper loader adjusts to different formats
 

 

The innovations of the models in the latest range are focused on remote printing services. Known as Epson Connect, the Epson service includes:

• Email Print: a feature that allows you to print mails and attachments by sending an e-mail to the printer (up to 10 MB).
• A new version of the iPrint software is available across the range of past and future printers and allows you to print any document/photo/Internet page from your device or scan a document and send it straight to your phone or tablet.
• Airprint: the Apple application that allows iOS users to print their documents on compatible printers without requiring a driver or software.
• Google Cloud Print that is also accommodated on the new range of Canon multifunction printers. Via Google Chrome, this service simply allows you to print from Gmail, Google docs and so on using wi-fi.

Distance printing is something that’s being rolled out by all manufacturers though HP and Lexmark, who pioneered these services, retain an advantage.

Inside you’ll find four easy to access separate cartridges.

Speeds

This printer's desktop speeds merit a four star rating. The tech spec claims 15 pages per minute (ppm) for black & whites and 7 ppm colour and our tests confirm these numbers – give or take 3 pages! We counted it at 9 ppm for colour and 18 ppm for black and white, which is rapid for an inkjet and comparable to the Lexmark Pinacle Pro901 (5-star rating). Remember how responsive this Epson is, taking just nine seconds to print the first page (see inset).

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• In draft mode it manges 75 ppm!

Photo print speeds are also twice as slow as those measured for the HP Photosmart 7510 e-All-In-One (2 mn 23 s for an A4 and 42 seconds for a 10 x 15). A4 photo speeds on the BX635FWD are comparable to the Epson photo model (the Stylus Photo PX730WD): 3 minutes.
 

Print quality

Droplets remain visible to the eye in the shaded areas of the graph. Letters lack depth and the overall result is rather poor. For text alone, which is simpler to print, the BX635FWD does fine. Black and white prints, which are less affected by droplets, are even better.

Average deltaE 94 (colour difference): 6.9

Scanner and copier

There’s a CIS type scanner with a 2400 dpi resolution.

Colour and black and white copies are printed in 25 seconds, which is slower than average. The quality of copies is rather average though the colour accuracy was recorded at a pretty good 5.

• Average deltaE 94 (colour difference): 5

Energy consumption & Noise levels

The printer consumes 3 Watts in standby and 16 Watts when printing. This is pretty standard, though more and more multifunction printers manage under 1W in standby. Our noise level readings showed an average of 45 dB(A), which makes this a quiet printer. Anything under 50 dB(A) and we classify a printer as quiet.

Cost per page: 6.7 pence

Cost per page here is lower than average. Make sure you go for the XL cartridges as although they'll cost you more to buy, they'll work out more economical in the long run. Another piece of good news is that Epson supplies real full XL cartridges with the machine rather than the starter cartridges so many manufacturers now use!


ISO lifespan for text - XL cartridges