Wedding planning takes a lot of patience and can be even more expensive. So when Jess and I had the opportunity to review Epson’s XP-5100, we instantly knew that we could save a bit of money simply doing what we could to from home.
The Epson XP-5100 is an all in one printer that is small, but a more than efficient way of printing color documents and photos that you’d otherwise shell out money for at a Kinko’s. At a more than affordable price of $119.99, you get a wireless printer that can also copy, scan, and creates professional photos using your own materials. I’ll admit I was not going into the printer with huge expectations when we unboxed and plugged it in, but lo and behold when you power it on, there’s a lot to be amazed by.
Weight wise, the printer sits at about twelve pounds and has measurements of 7.4″ X 14.8″ X 19.8″ inches. It can comfortably sit on a standing desk in our home, or even where it is currently situated on a table in our living room.
The paper input tray can hold 150 sheets of standard 8.5″ x 11″ paper and comes with a door that folds down and up to insert said paper. The machine can also handle Avery labels and paper with ease as well, which worked well for us; we used the s from XP-5100 to print out our wedding table place cards, drink menus, and even our wedding booklets. This being our first ever home printer together, what amazed us is that it did not have to be hard-wired into an Ethernet port, and the setup was super simple thanks to Wi-Fi connectivity of the printer. With wireless built into the XP-5100, what we were able to do was use our laptop to set up the Epson by going to the Epson Wi-Fi Direct, and typing our credentials manually on the XP-5100’s LCD screen.
Speaking of the LCD screen, this is an all-in-one functionality that is unfortunately not a touchscreen. Luckily though, the button controls to the left of the XP-5100 are simple with directional buttons, an OK button, power on, and a few others like “refresh” and “back” buttons that make navigating the colored menu on the screen easier for any user. I only had to connect to the printer using the on-device buttons once, and ever since then, we have been able to print wirelessly, thanks to the multitude of third-party apps the printer allows you to use.
Both of us being avid Apple Product users, we were happy to see that the XP-5100 uses Apple AirPrint for the ability to print from every Apple Device not named the Apple TV. When we find a document on our phones, tablets or MacBooks that we want to print, it’s as simple as going to the “Share” button within the app that we are using, scrolling over to “Print”, and once your device sees” Epson XP-5100 pop up, you press it and it begins to sputter. Jess printed 36 test color pages with both text and a single color photo on the XP-5100, and we timed the printing per page at roughly thirteen pages per minute. Now, this could fare differently for you if you decide to use more colors than black and white.
Now the highlight to the Epson XP-5100 to me has to be its ability to print photos. Epson prides themselves on this more than actual text documents, and I honestly can not blame them. Now in order to get the best quality of photos, you have to use the appropriate paper. Designed to use inkjet photos, Epson sent me their premium glossy paper that we in turn used for “In Memory” table photos of relatives that had passed. We received plenty of compliments from family members that thought that the photos were originals; the thickness of the Inkjet paper and the way that the XP-5100 rendered the photos came out phenomenal. Going forward, whenever we want to print out photos to frame — or even just to hand to family and friends— instead of going to Kinko’s we’re going to be using our Epson home printer.
We’re running low on ink, but lucky us, Epson has a delivery service for ink. With their subscription programs, you end up paying less to use your own printer rather than going to a third party company for your copies. I suggest buying the AIO high-yield ink cartridges that give you more bang for your buck in quality of the image, as well as money saved over the course of printing.
Overall Jess and I are very pleased by our Epson XP-5100; if you’re looking for a great printer that won’t take up space, and will give you quality documents without having to go to a store this is the one to grab.
For more information, you can head over to Epson today.
Source: Manufacturer supplied review unit
What I Like: Price is excellent; Photo prints are actually better than some I’ve received at Kinko’s.
What Needs Improvement: Price of AIO High-Yield cartridges are pretty expensive
