Review-comparison of the best MFPs: Epson, Canon, HP. Which MFP is better - Canon or HP

Wrangler, I used Canon iP4500 and Epson T50.

I hope my answer saves you a lot nerve cells, time and money, because at one time I asked myself the same question. And it all started rather banally. A few years ago, my wife once told me that we have been living with you, my dear, beloved, for many years, but there are still no photos of them together ... In fact, they were, but everything that our fucking soap box took, you can was flushed down the toilet. I had to buy New Year Nikon DSLR. A month later, it became necessary to print the first "masterpieces". Satisfied with himself, he gave the photos to the minilab. Came to pick up ... and sat on the ass. The photos showed blue-green-brown faces from a horror movie, and everything else was not natural color. I tried to ask something ... but, alas, they sent me. I tried to print in other minilabs - the effect is the same. Now I was sure that I would print photos myself, and for this I need an inkjet photo printer. But which printer should you buy? After running around the Internet and shops, the search circle narrowed down to Epsons and Kenons. Exactly like yours . I decided to give preference to Kenon. Since the A4 printer was just "behind the eyes", then from the Kenons, in fact, it did not take long to choose. The choice fell on the iP4500 - the maximum resolution in this segment (9600 * 4800), however, as well as the maximum number of colors - 4. I bought it, brought it home, began to print ... The quality, of course, was better than in the minilab, but, alas , the transfer of colors did not please me either. I translated a lot of paper and ink, hoping to at least fix something. But nothing happened. As always, I went to the Internet and with the help of Google I read what the wrong color reproduction of the monitor and printer is, that there are some additive and subtractive color models, color profiles, and so on, as well as horror stories about minilabs. Now I firmly realized that I needed a calibrator, both for the monitor and for the printer. The choice fell on Spyder3Studio, mostly because of the price. For a long time I had to master the documentation (fortunately it is in Russian), the interface and at least something from the theory of color reproduction. As a result, I received monitor and printer profiles. The very first print brought so much joy that words cannot express. Natural colors, the highest precision and sharpness of the smallest details. In short, I sent all chemical minilabs to hell forever. I printed three photo albums on original cartridges and paper in a year and a half. After that, the printer began to streak ... Washing the head did not help. To be honest, by that time I had already stuffed my eye and hand quite well and began to find flaws even in prints of this quality. First of all, it concerned the transmission of light tones. On light colors, I began to notice something like digital noise. Note that in most cases, the faces of people also belong to light tones. No, this is not digital camera noise. This is Kenon's way of rendering light tones, or rather, it is from the field of image screening technology. I assume that this is due to the fact that only 4 colors are used. But when viewing a photo from a distance of 25 cm, I assure you, you will not see any noise. In short, everything happened by the way. And I decided to purchase a 6-color A4 Epson. It didn't take long to choose either. Got an Epson T50. He brought it and immediately began to build a profile for him. After printing out the first sheet of the calibration target, I was simply puzzled ... Firstly, for the first time I learned that inkjet photo printers can make such a loud noise and take so long to print. Kenon was just a quiet mouse in my room, spitting out photographs one after another. Believe me, it's very important point. If I even liked its quiet rustling when printing Kenon, then you can get a nervous breakdown from the level and nature of Epson's noise. Secondly, I still cannot understand why the printed targets from Kenon shine like a spotlight, but from Epson they look at me very modestly, even somehow poor. And this is with 6 colors?! I have not been able to calibrate this Epson. All images on the screen go into a deep purple-violet hue, and it doesn’t matter in what light you view the monitor and printouts. Either there is too much bleaching in Epson paper, or the Spider can only calibrate 4-color printers, or I am not catching up with something. Of course, you can move the RGB channels in the editor, but this is not the norm. Of course, the profile can be corrected by hand, but this is also not the norm. I recently experienced a problem with the print head curling the photo paper, after which the photos come out wrinkled and not printed from the opposite corner. The latter is probably too special a case.

Like it or not, but if you look hard, then in photographs printed on Kenon, the detail is much better, especially in focus areas. However, when viewed from a distance of 25 cm, the difference is almost invisible. As for the media, I liked Kenon's papers more. They are denser, hold their shape better, and are more pleasant to hold in the hand. However, in our village, buying Kenon paper is a big problem. Therefore, I printed a lot of photographs on photographic paper "Slavich". A lot of different papers I tried it on Kenon, but I didn’t see Slavich better as an alternative. The profiles that come with the printers are average. The popular love for Epson, I think, is due to the fact that Epson builds these average profiles much better. But if we individually profile both devices, then, for example, I still haven’t answered the question for myself: “Printing from which printer do I like best?” Different completely different photos are obtained. Kenon has very “light” colors for the eye, while Epson has “heavy” ones. Regarding the drying of ink in the heads. Kenon once stood for 5 months - the flight is normal. I don't risk that with Epson. But one month I still did not use it - the flight is also normal. In general, it is enough to turn on Epson for 2-3 minutes once every two weeks to drain the ink. This will be enough to keep the ink from drying out in the nozzles. Of course, when using native inks. With alternatives, I don't know.
Now I was puzzled by the acquisition of a spectrophotometer and specialized software. I haven't printed anything on Epson yet. I solve the problem with paper jam and profile building. And, in general, I think to switch to pigment and wide format. But that's different money.

Let me summarize.

It doesn't matter which printer you buy, be it Epson or Kenon. You can be satisfied only by building individual profiles for your monitor and printer, regardless of whether you use original or alternative materials. To calibrate and profile the monitor, you can and should purchase Eye One Display 2. But with the linearization and profiling of the printer, the issue is much more serious. If you have enough funds, you can buy a spectrophotometer and related software (then you no longer need to buy Eye One Display 2). I assure you that in this case you will be busy mastering colorimetry for the next two years. Do you need it? If not, then it is better to order the construction of profiles on the side, moreover, for several media at once and under different conditions viewing. This will take you a maximum of 4 weeks. One week to find a smart specialist. One week to understand how to correctly print the targets that this specialist will send you, and two weeks to send them by mail. I think that this is much better than buying a Spyder, fumbling with it for about a year, and, anyway, coming to the conclusion about purchasing a spectrophotometer and software, or about ordering this service on the side.

There is one more option. Find a very good inkjet photo lab. Usually they work on alternative consumables. Some of them offer printing on the original for a fairly expensive fee. Then decide for yourself on which consumables it will be more convenient for you to print. A good inkjet minilab always has a spectrophotometer. Therefore, with color management, everything should be in order there. They must provide you with the color profile of their inkjet so that you can edit your photos for later printing in their minilab. The profile must be updated periodically. From now on, you just have to deal directly with photography and editing. The freed up money is better spent on lenses, flashes, tripods, boxes, filters, backpacks and so on. But you still have to purchase Eye One Display 2, since it is not expensive. And remember, today the whole system of color management in digital photography is akin to the pursuit of infinity. Neither you, nor anyone else, can achieve an exact match between the display of the monitor and the print. This is theoretically not possible. Color management will only get you as close to it as possible.

This is my personal opinion on this moment.

Which printer is better? Epson, Canon, HP, Brother.
After choosing the type of device (laser or inkjet), the user has a choice: which of the manufacturers of printing equipment is more preferable.
1. Reliability of mechanics.
Epson - 10 points. HP - 7 points. Canon - 6 points. Brother - 8 points
Since the printer performs many actions when printing: paper feeding, constant movement of the print head, paper pulling when printing. Therefore, the mechanical part of a printer or MFP is an important component when analyzing manufacturers. Epson is considered the benchmark in mechanical engineering. Printers starting from $140 are already built not on a rail, but on a shaft with a diameter of 0.8 cm. The remaining 3 manufacturers lose Epson by an order of magnitude, but they stick together almost, and only Kenon loses a little to Brother and HP.

2. Print head.
Epson - 9 points. HP - 4 points. Canon - 5 points. Brother - 8 points
There are 2 types of printheads: thermal inkjet and piezo inkjet printhead. The difference is in how the ink comes out of the nozzle (the thickness of the nozzle is less than a human hair).
In a thermal inkjet print head, ink flies out of the nozzle due to a sharp rise in temperature in the print head to 400 C. This technology has a number of advantages: printing speed and relative ease of manufacture. But besides the advantages, there are also disadvantages. These shortcomings are quite significant. Due to the fact that in the print head there is constantly a sharp heating and sudden cooling. This limits the life of the print head. Therefore, the manufacturer, knowing that the life cycle of the print head is not designed for the life cycle of the printer, makes the print head removable. The cost of such a printhead is approximately 40-45%. Thus, buying a printer with this type of print head and planning to print large volumes on it, you get not one consumable, but two cartridges and print heads.
In a piezo inkjet print head, ink is ejected from the nozzles by flexing the membrane when electricity is applied to it - 9 volts. This technology is slightly slower and more expensive to produce than the alternative technology, but it also has a number of advantages. Since there are no heating and cooling processes in it, such a printer has a practically unlimited service life and is equal to the printer service life. Another additional advantage is that by decreasing and increasing the power of the supplied electricity, it becomes possible to regulate the size of such a drop. This technology is called variable drop technology. It allows homogeneous places to be filled with large drops, small parts draw small.
Epson and Brother have a piezo inkjet printhead, while Canon and HP have a thermal inkjet.

3. Functionality.
Epson - 10 points. HP - 8 points. Canon - 7 points. Brother - 6 points
A modern printing device can be with:
Scanner, card reader, direct printing from a USB flash drive or camera without using a PC, WiFi, LAN (network function), duplex printing (the printer itself turns the page), fax, monitor or touchscreen (monitor can be controlled by touching it)
Epson is the leader among the presented manufacturers. He developed printing devices with all these features. The user can easily select good model with exactly those functions that he needs and not overpay for those that he does not plan to use. Other manufacturers with the functionality of things are worse.

4. Range of models.
Epson - 9 points. HP - 6 points. Canon - 6 points. Brother - 5 points
The range of models is determined by two parameters. This is the functionality and format of the print. And if we talked about functionality in the last paragraph, then here we will pay more attention to print formats and the number of models in each of them. Among popular print formats: 10x15, A4, A3+, A2+, A1+, A0, B0 and wider)
Epson has the widest range - more than 150 models on the market at the same time.

5. Original consumables. (ink volume/cost)
Epson - 2 points. HP - 6 points. Canon - 6 points. Brother - 8 points The brother has the highest score for two reasons:
Its cartridges are not chipped at all (they come from the manufacturer without a chip) and they are the largest in size.
Canon and HP have chips and the volume of their cartridges is an order of magnitude lower than that of the Brother, but they can be refilled and the chips reset by turning the cartridges into full ones. Although this process is quite complicated and time-consuming.
Epson received the lowest rating because its cartridges are not only negligible, but the chips are not amenable to any kind of reset. That is, the cartridges are 100% disposable. When printing occurs irreversible processes and it is impossible to return the chip to its original state!

Summing up, we see:
Epson - 40 points, Hp - 31 points, Canon 30 points, Brother - 35 points.
Epson is a clear leader among all manufacturers. The only fly in the ointment in this barrel of honey is consumables.
There is a way out of this situation, this is the purchase of Epson and the installation of CISS on it, or even better, buy a printer, MFP or plotter immediately with the CISS installed.

How will the quality of the printer work depend on the manufacturer? Few people ask themselves this question before making a purchase. Often, when choosing a printer or MFP, we are used to being guided by the advice of friends, professionals, and, well, a set of necessary characteristics. And only a part of users prefer to narrow down the range of options and decide on the brand of the future assistant.

Eternal competitors Epson and Canon will reveal their cards to us, and we'll see which of them is right for us.

Print technology and print head

Epson. The company uses the principle of applying the image, which was first used back in 1984. Piezoelectric inkjet printing is based on the interaction of the piezoelectric element, the membrane and the current, due to which the ink falls on the paper. This element, which is also called a crystal, contracts under the influence of electricity, causing the membrane to vibrate and push out a certain amount of paint.

There are several advantages.

Firstly, the service life of the printer's printing system is significantly higher than thermal inkjet devices, since there are no sudden temperature changes. Due to this, the head was made stationary. This means that it will last you as long as the printer itself. Secondly, due to the absence of heating, the choice of ink is greatly expanded. Thirdly, the droplet volume can be accurately controlled by the current strength.

Flaw - the printing head is significantly more expensive than thermal inkjet sisters.

Canon. The use of thermal printing technology began in the late 50s. The principle began to be called "bubble" because of the way ink is pushed out of the nozzles. Under the influence of temperature, which can reach up to 400⁰С, air bubbles form in the ink compartment. Their appearance and pushes the appropriate amount of paint.

Main advantage - low price and simpler manufacturing technology compared to piezojet.

But flaw lies in the temperature difference, which makes the printing system short-lived. That is why it is almost equated with consumables, and not with the main parts of the printer. It will work well with its periodic change, but this may be a problem. Very few people are engaged in the supply and sale of printheads, so it will not be easy to find it. And if the printer has already been discontinued, then this is generally hopeless.

ink drop

Epson. Here the main, but not the only criterion is the size. The company has achieved volume ink drop in 1.5 picoliters. This allows you to print fine details of images much more clearly. Naturally, the smaller the drop size, the more accurate and sharper the print will be.

But what about printing pictures that show panoramas, for example, mountains? With a small droplet volume, filling large areas is like using thin felt-tip pen where you need a thick marker.

And here another criterion appears - the possibility of printing with a variable drop volume. Epson Variable size technology offers to alternate the volume of the drop from larger to smaller. The software determines on its own which area which size is best to use. At the moment in various models up to 6 drop sizes are available.

Canon. The manufacturer has achieved great results. The minimum drop volume in Canon flagships is 1 picoliter. But comparing the drop sizes of Canon and Epson printers is not entirely correct due to the difference in imaging technologies.

In thermal inkjet printing, image duplication may occur. Surely you noticed that some characters had more faded twin brothers. Such a second circuit is formed when high speed printing, when there are too many small drops that should not be.

But although such unpleasant accidents can be periodically repeated, such print quality cannot be called a rule. As for variable volume, Canon used to have Drop Modulation technology in its arsenal. When an additional heating element was turned on, a smaller droplet was formed. But the company abandoned it in favor of a print head with rows of nozzles of different sizes.

Ink

It's not about the chemical composition and not about the cost of using printer ink, but rather about the ability to choose consumables.

Epson. Let's briefly return to the properties of printing technology and drop size. With piezoelectric printers, you can use different types ink and not be afraid of breakage, as they will not heat up. In addition, the throughput of the nozzle, designed for a drop of 1.5 picoliters, will cope with both photographic and pigment inks, although the number of cleanings will have to be increased. This makes Epson printers more versatile.

Canon. Almost all more or less modern printers of this company use a drop volume of 1 picoliter. For pigment inks, even if they are designed for thermal inkjet printing, a hole designed for such a volume will not be enough. As soon as the printer decides that the minimum drop should be used for this photo, the irreparable will begin. After a few prints, the print head will clog. Alternatively, you will be able to replace it with small financial losses, but you will not want to take risks again. So, in terms of ink usage, Canon printers inferior to their opponent.

Software

Epson. The company's research is directed in several directions. First, they are frantically struggling with the installation of alternative consumables on their printers.

Secondly, they try to please users as much as possible in working with photos. One solution is the Photo Enhance program. Basically, this technology directs its strength and skill to build color reproduction, which sometimes differs from the original. Despite this, in most cases the result is worth such a change. In addition, the driver determines what exactly is shown in the picture (portrait, landscape), and then “cleans” small color noises, as well as small defects. Sometimes the program manages to "pull" more out of the image than was in the picture itself. For example, the camera did not cope with the lighting, and the shadows look like spots. On images processed with Photo Enhance, they will have their natural shape.

To help him, many MFPs use Epson PRINT Image Matching (PIM) technology, which simplifies the work with cameras and video cameras. With a direct connection, the program tries to save all user device settings for each snapshot. This means that bypassing saving to the computer, the printing device receives more information about sharpness, brightness, saturation and other settings, and then tries to reproduce it all with available resources. It turns out that Epson is trying to provide free photo correction services.

Canon. The company does not distribute its forces that way. The main priority is the fight against alternative materials. But there are not so many programs to help the user.

The Color Image Processing System (CCIPS) will help slightly improve the quality of your photo when printed. All it will help you with is to process overly light or dark areas and filter out the noise in the picture a little. Sometimes this may be enough. It can even be said that the printing device is not obliged to do this at all. But since we are already comparing, Canon is significantly inferior to Epson in this regard.

The lineup

Epson. Both completely new lines and updated models of proven series often appear on the market. The company is interested in the client finding a suitable device. Epson clearly distinguishes between printers and MFPs in the categories "office", "home" and "photo printing". The company responds to the needs of users: do you need wireless printing, do you want more mobile services, or even a factory-made CISS? Whatever you want, just choose.

Canon. The company pleases with new products not so often and, of course, not so loudly. Models have not kept up with some innovations. Yes, and it can be difficult to determine by eye what it is: an office horse or a home assistant. The company is in no hurry to expand the range, but only from time to time releases a new product that is lost among the old brothers.

The result is not as rhetorical as expected. If we take into account the most significant criteria, then Epson still gets the crown. But in any case, the criteria are different for everyone, otherwise Canon would not exist long ago.

Print with pleasure!

When inkjet printers were firmly established in the SOHO market, the devices themselves cost relatively little money and even a wealthy schoolboy or poor student could buy them. The time to pay for cheapness came pretty soon - a few photos, abstracts or presentations, and now the ink has run out, and it's time to run to the store. And there it turned out that a cartridge is a complex of a print head and an ink container, that branded ink is not sold separately, and that a set of cartridges is not much cheaper than a new printer or MFP.

Having expanded the horizons of knowledge and scratched the back of the head, the buyer decided on further actions:
- rich guys went broke on cartridges, or immediately on a new device,
- the thrifty switched to a laser device, and ordered photographs from the prolific digital printing studios,
- handy filled cartridges with left ink.

As the years went by, there were more and more people who wanted to save on consumables, and at some point bright pirate minds adapted the continuous ink supply system (CISS) already used in commercial devices to their needs. In this case, each cartridge was connected by a plastic tube to an ink can of the corresponding color located outside the dimensions of the printing device. Of course, at the same time, the MFP or printer lost its warranty, wear accelerated print heads, but gradually unofficial ink became more and more qualitative (and it was possible to find spilled from the same barrel that the manufacturer poured into cartridges), CISS installation services became widely available, and the benefits exceeded all possible risks.

Official manufacturers ignored this state of affairs for a long time, but selling printing devices at cost or below, and making money on consumables turned out to be worse and worse. Something had to be done. And since it was impossible to stop the disgrace, I had to lead it - Epson released printers and MFPs equipped with CISS from the factory. Cartridges, of course, brought more profit, but the sale of ink also provides a stable income.
Buyers also benefited: native ink, warranty retention, and no fuss with handicraft CISS.

A couple of years later, an MFP with CISS was released by Brother, and by today a couple more giants, Canon and HP, have similar devices in their assortment.

It is worth mentioning the printing technologies used in modern printers and MFP. Usually it is thermal or piezo printing.
The piezoelectric element, installed in the print head of printers, changes shape when an electrical voltage is applied to it and thus creates pressure that pushes the ink out of the print head nozzles.
Thermal inkjet printing uses heat to expel ink. Thermal print heads are considered less durable.

Brother and Epson use the method piezoelectric printing, and Canon and HP thermal inkjet.

The purpose of today's review is to compare the main parameters and quality of work of four MFPs entry level to make it easier for the buyer to choose.


Canon Pixma G2400
Epson L364
HP DeskJet GT 5810

The main parameters of the devices are summarized in the table:

Feature	Brother DCP-T300	Canon PIXMA G2400	Epson L364	HP DeskJet GT 5810
 Print resolution, dots/inch	6000x1200	4800x1200	5760x1440	4800x1200 color 1200x1200 b/w
 Claimed print performance ppm (black/white/colour)	11/6	8.8/5	9.2/4.5	8/5
 Borderless printing	+	+	+	+
 Interface	USB	USB	USB	USB
 Input tray capacity, sheets	100	100	100	60
 Recommended media density, g/m 2	64-220	64-275	64-255	 60-90 A4 60-300 photos 10x15
 optical scanning resolution, dpi	2400x1200	1200x600	1200x600	1200x1200
 The maximum resolution of the copier, dpi	1200x1200	n/a	1200x600	600x300
 Number of copies per cycle, sheets	99	21	20	9

AT different regions Prices for devices may vary in one direction or another.

Test Methodology

For testing the MFP, a laptop with a Celeron N3050 processor, 2 GB of RAM and an integrated Intel HD graphics accelerator was used. The tests were carried out in the environment of Windows 8.1 for 64-bit systems. The MFP was connected to the laptop via USB. Latest Versions drivers and related software for each model were installed in accordance with the manufacturer's recommendations. Before starting the tests, the MFPs were refilled with fresh ink from the delivery kits. In the control tasks of checking the quality and speed of printing, we used paper of three grades: matte photo paper Lomond with a density of 180 g/m 2 , office Xerox Premier class A with a density of 80 g/m 2 and office Lomond class C with a density of 80 g/m 2 . The choice is due to the wide distribution of these print media and affordable price.
Each MFP went through a series of tests, the results of which were evaluated objectively (in terms of execution time) and subjectively (in terms of output quality). Documents authored by John Doe, site gecid.com, and of unknown origin from the Internet were used as test documents. The resulting prints were digitized using an Epson V33 flatbed scanner.

The ability of the MFP to work as a scanner was tested by making a digital copy of the spread of a thick book at 600 and 300 dpi, followed by a comparison of the scan quality and, in the latter case, the time spent on the operation.

To evaluate the work of the copier, the output speed of a page with 5% coverage, a sheet containing text with a picture, and the correspondence of the copy to the original was measured.

Verification of the declared performance of the devices was carried out as follows: using the FoxitReader program on office paper class C a standard page with 5% coverage was printed within a minute, and using the LibreOffice package - a page consisting of text with a picture. Each MFP used the default settings. It should be noted that the results obtained differ from the indicators indicated in the specifications, and there is a reason for this. To determine the speed of their devices, manufacturers use special test samples that are not available to the general public. In the review, standard templates are used for testing both inkjet and laser devices.
The possibility of using the devices as photo printers was checked using a set of photos printed in the FoxitReader program. Each shot reveals specific flaws, because possible gamma distortion, incorrect color reproduction, and blur will immediately appear on prints. In all cases, the most high-quality print mode was selected in the MFP settings.

Estimated price of prints, kopecks per sheet

The cost is calculated on the basis of average ink prices and the consumption indicated by the manufacturer for a standard page fill, excluding the price of paper. (The method of calculating the standard for different firms may differ).

Brother DCP-T300 Ink Benefit Plus

The most massive of those presented in the review, the Brother DCP-T300 is assembled in a squat one-piece body and looks the most representative. The power cord and signal cord are connected in such a way that the device can be pushed close to the wall. The feed tray is located in the body of the MFP, so dust does not get inside.
To assist the control buttons on the front panel there is a one-line LCD display.
Software installation is quick and easy. Filling ink is very convenient. Liquid level control is visual - through the external transparent cover of the compartment with containers.
Black ink pigment, color - water-soluble. The former are excellent for outputting documents, providing good legibility of text and high water resistance, the latter are used for printing photographs.
The lid of the scanner rises high on the hinges, so that thick objects on the glass are placed comfortably.
You can manage copying without connecting the MFP to a PC.

Unfortunately, the manufacturer did not provide slots for the convenience of carrying the overall box. The USB cable is not included in the package.

Canon Pixma G2400

Well tailored, well sewn. Good build, high-quality materials, looks strictly and thoroughly. No shiny surfaces, protruding parts, everything is subject to the principle of utility. Does not take up much space on the table, even after opening the trays.
Print paper is placed vertically at the rear of the case. This has both pluses - it is convenient to control and add it, and minuses - dust can get inside the MFP case.
Preparation for work and installation of printheads requires accuracy, it is better to watch the video on the website. There are claims to the instruction - it is uninformative.
After installing the software, you need to restart the PC, but this does not happen automatically, and the user is not notified of the need for this action.
Filling ink does not create problems. Black ink - pigment, the rest are water-soluble.
After moving the color ink in the tank, their level is higher than normal, but you should not worry - during preparation for work, the level will drop to the required level.
Thin magazines can be digitized without glare, and the hinges of the scanner cover will not rise above.
There are buttons for offline copying.

The packaging is larger than the previous one, but the slots facilitate the work of the loader. You will need to purchase a USB cable.

Epson L364

The old horse does not spoil the furrow. In 2011, when Epson just launched its line of printers with factory CISS, known as the "Print Factory", the company did not develop a design from scratch, but upgraded existing developments by adding a compartment with ink containers on the side. L364 is made in the same format, which simplifies and reduces the cost of production of MFPs, but reduces ease of use compared to single-volume devices. Ink level control is the least convenient - you need to peer into the containers through the white plastic of the side compartment.
The MFP is lightweight and the casings creak when carried, it would not hurt to strengthen the design.
Getting Epson up and running is easy, software installation is straightforward, and there is no mention of a reboot. When refilling ink, you should be careful - you can smear your fingers when opening the bottles. This MFP, the only one of the test participants, has water-soluble black ink.
Digitization of thick books is limited by the insufficient lift height of the scanner cover.
Copy buttons available.

The box is small, and thanks to the side holes, even a child can carry it. And here the USB cable is not provided in the range.

HP DeskJet GT 5810

The appearance of the GT 5810 is the most original. Tanks with ink are placed in a hard-fixed compartment on the side of the body, non-removable unlike Epson models.
The design has good rigidity, but the outer compartment requires careful handling.
Simple preparation of the MFP for work, and software installation is more difficult. While the installation guide is informative, it doesn't hurt to watch the video on the site either. And you need to restart your PC.
An interesting feature of refilling ink is that the neck of the bottles is equipped with a membrane, and the filler neck is like a syringe, on which an inverted bottle of ink is mounted. It is impossible to spill ink. After the first refill, about 10 ml of black pigment ink remains, which can be refilled later. Color inks are water soluble.
All the same restrictions on the thickness of scanned objects and the possibility of offline copying using the buttons.

Easy-to-carry packaging. You will need to purchase a USB cable.

Testing

1. Checking the accuracy of the transfer of shades of gray and drawing the hairline. Sharp transitions between white and black backgrounds help to reveal how much the MFP clogs the image at the edges of objects.

Hereinafter, the original is on top, after in alphabetical order from left to right: Brother, Canon, Epson, HP. Clickable.
All photos in A4 format, except for HP - paper with a density of 180 g / m 2 MFP supports only in the format of 10x15 cm.
It should be borne in mind that when digitizing a photo, part of the information is lost. Images look better on paper than on screen.

Closest to the original was Brother. The tone of the Canon print is reminiscent of old black and white photographs, with a bluish tint. The remaining two MFPs poorly transmit transitions at the boundaries of objects. All MFPs are good at detailing objects.

2. Checking the accuracy of the reproduction of dark shades. If the MFP makes the picture too contrasty (increases the gamma), the details of the scene in the shadows will be poorly visible or will not be drawn at all.

The dark shades of Brother and Canon are noticeably better. Epson and HP do not draw the part of the picture hidden in the shadows.

3. Checking the accuracy of light colors and bright objects. At the output, the picture should not turn out dull, and the sky, sand and water should merge into one.

All test participants performed well. At the same time, color reproduction is noticeably more accurate with Canon.

4. Checking the quality of drawing metal and shiny surfaces.

As close as possible to the original, the shiny metal is transmitted by Brother and Canon. Epson and HP have too much glitter.

5. Checking the print quality of HDR photos. Ideally, the output colors should be just as saturated, without blockage in warm or cold shades. Also, using this image, it is possible to check how accurately the MFP is able to convey the reflection of objects on the car body and the texture of asphalt chips (the road should look voluminous, and not a piece of gray plywood).

Brother perfectly conveyed the color and texture of the asphalt, but the paintwork of the car was worse. Canon shifted the tarmac color tone and brought out the car beautifully.
Epson lightened the colors noticeably, and HP rendered the photo well, but the picture is dark and the details are lost on it.

6. Checking the accuracy of the reproduction of the shade of human skin.

It is not easy to convey the color of a person's skin in a photo. Canon, Brother and HP do it best. Epson fills up the image in red tones.

The test with LibreOffice used a CDR vector image to test the accuracy of output of gradient fills, thin lines, and the quality of green color synthesis. The four gradient stripes correspond to the primary colors of the CMYK gamut. They are formed by using a 512-step vector fill. The presence of vertical stripes here will indicate printer problems with the accuracy of the transfer of gradients. The radial stripes and the "star" with a spiral in the center are drawn with a one-pixel thick line. Printing these elements is a rather difficult task. Note that some of the lines are drawn in green. Thus, we get the opportunity to evaluate the accuracy of the formation of this shade by mixing yellow (Yellow) and turquoise (Cyan) paint. The group of lines located in the lower corner is designed to check the quality of color synthesis at the intersection of these lines.

The vector image is prepared for A4 format, so the HP 5810 print is missing - density of 180 g/m2 is only available for 10x15 cm paper.

All three members this test passed it without problems. The accuracy of the output of gradient fills is best done by Canon.

Print quality on office paper

A duplicate vector image will help determine the capabilities of the MFP in the output of graphs and sketches.

Canon does a great job of printing thin lines and gradient stripes, thin lines well display HP and Brother. Epson prints vector fills at the level of the two previous MFPs, but thin lines do not work out for him, they turn out to be twice as thick as needed.

The print quality of images was determined using a test with a set of different genres of photography.

All models display images well on plain paper, but Canon and HP do better.

Images are not always needed in color, in which case you can print only with black pigment ink, setting "grayscale" in the settings.

Moderately prints Epson grayscale, "thanks" to water-soluble black ink. Canon and HP gradients are well rendered. Brother comes first.

The quality of text printing was determined by the ability to read the smallest possible size, printed to complicate the task on class C office paper.
Epson coped worst of all, only the fourth size is distinguishable. On the prints of the rest of the MFPs, you can read the third one.

Assessing the operation of the MFP in scanner mode

Digitized copies of the spread of a thick book at 300 dpi.

Only the Brother DCP-T300 has no highlights in the image, but all copies are readable. And with the digitization of thin media, all MFPs do well.

Assessing the performance of the MFP as a copier

There were no questions about the quality of copying. The only feature of the copy made on the Epson L364 MFP is slightly paler than the original.

Test results: performance, min:sec

Model	Sheet with 5% filled. b/w	Text from drawing color.	Medium speed printing photo A4	Collage	Vector	Test Minolta	Scanning books 300 pts per inch	copying sheet with 5% filling	copying text from drawing
 Brother DCP-T300	11	4	5:05	0:34	0:37	0:20	0:20	0:18	0:26
Canon Pixma G2400	10	3	3:38	0:42	0:39	0:26	0:16	0:12	0:36
 Epson L364	11	3	5:32	0:45	0:30	0:15	0:33	0:24	0:30
HP DeskJet GT 5810	12	3	n/a	1:00	0:35	0:30	0:22	0:11	0:32

First two columns - ppm

Test Results: Print Quality

Model	legibility text (min. size)	Qty color reproduction on the picture	Detailing on the photo	Graininess on the picture	Qty color reproduction at office paper	Qty color reproduction shades of gray	Qty output text
Brother DCP-T300	3 (3)	2	1	2-3	3-4	1	1
 Canon Pixma G2400	1 (3)	1	2	1	1	2	2
 Epson L364	4 (4)	3-4	3	2-3	3-4	4	4
 HP DeskJet GT 5810	2(3)	3-4	4	4	2	3	3

The table shows the places occupied by the models in each of the tests. The "Text legibility" columns in parentheses show the smallest size that could be seen on prints made by each MFP on class C office paper.

P.S. Due to questions about the ability of the HP 5810 to print A4 photos, a test print scan:

On the neck and croup black horse flaws - vertical stripes.

What to do for those who have already bought HP DeskJet GT 5810, expecting to print photos in full format? Try to find photo paper about 0.1 mm thick. The tests used matte photo paper twice as thick. And the thickness of office paper is about 0.07-0.075 mm, and the MFP has no problems with it and cannot be. When selecting, the owner needs to arm himself with a micrometer or caliper - in the latter case, it is worth measuring the thickness of a stack of paper in ten pieces and dividing by 10, respectively - getting a fairly accurate value.

Summarizing

According to the test results, I would like to highlight two models: Brother DCP-T300 and Canon Pixma G2400, originally designed for use with the factory CISS. Apparently this allowed them to show the most balanced results.

Brother DCP-T300 It produces excellent black-and-white texts and graphics, and its pigmented ink has proven to be the most resistant to water. In addition, it prints photos well.
Its scanner allows you to digitize even books with a thickness of 500 sheets without glare. The copier is also good.

Good versatile option.

Canon Pixma G2400 prints texts and images in grayscale just as well. But I would especially like to point out high quality photo printing.
The scanning and copying functions work well.

No less successful device, worthy of wearing a prefix - Photo.

Epson L364 produces the cheapest prints in both black and white and color. But keep in mind that the black ink of this MFP is water-soluble, and therefore, with reduced moisture resistance, and the color reproduction is lame. Photo printing is not his forte. But lovers bright colors may like it.
The scanner and copier are quite slow.

The device will be good in those cases when you need large volumes of printing black-and-white documents that are not intended for long-term storage, as well as the output of color images on office paper.

HP DeskJet GT 5810 they made it with high quality, prepared an informative manual, took care of ease of maintenance and even equipped it with a bag for transportation, and the main characteristics were treated ambiguously.
B/W printing is good and fast, but the most expensive. As a photo printer, the device can only be used with reservations - the color reproduction is not ideal, and the size of the prints is limited to a format of 10x15 cm.
But printing graphics and texts with pictures on HP office paper works well.
Also, the scanner is very good, and the copier works quickly and efficiently.

The MFP will certainly find its niche in the market, but only after working on the bugs and reducing the price. The cost of the GT 5810 is noticeably higher than that of competitors, while the rest of the characteristics of the device are at an average level.

Will the performance of the printer depend on the company producing the printing device? Of course, this question is asked by everyone who wants to purchase such equipment. After all, the prices for printers are now different, but you need to choose some model, and it is important that it works reliably and does not cost too much.

Usually, such purchases are made on the advice of relatives or friends. However, in order to definitely choose what you need, you should familiarize yourself with all the features available in the set of a particular model. This article can be a great help in choosing between two popular printer models.

Which is better Canon or Epson?

The first thing you need to pay attention to is the printing technology and the print head.

Epson

The company uses the principle of applying the image, which was first used back in 1984. Piezoelectric inkjet printing is based on the interaction of the piezoelectric element, the membrane and the current, due to which the ink falls on the paper. This element, which is also called a crystal, contracts under the influence of electricity, causing the membrane to vibrate and push out a certain amount of paint. There are several advantages.

Firstly, the service life of the printer's printing system is significantly higher than thermal inkjet devices, since there are no sudden temperature changes. Due to this, the head was made stationary. This means that it will last you as long as the printer itself. Secondly, due to the absence of heating, the choice of ink is greatly expanded. Thirdly, the droplet volume can be accurately controlled by the current strength.

The disadvantage is that the print head is significantly more expensive than thermal inkjet sisters.

Canon

The use of thermal printing technology began in the late 50s. The principle began to be called "bubble" because of the way ink is pushed out of the nozzles. Under the influence of temperature, which can reach up to 400⁰С, air bubbles form in the ink compartment. Their appearance and pushes the appropriate amount of paint.

The main advantage is the low price and simpler manufacturing technology compared to piezojet.

But the disadvantage is the temperature difference, which makes the printing system short-lived. That is why it is almost equated with consumables, and not with the main parts of the printer. It will work well with its periodic change, but this may be a problem. Very few people are engaged in the supply and sale of printheads, so it will not be easy to find it. And if the printer has already been discontinued, then this is generally hopeless.

Which MFP is better Epson or Canon?

In order to make it easier for you to make a choice, you should consider all the advantages and disadvantages of each manufacturer.

Epson

The use of piezoelectric technology in the manufacture of printheads. They are much more reliable and durable than thermal ones. However, replacing worn-out printheads is not cheap.

Compared with Canon and HP, the moving mechanical parts are more reliable. Therefore, if you decide which MFP is better - Canon HP or Epson, the comparison will not be in favor of the first two options.

Epson printers are rightfully considered the most functional.

Important! There is also a minus that can cross out almost all the existing advantages: the volume of cartridges in Epson products is the smallest, and they cannot be refilled.

Canon

Determining which inkjet printers better - Canon or Epson, it should be noted that, with all the manufacturability, Epson products will cost more. Canon cartridges are cheaper than for HP MFPs, they can withstand several refills.

Important! If we compare the print quality of all three brands, then HP products show the best result.

Summing up

The bottom line is this: despite the manufacturability and diversity of Epson, consumables and maintenance of these printers are more expensive than HP and Canon. Using Canon is the least expensive for the owner. And HP in comparative tests of these three printers shows the highest print quality.

Free departure of the MFP repairman within an hour from the moment of receipt of the order.