Epson Stylus Photo R360 under the microscope
The Stylus Photo R360 is Epson’s replacement for the hugely successful Stylus Photo R300 and promises to offer everything the R300 did, but better. With a maximum print resolution of 5760 x 1440 dpi the prints it produces are excellent for a printer in this class, with great colour range and depth through a wide variety of images. One let down of the Stylus Photo R360 is the speed it which it prints, Epson claim that it is capable of printing 30 ppm, but this is in draft quality mode which is rarely used by most people and there have been reports of speeds as low as 5 ppm in standard quality mode, which is not impressive at all.
The R360 has a built-in card reader which enables printing directly from a memory card and the photo can be viewed before printing on the LCD screen. The printer prints on a wide range of printable media including the unusual photo paper and envelopes of various sizes and thicknesses but the R360 party piece is its ability to print directly onto compatible CD and DVD discs. Ink for the Epson R360 comes in the form of six colour cartridges which are the secret behind its great photo prints. These Epson inks are not cheap, however they can be bought as a multi-pack a little cheaper than buying them individually.
There is no such thing as cheap branded printer ink cartridges these days but there are cheaper alternatives available from third party manufactures, which are half the price. The Stylus Photo R360 is overall a very capable printer that delivers on everything except print speed.