Epson are marketing this scanner as a versatile unit, capable of meeting the demands of home, school, office and graphics users.

Epson has two current specialist photo printers and the model which takes care of the lower end is the $399 Stylus Photo 810.

Excellent features and an innovative interface are dealt a killer blow by average print quality.

Finishing second overall in our roundup the Epson EPL-6100 was edged out of first place by the HP 1300 and the OKI C5100, with its incredible range of features. However, this is not to say that the Epson EPL-6100 doesn’t have a wide range of functions. On the contrary, it boasts some innovative design and logical technological functions. Its large 250 page input tray makes it ideal for bulk printing, although it shares the same much smaller volume 100 page output tray capacities as both the Lexmark E321 and Minolta-QMS PagePro 1200W models.

Not as capable as we’d have expected. You can do better for this money

Painfully slow with colour, and the quality disappoints

A great scanner, but the poor printer and lack of networking limit its appeal.

This brand-new projector is expensive and rather noisy, but image quality is excellent.

Epson has gone all-out on their digital photo flagship -- it has eliminated all office-centric features to deliver an enthusiast's juggernaut with film scanning, a six colour ink-tank, and plenty of memory card slots.

The Epson Perfection 3200 Photo represents absolute quality scanning for the serious amateur or professional user. It uses a matrix CCD and micro lens to produce an amazing 3,200dpi optical resolution. Even though it wasn't the highest optical resolution scanner this month, standing behind both the Microtek 4,800dpi scanners, it still produced stunning results without long scanning times, care of USB 2.0 and FireWire.

Printer manufacturers have steadily been increasing the number of ink cartridges in their top of the range photo printers on the basis that the more basic colours they have to work with the more precise the overall result.

Excellent quality and speed for reflective media, but the V200 makes heavy work out of transparencies

With a lightning-fast scanner and high-quality photo printing, it’s only hampered by speed and running costs. CD printing and transparency scanning are bonuses, though.

Economical running costs and a great scanner make it appealing, but it’s slow and hard to use as a standalone copier.

This isn't the first time we've looked at the tiny Esky-esque PictureMate from Epson and at the time as a standalone product it garnered a Recommended award. It's good to see it do the same in a comparative environment, walking off with a second recommendation from the Labs team.

Looking similar to a retro portable radio, the PictureMate has a touch of style to it that is backed up by the overall quality of the product. At a buck under $400 it won’t appeal to everyone, particularly seeing as it’s a dedicated photoprinter, requires its own specialist photo pack and restricts you to postcard sized prints.

Surprising us with its below average results in all categories of testing, the Epson CX5300 lacked any form of removable media input.

The second most expensive printer to purchase, Epson’s C900 outlay cost is quite high given its fairly low quality results; as a consequence, this printer’s value rating suffers. Saving face, it managed to finish fourth overall for the speed portion of our testing. Surprisingly, for a printer of this cost, it is another unit to lack integrated network connectivity, although it is available as an expansion option.

You're taken through each step by a series of onscreen animated diagrams that are a far sight more helpful than other guides the competition offers.

Colour Inkjet PRINTER