Review: Kodak ESP 3 multifunction device

Kodak introduced its first two multifunction printers last year, which were generally well received, not least because of the company claimed to be able to cut the cost of printing photos to just 7p per 15x10cm print.

This year's mode, the new ESP 3, is finished almost entirely in black, with a textured top for its scanner lid and a gloss black panel containing all the printer's controls. There's no colour screen on this machine: instead you have to make do with a single-character orange display showing the number of copies selected.

The front panel of the ESP3 curves inwards slightly, with a fold-down panel that pulls out to form the paper in and out trays. Paper feeds in, makes an about-turn and feeds out onto the top of the pile. This simple handling means there’s no cover to the stack of paper when the printer is not in use, so if you don't store the paper in a drawer and close the printer both may end up covered in dust.

The scanner uses what's called CIS technology, so while it's good for flat paper scans, it's less impressive for solid objects – if you're scanning a book, quality in the middle where the paper curves away will be lower. Kodak includes OCR software, though, so the ESP 3 can produce editable text from scanned pages of printed words.

Although there are memory card sockets that take common cards, without a screen or the facility to print a sheet of small images to work from, they're not much use – you're better off copying the images to the computer and working from there. The Pictbridge USB socket is more use – plug in a compatible camera and you can use its screen to print directly.

Text and graphics prints are good and clear, with sharp, crisp black text and good colours, though the colours in colour photocopies are rather lighter than in the originals from which they’re copied. We got a top speed of around four pages per minute for black text.

The printer uses the same two ink cartridges as earlier models, a black cartridge for text printing and another with five colours, including a clear coating, for photos. As before, this produces high-quality photo prints and you can hit the headline figure of 7p per print, but only if you buy ink and Kodak's rather thin standard photo paper together in its Photo Value Pack.

For text and graphics printing on plain A4, costs work out at around 2.2p for black and 4.8p for colour. These costs are similar to those from other multifunction printers that cost the same as the ESP 3, but most of the rivals include extras such as a colour screen.

Vista compatible: Yes

See also:

Review: Epson Picturemate 290 photo printer

A Swiss army knife of a printer  11 Jan 2008

Review: Canon Pixma MP210 multifunction device

Copy, print and scan without breaking the bank  29 Nov 2007

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