Review: Epson printer

Recently, I got a brand new *Epson Expression XP-640 wireless three-in-one printer delivered right to my doorstep. Just in time too! I wanted to print out a new pattern and my 10-year-old printer had finally expired. I do the technical stuff for my day job, so can roll with new electronics, but the wireless part of this printer had me a bit nervous. Fortunately, my daughter Bryn was home for the holidays and offered to help me out. So, while she d-boxed the printer itself, I inserted the hardware CD into my laptop. Installation went smoothly and within minutes we had the machine on, ink cartridges in and paper loaded. I was suitably impressed with the snazzy looking pull-out screen. The compact size is a big selling point for me because I live in a small space, and let’s face it, all my spare room I reserve for crafting supplies.

Turns out my pattern could wait, Bryn had a project idea that couldn’t. She wanted to paint a phrase on a T-shirt for her 3-yr old that says,

Long hair don’t care

Man bun or not, he’s often mistaken for a girl. Now, to get the phrase sized just right, we used Rapid Resizer then cut freezer paper to the size of a regular piece of copy paper. That curly freezer paper is tricky though. We had limited time and didn’t want to wait for it to unfurl under a stack of books for a couple of days and this ended up causing several paper jams. Undaunted, we followed the instructions on the screen to clear the jam, but it wasn’t working. We didn’t see any paper when we opened the copy lid. But the next screen showed us a little magic: the back comes off. So in an instant we fixed the jam. Next, I put the paper in upside down. Oops. But finally we got a good print and finished the shirt for my grandson. See photo below:

The printer cartridges that came in the box are small and the literature says they are just for initial setup purposes although we’ve used them for several projects and they are going strong. There was a bit of confusion with which black cartridge to shake and which not to, but if you read through the instructions all the way through before starting you will avoid that problem.

So, now that we have used the printer for a couple of crafty projects here are my impressions:
I love it! It prints clean and fast and I continue to be amazed that I can just print straight from my iPhone anywhere in my house. The copy function was intuitive and as expected. And one of the most exciting features we’ve found so far is how easy it is to clear a paper jam. Now, to be clear, the printer wasn’t at fault in the jamming. We were using our own non-standard paper and it rebelled.

Just a few days in to having this wonderful printer, it required an update, before we could print.  The update installed pretty fast though, so it wasn’t a big deal. Also, the paper trays are a little touchy and easy to accidentally push too far so you have to go digging for them. Again though, these are so minor they almost aren’t worth mentioning.

Overall, I would absolutely recommend this compact, space-saving little printer. It is a joy to work with and I can’t wait to use it for many more projects in the future.

*Editor’s note: In the name of full disclosure I was provided a review printer, but as always, all opinions are 100% mine.

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