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Ease of Use 5.50
The printer itself was easy to use.It wasn't difficult to figure out where the buttons were or how to use the Kodak Home Center software, which was pretty clear cut and simple. The difficulty with the ESP 3 came with the problems it gave and the troubleshooting required to resolve them. Copying was a pain due to the paper constantly jamming and the software was a problem because it conflicted with a previous version that hadn't been removed before the ESP 3 software was installed. Also the ESP 3 is very loud. While printing, copying, starting up and configuring itself, it was unharmonic with definitive pitches and sounds that could rival a remote control car.
Value 6.00
For the cost of the ESP 3, it's worth browsing around before you buy. Although $129.99 is an attractive price for a printer, copier and scanner in one unit, it doesn't provide the best value since the ESP 3 gave us paper jam and software problems right from the start. And its consolidation of resolution is not credit-worthy either. The ESP 3's ink are a good value, keeping the cost of ink lower than some other manufacturers.
Comparisons
Kodak EasyShare 5300 This printer is older than the ESP 3, but was able to beat it in photo print speed, color range and color accuracy. However, being an older printer with an added fax feature, it naturally used more power than the ESP 3 and it wasn't able to keep up in document print speed. Price-wise, the Kodak EasyShare 5300 is priced at $149, a good value for the features it offers. However the printer is an older model and a bulky one as well.
HP Photosmart C5180 HP's all in one did really well on the document speed test, blowing the Kodak ESP 3 out of the water. With speeds of 6 pages per minute, it was very fast. It also did very well on the photo speed test being able to print 1.19 4x6 photographs per minute. The drawbacks of the HP Photosmart C5180 is that it performed poorly on the color accuracy test and had mediocre scores on the color range test.
Canon Pixma MX850 Canon's flagship all-in-one is a very bulky printer to say the least. It performed well on most all of our tests, earning the highest document print speed score with its ability to print a little over 10 pages her minute, which was very impressive. It also produced one of the lowest color error in our color accuracy test at 4.93, which was much more accurate than the ESP 3. But the MX850 is expensive; a hefty $279.99, as hefty as its 30lb weight and size.
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