Epson Stylus C64

Most of the Epson ink jets we've tested recently are better at producing gorgeous photos on high-quality paper than at generating clear sharp text on plain stock. The low-priced C64 sticks to that pattern, in spirit. It printed our test photos with accurate colors (including flesh tones), though the output looked a bit grainy in places and, not surprisingly, lacked the sharp details we've seen in prints from more-expensive Epson models. Text appeared choppy and shadowy, especially at commonly used font sizes, and the narrow parallel lines in our line-art test document overlapped so much that the image resembled tweed fabric. (Text quality improved markedly on coated ink jet paper, but line art quality did not.) The C64 was also one of the slowest ink jets we've tested recently, printing graphics at 0.7 ppm (many ink jets print graphics twice that fast) and turning out text at 3.4 ppm, considerably slower than most others.