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The Epson Stylus SX400 bares striking resemblance to the DX8400 it replaces and it likely that it was used as a platform on into which the SX400 was built. Apparently, has a new ‘colour ID’, which means different shades of dark grey and black for its case. It also has an improved paper tray design, both front and rear. Tray changes may sound trivial, but in both cases the improvements provide more paper support and, in the case of the feed tray, stops paper flopping forward and acquiring a curve when you’re not printing. The SX400 uses the same four colour printer ink system found in the DX8400 with four separate ink cartridges so only ink that is used needs to be replaced making it economical in the long run. A set for Epson SX400 ink cartridges cost a not so economical £30 while a set of compatible Epson inks cost a more reasonable £15. In the front of the printer are two memory card sockets, for all the usual types, and a PictBridge socket which enables printing directly from memory cards and digital cameras. In terms of performance there is no change from the DX8400, print quality is excellent with a class leading 5760dpi x 1440dpi which not only produces pink sharp photo prints but also text documents with dark crisp print. The Stylus SX400 uses a Contact Image Sensor (CIS) scanner, which has a good resolution for a flatbed of 1,200 by 2,400 which results in great scanned images with impressive speed. Epson’s software bundle is pretty comprehensive with photo editing and OCR text recognition software as well as the usual printer drivers. The photo copier makes use of the A4 flatbed scanner and strikes a good balance between quality and speed. It also works without the need for the SX400 to be contacted to a PC. Overall The SX400 is a small improvement on an already good multifunctional printer.
