Cloud Computing

Epson Expression Home XP-422 review

On November 21,2021 by Tom Routley

Epson calls the Expression Home XP-422 a 'small in one', which makes us wince but to be fair is descriptive: this is a very compact inkjet multifunction peripheral (MFPs). It's attractive enough, with an angled control panel comprising a colour screen and touch-sensitive keys.

There's Wi-Fi and an SD memory card slot, but no automatic duplex (double-sided) printing. Paper is fed from an uncovered 100-sheet tray at the rear, and printed pages end up in a simple but sturdy tray at the front.

There are comprehensive apps available for mobile devices; here we're using Android

The XP-422 is more sophisticated than an entry-level device, but it still misses out on some of the flashier features found on mid-range MFPs. The lack of NFC support isn't a major stumbling block, but there aren't any downloadable modes or functions either, which is a shame as they can often be useful. Certain cloud services are supported, but they aren't configured directly from the printer as they are on some rivals. For example, you can scan to Evernote or Dropbox, but you first need to configure one of these as the destination for the Scan to Cloud function by logging into the Epson Connect website.

You need to log in to the Epson Connect site to configure the MFP's Scan to Cloud button

Oddly, you can't print documents or photos stored on the same cloud services. Similarly, while you can scan to an inserted SD card, or print the photos stored on one, you can't make direct prints of other document types like PDFs. This admittedly isn't an office MFP, but it still seems like an omission.

We doubt many users will explore the web admin interface, but it's quite comprehensive

This isn't the fastest MFP, even when connected via USB, but on the plus side the XP-422 is fairly quiet. It printed normal quality text at the sedate pace of 8.9 pages per minute (ppm), although this almost doubled to 16.9ppm at draft quality. Colour printing was far slower, with our graphics-rich test inching out at 2.4ppm and each 6x4" photo needing almost three minutes. Scanning was generally more competitive, except at high resolution: a 1,200 dots per inch (dpi) scan of a 6x4" photo took over two minutes.

There's nothing wrong with Epson's straightforward print interface, which also offers advanced options

Epson's scan interface is our favourite; here we've used auto marquee in the preview window

Fortunately the results looked very good. Text was reasonably dark and sharp, and colour graphics were crisp, with their impact enhanced by bold and bright colours. Scan quality was great, aside from a slightly soft focus, and photocopies had unusually well-judged exposure and colour accuracy. Photos also had accurate colours and were reasonably sharp, although there was some subtle grain in lighter regions.

This printer takes four consumables, with an XL version of each available. While these help to reduce the amount of ink changing you'll do, they don't keep print costs especially low: each page of text and graphics will cost around 9.4p, of which the black component amounts to 2.8p. While this is a good MFP for the money, we'd pay £15 or so more for Canon's PIXMA MG5650, which is faster, produces comparable results or better, has duplex and is cheaper to run.

Hardware

Technology

Piezo inkjet

Maximum print resolution

5,760x1,440dpi

Maximum optical scan resolution (output bit depth)

1,200x2,400dpi

Number of colours (cartridges)

4 (4)

Maximum number of colours (cartridges)

4 (4)

Quoted photo durability (source)

Not stated

Standard interfaces

USB, 802.11b/g/n

Optional interfaces

None

Dimensions (HxWxD)

145x390x300mm

Weight

4.3kg

Duty cycle (pages per month)

Not stated

Paper handling

Maximum paper size

A4/legal

Maximum paper weight

Not stated

Standard paper trays (capacity)

1 (100)

Maximum paper trays (capacity)

1 (100)

Duplex

No

35

N/A

Photo features

Borderless printing

A4

Direct (PC-less) printing

Memory card

Memory card support

SDXC

Supported operating systems

Windows XP or later, Mac OS X 10.6.8 or later, Android, iOS

Other features

6.4cm colour screen with touch panel

Buying information

Warranty

One year RTB

Price

£55 inc VAT

Consumable parts and prices

18XL (Daisy series) black, 470 pages (ISO/IEC 24712) £13. 18XL cyan, magenta, yellow, 450 pages (ISO/IEC 24712) each, £10 each

Quoted life of supplied black cartridge(s)

175 pages (ISO/IEC 24712)

Quoted life of supplied colour cartridge(s)

180 pages each (ISO/IEC 24712)

Cost per ISO/IEC 24712 A4 page inc VAT

9.4p

Cost per ISO/IEC 24712 A4 page inc VAT (colour part)

6.6p

Cost per ISO/IEC 24712 A4 page inc VAT (mono part)

2.8p

Supplier

www.amazon.co.uk

Details

www.epson.co.uk

Part code

C11CD89401