Performance

Before we cover performance in great detail, it is important to first talk about the cartridge and compare its technology over other suitable options on the market.

The first thing to note is that although it is a compact photo printer, it is still an inkjet printer.  It is not to be confused as a thermal or dye-sublimation printer such as the tiny Canon CP-220 featured here.  In comparison, there are many pros and cons and some may only consider a dye-sub printer over any other.  Honestly, I was one of these for quite some time as well.  However, after owning a number of them, I have come up with my own conclusions regarding the two print technologies.  I don't want to deviate from the product at hand, but will attempt to briefly point out the major advantages and disadvantages of each based purely based on experience.

Dye-Sub printers have some advantages.  They will not only make prints that are instantly able to be handled without the worry or waiting for ink to dry, but most compact printers in this class will add a "final coat" which protects the pictures from all elements as well as scratches.  I can tell you that this works extremely well and in fact, these two advantages alone will likely lure many to choose one over other options.  However, such printers have their share of disadvantages, one in particular that personally did irritate me highly.  The main issue you'll likely face is the print process itself if you do not take the proper measures to prevent it.  What I'm referring to is dust and fingerprints.  Dye-sub printers are extremely sensitive to both, and you must ensure that the paper, printer, ribbon and environment in general is as clean and free of dust as possible.  If not, the result is a print with some white "blobs" where particulars of dust, hair or even fingerprints reside.  Also, after much trail and error and comparing a number of prints, dye-sub printers lack color and vibrancy that only ink-jet printers are capable of offering.  You may find the need to actually edit your pictures in order to tweak the brightness and contrast quite a bit in order to reveal a bit more.  Finally, the cost per print is very high due to the overall amount of wasted dye per print.   However, note that ink-jet printers can also be quite costly, some of which are actually higher in comparison.

Ink-jet printers in this class are to be researched extensively before investing in one.  Why?  Well, most will end up costing you much more than you planned over time.  However, the biggest issue I have had with them is durability.  Unlike dye-sub printers that add a protective layer to ensure pictures will hold up well for years, most are not designed this way and you might as well print from your standard printer and save your money.  The second issue is dry time.  As will all ink-jet printers, there is a dry time period that should be strongly adhered to before handling your photos.  Considering the type of product that it is, having to wait to handle the pictures is unacceptable.  In fact, it was this reason alone that I have stuck to dye-sub printers for a few years, despite the major drawbacks.  However, it was this particular printer that completely "converted" me once again, reasons of which I'll discuss below as I shift your focus back to the product at hand...

The latest Epson PictureMate printers are different, somewhat offering the best of both worlds.  This is mainly the reason why they have been so successful and the most sought out printers in its class. 

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The secret lies in their proprietary print technology and the print cartridge itself.  By now, most who think ink-jet, instantly think about having to deal with and spend plenty of money on multiple cartridges to handle all colors.  That's not the case with the PictureMate Dash and all that is required is one large, highly unique cartridge.  This printer is based on their advanced MicroPiezo print technology.  What does this all mean?  Well, in short, the print heads use electrical pulses that produce smaller ink droplets. These smaller droplets eliminate a somewhat "uncontrolled" ink spread that leads to non-photographic overspray typically associated with thermal technology. MicroPiezo print heads found in such a cartridge will produce higher resolution, smaller dot sizes, and more precise dot shapes and dot placement than thermal technology.  Just another advantage over their rivals.

What's also important to note is that the "print packs", which contain both the cartridge and paper, are available in both glossy and matte options.  In our tests though, only their own glossy paper and print cartridge was used for evaluation.  The difference in price between the two is not substantial and while matte paper can have some slight advantages over glossy, you're better off sticking to the glossy print pack with this particular printer.  These packs typically come with a respectable 150 sheets and a print cartridge capable of printing to all of them.  As I have mentioned, an ink-jet photo printer usually means that you'll pay the price with consumables.  However, with the PictureMate, things change quite a bit and this printer is one of the very few that many have appropriately compared to the cost-per-print of standard photo lab prints.  When you factor in a number of other costs, as well as the extra time you'll spend just trying to get your prints, the PictureMate actually manages to top the competition in terms of a price/performance ratio.

Now that I have covered everything you need to know, let's get right down to our actual performance results.

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The PictureMate Dash was primarily tested with the excellent Canon SD750, personally the best Powershot model ever released from Canon to date.  Print quality was not the only area of performance tested though.  In addition, the tests consisted of how well the printer was able to handle high resolution images from both a direct PictBridge connection, to its ability to read from both an SD and SDHC memory card via its supported memory card slots.

In addition to some scanned sample prints, I will also cover a few of the excellent editing features you can take advantage of via the built-in LCD display.

Zooming & Cropping

The first area of testing was its excellent zoom/cropping features.  These are typically features most will have to perform with image editing software.  Thanks to its large, excellent LCD, editing pictures is extremely easy.

The above pictures are print scans with absolutely no effects or tweaking via image editing programs.  They are the best possible scans taken to give you all an overall idea of its print quality.  The first thing that was apparent was the vibrant colors.  Unlike all thermal/dye-sub compact photo printers I have used to date, pictures are significantly more vibrant with no consistently dull colors typically expected from a dye-sub printer.  Also, the zoom functionality works extremely well with absolutely no noticeable loss in image quality.  The reason for this is because rather than actually "zooming" your pictures, which enlarges pixels and deteriorates image quality, the printer will actually crop the high-res image based on the zoom setting you choose.  This is something most tend to worry and are a bit confused about.  It is not actually enlarging the picture like you would via image editing software.  It simply zooms high-res images to your desired setting and will crop the selected print area.

Red-Eye Reduction 

The next area of testing was its built-in Red-Eye Reduction feature.  Quite possibly one of the most useful features for many, the PictureMate Dash also allows you to execute this feature directly from the printer without resorting to PC software.  Does it work?  Yes, and pretty well.  While I do not like using images of people that I know in reviews, the above LCD shots are an example of how it works.  Basically, you can execute this feature on a single image or choose to roll it down to all pictures on your memory card or camera.  Like some of the best software-based options out there, it "knows" where and when to apply it.  For example, it obviously did not detect and correct red-eye on the vinyl figurine used in the sample shot above. 

Built-in Decorations

Next set of tests were with its unique built-in photo decorations.  From borders to callouts, you can easily apply any of the available on-the-fly without modifying the actual image itself. 

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If you choose callouts as decorations, note that you obviously can't add text directly from the printer.  However, callouts print very well and if you allow 15-20 minutes for pics to dry, you can easily write your own text to pictures without any sort of damage.

Color Effects

I'm not a fan of Sepia, but black & white images are always nice.  The PictureMate Dash allows you to apply any of the two as an overlay.

Both these features work well and the B&W option is much better than what I was able to depict in the sample demo scan above. 

Additional Scans

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Finally, I show some additional scans of outdoor scenery shots taken with custom settings on the camera.  Prints look excellent, especially the last picture shown above, which happens to best print I have ever done on a compact photo printer.  Its ability to capture shades and different levels of colors vibrantly is superb for a printer in this class and price range.  However, after some extensive testing, I found that I needed to set the brightness up on a few pics in order for them to look as good as they were taken.

Picture Reading

The main issue I have with this printer is in regards to image reading in standalone mode.  If you own a high resolution camera, loading and browsing the pictures on the LCD screen can be slightly annoying.  Oddly though, there were a few instances where browsing a large number of pictures using the same display method was not an issue at all.  In most instances though, you'll get the infamous hourglass for a few seconds before it will render the image accordingly for display on the screen.  The remedy for this was to change to one of its many display views so that I could browse and print a number of pictures without much delay.  Choosing most of its other views will also allow you to browse and quality find the pics you want to print.

Print Speeds

Final performance tests consisted of capturing its true print speed using a variety of images and layout choices.  Epson claims the Dash can print a 4x6 picture in only 37 seconds.  I can assure you these claimed print speeds are indeed accurate and this is truly one speedy printer!  A table listing most of the results is shown below...

Print speed was captured from the moment the paper fed to when it spit out the final print and is the way it should be tested.  The 4x6 prints were done using a number of different images, some of which consisted of much more color and detail.  The slowest print was just under its rated speed of 37 seconds.  However, despite the impressive results, there are some exceptions to make note of.  I found the printer would take a considerably long time to eventually start the print process when enabling a few of the print enhancement options available.  Considering there was no notable difference in print quality, I would recommend leaving the main enhancement option on but refrain from selecting any of the other options other than standard. 

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