A fun and easy to use photo printer...what a great device!

I guess I'm what you could call a "prosumer" when it comes to digital photography. I'm really into photography and own several digital cameras, including a Canon DSLR with an assortment of lenses. I also am involved in underwater photography, as well as astrophotography. Most of my better shots are sent out to labs for processing, although I do a good amount of my own printing at home through my computer and a very good ink jet color printer.

Still, I sometimes miss the convenience of just being able to pop out some nice, photo lab quality, small prints for friends or for personal use. I'm also very aware of the shortcomings of what comes out of even the best ink jet printers, in spite of using high quality photo paper.

The apparent convenience of a dedicated, small format photo printer, like the PictureMate Dash, appealed to me. If, in fact, it was as fast and easy to use as claimed, and if the output was "photo lab" quality, as claimed, this might be a toy worth having. With a size limit of only 4x6", this is obviously not suited for professional use, but that's not what my purpose was in ordering one.

Epson had this printer on sale for only $79.95, so what better time to try it out? With a FedEx charge of less than $9, the printer arrived in only three days. A quick setup sheet got me up and running in just a few minutes. This printer also includes a very well written manual, which explains all the functions of this printer, also referred to as the "PM 260". An ink cartridge is included, as well as a 20 pack of Epson 4x6" high gloss photo paper. The ink cartridge should be good for about 150 prints, which isn't too bad. An AC power adapter is provided, while a battery power supply is an extra cost option.

The carry handle is moved aside, the top cover raised, the 3.6" LCD screen pops up, and the output tray opens. After the cartridge is inserted into a slot in the back of the unit, a self test is performed. You then just place up to 20 sheets of photo paper into a feed slot, and you're ready to go. The front of the unit accepts most common memory cards, including SD, XD, and Compact Flash. When a card is inserted, a green light will let you know that it is being read. The card reader is fairly quick, loading over 100 shots I had on one card in just several seconds. The Dash will read JPEG and TIFF files, but does not support RAW.

Once the Dash reads your card, the first picture will show on the display screen. You can choose from a single picture view, a filmstrip of 5 photos, or 16 pictures. You can choose the number of copies per picture, or print multiple pictures. It will also do time and date stamps if you like. You can let the on board software process for you, enhancing color and contrast, and even tell it to use borderless or border layouts.

Cropping is a simple affair, accomplished with the "zoom" control. The cropped area can be moved around, and the level of cropping on the final print can be set to "min", "mid", or "max". The Dash will even do red eye reduction, if that's an issue with a particular picture. All settings can be done as a universal value for all prints, or on a single print basis.

Although the maximum print size is limited to 4x6", it will also output wallet, jumbo wallet, passport size, and various other package sizes. The Dash is a surprisingly versatile unit!

Okay, so after all this, what happens when you actually push that big green "PRINT" button? What happens, is that in just over 30 seconds a beautiful, brilliant print will appear on the output tray. When I first saw the intitial results, my jaw dropped. The output, at up to 9200x9200 pixels, is as good as anything I've seen from a typical photo lab. There are lots of parameters you can play with in the printer's menu, but using the default "Enhance" mode with no tweaks, this little box throws out some impressive prints. Excellent color saturation and balance, with very good contrast seems to be the norm for almost everything I put through it. Epson claims something like a 200 year shelf life and water and fade resistance with their dyes. After curing, which can take several hours, I have been unable to smudge anything that I printed with the Dash.

This printer is so good at what it does, that I decided to hook it up to my computer as a secondary photo printer. The included CD provides all the drivers and utilities, as well as Arcsoft's PhotoImpression software. It is XP, Vista, and Mac compatible. On my XP system, installation was quick with no problems of any kind encountered. Connection to the PC is via a standard USB cable. Now, all I have to do is right click any picture I have stored, select "Print", then select the Dash as my printer. (Do NOT set up the Dash as your default printer. You are warned about this during the installation). I can access the Dash's menu functions on screen, and print right to it. I spent a while printing out old archival family pictures in black and white. Output was crisp, bright, with deep blacks and brilliant whites. My original sample pack of 20 sheets of photo paper didn't last very long at all.

I think Epson could give these printers away for free and still make a fortune on them. As far as I can tell, to get a new ink cartridge, you have to order a "pack" of paper and the cartridge directly from Epson for about $35. Since this package includes 150 sheets of glossy photo paper and the cartridge, it's really not too bad of a deal. I can buy 150 count packs of glossy 4x6" photo paper for as low as $15 locally but have not, as of yet, found any place that will sell just ink cartridges for the Dash. Hopefully, that will change in the near future as more of these units hit the market.

The Epson PictureMate Dash, Model PM 260, is a wonderful little printer that never ceases to amaze me. It's a user friendly, high quality, small format photo printer that literally puts photo lab quality output right on your kitchen table. The fact that it sells for only $79.95 direct is almost beyond belief. The only downside is that you will become quite addicted to this type of printing ... and that, I'm afraid, can get quite expensive given the cost of ink and paper. So, my only caveat would be to save the big jobs for a real photo lab, which will be considerably less costly.

THE ONE YEAR UPDATE:  I've now had this Epson for over a year.  While it is still a great little photo printer, and continues to produce professional looking prints, it does have some weak points that were not initially apparent.

The biggest problem I've encountered has been the tendency of the ink jets to clog.  Especially if the unit sits unused for a few weeks, which is common in most situations, the prints will come out with noticeable vertical banding.  The solution requires several passes through the nozzle cleaning routine, which is found under the maintenance menu.  This is very time consuming and wastes ink and paper.  I have tried manually cleaning the jets with a Q-Tip and alcohol, and this seems to work as well as the printer's own cleaning routine.  The jets are located in the ink cartridge compartment.

The other nuisance I've encountered has been the lack of ink cartridges.  Epson has chosen to bundle the cartridge with it paper packs, so to get a new cartridge you must also buy their paper.  Given the frequency of the need to clean the jets, I find I am always running out of ink well before paper.  I'll keep looking but, as of now, I have not been able to buy just the ink cartridge.

It is still an impressive photo printer and I enjoy using it for all my small print needs, but I wish Epson had encorporated a more clog free nozzle design and offered the ink cartridges as a standalone option.  I still recommend it though.