As its name makes clear, the Epson Expression Home XP-410 Small-in-One is meant as a home printer. However it doesn't fit all that neatly into the category. In particular, it delivers much better looking text than many home printers. That's enough to make it at least as attractive for light-duty home-office use as for typical home use.
That doesn't mean the XP-410 is otherwise focused on office needs. Unlike the Editors' Choice Brother MFC-J430w, for example, it lacks such office-centric features as an automatic document feeder (ADF) and fax capability. It also lacks an Ethernet port. However, it includes Wi-Fi as a connection choice, which makes it easy to share in the dual role of home and home-office printer.
Basics
In addition to printing from and scanning to a PC, as well as copying, the XP-410 can both print from and scan to a memory card, using JPG files for printing and a choice of JPG or PDF files for scanning. It will also let you preview the JPG files before printing, using its 2.5-inch color LCD.
Mobile printing features include printing through the cloud. Without Ethernet, however, the only way to connect to the Internet is through a Wi-Fi access point on your network, which rules out cloud printing if you connect the printer by USB cable. On the plus side, the printer also offers Wi-Fi Direct, which lets you connect directly by Wi-Fi to print from or scan to a smartphone or tablet.
As you might expect from the price, paper handling is not a strong point. The XP-410 offers only a 100-sheet input tray, with no duplexer and no upgrades available. Even by home and home-office standards, that definitively limits it to light-duty use.
Setup, Speed, and Output Quality
For my tests, I connected the XP-410 by USB cable to a computer running Windows Vista. Setting it up was standard fare.
The printer's speed on our business applications suite is best described as not bad for the price. I timed it (using QualityLogic's hardware and software for timing) at 2.6 pages per minute (ppm). That's slower than the MFC-J430w, at 4.3 ppm, or the HP Officejet 4620 e-All-in-One, at 3.4 ppm, but it's still a respectable speed compared with most similarly priced MFPs. Photo speed is also on the slow side, averaging 2 minutes 14 seconds for a 4 by 6.
Output Quality
The XP-410's text quality is better than expected for a printer meant for home use. In fact, it's near the high end of range for an inkjet MFP. That doesn't make it good enough for output that has to look fully professional, like a resume, but it's certainly good enough for most business and personal needs.
Graphics quality in my tests was a half-step below par, but still within the tight range where most inkjet MFPs fall. As with the text output, it's also easily good enough for most personal or business needs. Depending on how much of a perfectionist you are, however, you may or may not consider it good enough for PowerPoint handouts or the like.
Color photos were at the low end of what you would expect from drugstore prints. That makes them true photo quality by definition, but more appropriate for snapshots than for photos meant for, say, framing. Black and white photos weren't at the same level, however. One of our standard test photos showed obvious tints, with different color tints at different shades of gray. If you print photos strictly in color, however, like most home users, that obviously won't be an issue.
This is clearly the wrong printer to get if you want to print photos in black and white. But if you're looking for an MFP for home use, light-duty home-office use, or dual use in home and home office, it offers a lot to like otherwise. Its combination of text, graphics, and photo quality, with extras like Wi-Fi Direct for easy printing from smartphones and tablets, will be hard to match elsewhere at this price. And if snapshot quality is all you need for photos, the Epson Expression Home XP-410 Small-in-One can easily be the right choice.
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