As the Premium part of the name implies, the Epson Expression Premium XP-810 Small-in-One($309.99 at Amazon), offers lots of features. Some of those, like the duplex (two-sided) printing and duplexing automatic document feeder (ADF), tend to be office centric. Others, like the support for PictBridge cameras and the ability to print from memory cards, are more appropriate for home use. Having all of them in one printer makes the XP-810 a better than average choice for the dual role of home and home office printer and not a bad choice for either role by itself.

The XP-810 is two steps up in Epson's numbering system from the Epson Expression Home XP-410 Small-in-One($362.20 at Amazon), with most of the difference showing in office-centric features like the ADF and duplexer that the Epson XP-410 lacks. However, it also shows on the home-printer side, with far better photo quality, for example, and an added tray for up to 5-by-7-inch photos. In addition to being a better home-office printer, in short, it's also a better home printer.

In addition to the ADF and duplex printing, office-centric features include faxing, Ethernet for easy connection to a wired network, and the ability to both print from and scan to memory cards and USB memory keys. Most other features are useful for both home and home office.

Basics

Core multifunction printer (MFP) features in the XP-810 include printing and faxing from, as well as scanning to, a PC, even over a network, and working as a standalone fax machine and copier. Extensions to the core features include copying to and printing on printable optical discs.

Mobile printing support includes printing through the cloud, assuming you connect the printer directly to a network that's attached to the Internet, and printing from iOS and Android smartphones and tablets over Wi-Fi. And since the printer supports Wi-Fi Direct, you can print directly to it even if the printer isn't on a network.

In principle, being able to attach the printer to a network means that you could share it in a micro office, but the paper handling is a little meager for that. The 100-sheet capacity is enough for most personal use. For a shared printer, you'd likely run out often enough to make refilling the tray a minor annoyance.

One nice touch for paper handling is a single-sheet manual feed in the back that can handle letter-size paper, although the tray is hidden under a cover that makes it easy to miss. Another plus, for home use at least, is a second tray for up to 20 sheets of photo paper, so you can switch between plain paper and photos without having to change the paper in the main tray. The duplexer can also help save paper for both home and office use.

Paper handling for scanning is surprisingly capable. As you would expect, the ADF can handle legal-size paper, to supplement the letter-size flatbed. Beyond that, however, it offers an ample 30-sheet capacity, and it can duplex, by scanning one side, turning the page over, and scanning the other. Menu choices available through the 3.5-inch front-panel touch screen let you scan and fax two-sided pages as well as copy both single- and double-sided originals to your choice of single- or double-sided copies.

Setup, Speed, and Output Quality

Setting up the XP-810 was standard fare. For my tests, I connected it to a wired network using its Ethernet port and ran the tests from a Windows Vista system.

Speed is not a strong point. I clocked the printer on our business applications suite (using QualityLogic's hardware and software for timing) at a lackadaisical 3.6 pages per minute (ppm). That makes it significantly faster than the Epson XP-410, at 2.6 ppm, but a little slow for the price range. The Editors' Choice Brother MFC-J4710DW($492.90 at Amazon) came in at 5.7 ppm, and the Editors' Choice Brother MFC-J4610DW($998.00 at Amazon) managed 5.6 ppm. Photo speed was also a little on the slow side, averaging 1 minute 20 seconds for a 4 by 6.

Output quality is more than acceptable across the board, with notably high-quality photos. Text falls at the high end of the range that includes the vast majority of inkjet MFPs. That still leaves it short of the quality I'd want for something that needs to look fully professional, like a resume, but good enough for most business and personal needs. Graphics was just a touch below par for an inkjet MFP, which makes it good enough for most business needs, including PowerPoint handouts and the like, unless you have an unusually critical eye.

Photos are a strong point. Colors in some of our test images were just a bit dark in terms of a hue-saturation-brightness model, but they were fully saturated, with the subtle gradation that gives a 3D look to rounded objects and with good enough contrast to make colors pop. Overall, the photos were a definitive step above what you'll get from most drugstore prints.

The photo quality obviously makes this printer a good choice if you're looking to print your own photos, while the low paper capacity limits it to light-duty use. Beyond that, it offers a more than acceptable level of quality across the board and a long list of features for both home and office—from duplex printing, to the duplexing ADF, to printing from cameras, and more. If you need a single MFP for the dual role of home and home-office printer, all this can make the Epson Expression Premium XP-810 Small-in-One a particularly good fit.

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