EPSON SURECOLOR P706
It’s been a while between drinks for a new A3+ format Epson photo printer, but the P706 looks to have been worth the wait as far as performance is concerned.
It’s been quite a while since we’ve seen any new photo printers, but the product developers haven’t been idle as evidenced by Epson’s new generation A3+ format SureColor model which is smaller, faster and introduces some useful new features.
We had become accustomed to seeing new inkjet models arriving from Epson and Canon about every two years, but it has taken five years for the Epson SureColor P600 (reviewed back in the September/October 2015 issue) to be replaced.
Consequently, the SureColor P706 is a completely new printer rather than an upgrade, with features designed to further enhance the enjoyment of print-making.
Despite there being some limitations on how an inkjet printer can be designed and built, the SureColor P706 presents as a compact and attractive black box with panels and trays that either fold or slide out neatly. It will look appealing in an office or home study environment. Some care will be required with the shiny top lid, however, as it is prone to scratching and fingerprints. If you’re going to use the printer’s top as a temporary platform for paper or final print storage, it’s advisable to put a soft cloth down first. In Australia and New Zealand the printer is the P706; elsewhere it is known as the P700.
WHAT’S NEW
The new printer is about 30% smaller (at 515mm wide, 368mm high and 185mm deep) and lighter (at 12.7kg) than the old SureColor P600. There is a revised ten-ink T46Y system feeding to the MicroPiezo print head. The colours are matte black, gloss black, grey, light grey, cyan, light cyan, yellow, vivid magenta, vivid light magenta and violet. The inclusion of the violet ink is intended to improve gamut in blues. The P706 has individual lines for the matte black and gloss black inks.
The SureColor P706 is the first 13-inch A3+ printer to include a replaceable maintenance box.
Normally waste ink from head cleaning cycles is dropped into an absorbent pad with printers of A3+ format and smaller. When the pad is saturated it needs to be replaced by a technician or some messy homemade effort applied to soak up the ink. The removable maintenance box is already commonplace in A2 and larger format printers, and when full, it is simply removed and replaced. All neat and tidy, and no mess Charlie!
SETTING UP
The well-packaged printer comes with initial ink cartridges, a power cable, user guide, CD/DVD disc tray, CD software disc and a spare maintenance box. All the inks are housed in a rather attractive manner, somewhat akin to an inviting big box of chocolates.
The setup routine for the SureColor P706 is straightforward and can be made easier by viewing the excellent P700 videos on YouTube. After removing all the blue securing tape, the printer is powered on and, by following the LCD on-screen instructions, the initialisation process begins. Language, date and time are established and, taking care not to touch the chip, the well-shaken cartridges are inserted.
Although these cartridges are designated ‘Initial’, they contain the full 25ml as the standard replacement cartridges, unlike some early printers where “initial” meant just enough to get started. The 15-minute ink initialisation process shouldn’t be interrupted by opening any panels, otherwise you’ll need to start from scratch with yet more ink consumed. At the end, a message appears which treads, “Some ink from the ink cartridges was used for filling ink to the tip of the nozzle”. In reality, a great deal of ink is used.
It should be noted that the SureColor P706 employs a line feed system from stationary
25ml capacity cartridges to the print head, rather than the use of smaller cartridges that feed direct to the print head by riding on top. In any line feed system, a fair amount of ink and shipping fluid is used to charge up the system, with some being directed to the replaceable maintenance box. All of this means that the ink levels after setup will not register as full and could be as low as 15-20% capacity. The maintenance box will be close to full, hence provision of the spare included in the package.
The final stage is the installation of software via the CD or a download from the Epson website. Apart from the printer driver, there is a user manual and several programs. Included is the Epson Media Installer that allows other Epson, third-party and custom profiles to be added to the printer. The connections are Hi-Speed USB 2.0, 100Base-T Ethernet or Wi-Fi – both the 2.4 and 5GHz bands.
THREE PAPER FEEDS
A rear paper tray for single sheets or up to 30 stacked sheets (generally not exceeding 300gsm) will be doing most of the work. It has a centre path for paper transport supported by two guides to limit paper skew problems. The support tray extension is partially slatted while the pull out paper receiving tray is fully slatted. This styling is another first.
The front feed is intended for papers or poster board from 300 to 1000gsm. This involves a much slower operation via several steps with ‘OK’ check points on the touchscreen. Paper remains on a flat, centrally guided pathway, being taken in from the front to protrude out the back and then drawn back in for printing. Adequate space should be allowed at the back to prevent large sheets of paper hitting a solid surface. A long print cannot be held on the receiving tray, so be ready to play wicket keeper. The internal light will help in assessing the ‘get ready’ position.
An included feature is a paperroll facility that slides out from the rear of the printer. As there’s no internal cutter, a finished print must be rough cut with scissors and then trimmed accurately, along with the leading edge of the paper roll. Additionally, the paper roll is not a powered unit and will require a manual back roll to its starting point.
Although the maximum print length possible extends to 18m, rolls of 329mm (13 inches) wide paper are only 10m long. Epson has a reasonable range of 13-inch wide light-weight paper rolls. The need for extraordinary long prints – if only for “Happy Birthday” type banners – is not likely to be great, so the 10m roll should be adequate.
Panoramic prints on fine-art paper will require cutting down from 432mm or 610mm-wide rolls, or using A2 sheets cut to 594x329mm. The front paper loader should provide a better alignment compared to the rear feed. The front feed also accommodates the CD/DVD tray.
TOUCHSCREEN
The 10.9cm touchscreen is a delight in providing access to the functions of the printer and will display the image being printed. Paper types and sizes (even userdefined) can be set, ink levels monitored, maintenance functions performed, remaining print time checked and the job history observed… along with the usual print panels on the computer screen.
Before even our very first test print, the ink-level panel showed very low levels and the warning, “It is almost time to replace ink cartridge(s)”. It is hardly a happy situation to encounter even before you’ve commenced printing to then need to acquire a set of replacement cartridges at a total cost of just under $550. Perhaps Epson has assumed buyers will