The Epson SureColor P400 Inkjet Printer probably won’t be the printer you decide to make your go to printer. We have a best printer for screen printing and a best inkjet printer list for that. Instead, it will most likely act as a companion printer as it is a best printer for art prints. And with fast speeds compared to other top-rated printers, you’ll be able to enjoy your prints in no time!
Why We Like It – Epson SureColor P400
The Epson SureColor P400 is a near-dedicated photo printer that can make your family photos sparkle when you hang them on your wall. It can print these photos at relatively fast speeds and, considering how accurate the representation is, is quite an impressive feat.
- Relatively Fast for a Photo Printer
- Great Text Quality
- Prints on Roll Paper
- Prints Text Documents Excruciatingly Slowly
Related: In case you want a reliable wide-format printer, check our Epson Surecolor P600 Wide Format Inkjet Printer review
Speed
Epson SureColor P400 Photo Printers focus more on print quality than they do on speed, as near-dedicated photo printers should, but the P400 is still relatively quick. Printing photos on fine art paper or photo paper averages about two minutes depending on the size of the photo which is faster than most other Epson printers. It’s for this reason we consider it a best large format printer, best printer for cardstock and best photo printer too. It doesn’t do well with text documents, but it will work in a pinch. If you need a text printer, consider the HP OfficeJet Pro 9015.
Print Quality
Epson SureColor P400 Wide Format Printers print excellent, high-quality photographs. The supreme quality of the photos makes the printer, along with the HP Designjet T120, a best printer for iPhone. And although the P400 doesn’t have as many black individual ink cartridges it can still print a black background and all with ease. Text pages, though slow, are sharp, resolute, and easily readable as well.
Heading
It’s usually difficult to calculate ink costs as large format photo printers generally have six to eight ink tanks instead of the standard four. But each ink tank costs approximately $18.00, including the Ultrachrome HG2, if you buy through Epson. Each tank holds 14mL of ink, so cost is about $1.30 per milliliter. It’s a thoroughly average cost to run a photo printer and on par with other Epson, and even Canon, models. Consider the Brother Inkjet Printer MFC-J985DW if you’re looking to save on running costs.
Advanced Features
The P400 can connect to a computer via USB cable, or to a network via ethernet or wi-fi. No word on whether wi-fi direct is included. There’s no display as the computer is meant to be controlled via a phone or computer, and we’ll let you decide if that’s a positive or negative. One impressive feature you don’t normally see from photo printers that the P400 includes is the ability to print from roll paper!
Value
The Epson SureColor P400 comes in one color, matte black, but so do 99% of the printers out there so we don’t fault it for that. The printer supports a wide array of borderless sizes, including Super B (13”x19”) sizes. The top loader can hold 120 sheets of plain paper or 30 sheets of photo paper and a rear feeder can hold one sheet of fine art paper. And, because it can print roll paper, there’s a holder for paper rolls on the front.
Epson SureColor P400 Wrap Up
Despite being outrageously slow when printing text documents (it actually prints color faster, the first time we’ve seen something like this) the Epson SureColor P400 will still print book-quality text when you need it to. Quality is the name of the game with the P400, so you’ll know that, even if it prints slowly, you won’t have to go back and print a second time.
