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Reviewed by UK Guest, 14th Jul 2006. |
| Review Summary: Comparing Printing quality - PictureMate 100 verses PictureM |
Overall Score: 5/5
 
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Review: After reading the reviews and comparing the specifications of the PictureMate 100 and PictureMate 500 I was still left wondering if the PictureMate 500 is worth the extra money (currently selling for ?50 more). Reviews for both are very positive and the only real difference in specifications is that the PictureMate 100 is 4 colours dye ink and the PictureMate 500 uses 6 colours dye ink. I visited the Epson website hoping that it might be able to shed some light on this for me and discovered that they will send you a sample photo (or you can upload your own) - limited to one photo sample per product, up to a maximum of 3. I decided to upload my own photo and requested a print of it from both printers so I could make a fair comparison. They arrived within 2 days and on viewing them individually I could see no obvious difference, although the PictureMate 100 did perhaps feel very slightly tacky. I was blown away by how good they were - never really believed they could look as good as shop printed photos. When placing the 2 photos side by the difference between the 4 colour dye of the PictureMate 100 and the 6 colour dye of the PictureMate 500 can be seen. In my photo the sky on the PictureMate 100 has a slight tinge of purple, and in general the photo is slightly darker. These are only minor differences though, and only evident when you have the photos side by side and really look for them.
In the Epson printer guide (which accompanied my free photo samples), the other advantages of the PictureMate 500 over the PictureMate 100 are that it allows you to:
~ Edit your photos without using software on your PC (e.g. zoom/crop)
~ Have fade resistant photos for over 45 years (Source: independent Wilhelm Imaging Research).
In the end I bought the PictureMate 500 as I decided that I'll only user it occasionally and therefore won't need to replace it for quite some time. I would recommend anyone making the same decision as I was to go on the Epson site and request samples to help weigh up the difference as, in all honesty, the 6 colour dye ink alone is not worth paying the extra ?50 for. |
Ratings
| Value For Money: |
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5 |
| Review Score: |
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5 |
| Recommended? | |
Yes |
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Digital Cameras