The Kodak ESP 1.2 may retail at prices a little more expensive than rival all-in-ones. But savings will mount up and the quality and features are all there to make this a decent buy. Watch PC Advisor's Kodak ESP 1.2 video review to find out more. See also: Kodak ESP 1.2 review
Hello and welcome to Technology and You, I’m Matt Egan. In this edition we’ll be putting the new Kodak ESP 1-point-2 printer under the microscope. Here’s our Kodak ESP 1-point-2 review.
Now, the new ESP 1.2 and 3,2 are replacements for the popular C series printers from Kodak, the C310 and C315. The ESP 1.2 is a pretty chunky feeling printer that won’t take up much room in your home or home office. One thing stands out immediately though - there are fewer physical buttons on the body of the printer than before. These have been rethought and designed into a control panel mounted on the all-in-one.
The “all-in-one” aspect referred to here is the Kodak ESP 1.2’s ability to print, scan and copy. Of course, printing is the real emphasis and, as expected from a Kodak device, photo printing is the focus. There’s no separate tray for photo paper - it simply shares the same rear feed slot as plain. That takes 100 sheets of document paper or 20 glossy photo sheets.
As for quality of print output, it’s just the high quality you'd expect from a Kodak. The print time for great looking photos is a very decent 38 seconds. You can also print to standard paper, card stock up to 200 gsm, envelopes and a range of bespoke sizes.
The Kodak ESP 1.2 and 3.2 are very similar indeed. In fact, they ship with the same manual. The differences between the ESP 1.2 and its slightly more expensive cousin the 3.2 are pretty much all in the control panel. The ESP 3.2 boasts a 2.4 inch touchscreen. The ESP 1.2 has a smaller LCD augmented with a few physical buttons that enable you to page through and navigate choices instead.
In terms of price, Kodak printers do tend to cost a little bit more than their rivals when you make your purchase. This can put them at a disadvantage in head to head to tests where unit price is the common factor. However, running costs are generally lower with Kodak printers, with cheaper cartridges and more economical usage of ink meaning that over its lifetime the Kodak ESP 1.2 should save the extra cost of the initial purchase several times over.
Finally, our verdict. With a package that’s nicely rounded out with Kodak’s Home Centre software. The Kodak ESP 1.2 may retail at prices a little more expensive than rival all-in-ones. But savings will mount up and the quality and features are all there to make this a decent buy. We give it 4 stars.
