Epson Workforce WF-2530WF – Print Speeds

Epson rates the Workforce WF-2530WF at 34ppm for black print and 18ppm for colour. Epson’s speed claims are usually wishful, compared with what we measure, and that proved to be the case with this machine.

Our 5-page black text print took 41s, giving a speed of 7.3ppm and this only increased to 8.1ppm for the 20-page document. The fastest speed we saw was on the 5-page draft print, which managed 12.5ppm, still considerably less than the quoted top speed.

Colour print, on the five-page text and graphics test, gave 2.7ppm. Unfortunately, that’s not where the slow speeds end. A five-page copy from the ADF took 2:30, due to a very slow paper scanner feed. Even a single-page flatbed scan took 40s. Also, a 15 x 10cm print from a Samsung Galaxy Mini Android phone took 3:06, which is, again, extremely sluggish.

Epson Workforce WF-2530WF – Print Quality and Costs

The prints produced by the machine are reasonable, though not up to the standard from leading makes, like Canon and HP. Back text has a slight fuzz to it, especially on emboldened print, and colour fills, particularly on copies, are uneven. Colours are in general bright and clean, though and copies are closer to originals than on some similar priced rivals, indicating that the scanner, for all its slowness, is doing a fair job.

Photo prints are very good, with natural colours, no noticeable casts and smooth colour transitions in large areas, like sea and sky. There’s plenty of image detail and this is true of dark and shadowed areas, where details can often be lost.

The XL cartridges are reasonably priced and give page costs of 3.3p for black print and 9.8p for colour. Both these figures are similar to other machines in the £60-£90 bracket, so you won’t be paying extra for consumables, just because the machine is at the bottom of that spread.

Verdict

The Epson Workforce WF-2530WF is a well-designed, small footprint, four-function all-in-one which should be able to handle most of the functions required of a home office printer. Print quality is good, it’s easy to maintain and has running costs about average for its class. The only drawback is the slowness of some printing and scanning tasks. If you can live with that, it should be on your shortlist.