Expression Premium XP-7100 Wireless Color All-in-One Inkjet Printer

I just happened to stumble across the Epson XP-7100 while looking for a small photo printer capable of using Letter size paper. The store did not have print samples and I knew nothing about it so I put off the purchase to do some more research. I came across a PC Magazine article titled The Best Photo Printers for 2019. The XP-7100 was listed a one of seven listed as an Editors' Choice, but the 7100 was the only Legal size printer with 2 others not fitting the bill and the remaining 4 being large formats costing 2-10 times as much. With a price of $129, I decided to take a chance. The XP-7100 arrived well packaged and heavier than expected (usually a good sign). It is a elegant contemporary design which takes up very little space and looks good anywhere. No ADF or trays sticking out. Setup was easy and straight forward with the quick setup sheet. The 4.3 inch control screen is a delight with its intuitive interface and bright touch screen. Once the ink cartridges are installed, just push the power button (the only button) and the control panels automatically tilts outward for a better viewing angle. After printing a few test sheets for printer head alignment, it was time to set up WiFi (unless you go with USB). WiFi setup was easy. Just select your network and enter its password (if secured). Last step is to install the software and driver on the computer. The CD did not auto run as it was supposed to so I manually opened the CD in File Explorer. At the root level are two app files. EPWizard.exe and Setup.exe. I ran the EPWizard.exe and everything installed fine. WiFi tried to locate the printer and it failed. This was resolved with a simple Restart of the computer. My first few prints were to test different papers and quality setting. The printer has 2 trays supporting cards, photos, envelops and basically anything A4 or Letter size and smaller. It even includes a CD tray to print on CDs. A motorized output tray retracts back into the printer (along with the control panel) when you power off. As far as construction, the port for the power cable is a little wobbly. I do not know what that is about. Some reviewers wrote the printer is flimsy. The trays do not have rollers or bearing, so yes they are a little flimsy to reduce friction, but tighten into place once fully extended. This is common among printers and helps keep cost down. As for the body, it does have thin panels (available in different colors) which are simply not acceptable for a laptop. Oh wait, this is a non-portable printer meant to, at most, be moved from place to place a few times. Remove from box and place on desk. I purchased the printer mainly for its photographic printing abilities. My first real print was a Student of the Month article (about my daughter) from the website of the local newspaper. The photo and text would be a great test of the printers capabilities so I imported the article at 300 dpi with vector text. I printed it with high quality settings and used Epson Ultra-Premium Glossy Photo Paper. The results were phenomenal. The color photo was vibrant and the blending of the 4 photo colors was seamless. Text (some of it 5pt in size) was very crisp and could rival laser printers. The printer is fast for an inkjet on high settings. I estimate around 35 seconds for the 8.5 x 11 print. I’ll add a follow up on the scanner, ADF, and media ports but for now the 7100 is a very impressive photo printer which can be had as low as $99. Of course they will make up for the losses, and then some, with ink and paper sales.

An excellent choice I think for light duty, occasional print jobs, so it gets five stars for that use case. But this printer is not for frequent jobs or big jobs, mostly due to the tiny ink cartridges that will suck you into ink extortion hell. Basically, when you buy a printer, the big consideration is whether you pay more up-front for large ink capacity--so called eco tank printers--or pay for ink over time with small ink capacity printers such as this one. Low cost printers are subsidized by the recurring sale of consumable ink; that's how printer manufacturers make their money. For my light duty use case, I have chosen the latter option. If you have a heavier demand for output, you might want to choose the first option. But aside from this one negative, this is a moderately price printer with a lot of exceptional features for occasional light duty print jobs: it features a motorized automatic slide out paper output tray that stays out of the way when you're not printing; a true duplex (double-sided) scanner; a single sheet rear paper feeder; and a modest desktop footprint: And on mine, a automatic sheet feeder that keeps the paper square and does not skew it–perhaps I got lucky there. It even has a template for printing on recordable CD/DVDs, if you still use those. Note: the UX is not great; the touch screen easily mistakes a swipe for a tap, which is annoying, and the navigation system is a bit awkward. But such issues are rather par for the course; electronics manufacturers in general do a rather poor job at UX, so I don't fault the manufacturer too much there. Navigation is, however, fairly responsive, and this tend to be rather sluggish in general for electronic equipment, so a minor prop there. Update: I can go for months between print jobs, and the printer will work fine. No issues with ink nozzles drying out. However, it does go through a rather elaborate startup to wake itself up from sleep, perhaps to prepare the nozzles for printing.

I bought this XP 7100 to replace my Artisan 730, which had become cranky lately after working great for 11 years. Overall I am well pleased. Despite what some reviews say, this Will print full borderless prints on 8.5 X 11 paper. I don’t know why the web site only says 8 X 10 max size for borderless photo, nor why some people say it will leave a white border on the 8.5X11. It prints full borderless. I had no problem connecting with the Wifi. I just turned it on, put in my password, and it did the rest. My Macbook and two iphones also auto connected to the printer automatically without me doing anything. I love the ADF and having two trays plus the slot in back for feeding odd paper. (Yes, you can still put photo paper in tray 2, that’s the way I used to do in my Artisan730. The back feed just makes it easier. On the down side, I have not been able to copy and print old faded photographs with the automatic color adjustment like I did in the Artisan. They still come out faded and brown where the Artisan converted them to look like new. But I’ll work with that more. Also it is difficult to get used to the on screen instructions. However, the reason I am not giving this 5 stars is the photo printing. It prints photos sharp and clear, but the color is bland. I printed the same photo on both my printers. The Artisan came out bright colors where the 7100 seemed faded and dull. Very easy to notice just by looking. Yes, I know the Artisan had 5 colors where this has only 3. But it is touted as a “Photo” printer and I had assumed it would print close to the same results. It doesn’t. Other than that, so far I am pleased with it. I love the automatic stuff that my older one didn’t have. Especially the tray that slides out to catch the printed paper. I often forgot when printing from my laptop then came in to find pages all over the floor. I’ll keep it. Just disappointed in the colors and not correcting photos in the scan. Update: I think I will increase my rating a star. I have had it three weeks now and have printed numerous HIgh quality photos on photo paper, plus other projects. Some reviews have complained about the ink not lasting. I still have over 3/4 ink in all the Cartridges. It does NOT use ink fast, it is normal compared to my other printers.

If I could give this printer ZERO stars, I would. Let me be clear. The print quality itself isn’t the main issue. It’s decent. But that’s about the only thing that works, and even that doesn’t last long. I’ve bought this same model multiple times over the past two years, and every single one has been a complete nightmare. The most recent one started scratching and ripping every single sheet of paper I tried to print. So I disassembled the entire thing to remove the printhead, only to find that the metal bracket that surrounds the printhead the protective piece was installed bent and protruding inside the machine. That damaged part is what shredded every sheet of paper I tried to use, wasting my time, materials, and money. Thinking maybe I just got unlucky before, I bought yet another one -which is the one I’m making the review about . Well That was an even bigger mistake. The moment I turned it on and tried to print, it made loud banging noises, jammed constantly, and not a single page printed correctly. After inspecting it, I saw that the printer was visibly damaged and cracked, like it had been dropped before it was even shipped to me. This is completely unacceptable. They are selling damaged or poorly assembled units as if they’re brand new, and people are getting ripped off. Do not buy this printer without a warranty. Actually, just don’t buy it at all. I’ve wasted enough money and patience on this trash, and I won’t be giving this company another cent.

I replaced an Epson XP-830 with this machine because this was the newest model and would use the same ink cartridges. It prints well and scans well. Unlike my previous machine, it does not have fax capability. It does, like its predecessor, print on CD/DVDs and has a back feed slot for heavier media, like card stock or envelopes, though only one at a time. I have not printed photos yet. I am able to reuse the partly used cartridges from my previous machine. However, in setting up the machine for the first time, you are advised by Epson to use the cartridges in the box first because they're designed for a first priming of the ink system. It recognized the used cartridges and the amount left when the initial ones ran out. I highly recommend buying the 410XL cartridges instead of the standard 410's; they cost a bit more, but you get more than twice the ink for a bit less than twice the price. The mixed box set contains an XL black cartridge but only standard color cartridges. The XL colors have to be bought individually, but they're worth it. There are third-party inks out there that cost much less than brand name, and you use them at your own risk. Many people say they're just as good and that the Epson inks are a ripoff; I'll only say that I have tried third-party inks and have definitely had problems more than once. My two criticisms of the machine: one, the main paper tray is low-capacity, extremely flimsy, and sometimes difficult to remove; if you want high-capacity printing, this printer is probably not for you. Second, the display icons are irritating, and the system will not stay in home display mode after printing, you have to hit a cancel button. Still, I will not hesitate to buy this printer again so long as it lasts out its warranty period and a little more. I've been far happier with Epson photo printers than HP, Canon, or Brother. I would also check the paper specs carefully. I wanted to do some printing on 3X5 sheets, but paper will not feed properly on any size less than 3.5" width. Not their fault that I didn't notice.

The un-packaging and initial set up on Windows 7 Home Premium was much easier than I had thought it would be . The WiFi & USB connections were made almost with out effort . The connection with my cell phone & Android Tablet were event free. The Hammermill Print App & the Epson Print App both recognized the printer . The Driver Installation showed SD Over USB driver Fail , but I think its because I did not have an SD card in the slot and most likely never will . It will probably become active when I insert an SD card for the first time , or it might be a Windows 7 issue , but it is a feature I would never use any way . Other than this , it performs really well . The initial adjusting of the print heads is a bit tedious , but necessary , and it really doesn't take much time , just a few pages of paper . The CD /DVD printer software that came with this printer is Excellent ! Some one finally wrote a DVD / CD printer program that is easy to use , intuitive and produces great results on Ink Jet Printable CD/DVD's . I still use my third party software for printing the Case Inserts . The print quality is superb and the colors are spot on . The ink can be a bit pricey ( Epson 410XL ) , but since I will use it 90% of the time to print CD/DVD's & Case Inserts , and not as a default printer , I can live with it . I did find some 410XL third party ink on Amazon.com that actually had a 5 star rating for this printer and they were very reasonably priced for a set of all 5 cartridges . I hope these 3rd party cartridges work as well as they are rated . We shall see . I don't use Windows 10, but others reviewing this printer comment on its use with Windows 10 .

I understand that some printers may be defective from the factory and perhaps I got lucky, but I don't understand some of these negative reviews. This printer is not cheaply made. It is made just as well as any other printer at this price point. Setup was quick and easy. I print to it from several computers and an iPad over wifi. It prints both plain black text documents and photos (if you use glossy photo paper) quite well. I have used the scanner bed and feeder several times and they work flawlessly. I purchased a complete set of high capacity ink cartridges along with the printer because I understood that the original ink cartridges were just for setup and calibration. Perhaps Epson put the wrong cartridges in my printer, but I have used it for routine home printing for five weeks, multi-page documents with color graphics and a dozen or so photos, a couple of which were full page photos, and all the original ink cartridges that came with the printer still show at least half full. I had bad experience with an Epson printer 30 years ago and had been using only HP and Canon home printers since then. I decided to give Epson another try, and so far I am glad I did. P.S after three and a half months of use. Just changed original ink cartridges yesterday. We were printing about 150 pages of partially-color text. After using it for a while, I will concede that it does feel bit more fragile than previous Canon and HP printers, but nothing has broken yet. Printer hardware and software work perfectly. It takes a while to start printing after you send a job, but prints quickly once it gets going.

Bought this to replace a 13-year-old Artisan 810 which still works fine and prints EXCEPTIONAL photos, only problem is the scanner gave up (scanned images with overlapping vertical banding strips) which prompted me for a new printer. I'd like to stay with Epson so the XP-7100 seems to be a good choice. In comparison it is much more compact, but it packs many newer features such as double-sided copy/scanning, AirPrint, faster WiFi, etc.. The major differences between my Artisan 810 and the XP-7100 is I lose the Fax feature, and the XP-7100 only uses 3 color ink cartridges compared to my old Artisan with 6! This pretty much tells you who's king when it comes to photo-printing. Though the XP-7100 technically uses 'five' ink cartridges, but out of the bunch two are Black! Good thing is both printers still includes the CD/DVD/BD disc-printing feature so that's still a plus in my book! The printer prints well overall, even on plain paper which my older printer lacks. Texts are rather sharp on document printing - even when using the lowest-grade plain paper, but my gripe on this printer is the scanner; which I do mostly than print. Scanned images are askew and distorted when using the flatbed scanner and results are much worse when using the ADF feature. Most people would probably not mind (or even realize this) but this is a definite NO NO for me at any cost! There is a 'skew correct' feature from a separate Epson scan software which can be use but I'd have to do it from my computer instead selecting from the printer/scanner unit itself and that is another NO NO. I do on-the-fly scanning, meaning docs laid on the unit and utilizing its front 4.3" touchscreen panel. Speaking of which, the option to select is more of a task compared to my old one. In order to do anything - whether to copy or scan; you'd have to first: Press scan, Choose printer, Press 'Save' to initiate Compared to on my Artisan 810: Choose scan or copy, Press/select printer and the task starts at once! Flatbed and page orientation: Document orientation is now faced on the opposite end of the bed, on the lower-right corner instead of the upper-left corner where the scanning rod begins. This means it has to travel all the way to the opposite end to capture the top page/image. This slows down the scan process quite a bit especially if you choose for a smaller scan/copy area, say for B6 size (4x9-6x9) whereas the scanner rod would just slightly slide to the nearby scan to capture and process. Wifi: Epson is still iffy about this issue. I find at multiple times my pc isn't detected unless I do a reboot. Printing is fine, but 'scan to pc' is a major issue as it will not work unless your pc is detected. This is managed by Epson 'Event Manager' which is notoriously known for sleeping and not knowing when to wake up. Again, I do most scans than print so the majority of people might not realize this. Photo printing: Still good compared to others such as Canon and HP as nothing beats an Epson when it comes to photo-printing EXCEPT my Artisan 810 still holds title with 'lab quality' prints. Pros: Fast print/scan via WiFi AirPrint Beautiful prints with sharp texts on docs, yields exceptional color Adjustable 4.3" color touchscreen pad control with good tactile response Motorized slide-out tray to capture printed contents Top ADF cover folds flat when not in use Full duplex double-sided print/scan/copy CD/DVD media printing capability Good photo quality prints (when using photo paper) Overall good compact size unit Cons: Scanned or copied results are 'askew' and distorted with no fix Paper tray capacity is small Uses only 3 color ink cartridges Wifi is inconsistent (very common Epson problem) No fax feature (which I still use but seldom) Slow blinking 'standby' white ringed power light is annoying, especially at night. This feature is non-adjustable, but others such as printer standby duration in minutes, sound, touchscreen brightness, etc can be.

Prints fine, and it prints quietly. Hoping that the ink will last long.

This is the perfect printer! Like how the tray automatically comes out when you submit a print, no more papers all over the floor

A lot of negative reviews. Even then I think it’s due to unrealistic expectations. Here’s what I like: prints are of exceptional quality. I’ve always liked Epson for that. I’ve started to print Audio CD’s and Blue ray as well. Great prints! Only printer in this price range that can do that. And do it well. Don’t like: it’s terribly slow. The internal software needs patience. Print costs are high. Then again which ink jet printer isn’t? All in all well worth it and a bargain if on sale!

Works great. Easy to use

I bought this printer in Aug 2019 it died May 2020, it lasted nine months. It is an incredible ink hog, it wont let you do anything, like clearing paper jams unless all the ink cartridges are full. You can't switch to photo black if you run out of regular black ink. It currently is in a paper jam loop; but won't let me fix it until i change ink cartridges. I highly recommend that you do not invest your money in this piece of ***t. I will never buy an Epson printer again. It also wants me to update software drivers ever week. This is the worst printer i have had in 20 years. I will go back to HP or Canon.