Epson Expression Photo XP-8800 review: a low-cost option for photographers

Epson is known for high-quality photo printers, so when the company introduced the new Expression Photo XP-8800, I knew I had to test it out. This low-cost all-in-one solution could be ideal for the home, particularly if you’re a photography enthusiast.

I checked printer and scanner quality as well as performance across a range of photos and documents. I also researched long-term costs, a critical consideration when shopping for the best photo printer.

Specs

Design

The Expression Photo XP-8800 is tiny for an all-in-one, with a footprint of 13.7 by 13.4 inches and standing just 5.6 inches tall. The output bin is a tray that automatically slides out about seven inches to catch pages and photos when printing. Epson packed a lot of technology into a small package, but the weight is under 15 pounds, so it’s easy to handle.

Speaking of handling, the shiny black control panel and sleek black body look nice but will be a magnet for fingerprints. I kept a microfiber cloth nearby to wipe it clean before taking photos. A large 4.3-inch color touchscreen makes navigation easy.

The Expression Photo XP-8800 can print directly from thumb drives and SD cards via a card slot behind the control panel and a USB-A port behind the paper tray door. The card slot supports SD, SDHC, SDXC, and smaller cards with SD adapters.

Epson gave the Expression Photo XP-8800 great versatility. The main paper tray at the bottom holds 100 sheets. Above that, a thin media tray holds 20 photo sheets and doubles as a CD/DVD tray to print directly on rigid discs. The rear tray accepts a variety of paper types, including Epson’s Velvet Fine Art Paper and custom paper sizes up to 8.5″ x 47.2″.

As an all-in-one, the Expression Photo XP-8800 includes a flatbed scanner. I can scan documents and photos at up to 1200 dots per inch (dpi). That’s as crisp as some of the best scanners and a good resolution to use when archiving pictures.

Printing performance

According to Epson, the Expression Photo XP-8800 offers “Lab-quality photos and prints.” In my tests, I found the six-color Claria ink system offered great dynamic range and good color accuracy, confirming that bold statement for a low-cost printer. I tested on several media types from borderless plain paper to glossy 4×6 photo paper prints. Everything came out looking great.

I feel Epson’s more expensive EcoTank ET-8500 offered even better picture quality but the biggest difference between the two is performance. The Expression Photo XP-8800 is rated at 9.5 pages per minute (ppm) in black-and-white and 9 ppm in color, about 40% slower than the EcoTank ET-8500.

Since the Expression Photo XP-8800 is optimized for photos, that’s a more important speed test. A draft mode 4×6 photo rolls out in about 10 seconds and looks almost identical to high-quality mode. I checked with a macro camera and struggled to see a difference. At full quality, it takes about a minute to print a 4 x 6 photo, so it’s worth exploring the fastest print option.

I loaded a stack of 20 photo cards in the media tray while the main tray held 100 standard letter sheets. A rear cover opens to accept envelopes and specialty paper. With so many options, I didn’t have to fuss with paper until it ran low.

Special features

The Expression Photo XP-8800 includes a high-quality flatbed scanner that can copy and scan photos or documents. It’s about the same speed as the printer, quick enough for home use but could cause a slowdown in an office. It also lacks an automatic document feeder (ADF), so multi-page documents require manual insertion.

If you want a business-oriented inkjet printer, take a look at Epson’s super-quick EcoTank Pro ET-5850. It has very good photo quality, shoots out the first page in 5.5 seconds, and copies double-sided color documents at 20 ppm.

The copy resolution is 600 by 600 dpi. Scans offer higher resolution from a computer, I could scan photos at up to 1200 dpi, providing enough size for cropping and fine adjustments. From a phone or tablet, the maximum resolution is 600 dpi, which is still very sharp. Copies look nice and menu options let me reduce and enlarge as needed.

The Expression Photo XP-8800 has both a USB-A and an SD card slot, making walk-up printing simple. I could pop a card from my camera directly in the printer and use the touchscreen’s gallery view to select a print or copy a document to a thumb drive and use that for printing without the need for a phone or computer.

Software and compatibility

Epson gave the Expression Photo XP-8800 two installation methods: using a mobile app or navigating the touchscreen. I scanned a QR code in the quick start guide to install the Epson Smart Panel app on my iPhone. It’s also available for Android phones. The app instantly found the printer and guided me through the setup.

The Expression Photo XP-8800 comes with six ink cartridges and I followed Smart Panel’s instructions to install them. Everything is clearly marked and the cartridges snapped in with reassuring clicks. The app advised me that initialization takes about 10 minutes so I stepped away while it finished up.

When I returned, the app had lost connection to the printer, so I used the touchscreen to complete alignment. The Expression Photo XP-8800 printed a single page to place in the scanner for fine adjustments to the printheads to ensure the best quality.

I tried the mobile app again to complete the setup and it worked. I connected the Expression Photo XP-8800 to Wi-Fi. My Windows PC, MacBook, and Android phone saw the printer quickly and I had no further issues.

From the Epson Smart Panel app, I could print, scan, and copy. Epson’s mobile app also supports printing envelopes, something many printers struggle with. It also offers maintenance options to check ink levels, update firmware,

Price

While the Epson Expression Photo XP-8800 is very affordable at the $300 retail price, it can be found on sale for as low as $200. That’s an incredible bargain for a six-color all-in-one inkjet printer. The only consideration for this cartridge-based printer is ink cost.

It uses Epson Claria 340 ink, available in standard and high-capacity cartridges in black, cyan, magenta, yellow, light cyan, and light magenta. Standard cartridges cost $17 each and provide up to 240 monochrome pages and 360 color pages. High-capacity cartridges cost $28 for black ink and $32 for each color ink. It’s refreshing to see the color cartridges have higher yields than the black cartridges. It’s usually the other way around.

Breaking down those costs, every monochrome page costs 6 to 7 cents and each page of a color document will average 19 to 24 cents. Color costs are much higher than black since multiple inks are used for each dot, while monochrome uses only black.

The cost of printing photos is harder to estimate since the content is so varied. Full-page photos could cost significantly more than the average document which often includes plenty of white space. 4×6 photos are smaller but cover the entire paper with ink.

An inkjet tank printer like the Epson EcoTank 2850 costs more upfront but offers great long-term savings with costs measured in tenths of cents per page. Epson’s EcoTank ET-8500 is expensive but combines tank printer savings with six-color photo printer quality.

Is this the printer for you?

The Expression Photo XP-8800 has a compelling price. It’s a wonderful compact printer with photographic quality that’s sure to please photographers. Just watch the ongoing cost of ink, a somewhat hidden expense of cartridge-based printers.

There are plenty of top-quality photo printers that could meet your needs better. If the price is what attracted you to the Expression Photo XP-8800, a great deal on a good printer could handle the job for less.

If you want to share a few high-quality pictures with family and friends and have an all-around great printer that can double as a scanner and color copier, Epson’s Expression Photo XP-8800 might be the perfect solution.