Epson WorkForce Pro WF-5690DWF review

Epson’s WorkForce Pro WF-5690DWF is an inkjet multifunction peripheral (MFP) for a busy small office. It’s extremely well specified, with gigabit Ethernet and wireless networking fitted as standard, along with a huge 10.9cm colour touchscreen.

Not only can it print automatically on both sides of a sheet of paper, but its 35-page automatic document feeder (ADF) can pull off the same trick: you can make a double-sided copy or fax of a double-sided original without having to manually feed the sheets. The main difference between this and the cheaper WF-5620DWF is that this model supports print languages including PCL6 and Adobe PostScript 3.

^ There are advanced admin features, such as LDAP for sharing directory information across a company

A 250-page paper cassette sits at the base of the printer, while a specialty feed at the back handles another 80 sheets when needed. The WF-5690DWF seems built to last: Epson says it’s good for a one-time maximum print duty of 35,000 pages in a month, which is comparable to the small colour laser devices it’s competing with. There’s a free three-year onsite warranty upgrade for units bought before March 2016 too.

This is an easy MFP to use from a PC or mobile device, with Epson’s software managing to combine advanced options with ease of use. We’re not exactly enamoured with the touchscreen, however. Although the picture is clear it isn’t always perfectly responsive, and the menu system is more complex than strictly necessary.

^ The print driver combines shortcuts with common options. Like many office inkjets, there’s no borderless printing

^ Epson’s Android app is as easy to use as its PC software

When it comes to speed, there’s not much between this and a comparable laser printer. The WF-5690DWF delivered our 25-page letter tests at 19.2 pages per minute (ppm), and managed 13.1ppm on our graphics-heavy colour test. Duplexing 10 colour sides onto five pages took 99 seconds. It was particularly quick on our scan tests, completing an A4 preview in just six seconds, capturing a page at 300dpi in 14 seconds, and needing only 37 seconds to scan a 6×4″ colour photo at 1,200dpi. Single page photocopies took just nine seconds in black or 14 seconds in colour, although multi-page copies weren’t quite as competitive, with 10 sheets needing around a minute and three-quarters in black or colour.

Scan, print and copy quality was uniformly good. While black text wasn’t quite laser-sharp, it was as good as we’ve seen from an inkjet. Colour graphics had more impact on plain paper than most rivals’ efforts, although there was just a trace of bleed through with duplex prints on 80gsm paper.

^ Epson’s TWAIN scan interface is our favourite: in Professional Mode it’s comprehensive without being daunting

This printer has a cheap ‘maintenance box’ rated for 50,000 pages, and its consumables are available in several sizes up to 4,000-page ‘XXL’ items. Overall costs of 3.8p per A4 page are cheaper than any directly competing laser, but ink prices have been falling, and running costs of the WorkForce ranges are no longer exceptional among office inkjets.

With low running costs and great all-round performance, this MFP makes more sense than an equivalent colour laser, but it’s too expensive. If you can do without PostScript 3 support choose the excellent and much cheaper WF-5620DWF. If you do need it, buy HP’s Officejet Pro X476dw, which is even quicker to print and cheaper to run.