Excitement as the latest gadget arrives! A new photo printer: the Epson Photo Stylus R1900. I have been wondering when it would become available ever since I discovered that my R800 had some irretrievably clogged pins after months of disuse during the apartment renovations. For some reason, it is not for sale on the Epson site, but I chanced to find it at Warehouse Express. Anyone in the UK who doesn't know Warehouse Express, I can thoroughly recommend them. My experience of buying from WE over several years has been entirely satisfactory: the service is excellent and the prices keen.

I ordered the R1900 early evening last Thursday — too late for next day delivery — it turned up this Monday morning around 1000. The box is rather chilled from a couple of days in the delivery warehouse; so I leave the printer boxed up for a while to warm up to room temperature — don't want to risk any condensation in unfortunate places...

... It's after lunch. I've unpacked and set up the printer. I did actually check the quick start pages, but I don't think anyone who's used an Epson Photo Stylus printer before would have any trouble. There are a couple of extra feeders plates for which the pictures don't make immediate sense; so I guess I'll have to review the manual at some point.  Software installation is again simple, although you are advised to install the software before connecting the printer. I chose custom install and didn't bother to load the Epson Creativity Suite — between Lightroom and Photoshop, I think I have sufficient image editing capability.

The test sheet prints OK. I've unearthed my stash of photo paper from the store-room. I'm ready to see how much better the image quality is than the R800's, which was pretty damn' good.