Kodak C110 and C310 February 2011

The Kodak C-series of all-in-one printers presently consists of two models that are smaller in size than previous Kodak models.

They're aimed at home users who don't want to pay more than £100 for their printer, but also want to keep printing costs low. The C110 is the cheaper of the two printers - expected to retail at approximately £69.99. The C310 is the pricier model priced at around £89.99 - the inclusion of wi-fi connectivity accounts for the extra cost.

Take a look at the Kodak C310 and C110 in our video sneak preview

The fundamental design of the two printers is the same - the paper feed is at the back and there's no second paper tray. If you want to switch from printing letters on plain paper to photos on gloss, you need to swap the papers over in the feed. 

However, these models can recognise the type of Kodak paper you put in the printer from the pattern on the back of the page, so you shouldn't have to change the printer settings when switching from printing letters on matt paper to glossy photos if you're using Kodak paper. 

The Kodak ESP C310 and C110 have a small screen and easy to use controls.

No touchscreen

The printers each have a 1.5" LCD colour screen. Although small, it's perfectly adequate for previewing images if you're printing from a memory card. Both models can accept Memory Stick, SD cards or MMC cards.

There aren't many controls or buttons to get your head around, so both printers are fairly simple to use. Options, such as selecting where you want a scanned document to be saved, are displayed as a list on the screen when using a particular function. The text is quite small to fit on the screen, so it's not the easiest to read. 

Cheap ink

In a break from the norm, Kodak has launched a completely new set of inks. In our printers lab test we work out the ink costs of printing text, graphics and photos. Previous Kodak printers have all used the ‘code 10’ inks and achieved generally reasonable photo printing costs. 

The new ‘code 30’ inks are for use in some of Kodak’s more recent models, and this includes the C110 and C310. The code 30 combination colour cartridge doesn’t include a photo black. For photo printing, the colours will be mixed to produce a black instead. Kodak says print quality is slightly different, but not necessarily worse or better, when compared with prints from the code 10 inks used in other Kodak printers. Which?’s expert testing panel will judge quality for themselves in our lab.

However, the code 30 inks are also expected to produce less prints per cartridge, so although the C-series printers are cheaper to buy than many other models in Kodak’s range, the cost per print is expected to be higher than from models using the code 10 inks.

The printers were first announced at the Consumer Electronics Show 2011 in Las Vegas. They're expected to be available in the UK from early March 2011. 

Pros: Simple to use, low purchase prices for all-in-ones

Cons: Small screen