Overall, the V525W is a solid product, but its firmware and controls are slightly backward. For starters, since the operating panel overrides all other functions, our innocent attempt to browse a submenu prevented the unit from responding to the software setup or incoming jobs. Once we returned to the main menu, the setup processas well as the print, copy, and scan jobscommenced. Another example: In the printer driver, the Automatic setting in the paper type drop-down menu doesnt mean what we thought (namely, that the printer could sense the paper type loaded and adjust print quality automatically). Instead, you must set the printer for the type of paper being used, and the tray will "automatically" follow your lead. The unit also offers no manual setup for the Wi-Fi; you must use WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup) or configure it while the MFP is attached via USB.
The rear vertical input tray on the V525W holds 150 sheets, and the output tray at the front holds 25 sheets. The automatic document feeder for the A4/letter-size scanner holds about 35 sheets. Although the unit can scan a single-sided document and make a two-sided copy, it cannot do the same for a two-sided document.
On the control panel, which tilts up from the front of the unit, you'll find a 2.4-inch color display that is generally easy to use. That said, the keypad buttons are a bit small, and you must select color or monochrome mode before copying. Dedicated buttons for color and monochrome jobs are more efficient and cause fewer mistakes.
In our tests, the V525W was decently fast on the PC, printing monochrome pages at 7.2 pages per minute. Printing the same documents on the Mac platform was significantly slower, operating at a rate of just 3.8 ppm. That's the widest gap we've seen in a while. Snapshot-size (4-by-6-inch) photos printed to plain paper at 2 ppm; printing to glossy paper was only slightly slower at 1.6 ppm. Printing a full-page photo took a little over 2 minutes, and copies exited at 2 ppm.
The output from the V525W is top-notch. Text and monochrome graphics appear black and sharp, though we noticed some defects in one solid-gray area on our formatted newsletter text sample. Photos look sharp and vivid, though just a tad oversaturated. All in all, the quality of the output is this MFP's major selling point.