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Epson All- in-One Printer Scanner

Epson All- in-One Printer Scanner Review



Overall 3.82 of 5 view all 33 reviews




Publisher's CirclePublisher's Circle
kid-kansas
Clearwater, KS
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Printing and Copying and Scanning....Oh My!!!
3 star rating

daily computer user, a pc-user, a gadget geek
Pros

    Scans, copies, and prints, software included for editing, will accept memory cards, usb printer, Photo Quality, easy to use, individual ink carts

Cons
    not an occasional printer, Uses excessive amount of ink

DEC
5
2007
I have used Epson printers for over 10 years, but this is the first all-in-one I have owned. Mine is the CX-4600, but they are all basically the same.

Abilities

You can scan to your computer files, or directly to e-mail a nice touch! You can use it as a copier, which saves those trips to Kinko's. Last but not least you can print things such as school work, web pages or pictures.

All the functions work exceptionally well because of the included software. It features many DPI modes(amount of lines for the detail you need while scanning), greyscale (for black and white printing) It has 9 different memory cards that you can plug in and print off of them direct.

Epson has done a real good job on these all-in-one devices and although mine is no longer available new, there are models that are comparable and use the same 4 color cartridge system.

Cartridges

Here is where Epson lost me as a 100% satisfied customer, let me explain. Although this product is just niftier than sliced bread it lacks in the cartridge department. I don't care that the prices for Genuine Epson cartridges are extremely high, because I use generics. They are just as good and I found no difference on how long the lasted, nor the quality of the printing. My beef comes with the fact that if you don't constantly use it, the cartridges dry out. No not in the cartridge, but in the print head connections. This happens with Epson as well as generic cartridges.

You start getting faint lines and the only way to fix it is to clean them. This is done through the software and here is where over 40% of your ink use is. I never accomplished a cleaning without having to run it at least 2 times and more times than not it was 3 or 4 cleaning cycles.

Scanner

They have probably the best scanning system I have ever found in a home user product. It works fantastic. With all the settings I can scan a picture at high resolution, or a document at low resolution. I can even capture the brilliance of an uncirculated coin on the scanner and the results are fantastic and brilliant. The scanner I feel is the best feature on these all-in-one units. Besides the option of choosing the number of copies, color or black and white in the software, you also have buttons on the printer to make those choices. These are for the scan to printer function and come in handy.

Printer

The printing software allows you to make multiple copies, print only odd, only even and also use different paper sizes. You can chose the page range you wish to print and of course choose color or black and white. Mine would hold around 100 sheets of paper and it is a relatively quiet printer. It is also a relatively fast printer. They do suggest you use Photo quality ink for pictures, but I just use photo quality paper as I never could tell the difference in the ink I used. But the price for the ink sure tells you the difference...lol

Bottom line

Everything is fine if you use this at least once or twice a week it seems, longer than that and ink problems develop. The scanner is a great function as I mentioned and the software and available upgrades for it are tops. If I only considered the scanner and edit features I would give this a 5, but considering the printer is part of it I had to give it a 3 for a rating. Hopefully in future models they address the ink issue if not this will be my last Epson. I have owned this printer for 2 years now and thats my only gripe, the ink system needs attention. I also choose to recommend this to a friend above because there was not a choice for "depends on how often you use it" button.

Last edited on Dec 05, 2007


I_thumb_up Epson All- in-One Printer Scanner is recommended by kid-kansas

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I_comment_shdw24 Comments about kid-kansas’s Review



joyjoy wrote on Dec 10, 2007 at 6:35PM


When your ink cartridges get dry and clogged try setting them in a shallow container of water until you see ink flowing. Sometimes it takes more than one time. This works on inkjet cartridges although I have no experience with laser printers.


kid-kansas wrote on Dec 6, 2007 at 9:49PM


In response to AmyA's comment from Dec 6, 2007 at 9:05PM:

you are very welcome baabsy, good luck in your search!

Ron


AmyA wrote on Dec 6, 2007 at 9:05PM


Thanks for the review Kid...I am in the market for a new all-in-one printer and doing my home work this time.


kid-kansas wrote on Dec 5, 2007 at 2:54PM


In response to mrkstvns's comment from Dec 5, 2007 at 9:55AM:

yes it is a shame, although they are getting less expensive to buy, they seem to cut too many corners. My old Epson b/w printer was the best I ever owned. Unfortunitley it was put through the ringer and finally gave up after 7 years and I never had 1 lick of a problem with it. A hint at how old it was......lol...it used tractor fed paper (remember those?)


mrkstvns wrote on Dec 5, 2007 at 9:55AM


I've got a laser printer that also seems to pick up problems if it's not used regularly. Kind of a shame...