Epson Stylus CX4200 Inkjet Printer

Just got one of these puppies, and have been using it to print my tax forms, and copy my Tax software/printer rebate parapernalia. Very pleased so far with the quality of the output and the ease of use. The b/w and color single sheet copy features are very easy to use - just put your item on the scanner glass and hit either the b/w or color copy button - it is that easy. One issue I should mention, on my WinXP machine, after I installed the drivers and other software and when my computer came back up after I was instructed to reboot, it didnt recognize the new USB printer device at first... I ended up powering down my system, unplugging the USB connection, and then after I rebooted my system, I plugged in the printers USB connection, and the system recognized the new USB device, and the rest of the printer install went smoothly.

I think it is a fantastic machine. I previously owned a more expensive epson photo printer with the 5-color ink tank and it was much slower and had all sorts of issues such as nozzle drying. I dont print every day and the inks in my cx4200 have never dried or clogged. Furthermore, they last forever--it has been 6 months since I purchased this printer and only now is my black ink cartridge showing a low level while my color tanks are more than halfway full. The individual ink tanks are a great plus for saving money. Its worth mentioning that the printer feels nice and solid and isnt glossy or cheap looking. Ive seen other comparable all-in-ones which are much bulkier or seem to have flimsy buttons and tacky coloring. The dark grey color of this epson is professional looking and simple. The standalone photo copying is awesome and very quick. Using photo paper, the copies are good enough to send to friends or family or to make postcards or greeting cards. The fully-automated scanning works like a charm and it identifies whether you are scanning a photo or document all on its own. I recently figured out I can create a .pdf document within minutes with the Epson scanning software, without having to upgrade my Adobe Acrobat reader. I use both a laptop running XP professional and an iMac G5 and can switch back and forth from PC to Mac with no problems. I would definitely buy this again and would recommend it to my friends. Best of all, if you buy this printer in combination with a digital camera, you get [...] back via mail-in [...] making the price very affordable.

Ive had this printer for just over 2 years. With light use, the cartridges last for a while. The problem is that the print head does not clean itself properly and now anything I print has a smudge at on the side of the paper where the print head changed direction (going back and forth). No amount of head cleaning fixes this problem.

I purchased this printer 3 years ago. It is the biggest ink-sucker Ive ever known! I finally switched to non-OEM cartridges because I went through them so quickly. Ever time you turn it on, go to print, end a print job, turn it off--it would just use up ink. The sponge at the bottom was always completely soaked with ink no matter how often I cleaned it off and dried it up. I barely printed anything before it was time to change at least one of the cartridges, and, once one was due for a change, the other 3 werent far behind. Ive experience numerous paper jams with this machine. And who knows where its going to print on the page?!? The colors would also come out funny, ESPECIALLY if you used the scanner. I would scan an image and the colors would be completely different shades! And the quality really wasnt good for all the photo-printing features it boasts. Finally, my printer started making a funny noise last week--like a grinding. Nothing was dropped in there and the troubleshooter was a waste of time. After the noise, Id go to print and it acted like it would, but then itd start to feed the paper and itd just jam up on the right-hand side. I finally called tech support because I couldnt figure out what to do by fiddling around or using the internet. The guy finally said he couldnt help me and gave me the number and address for a computer repair place in town (at least I wouldnt have to drive too far). He told me to ask for an estimate and, if that was more (hint hint!), then he asked if Id consider looking at the Epson website. I promptly informed him that, if it cost anything, then Id definitely be purchasing a Canon and Id already been researching in the week I havent been able to print. So I called the number he gave me and was informed there was an upfront $50 diagnostic fee, which would kindly be applied to whatever charges thered be after the guy was done looking at it. For $50 I can purchase a well-reviewed Canon Pixma iP2600. For a little more, Im looking at the Canon Pixma MP470 (currently on sale at BestBuy for $79.99). So, after 3 years of hating my printer, it rebels for the last time less than 2 months before I start medical school and have all these other stresses going on. This was just what I needed to finally warn the world about this terrible, horrible piece of equipment!!! Time to go buy the Canon I should have purchased last time...

The printer seems to work well until you want to print a text document and it says one or all of your color cartridges is empty. Theres plenty of Black ink left to print that most important page that you need right now, but Epson CX4200 wont print! This is very frustrating and causes me to rate this printer soooo LOW!

For years I used Epson printers, but the CX4200 was a chosen as a home/office solution. Was I wrong. Epson, in its greed, requires the use of color even when most printing is black and white. They also placed a chip in the cartridge that stops the printer when the chip is removed, shaken and reiniserted. Even if there is ink remaining. NEVER BUY EPSON.

I cannot recommend this printer. I second the reviews where one is not allowed to print B&W without 3 other functioning cartridges. My most serious problem is that after about a year of routine use, replacing cartridges when empty, etc, the heads on our printer are now clogged. They do not unclog with the head cleaning procedure because the darn thing is convinced its cartridges are empty. They are most certainly NOT empty, as we had just purchased a whole new set of cartridges. Arrrrgh! If I cannot get this printer to work pretty soon Im gonna unplug it and put it in the trash.

I inherited this printer, so it sat in a box for over a year before I used it. Even after sitting for so long it still worked--ink and all. When the printer stopped working because Of low ink, I replaced all ink cartridges and was back to printing. This is a small, space efficient printer/scanner. The replacement ink cartridges are economical--three color cartridges for about $30.00. I also own an HP all-in-one printer with fax. The HP is a workhorse, but the cost of ink is double the price of Epsons cartridges and last about as long. If your printing needs are modest, youre not printing your novel or 40 pages of notes a day, this is a reasonable printer to consider. The print quality is great, and photos can be printed directly from your camera.

Hi guys, I just got one of these printers for juts a few bucks. There are a few workarounds to the black and white printing issue. This may be helpful for those who have this printer. Heres a free program that will trick the printer into thinking it has a never-ending supply of ink: [...] Theres also an extensive blog post with solutions here: [...]

We were very pleased with our CX4200 through the first set of ink cartridges. It was easy to use, the print quality on text was good, the print quality on graphics was good. It installed without a hitch and worked with all of our programs. The scanner worked well. We were happy. But then after about 250 pages, it quit loading paper. It thought it was loading paper, as it continued to print by spraying ink inside of the printer. I tried different kinds of paper to no avail. We were using high quality HP paper too, not some generic low-grade stuff. Not one sheet ever got through it again.