Customer Reviews

Epson Stylus CX5400 All-in-One Printer, Scanner, Copier

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(27)
1 star:		(129)

 

 

Epson Stylus (collective: ink-jet printer) are both 1 stars and 5 stars at the same time.

This is about the BEST printer I have ever had aside from my dye-sub photo printer(true-black). But there is a serious design problem associated with their printer assembly - particularly the thinner-then-human-hair nozzle head which gets clog way too easily.

I have had the CX5200 for 14 months now (C80, C82, CX5200, CX5400 all share the same printer block assembly, hence they use the same ink), the nozzles got clog 10 months into it, and Epson was kind enough to ship me a replacement with a set of spare ink inside. However, just 4 months afterwards (today), my new printer's nozzles are clog again! If you would just run a google search with words like "cx5200 + clog" you would see hundreds of forum with ppl complain about their clogged nozzles and angry consumer wanting a class action suit. I'm rather fused not in the fact that I paid $199 for the CX5200 months ago, but the fact that I have purchased 2+ sets of spare inks costing over $100 which I can't use, unless I buy another epson with the same "defective" printer block - and that, evidently, might not even out last my 2+ sets of ink as both of my other CX5200 didn't!

Please spend your hard earn money on a better product that would last more then 13 months.

Update 6/1/04. I got a refurb. CX last week from their website for a very good price. The nozzles went out again after 2 weeks. New record! Good luck for the person who disagree with me. I bet you either sale or work for Epson.

The CX5400 currently sells for $..., maybe less with rebates and other incentives. is it worth it? YUP!!

This badboy copies,prints and scans just like the older CX5200 model that was discontinued by Epson but it also does borderless printing and its quiet!!!
See http://www.epson.com/ for full specs.

SETUP - a breeze, open up the box, remove all that funky tape, plug it in, insert the 4 cartridges, flip that scanner lock switch, install the software, plug in the usb port. Took me 5 minutes, no problems at all.

NOISE - Only noise this unit makes is when its first turned on, it initalizes and does all kinds of stuff, takes 2 mins, when its idle, its whisper quiet. When it prints, there is only the humm of paper being printed, not loud at all, the CX5200 made a horrible sound when it printed, they fixed it in this unit.

SPEED - print speed is very fast, b&w or color - no waiting for it to catch up. i printed 20 pages that came out before my coffee was even cold. Best photo printing is the slowest mode as expected, so be patient.

OUTPUT - paper comes out dry, text is rich and clean, looks like a laser printer. color is very sharp and crisp, no problems here. this unit does 8 1/2x11 borderless printing too, amazing. 5700x1440 dpi is very nice and durabrite ink comes out dry.

SCANNING - it scans 1200x2400 dpi @ 48bit which in english means your color or b&w scans will come out exactly as the original, i scanned a magazine page and my keys, no blurs or distortion at all, job well done epson.

COPYING - you dont need the pc to do copying, it does color and b&w copying just like a real copier would, enlargments/reductions/lighten or darken the image and zoom and # of copies, its all there. the scanning are is too small to handle legal size paper, but i dont think any of the multifunction printers can.

CONCLUSION - i give it a 5 stars, the CX5200 had paper loading problems-fixed here, it also had slow photo printing-fixed here. This unit also displays the ink levels in printer config or control panel and ink is a **lot** cheaper and lasts longer than any of the HP mfc's.

DISLIKES - only things for epson to work on, makes the power cord removeable to the unit so its easier to feed under a desk, put the usb port in back of the unit so the cable doesn't get bent, make the control panel on the printer a little bigger, and maybe add a sleep mode so it will use less electricity when idle for 10 mins or more.

There are tons of options to set in printer config, too many to explain here. Epson came out with this CX5400 model and the CX6400 model, personally, the CX6400 looked huge to me, 23" wide and wouldn't fit on my desk.

Still waiting for a review from zdnet or pcworld, wonder whats taking them so long ?

CX5200 and CX5400 uses the same ink carts...epson says black will last 1000 pages, and color around 300 pages give or take a few. I can tell you from experience, the HP2210 lasted 35 color pages and about 70 black.

Good job Epson... HP should be ashamed for charging twice the price for the same features and way overcharging for ink cartridges.

I dont work for Epson, Amazon or HP, so you know this review is honest!!

I can only agree with the other reviewer as to the qualities of this all-in-one unit. I had the CX 5200 but had software problems with it and returned it to Amazon with no problem. This one is working great, output quality is unsurpassed and software is great, noise is low. I am scanning and enlarging a lot of B/W and color photos for a documentary and am amazed at the final product. The color photo copies are enhanced and sometimes are better than the original, no kidding!!! The ink cartridges are individual so replacement is economical. You can't beat the price for the quality. Buy one and you'll want to thank us reviewers for giving you the straight story on this well kept secret. Stan

If you're considering this printer, or any other candidates in the EPSON CX line, there's something you should know: they all suffer from the same fatal flaw: clogging print heads. Unlike HP or Canon printers, the print heads in the Epson are embedded within the printer itself (not the print cartridge). This means that, irrespective of use, sometime within 1-2 years after you purchase this printer, you WILL have a print head failure which will cost you more to fix than the original purchase price of the printer.

Happened to me after 16th months of occasional (2x per month, about 10 pages per month) use. As with the other reviews below, I changed the ink cartridges, and found the machine simply henceforth spit out blank pages. I cleaned the heads 15 times (incidentally, each time you clean it uses about 2.5% of the ink in the cartridge)...no change.

I can say that without a doubt this is the best printer or scanner I've ever owned. It prints very quietly and quickly.

Black and white text printing is flawless without any smudges. Borderless photo printing (which it's predecessor the CX5200 lacked) is an excellent feature. We will get a ton of use out of this for scrapbooking. Epson's Durabrite inks also have a longer life than other brands (70+ years) so that is an added bonus.

The scanner produces excellent results as well. It scans at high enough resolutions that it will easily copy a photo that is scanned in. You can't tell the difference between the copied photo and the original from the photomat.

I didn't buy it for its photocopying capabilities but it works as well as the giant copier in my office at work plus it has very accurate color copying.

For the price, you currently can't ask for more in an inkjet. Very happy with the purchase so far.

**Update 04/2006: Like many others on their recent reviews, I've run into the nefarious clogged nozzle problem. A small fortune of inkjet cartridges are now rendered useless because of this limitation. Meanwhile, the HP 990 hand-me-down printer I gave to my spouse is still humming along.

There is also a class-action settlement regarding Epson's reporting 'empty' printer cartrdiges that still have ink remaining. I am opting for the 25-dollar alternative and WILL NOT be buying any more Epson products.

Back in January 2004 I wrote:
The CX5400 has scanning, copying and printing (but not fax) capability. The lack of faxability was initially a concern the four or five times a year I really need it.

Setup was painless -- the large poster walks you through all the bits of packing tape to remove. The cartridges were a little tricky to insert at first, but now that I see how it fits, it's not a big deal. Driver installation worked well provided you use the supplied CD rather than letting let Windows auto-install. There could be a better explanation on what the four or five components are, though these appear to be related to the scanning option.

Profile: The CX5400 is a larger than I'd like. In particular, the input and output trays project such that I need a 20" x 3' deep spot to situate the printer. The USB port plugs in the parallel to the back, requiring some clearance to avoid jiggling it out. It's kind of unfortunate they didn't have the input and output trays stacked up (like my HP990C) as this was more space efficient.

Capacity: The printer holds about 30-40 sheets. This is disappointing, especially on longer documents. There's wiggle room in the feeder and my first few tries resulted in jams. Two sided printing is available only by feeding the output back into the tray. The driver's smart enough to handle this, though I sorta miss the auto-feeding option of the HP990.

Software: As mentioned, there are a few components installed, and no explanation on whether you really need them. The software monitor is rather chirpy and comes up whenever you print. It occasionally tries to be a bit too helpful -- a la Windows XP -- by popping up the Epson help menu on various topics. On the other hand, the cartridge ink monitor is really cool, a feature I always wanted.

Speed: Pretty good, however the printer will stall on complicated graphs. I have an heart rate monitor chart (2 color, line graph) that took 30 minutes for it to chomp through. When the printer paused, I thought it may have lost its connection or Windows torpedoed itself, however it eventually resumed.

Noise: As other reviewers have noted, the printer is quiet in standby and has a reasonable noise level during printing. It would be cool if they implemented a standby mode where it would power itself on and off between print jobs. I suppose I could manually turn it on and off myself.

Output: Printouts are relatively sharp, as are pictures. They're not laser-sharp, e.g., I can still see jaggies if I hold it close, but the quality is as expected.
Based on personal experience, a black cartridge lasts about 800-900 pages. Color longevity is going to vary on application.

Overall: great bang for the buck. I'd like a more efficient profile with a higher input capacity. I'm not sure why my HRM graphs are taking so long to print -- this is certainly an area for further investigation.

I have only one complaint about this printer. Photos printed with it come out with a brownish-pinkish tinge to them. The manual (and tech support) says to check the calibration of the monitor because the colors may be off, but after extensive testing both with the printer connected to the PC and in standalone mode, I stand by my assessment. I've tried every setting under the sun on the printer itself and in the software to try to fix it. I've also cleaned the print cartridges and primed them (even though it was brand new at the time). And as a comparison, I printed the exact same at the same time with my HP Photosmart P1100. It came out nearly perfect, with matching colors, etc., and matching what was on the screen.

A coworker of mine also bought the same printer and is having exactly the same problem (by the way, we both work on computers in our jobs so we know how to troubleshoot problems). When he finally gave up and called tech support, he found out from the reluctant technician that there were a lot of calls coming in regarding this issue, and that they knew about it and were looking into it.

I hope Epson can come out with a newer driver or maybe updated firmware that can correct this problem. Otherwise, I can't use it as a photo printer. They have such a good reputation for their photo printing that I can't believe they'd let this happen.

Otherwise, this has proven to be a great printer in many other respects. It does an awesome job of scanning, printing both black and white and color documents, and copying. It's quick, quiet, and is easy to use. I also like the separate ink cartridges--nothings worse than throwing out a $50 multicolor cartridge that feels pretty full, just because it ran out of one color.

Epson, fix your problem!!!

have replaced somewhere around your third set of ink cartridges, then you notice a slight problem. Ink heads start skipping and no amount of cleaning routines or replacement of cartriges will allow it to print properly. It may even print nicely blank pages.

AT THIS POINT DON'T BOTHER STICKING ANOTHER SET OF PRINT CARTRIDGES IN IT, COMPLETELY DISREGARD ANYTHING EPSON SUPPORT TELLS YOU, YOU'RE ONLY WASTING YOUR TIME AND MONEY. YOU HAVE A REALLY SIMPLE-TO-FIX PROBLEM AND IT IS USUALLY NOT PLUGGED UP PRINT HEADS.

Most people at this point think the print heads have clogged because no ink will get through. What has happened is that this extremely expensive OEM EPSON INK you are being more and more forced to buy has dried up in the discharge tube that exits into the waste ink tray. You may even find that the tube leading out of the charging mechanisim has come off (Literally blown off because the pressure developed by the charging pump has nowhere to go and the tube pops off).

You have two choices at this point. Send it back to Epson where they rip you by charging you for cleaning out the tube (You will need to have it done every two to three cartridge changes) or else figure how to clean it yourself (not a pleasant prospect as it means anything from figuring how to pull the silicone pump tube off so you can stuff a No. 22 gauge wire down the hard plastic discharge tube to clear it, to major disassembly to clean the ink discharge tray to clean out the inevitable Ink TOADSTOOL that forms therein.) You also will curse Epson and realize how much you are being relieved of money when you see the quantity of ink that ends up down there and then will realize why they are buying out and suing all the aftermarket manufacturers they can get their hands on as they are making out big time on the waste ink.

I own an Epson C82 that I had to clean out despite always having used Genuine Epson Brand ink and now have to do the same thing to the CX5400 I stupidly bought just before the C82 clogged its discharge tube. Neither one has had anything but Genuine Epson Brand Ink used in it, gets light day-to-day use and gets turned off when not in use.

NOTE: I would raise the star level by one. After 30 minutes with a piece of 18ga enamelled copper wire, a length of silicone model airplane fuel tube, some rubbing alcohol, some Citrus Clean and a marginally ink stained left hand, I found the following.

1)The discharge tube was clogged as I suspected.

2)The other end of the tube fortunately had not blown off the charging mechanism.

3)You can actually get your hand inside this printer to remove the silicone tube from the hard plastic discharge tube. You have to pinch the little hose clamp to get it off.

4)Use an eyedropper and the fuel tube to attempt to get some rubbing alcohol into the plastic discharge tube. Kind of suck it back and forth to get just enough in to work with.

5)Feed the copper wire in until it hits the blockage. Work back and forth. There will be several places where you have hard deposits. Think solid ink angioplasty. Somewhere along the line you will have fed enough to figure its puncturing something in the bowels of the machine. Pull it out at this point.

6)Slip the silicone fuel tube over the discharge tube and see if you can blow through it. If you can, the larger lumps have been reamed, now feed a mixture of rubbing alcohol and Citrus Clean through so everything is well saturated. Let sit for a little bit and then suck it back and forth so you get a good bit of black goop showing down inside the lower end of the aircraft tubing.

7)Put the silicone pump tube back on and reposition the hose clampy thing.

8)Run print head cleaning three times and the thing should be hitting on all nozzels.

9)Repeat about every other ink cartridge change (I'm guessing on that). Several people have recommended putting an eyedropper full of Windex through the ink recharge assembly whenever you replace a cartridge. I'll stick with the Citrus Clean, it cannot do anymore damage than the GENUINE EPSON INK has already done.

I'm still annoyed with Epson, but it has been a lot easier to repair the CX5400 than it was to disassemble the C82. I still have a really large ink blot in my rug from that experience.

After an exhaustive search I setteled on the CX5400. Very satisfied with the quality of the machine. Easy to install and produces exceptionally clear copies and prints. I replaced my Lexmark X73 with the CX5400, and the CX5400 is head and sholders above the Lexmark. Highly recommend!!

I just acquired one of these Epson CX5400 paper-weights in an eBay auction, and my experience in my initial tests confirms the dozens of reports made by other customers regarding a perpetually clogged print head that steadfastly remains to be cleared, no matter how many times I run the nozzle head cleaning utility. This product obviously was either ineptly designed, or it was designed to become dysfunctional within a short period of time.

I did come to the Amazon.com to glance at the reviews, but I foolishly let myself be persuaded by the review(s) that had 5-stars and claimed not to be written by Epson employees (or stock holders?), because I wanted to believe that I was going to obtain a good unit, although it was manufactured among a group of lemons. I minimized the insights provided by those who would prefer to throw the unit through the plate glass windows at Epson's corporate headquarters, because I knew that I would not be investing a lot of money in a used / returned item that had polarized so many customers. It seems like all you get when you buy one of these products is a trigger that will send you to your shrink for psychotherapy.

I'd like the thank all those customers who shared their experience with the clogged head problem, because their collective experience has convinced me that it would be a waste of time for me to spend time and money trying to fix a problem on my particular machine, when it is most likely that my machine suffers from the same design flaw as theirs and is therefore not worth the bother.

Since the printer head eventually becomes non-operational and virtually useless, don't buy this item under the delusion that you will get an "all-in-one" printer/copier/scanner: odds are, you will only get a USB scanner. For the $40 I paid in the eBay auction, I guess I will choose to be happy that I got a pretty good scanner at a low price.
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UPDATE, 1/2/2006. I wish I would have taken my own advice a few weeks ago and had just accepted that the Epson CX5400 is a dysfunctionally designed machine and let it go at that. But, no, I had to see if I could "rescue" it, so I did a little research on the Internet, and I turned saving it into a "project." I soon discovered what the nature of problem is. I wish I hadn't, though, because I would have spared myself a lot of time, trouble, and additional expense if I had just walked away. But I allowed myself to get sucked into the challenge anyway, so I will now share what I learned for the wise and wary.

For anyone inclined to waste a lot of time trying to rescue their own Epson CX5400, I refer you to a web site called fixyourownprinter.com. There where you will learn in a forum devoted to the problems of this all-in-one printer-copier-scanner (http://www.fixyourownprinter.com/forums/printer/28050) that the reason this printer just stops printing at some point most likely has to do with the fact that an ink discharge tube, which is inconveniently located in a very hard-to-reach place underneath the carriage that contains the ink cartridges, got disconnected from the plastic tip it must be attached to. It seems that the pressure caused by the charging system when ink cartridges are replaced can blow that tube right off its mooring. Since no ink can flow, no printing can occur. The problem is a design flaw created by Epson's engineers, and that is why so many hundreds of people who bought that machine are justifiably upset with Epson for putting that turkey on the market.

For those with a lot of time on their tiny hands, as well as the dexterity and patience of a heart surgeon, there is some good technical advice in the forum about how to access that tiny, space with long, curved, needle-nosed pliers so that you can re-attach the tube to get the ink flowing again. After many frustrating hours, I did manage to succeed in doing that.

But I really do not recommend that anyone not condemned to three consecutive life terms waste your time in trying to resurrect this machine, because, in addition to the tube disconnect problem, this machine seems to suffer from interminably clogged printing heads that do not deliver a photo worth looking at. After I re-connected the dangling tube, I cleaned the heads dozens of times and ran the nozzle check just as often, and, after three weeks of tests, I have yet to get a nozzle print out that is satisfactory. All the colors have gaps and broken lines. On top of all that, it is expensive to run those print head tests, since this machine guzzles ink faster than an SUV sucks gas while driving through the desert with the air conditioner going full blast.

I even went on eBay, where I bought some EKS Print Head Cleaning Solution from a guy who specializes in printer repair. I used it several times over a period of two weeks to clean those heads, and while I think the cleaning solution may be a good product, I still did not get to a point where I get a satisfactory nozzle check print out. Nor do I get good quality prints of text documents or of color photos. Using the same Photoshop image, I compared the highest quality color photo print the Epson CX5400 could deliver with what my Canon i450 could do, and the Canon i450 far out-performed my CX5400. The Canon delivered a sharp, crisp, highly detailed, well resolved image with saturated colors. In contrast, the Epson presented with a softer image that not only lacked snap and contrast, but it did not even the colors right!

So, while I am happy for those who say that they are happy with the CX5400 machine that they bought, I cannot include myself in that group, nor do I ever expect to in regards to the particular hardware I acquired cheaply on eBay. I will still get some use out of it as a USB scanner and possibly a low priority copier -- at least until the ink runs out. This printer head clogged hog is not worth getting its ink supply refilled.