Rating: 
Summary: Printer paper has to be loaded from the back
Review: I have only used HP and wanted to change to a printer that has individual color - I don't know what HP was thinking when they made color in one cartidge! I don't like the fact the paper has to be loaded from the back - didn't even know they made a printer like this. I am returning mine and will probably go back to a HP again. I don't like the time it takes to start printing either. When I put several sheets of paper in the paper holder it took all of them so it messed up the printing but that could just have been the way I loaded it. I don't think envelopes can be printed with it but I could be wrong - not keeping it long enough to find out.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Multifunction Printer
Review: I own this machine by Epson and it is a great for an inkjet printer. Not only are print speeds extreamly fast, it scans fast and delivers excellent copies. I really like the memory card slots, which is able to take different size memory cards. There is only one thing I would recommend as far as multifunction machines go... GET A LASER IF YOU CAN AFFORD IT! Inkjet printers are great, but color laser printers deliver MUCH better quality. They do make laser multifunctions but there prices are usually very high. Careful not to get trapped into the inkjet laser quality text saying, which if you compare the two, there is a major difference. For the most part, this is a great printer
Rating:
Summary: Not for online auctioners
Review: I purchased this unit to open up space. I use Epson at work so I had some knowledge of the brand. If you are looking for a copier and printer, this is a good unit. But if you are looking for something to scan "not perfectly flat objects" this isn't the one. I tried to scan something that had a slight raise in the middle and could not get a clear image. I contacted Epson and was told that the scanners on these units were not designed for anything except flat paper, etc..., in fact they were just a extra bonus,(add on)for the printer/copier. Also be prepared for the ink usage, it uses a lot of ink for photos, compared to other printers. So I'm going back to my Canon D660U scanner and HP printer and sending this back until I can find something else with the quality as my current scanner.
Rating:
Summary: Just misses the mark
Review: I was looking for a color printer, as I only had a b/w laser printer. Since I have owned digital cameras since 1999, it was time to get a photo quality printer.Performed exhaustive reseasrch. Conclusion 1 - device must have separate ink cartridges to conserve ink and expenses. That ruled out anything by HP. I really wanted an awesome photo printer to go with my Canon S400 Elph (4 megapixel) camera. There are dozens of great photo printers with separate ink cartridges. I was able to narrow my finalists to Canon and Epson. I loved the Epson R300M, because it had a 6-ink system, and it could print directly on white CD-R discs with it's special tray. It also had phenomenal quality. Canon had a couple that competed nicely in quality and price, but in the end, the Epson had a slight edge. Knowing I could get a great photo printer a a reasonable cost, I started looking for other nice features to narrow the field. The Epson R300M delivered awesome quality photo prints at the showroom, and it could print on printable CD/DVD media. Way cool. The 6-ink system was primo. You could also save $50 by getting the R300, which just doesn't have the color LCD screen (which I really don't need). The 300M was completely out of stock everywhere, and the 300 was in short supply. I liked the idea of a multifunction device (MFD), so I could get rid of my UMAX scanner and replace it with something that could print and scan. Having a copier was also a huge plus in an MFD. I have a fax machine, so I don't need the device to do this, and I don't need an automatic document feeder for multiple pages. I don't scan multi-page documents. Conclusion 2 - The device must have a flatbed scanner, not a sheet-fed scanner. I wanted to be able to scan unusual documents, such as paper that was not square on the edges (kid's artwork, etc.). A sheet-fed scanner also has trouble with different thicknesses. Some jam when feeding a thin magazine sheet, and others jam when the paper is too thick, like a post card. The pool of candidates was manageable now. I read reviews in PC Magazine and PC World, as well as reviews on websites, and the manufacturer specs for each model. The Epson CX6400 looked to be at the head of the pack. It was a 4-ink system (not 6), but the DuraBright inks were getting good reviews. I bought it, and stayed up until 1am playing with my new toy. On premium glossy paper, the prints were very good. However, they had a matte, or maybe a semi-gloss cast to them, event on the best glossy paper. Other printers delivered a glossier photo-processing feel to them. I could live with that for the price and features it had. The 6-ink system was not in the cards for me if I wanted a MFD flatbed device. The next morning, while reading the Sunday paper, I saw an ad for a brand new MFD by Epson. It was the RX500. Here's the bottom line. It has the same 6-ink system as the R300/M, and it is a flatbed MFD. Nirvana! I exchanged the units the next morning. Wow! The printouts are just like a photo lab with my 4 megapixel shots. Even my older 2 megapixel shots looked great. You can do almost everything on the device without a computer, as it has card slots for almost every media type. When you print from the computer, the software lets you tweak the quality even higher. Liked the Epson CX6400. Love the RX500. The RX500 is the best of both worlds. For $50 more, get the RX500.
Rating: 
Summary: Engineered to fail after 1-2 years: All Epson CX printers
Review: 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.
Here's a sampling of reviews written on the CX5200 and CX5400 more bells and whistles than this model, but same internal print engine):
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Wish I Could Give It No Stars!, October 1, 2004
Reviewer: Brian D. Ratte "dean60" (Sugar Land, TX) - See all my reviews
My experience concurs exactly with those of many people here who have owned the printer over a year. If you do not frequently print in color it basically stops printing when you change the cartridges! I had an HP for 8 years and sold it to another person who is very happy with it. No more Epson for me!! I will be purchasing another HP product to replace this boat anchor!
Did not live up to expectations, September 7, 2004
Reviewer: Cheer Mom "cheermom" (Lindenwold, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
I purchased the Epson CX5200 All in One printer/scanner/copier about 2 years ago when I bought my Gateway computer. I recently purchased new print cartridges and installed them. Nothing happened - tried all the things Epson said to do - head alignment, nozzle cleaning, etc. Because my printer was no longer in warranty, they directed me to a local printer repair shop authorized to repair Epson printers.
The repair shop told me that I would need to purchase a new print head at a cost of about $230 (you can buy a new printer for about $130!). I had just spent almost $75 on print cartridges - you know how expensive they are - plus $42 for the authorized deal to just look at my printer.
I am appalled that this printer lasted less than two years. It got normal use - for school reports and printing photos. My old HP lasted for years. I would definitely not repurchase an Epson printer any time soon.
Works until need to replace print cartridges, October 17, 2004
Reviewer: Suzanne L. Dodson (Harrisonburg, VA) - See all my reviews
I just spent $50 on cartridges that don't work. Guess I should have read the other reviews before spending that $ and put it towards another printer instead. I will never buy Epson again! And it is funny, I traded my working HP printer for this one thinking the "durabrite ink" would be great! Ha!
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Rating:
Summary: Another Year, Another Printer
Review: It seems as though we run through a printer every year or two. I purchased our last printer, a Lexmark, when we bought our new computer. I fell in love with the Lexmark because it was an all-in-one printer/scanner/copier with multiple cartridges for color and black. The black print quality was excellent and the color copy was good. The only problems were that the ink ran out too quick, and after less than two years the color stopped working altogether, and we couldn't get the black cartridge to work very well, so it was time for a new printer, and we chose the Epson CX6400.
Thus far I have been thrilled with this relatively recent purchase. The quality of the color printout is better than our Lexmark and our two previous HP printers. We have tried copying and enlarging color pictures and have had good success. We prefer a matte finish on our pictures and that is close to what you get from this printer. Also, the ink becomes fixed reasonably quickly, and printout on photo paper is good. Printout in black and white (and color) is relatively quick, with one proviso; when you first start to print the printer goes through all kinds of self-checks and it seems to take forever to start a print out.
Another drawback is that there are a lot of controls on the front panel. While the controls give you a lot of options, some of the options are not reached intuitively, which makes for some occasional annoyance. Yet another drawback is that if you turn the printer off, it takes an even longer time to prepare itself to print a document.
This printer has four separate ink cartridges, which give the plus that you may replace them one at a time, but a minus because you have to buy four instead of two that some printers take. Also, I thought it was a little difficult to get these cartridges installed.
We have had our Epson for only a few months, so I am as yet unable to tell you how reliable it may be. It seems like we go through a printer every year or two, and I am hoping that this one lasts as long as our first HP, which lasted for more than four years.
This printer is not a one-size-fits-all unit. It meets our modest needs, which is primarily document print out with occasional color print out and copying. If you plan on doing a lot of color printing, or photograph printing, I suspect that you may want to consider a higher quality and faster printer. However, consider that while there are numerous higher quality printers, this one does a lot cost-effectively.
Rating:
Summary: Crying over spilled ink
Review: It's the best of machines and the worst of machines. For all it can do, this is a wonderful scanner and copy machine, but the permanent print head has a very short life-cycle. I mean, I've run $80 Lexmarks into the ground and was happy with what I got out of them after 2 or 3 years. But paying what I've paid for the Epson and the cost of cartridges...Oh my God, stick with the cheap disposable units if you don't have hundreds of dollars to throw away.
I thought it would be perfect for our small home-based business as I would save time and money not running to Staples when I needed copies. I made several beautiful color photo prints and I loved the idea of being able to just insert my compact flash card from my camera right in the unit and the photo program came up and I was ready to go. The print quality was good and I was happy...until the first cartridge ran out. I needed to get an invoice out, it was late at night and I ran out of cyan. I was making a black and white invoice and the whole machine was disabled. Funny thing, it seemed to run out of the cyan when I hadn't used it. I blazed over to Fry's Electronics where I had purchased the machine and got a new cartridge, complaining up a storm to the manager about how I was told you only had to change cartridges on demand but NOT told the machine was disabled by any cartridge running out of ink. Rattled off an email to Epson telling them I loved the machine but was dismayed at the cost of cartridges and the lack of info the salesperson had on that "small" tip. They sent me four free cartridges but in the meanwhile I seemed to run out of ink awfully fast. I make a lot of copies but it seemed to tell me one thing and do another as far as quantity of ink left.
After a little over a year now, my print head is so clogged that I'm only getting little dots on the paper. After MUCH online research I'm discovering that you should turn off the machine after copying to cap the print head (THIS IS NOT STATED IN THE REFERENCE GUIDE - SHAME ON YOU EPSON!!) which keeps the heads from drying out. I also discovered info about this so-called "smart chip" which I think should be called "the rip-off chip" as it disables the cartridge while there's ink remaining.
I've just spent $70 plus on cartridges (for four) and had to run the cleaning program in sets of four three times, shutting the machine off for hours at a time, and now my cartridges are down to almost 1/2 to 3/4 full. And that's not even making a print!!
Speaking of cleaning programs, I've learned that they run in a short/long cycle and you can actually CLOG THE PRINT HEADS MORE BY RUNNING THE CLEANING PROGRAM!!!! Good God, is there no SHAME at Epson?? ALSO - there is a relatively small number of retailers who even carry the cartridges (controlled demand to keep prices high??) in a huge town like Phoenix you'd think there would be more than 3 places to purchase them.
I will not EVER, NEVER, AT ANY TIME, EVER buy another Epson printer. They are scandelous scoundrals and should be ashamed for being so greedy. I tell everyone I know this story and I hope that some day Epson gets the message that people don't like being taken advantage of. As much as I wanted the all-in-one machine, I can't see taking so much abuse.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Printer
Review: Just bought this printer last week, and so far I am completely satisfied. Easy setup in Windows. Also works very well in Linux, but it does require a few modifications (Epson does not provide Linux drivers). I would definately recommend this to others.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT MULTI FUNCTION
Review: JUST RECEIVED MY CX6400 1/12/04. ORDERED ON 1/7/04. I HAVE SCANNED AND PRINTED PHOTOS AND TEXT, USING BEST, DRAFT, ETC...GREAT JOB ALL AROUND. THE SCANNED DOCUMENTS DON'T AUTOMATICALLY SCAN PERFECTLY, BUT WITH A LITTLE ADJUSTMENT USING THE EASY EDITORS, THE PICTURES ARE AS GOOD AS THE ORIGINAL. TEXT PRINTING IS FAST, AS IS PHOTO PRINTING. AGAIN, THE QUALITY OF BOTH IS REALLY GREAT. I'M JUST REALLY IMPRESSED BY THIS AFFORDABLE MACHINE. EASY TO SET UP, EASY TO USE, AND THE OUTPUT IS ABOVE AVERAGE ALL THE WAY AROUND.
Rating:
Summary: Don't Hesitate Buying the CX6400!
Review: My hesitation in purchasing anything other that an HP product was completely erased once I took the CX6400 out of the box. I've been shopping around and the way this multifunction all-in-one is constructed leaves no doubt that it's quality. Just remember to read the install instructions as it will remind you to fight the urge to hook it right up to the computer, as software must be loaded first. This unit is quiet and I enjoy the Epson Smart Panel software that comes with it, giving me the option to perform any function through the software package instead of using the unit's well designed front control panel. You also get software Photo Impressions, which is very user friendly. My sister had sent me a jpg file of my parents' 1945 wedding picture. I printed it out on 8.5 x 10 glossy paper and all I can say is WOW...my wife thought it had been done professionally! It was that good. The scanner works great...not a 500 page per minute production scanner, but does a great job for what us common scanners really need. I like the 4 multi-toner-cartridge design, (black, cyan, magenta, and yellow) and how software shows the toner level in each color. I'm sure it'll come in handy when it shows me what color cartridge I'll have to buy next. I took the leap when purchasing this unit, but I have no regrets, as it's exactly what I wanted and works terrific!
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