Stylus CX4600 Color All-In-One Printer, Print/Copy/Scan
1 Ink scam!
I only print in black and white, but according to the FAQs it still uses up the colour ink to keep the colour heads clean. The problem is that once the colour cartridges are empty, it does not let you print in B&W anymore. You are FORCED to buy three new colour cartridge even though you do not need or want them. Also when only one colour cartridge goes empty, it forces you to replace the other two even though they have enough ink left.
2 Great--but
I owned a CX4600 for a couple weeks and learned a lot about color printers. I wanted a printer that had individual cartridges with the print head in the printer, not in the cartridges, and I wanted to be able to refill them. This printer seemed to fit the bill but it didn't.
The reason is that Epson's excellent DURABrite inks are pigment based, which makes them waterproof and last a long time, but all the color refillers are dye based which means you're giving up the big advantage of this printer if you choose to refill your cartridges. I decided to return the printer before trying to see how it would work with dye based inks.
I was also initially disappointed in the automatic color copies to photo paper. The blacks were not very black. Searching the web, I found out why. If you tell the printer that you have photo paper, it does not use the black ink but instead uses all three colors to approximate black. Simple solution: tell the printer you are using plain paper and now you get a MUCH better copy on photo paper! It has higher contrast and looks more like the original.
One of the previous reviewers observed that there was a lot of black ink left when the colors had run out. Now you know why.
My only complaint with this printer is the high cost of ink but it works great. I also was concerned that the ink jets would clog up (a lot of reviewers claim this) and they are very hard to clean.
3 A disaster with Macs
This printer and the Mac OS X seem to have a hate-hate relationship. The printer will handle text documents fine, but it is a bear when it comes to printing photos. You have to manipulate several different settings to get the printer set up to handle photos and then it just refuses to communicate with my Mac to print any photos.
The software also has a nasty problem of having to be uninstalled and reinstalled everytime the printing stops for some reason. I even had to do that after the printer stopped because of a paper jam.
4 Performance AND versatility
My last printer was the HP DeskJet 712. It served me well for several years, but the high cost of ink prompted me to start shopping around for a new printer. I spent a few weeks poring through reviews on CNET, Amazon, Epinions.com, and other sites in search of a decent all-in-one, since I was also in need of a scanner/copier. I did a little shopping around at the brick-and-mortar stores to see the products up close. I decided on the Epson Stylus CX4600 because of its wide array of features and its rock-solid reviews.
First off, the CX4600 is pretty good looking compared to other printers. The size and form is about what you'd expect from a printer with a flatbed scanner. It connects via USB rather than the big printer cable that so many older machines used.
It has a built-in memory card reader (actually a few of them, to accommodate different types of cards), so you don't need to buy a separate card reader to upload your photos from your camera to the PC, and you won't need to use up an extra USB port (my PC only has 2 USB ports so this was important to me.)
Now, for the performance results:
REGULAR DOCUMENT PRINTING
The printer is a bit slow by today's standards when using the higher print quality settings. The quality of the documents is superb and worth the wait, in my opinion. If you are impatient and only need a "draft quality" B&W print, the CX4600 will spit out pages at lower quality VERY quickly (just select "Draft" and "Black Only" from the printer menu before printing.) There are also several options in between the highest and lowest print quality settings.
PHOTO PRINTING
The quality of the photos I have printed is as good as I've seen from any personal color inkjet system. Again, the printer is a bit sluggish, but the quality definitely makes up for it. The resulting prints are durable and don't smudge or show fingerprints as badly as most others. The borderless 4x6 printing works well. Looking at the photos up close, you can see that they aren't professionally developed on photo paper (the print quality isn't quite as crisp) but for snapshots in a photo album, you'd never see the difference.
SCANNING
The scanner works well but isn't very fast. I'm still exploring the software to test out all the different scan options. I have been impressed with the ability to scan multiple photos simultaneously and save them to separate files.
COPYING
I love the copier. It's impressively fast and yields good results in both the B&W and Color settings. Ink consumption might be a factor if you are using this machine in a home office setting and intend to make multiple copies each day.
THE BOTTOM LINE
This printer isn't the fastest machine out there, but the versatility of the software allows you to overcome that obstacle to some extent. The quality is top-notch, especially for a budget-priced machine. Epson has developed a robust and effective software package to compliment the machine. I would recommend the CX4600 to anyone looking for an all-in-one for home use priced under $300.
5 Suprisingly good but ink waster
I bought the CX3500 last week. It is exactly the same as CX4600 but minus the card slot. I have to say that I was surprise with its built quality, the compactness, the photo quality and finally was really surprise with the scanning quality.
I owned HP printers all my life but finally decided against it as the ink catridge is very expensive. I was hooked to the epson after asking my friend to print a photo on a normal A4 paper (he owns a CX65) and let some droplets of water on it and the photo won't smudge.
I have to agree with most comments given. It doesn't come with USB cable but the dealer gave me for free along with 4x6 photo paper. And it can only connet to the PC by USB but I'm not complaining, I have 6 unused USB left.
I found that when I use photoquicker, the photo prints are excellent even on normal A4 paper. But if I'm printing using other application let say powerpoint, the photo lacks resolution.
But my biggest complain is on the ink usage. I don't know, maybe because of the beautiful photo, it really take up a lot of ink. I mean a lot. That just kill the purpose of defecting the HP. With the HP at least I can print a lot before running out of ink.
All in all it a good multifunction device that serve me well. Now I need to find out which shop sell the ink catridge the cheapest.
6 Worst Printer I've Owned
I searched high and low for a good printer/scanner combo this past Christmas and was led to the Epson CX4600. I have always owned HP printers in the past and loved their output so I was leary on trying another manufacturer. The reviews for the Epson had been quite good so I felt justified in choosing the CX4600. I have had nothing but terrible disappointment with this product. I will get right to the point: If I go for more than 3 days without printing something, the cartridges heads need to be cleaned or realigned, or else you get everything from your pictures turning to red, streaks, dots, or absolutely nothing at all. I think I have cleaned my print heads 5 times since New years Eve alone, compared to maybe once in a lifetime cleaning on my HP products. This printer has zero reliablity for printing ANYTHING, this includes text only documents, let alone a nice picture suitable for framing. I could not be more disappointed. I would not purchase an Epson product again baseed on what I have witnessed. I will be eating the cost of this printer and finding a replacement very soon.
7 great, but not excellent
well i cant complain at all. i pluged it in, it worked flawlessly, i updated the drivers and no problem. the hp site is simple and easy to get around in. scanning, copying and printing all work great.
now the one thing that others have complained about, the cleaning of the head. if you use the printer everyday you wont have a problem with it. but if you let it sit for like a week and then use it, you will have to clean the head a few times before it starts to print again flawlessly. so had hp done a better job with that, then it would be perfect, but for 60 bucks i cant complain to much.
8 Ink Waster!
I've never regretted a computer purchase as much as I regret this one...and it has nothing to do with print or scan quality...both are perfectly fine.
My complaint is the incredible amount of ink that periodic cleaning cycles have wasted since I purchased the Epson CX4600 in October. I don't do a lot of printing, I just want a decent printer that can do its job when needed. Only a small number of one page sheets (20-30 at the most, none of which were elaborate) have been printed with the Epson since October--and the remaining ink level is already below 50% with each cartridge.
As mentioned above, I know what the problem is, but don't know how to correct it...short of hacking the firmware, which is beyond my capabilities. Periodically, upon powerup (or before printing), this ink waster goes through an elaborate cleaning procedure...and everytime it does, the ink level drops considerably--you can see the levels drop on the status monitor.
Another reviewer insists that the supplied cartridges are only half full...that's not what the Epson manual claims. The supplied ink cartridges are filled to the same capacity as off the shelf replacements, according to the literature.
My old Lexmark 3200 printer, purchased with my first computer in 1999, wasn't perfect--but with the type of printing that I do, I could get 12-18 months use out of a single B/W or color cartridge. That's never going to happen with this printer, the folks at Epson have seen to that.
Avoid like the plague, unless your pockets are deep or you don't mind the mess/hassle of cartridge refilling. Personally, this is my first and last Epson purchase. In fact, even though I'd like to ditch this one after only three months, I'm almost hesitant to buy any new inkjet after this experience, for fear that they'll all behave similarly. The Lexmark still works, maybe I'll go back to it and a separate scanner. Thanks a lot, Epson.
9 Beats the HP 1209 hands down!
I bought the HP 1209 and had nothing but problems. The CD's software did not install properly. I had to download a 100 meg+ file to take its place. Then I couldn't seat the paper in a predictable fashion, so printing business card labels was impossible; they kept being off center.
I ended up so unhappy that I returned it. I did some research and found this baby for only $10 more than the HP, and it's in a whole different class!
Software installation was a snap (though it took a long time), totally hands-off. Printing was easy, and looking through the apps it loaded on my machine, I'd say it's going to be a fun ride. Plus I now have a card reader, so I can take both the card reader and scanner I owned previously off my desk.
I'm a happy Epson customer. I've owned HP printers since the '80s, but they lost me this time.
10 Convenient, but costly
This printer is convenient to use because it has copying and scanning capabilities. It really saves space. However, the ink is used up quickly. This makes the cost of printing or copying very high. Another problem is that the printer head needs to be cleaned quick often. The software cleans the head, but has to repeat a few times before the head is clean.
11 Works great with Macintosh
I have not experienced any conflicts. It is a little slower and the software is clunkier, but it WORKS. After a horrible experience with HP products, I am happy with this model. And at a great price.
12 decent printer, but one problem
From what I can tell, the printer itself is excellent. Other reviews have already been written about most of the things I could say, however.
Except for one little thing that for me, and I'm sure for others, is a significant problem. It never allowed me to choose where to install the drivers and various programs. It automatically put them on my C drive under my windows folders which is the last place I wanted to have them. If that kind of thing is important to you, it might be good to look elsewhere. Otherwise, it's great.
13 pretty good for the price
I got this printer last nite.
Installation was pretty easy and its up and running.
Prints are good.
However, there is no option to print grayscale.
Scans are not so good with the Epson Scan software. I am now using Microsoft Photo Editor and the scanning quality is impressive.
Haven't used the copy function yet.
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I contacted Epson Customer Support regarding the grayscale printing problem.
They replied back in 12 hours and pointed me to advanced settings where i can specify "Black Ink Only".
I have been using this printer for about 2 weeks now and I am pretty happy with it. I am a low-volume user though. The copier is pretty good too.
14 A few comments
I agree with the comments left by previous reviewers, and will just add a few points:
-Print quality is excellent. In a side by side comparison, the top quality prints are better than color laser output from Kinko's.
-Photo prints from a 2MP digicam on 8.5x11 size paper are excellent (and top quality paper cost me about 80 cents a sheet).
-A 2m (6ft) USB cable is the longest you can use, according to the manufacturer. Print/scan jobs failed when I tried a 10' cable.
-The printer doesn't seem to have an auto-off or auto-on feature; you must manually use the power button each time or watch the power light flash all the time. This seems bizarre in this day and age.
I'm using an iBook G4 with Mac OS X 10.3 and 256 mb ram. I had no problems with installation or use. The EPSON drivers seem to interface well, but the photo software is pretty lame.
Update:
One of my ink cartridges ran out, and the other colors are low, after printing 60-70 pages at photo quality on glossy photo paper. A complete set of Epson ink cartridges set me back about 40$ on ebay (with shipping). Oddly, the black cartridge has the most ink left in it.
15 I compared many other all in one printer-copier-scanners
This one is the best for the money. I just returned an hp one for a problem with the cartridge getting stuck. The printing resolution is better than others in the same class. The speed of printing is also faster than others. The scanner does not have a higher resolution than say the hp 1315 but for my needs it's sufficient. I don't see why anyone would need a better resolution scanner. For my 1 gig computer it would take me 38 minutes to scan on a resolution of 2400 x 2400. The highest resolution is 9600 x 9600 perforated. I compared the copier of a Brother machine with this one, and the Brother machine copying quality doesn't even come close. The only gripe I have is that it doesn't come with a usb printer cable.
16 Epson Stylus bang4buck
The Epson Stylus CX4600 is the best multi-function printer you'll find for the price that it is.
The Scanning quality is superb. The top-lid is removable for large items, and it does it quite quickly. They definately didn't just slap on a scanner as a quick qimmick for sales. There is an auto-scan mode - it recognizes what it's scanning and how to handle it (although it sometimes crops out what I WANT there, but no biggie, as there are manual sttings), a home option - more advanced settings but not too confusing, and an advanced option - total control over what is being scanned.
Printing quality is wonderful as well. Text is crisp and clean, and photos come out at very good quality. It's even better when coupled with the included 4x6 photo paper. You just have to be sure to make the correct paper settings before you print.
Copying is insanely easy and straightforward. (...) and it came out at a quality that is good enough for a casual copy, though not photo-realistic. If you want a great quality copy, it's a better idea to scan it to your computer, edit it with the included software (or photoshop if you have it) and then print. But for casual copies without a computer, it's great!
Installation is also simple. Just remember to GO BY THE BOOK. If you don't you're in for a bumpy ride. Once it's installed, you're ready to go. The scanner shows up right in my computer (if you have windows XP)
It has an included media-card slot for your digital camera, which can be used for 1.) transfering pictures to your computer (showing up as a "removable disk" drive in windows XP - my computer) and 2.) printing directly from the card using an index sheet where you fill in bubbles of the pictures you want printed, scan said index sheet, say "print from index sheet". Very, very cool.
Other things include the following:
the printer itself is compact compared to other multi-function printers, and is a bit bigger than the standard inkjet printer.
It's fairly quiet and won't annoy you as some printers do.
It has four ink containers, which makes photos look better from what I hear.
Ink containers are more cost effective due to the four ink containers instead of the standard two.(if you run out of cyan, just buy the cyan ink, not the entire color one).
A usb cable is NOT included, but it's not a very big deal (we already had one from the epson stylus color 880 this replaced).
Some may gripe as USB is the only option for computer connection, but I have no problem with it.
It includes some cheap photo software, but it'll do the job if you want to touch up scanned pictures. I don't need it as I use photoshop elements, but as the standard consumer doesn't have photoshop, this is a good add-in.
All around a fabulous printer if you want a great scanner, photo printer, and casual copier. Of course if this was a perfect world, it would have a built in ethernet port for network printing (so my computer doesn't have to be on for my brother to print to it for example), but I'm just dreaming there as I have yet to see a consumer printer with an ethernet port built in.
Ideally if you print a LOT of text, than you should consider coupling this printer with a monochrome laser printer (my recomendation is the $100 samsung, I forgot what model number it is, but BestBuy has it - white n' shiny) But the average family shouldn't worry.
For the price it is, above-par features included, and outstanding performance/quality it dishes out, I reccomend this as a multi-function printer that does it all.
Just be cautioned that the included ink containers are only about half-filled (as all included ink containers usually do), so the life of the ink containers should not be based on the included ones.
17 Surprisingly Good!
I just finished installing this machine for my parents, who are running OS X 10.3.4 (Panther) on an aging iMac G3/400 DV. The entire process was simple and uneventful. My surprise came afterwards when I started playing with the CX4600. It's a very solid little All-In-One (AIO)!
After reading reviews of older Epson, HP and Canon AIO's, I was worried about several things. So far, the print quality is very good, on par with my own C84. In fact, the CX4600 uses the same 4 separate CMYK ink cartridges as the C84, which means you won't have any trouble finding them at stores. The paper transport is a little loud, but not too bad. Printing is very quick once it gets going, with a quiet side to side undulation.
The scan quality is excellent for most uses and you can freely choose your resolution. Hint: the installer will put Epson Smart Panel on your desktop, but I prefer Epson Scan which is also installed in your Applications folder. This is the same control panel you might have seen before in the Epson Twain driver. You can choose Full Auto mode, where it will magically figure out what you are scanning and adjust settings to match (even finding and scanning multiple photos into individual files), or Professional mode, where you choose everything. To be honest, I use the middle "Home" setting on my own system, since it offers that very cool auto-magic assist with the ability to override when necessary.
Using the Copy function is.. fun. I can't explain why, but it's nice to *not* configure, adjust, crop, fit, or launch anything. Just hit the Color or B&W Copy button and it goes to work immediately. I must be easily entertained. Again, the quality is excellent. Professional designers will likely own a scanner and photo printer, but they (I) might consider owning one of these for convenience too.
Memory Card slots are the bonus which puts the CX4600 over the top. I think I spent the most time looking up info on these, to see if they could be used with iPhoto in OS X. The web site doesn't say. The owner's manual doesn't say. But the answer is YES! Along with everything else, the installer drops CardMonitor and PhotoStarter onto your drive. The latter can be set up to launch iPhoto when you plug your camera's card into the CX4600. The 12 test photos I took imported perfectly afterwards (set PhotoStarter so that it does not auto-download the photos; let iPhoto handle it). The manual does mention this functionality for Windows, so I'm sure it works just as well.
Minor annoyances: The CX4600 can only be connected via USB, so there is no longer any excuse to make customers "choose" their own cable. It should be in the box. And the installer warns that it will take a long time. They're not kidding. But it's only because it runs several individual installers, which all require your admin password and often spend a very long time searching your drive for some reason. It would be less painful if you could do this in one pass and walk away while it works. However, that's all history. Once set up, it is a thing of beauty.
Don't be turned off by the photos of the CX4600. In person, it actually looks very classy. The top portion is covered in a metallic paint, making it appear less like a recycling bin and more like a stylish computer peripheral. It's also smaller and heavier than it appears. The software is fairly seamless and lets you dig deep if you know where to look. That's about as good as it can get. If you've been looking for an All-In-One, this new Epson is a great choice.
