Epson Stylus CX8400 Color All-in-One Printer Reviews

• Selling this product (Epson) should be criminal.

  
  By AJ3PZQSXXFPCA on 2007-11-19
  Well... I finally made the jump to a printer, scanner, and copier and I decided to make it an Epson due to the price and individual printer cartridges. I want to issue a very serious buyer beware though and I implore you not to take this lightly. I'm not one to complain very much but this printer warrants it. Let's start with the good first. This is a very attractive looking printer, it prints well (except draft mode could be a tad darker for my taste), and it scans pretty well (not very many options to scan into other programs though). Why do I give it a one though?
  
  Well... I got this printer about 2 weeks ago. Since then I have not printed in color at all and usually print stuff in draft mode. Well... it turns out after 2 weeks that all three of the individual color printer cartridges are almost expended!!!!! 2 weeks of no use and I need to buy three new ones? I contacted the company to see what was going on and they told me it is due to the way the printer is designed. The cartridges "prime" even if you don't use them for the print job. 2 weeks of "priming" and I almost need new cartridges which are quite pricey compared to HP, Kodak, and Canon. Plus... when my color cartridges run out... even if I still only print in black... my printer will fail to operate. Plus... I heard you can't even scan when a cartridge it out. So... you are pretty much forced to go buy a cartridge. Plus... it is quite hard to use generic ink due to the way they designed the printer. Once you do succeed you have to click "ok" to prompts because you didn't use Epson ink. I hope everyone will heed my warning. This printer will quickly be very expensive.
  
  

• Awful!!!

  
  By A3K9U1OG7M9OFK on 2007-11-26
  I hate this printer. It drinks ink, and Epson has shrunk the cartridge size to TINY. You cannot find off-brand ink for it either, so you are stuck buying ink that is gone in a few days. If you want to print in color, forget this printer.
  
  

• Poor quality

  
  By A22FBKGU7MFKSC on 2007-11-16
  I purchased the Epson CX8400 directly from Epson. It arrived and looked very sturdy and a good quality printer for the cheap price. I hooked up the printer to my pc only to find that the printer was defected and would not read the ink cartridges. I returned the printer and by the next day Epson delivered me a new CX8400. I opened the new one up and the build of the printer was very flimsy and loose. I installed the new printer and everything seemed to go well. However, about 2 weeks later I heard loud screeching noises of metal when it would print documents. I was completely frustrated at how TWO printers could be defected. I said screw Epson, so I went out an bought an HP printer and I must say it is flawless, smooth fast printing, good quality, and is very quiet. The Epson CX8400 is a very loud printer. Epson CX8400 chooses speed over sound, therefore it is very very loud. My HP prints at the same speed and is extremely quiet. I recommend buying an HP, even the software is better and ink is cheaper. With Epson it is more costly to purchase 1 black, 1 yellow, 1 magenta, 1 blue. With HP you just buy 1black and 1multicolor. I hope this was helpful.
  
  

• DON'T FALL FOR THE INK CARTRIDGE CON

  
  By AVT7LQQ5AFAN4 on 2007-12-29
  I read the reviews about Epson printers and their ink cartridge issues but didn't pay attention.
  I remember my Epson printers of years ago and their high quality print outs. So when I shopped for and all-in-one I gravitated to Epson and thought/hoped the reviews outlining the ink cartridge difficulties were just isolated cases. I got my Epson and two weeks later learned the horrible truth about their ink cartridges: THE REVIEWS ARE ALL TRUE!!!
  The machine drinks ink like a drunken sailor. Yes, the printing is as good as ever. The scanner is good. The fax works well. But at what cost.
  
  Before buying read the reviews. The ink costs are out of this world because they have obsolesence built into them.
  
  
  

• Excellent

  
  By A1DFQ9PBQMZ63V on 2007-10-06
  This is really a great printer. Looks fancy and it is very fast. Excellent printing results. Great software package, just what you need for your printing jobs. I'm happy with the ink cartridges durability plus you only change the color that you run out of. Very cool LCD screen. Definitely better than the HPs. I recommend to everyone.
  
  
• Ink Hog
  By A29E5WKWX2ZMBM on 2007-11-26
  Although this is a very efficient printer/scanner/copier and very reasonably priced, it sucks up ink faster than any printer I've ever used --and it seems like I purchased a new HP printer annually. I naively thought that being able to replace single cartridges for each color would save money. WRONG!
  
  
• Excellent Epson printer CX8400
  By A16TFS31NTGWFM on 2007-11-04
  Great printer, makes excellent copies in all respect. Scanner bed is slanted a little bit, that is NOT a problem because the document/photo placement is located on the lower right side of the scanner, NOT on the upper left side as some of the older printer are. I like the individual ink cartridges, saves ink and money.
  
  
• Mixed Opinion
  By A1HRHPJGERYV24 on 2007-12-11
  I have found the Epson CX8400 all in one printer to be a mixed bag. It was certainly reasonable for the price, and the print quality is OK. It is relatively easy to operate. (I have not done any photos yet). However, it seems very slow to me and the printer ink was used up quite quickly. I am told that the printer manufacturers do not give you full ink cartridges when you buy the printer, and perhaps that is the case here. It is certainly expensive to replace the ink, and I am worried about the cost of maintaining the printer relative to its speed.
  
  
• Epson continues its Oopson lineage
  By A2GXMI2M7UB0JG on 2008-01-19
  I will come out right from the beginning and admit that Epson printers are wonderful when it comes to print quality. Photo prints can come out looking as if they were developed in-store, and the Epson Stylus CX8400, priced at under $100, is no exception. A scanner and printer in one, the price makes the CX8400 seem like a great bargain. However, behind this seemingly wonderful price tag is a nasty surprise, which you'll likely encounter after it's too late unless you heed my warnings and those of others who have reviewed this item.
  
  The printer worked wonderfully for me until I started noticing something odd. My color ink was going down just as fast as my black ink although almost everything I've printed was in black. This made no sense to me, but I didn't really think too much of it and just bought a black ink cartridge when I received the low ink warning for every cartridge. Well, the day finally came when I tried printing something and received a message on my computer saying that the black ink was all out. Fair enough; I replaced the black ink cartridge and hit print one more time. A new message popped up saying I was out of magenta. Great, thanks for telling me, but I really don't care. Just print that paper I need to hand in within the hour. I tried just about everything to make the printer work, but it refused to do anything unless I replaced that accursed magenta ink cartridge. Later that day, I did a little research on Epson printers, and apparently, all of their models have this problem. I seriously cannot believe that Epson has the audacity to force me to replace every cartridge before allowing me to print again. I just want to print using black and white for goodness sakes, and Epson demands that I shell out over $60 so that I can get the color cartridges that mysteriously lose all of their ink. Do NOT let this printer catch you off guard. Do NOT buy this printer. Heck, do NOT buy any Epson printer at all. Epson needs a major reform on their practices.
  
  Bottom line: AVOID THIS AND ALL OTHER EPSON PRINTERS LIKE THE PLAGUE.
  
  
• REMEMBER POLAROID CAMERAS?
  By AKY39LADXUT6D on 2008-02-06
  Some of you may remember Polaroid cameras. Initially Polaroid cameras were extremely expensive until the company found they could make more profit selling their sole-source Polaroid film than they could by just selling the cameras. Fast forward 40 years and I give you EPSON printers -same thing. Epson can virtually give away the printers since you are forced to buy their ink at outrageous intervals/prices.
  
  The fact that you can not print black only when that cartridge is full and any of the color carts are empty is also outrageous and can best be categorized as a rip off - shame on EPSON!
  
  CAVEAT EMPTOR!
  
  
• Ink guzzler indeed
  By ASLTWOSNAB486 on 2008-01-10
  Multifunction in a compact design. Decent print and scan quality, although the color photos are visibly inferior than that of a Canon PIXMA printer. The worst about this printer is that it really guzzles ink. Since I got it in first week of November, the only photos I printed were 3 letter sized prints containing 3 4x6 pictures each. Then the yellow and Cyan cart were empty! I emailed epson and was told that on the first time installation some ink were used to prime the print head. But future cartridges will yield more. Well, that maybe true but I certainly am not buying anything from this company anymore. I am currently waiting for some cheap inks delivered to me from one of the online ink sellers. If they works ok I will keep the printer for non-photo purpose. Otherwise it will be listed here among the "used and new", or thrown out.
  
  
• Great printer, nice features, could improve on ink consumption
  By A236Y6PJNRRWXM on 2007-12-23
  While I agree that the printer tends to use up ink a bit more quickly than others I've used, I believe I read that it can be remedied by purchasing a special piece of equipment on ebay for about $20. Probably would be worth it, but I don't print tons of stuff each day at this point, so it's not a huge problem for me yet.
  
  With that said, everything else about the printer has worked great for me, and I love it. It's very nice looking, scans well, prints quickly, and isn't overly loud.
  
  Overall, I'm quite satisfied :)
  
  
• Keep shopping
  By APEUOAOTMMS0C on 2008-02-18
  I bought one of these about a month ago and it works fine. The printing is good, and although its noisy and jerky, it seems to be pretty fast... after the 90 seconds or so it takes to start printing after you click "print." The main problem is that I have only printed 3 color pages (two of them were Google Maps, which only use light pastel coloring) and all three color cartridges are almost empty. Interestingly, each one appears to be at the exact same level (about 30% remaining). As other reviews here have stated, the color cartridges get "primed" even when only printing black -- ensuring that they are emptied quickly. Another sweet "feature" is that it won't print black when any of the color cartridges are empty. I haven't gotten to that point yet, since even though I print mainly in black I still have about 80% of the black ink left.
  
  In my opinion, this printer is a waste of money. Building the printer to use color ink needlessly constitutes fraud. As I found out today, Epson settled a class-action lawsuit over very similar printer "features" in 2006. Here is an excerpt from the settlement: "Among other things, Plaintiffs allege that Epson inkjet printers and inkjet cartridges indicate that cartridges are "empty" and suspend printer function, even though substantial ink remains." This leads me to believe that this company knowingly defrauds the consumer, forcing them to purchase proprietary Epson ink when no such purchase should be necessary. They have changed their printers since the settlement, so instead of reporting that they are empty they simply waste ink unnecessarily.
  
  Based on the amount of ink that this printer has "used" over the course of a single month of casual printing at home, I have made the decision not to replace the ink when it runs out. I feel that it will be cheaper in the long run to simply replace the printer entirely -- with one that is not an Epson. My experience with the dishonest Epson company will end when this printer reports that it is out of one or more colors of ink. At that time, it goes in the trash.
  
  
• Please don't bother with this product
  By A3T3WBT02O8VYQ on 2008-01-07
  I decided not heed the warnings and i bought this printer. Upon the initial install which i followed step by step, The printer would not recognize the cartridges provided. The web site was useless in deteminig the problem.
  
  
• lousy printer, a real lemon!
  By A2NSC4LIHDECBE on 2008-01-25
  I bought this printer because previously I had a good epson printer. But this one has constant paper jams and uses too much ink. After only three weeks of not even light use on "draft" it is out of ink and is requiring not one but two cartridges both of which cost half of what the printer cost me. DO NOT BUY AN EPSON PRINTER!
  
  
• Great Printer
  By A3S208TYXPX00B on 2008-02-10
  The printing quality is great on this printer. Printing speed is good, the scanner is great. I've scanned several pictures and documents and had no trouble saving it to the computer. I've had this printer now close to 2 months. My inks are still close to full and I have not suffered any major or minor problems as of yet.
  
  This is my second Epson printer. My first one lasted me 5 years without any problems. Age and wanting newer technology is the reason I bought this second printer. I don't print an enormous amount, so I don't use too much ink in a relative short amount of time. My first printer also had the capacity to use a lot of ink but I also could go extended periods without changing ink wells. I've always used the printer software to help control the amount of ink that is laid down by the printer so as not to use too much ink.
  
  I leave the printer on regardless if I'm printing or not. This, in my opinion, also saves on the ink. By turning the printer on and off all the time will cause the printer to "prime" its ink wells each time, using alot of ink. By keeping the printer on, it tends not to prime each and every time you need to print a document which can help save you using up ink quickly.
  
  
• Buyer beware
  By A3FE6IF8UWV6DI on 2008-02-11
  I bought an Epson CX 8400 which I was told was a good printer by reviews, someone at Epsn must have paid them off because I have never had such a piece of garbage as this printer is. First it guzzles ink, and when it dosn't do that it jams. I have had nothing but problems printing, it doesn't have a clear print and tends to bunch up letters, almost turning them into lines. Am going to replace this with another printer and it sure won't be an Epson
  
  
• Excellent value
  By A2Z6G6H02MSCPP on 2008-01-07
  I bought this product for my 75 year old father. He had no trouble setting up the unit, navigating the features, and is especially thrilled with the ability to print photos directly from the printer or make copies without the computer. His only issue was that there was no USB cable included. The box does say this, however, if really should be included even if the price of the unit had to be slightly higher.
  
  
• Warning-NO smartmedia
  By A1MG7EMFY1Q4TV on 2008-03-23
  Both company description and user guide state this unit will accept a smartmedia card IT Does NOT. Epson's response to complaint is to tell yout to go out and BUY an Adapter at your expense. In other words "take a hike" we don't care.
  Cons: Very loud paper feed and poor ink usage
  
  
• Great Scanning & Printing
  By AKQSF0SLJQPZ on 2007-12-29
  I am very happy with this all-in-one's Scanning. The software is great and the scanning is much better than a Hewlett Packard all-in-one I tried before I purchased this one. I also enjoy the fact that the paper tray is upright, so that it's easy to load odd sized paper and cards to print on without worrying they'll get stuck. I cannot say too much about the photo quality printing. I have done only a little and it seems to be great quality as well.
  
  
• Worst printer I have ever owned
  By A3UKAR2FZE8SJK on 2008-02-23
  I have owned some poor printers in my life, but this one has taken the #1 spot. My mother-in-law bought me this printer for Christmas. It looks the part. It is a very attractive printer, but it has barely been used, and I have had a ton of problems out of it, the printer is sort of mac compatible, the ink cartridges are tiny, and most of all YOU CANNOT PRINT WHEN ONE CARTRIDGE IS OUT OF INK. I will try to sell it. If I can't, I'm going to take a sledgehammer to it in my back yard just to make myself feel better.
  
  
• Excellent Printer/Scanner/Copier
  By A12ZY657CDHTLD on 2008-02-27
  I bought this all-in-one a month ago and really like it. Easy to setup, prints fast and documents/images come out beautiful. My ink cartridges are 3/4 full after only a month of use.
  
  
• Slick design with crappy scanner
  By A1AJLJLMOLCE62 on 2008-03-04
  I previously owned other Epson priners and scanners without any complaints. However this all-in-one printer/scanner CX8400 is inferior to my previously 10 year old Epson scanner and printer. The design is slick but the scanner is sloped downward in which you cannot place objects in the center without it sliding downward to the edges. You can only do that if it is leveled. Also, the software is very crappy. It doesn't include OCR if I want to convert scan pages into text form. Also, when I save jpg, tiff..formated files onto my hard drive it always needs a filename+3digit number. I cannot disable this feature of adding numbers to my filenames. This feature is stupid to have and why would I not rename my scan files the way I want them without adding stupid numbers to them? I have read the ink issues for this printer/scanner from other comments and I will not be surprise if I have to spend big $$$$ to refill it everytime. This epson scanner/printer is becoming a big disappointment.
  
  
• It's not just the ink, it's also the constant "paper out" warnings
  By A15M00ZNFWTX6L on 2008-04-15
  I was in a hurry and let myself be talked into something cheap and easy. Big mistake. It's easy to use, yes, but I have to print on medium weight papers often - postcards, table tents, etc. When I do this, it constantly loses contact with the paper (thus the "paper out" warnings, which are untrue) and I spend 5 minutes sweet-talking it into printing 1 darn page. This is very annoying when I have to run 100 of something! I can deal with the ink prices, but my time is worth too much to spend two hours doing something the printer should handle in 10 minutes. DO NOT BUY THIS PRINTER!
  
  
• Horrible Printer from a horrible company
  By A2TC8DH1HVZPQU on 2008-06-16
  I bought this printer because it was cheap and looked nice. Well, that was a really bad idea. Epson's ink scam won't let you print when the printer 'says' it is out of ink, and it said my color cartridges were less than half way full after two weeks of printing using ONLY the 'Use Black Ink Only' option, just printing black text. Epson says it must prime each cartridge before printing... so this "priming" is eating as much ink as black ink when printing in only black. It is all a scam by Epson to get you to buy ink when you don't need it. So, when your ink cartridges are pretty much still full, Epson forces you to buy more ink from them. Their software has bright yellow buttons everywhere for you to buy in directly from Epson. Also, when you have "empty" ink cartridges that are still full of ink you can't use the scanner either (even when you're not trying to print anything!). Bottom line, DO NOT buy an Epson product unless you want to throw your hard earned money away. I personally think someone should bring a class action law suit against this fraudulent company... after being forced to buy a few more cartridges I just may do it myself. DO NOT BUY EPSON PRODUCTS!
  
  
• Epson Sylus CX8400 All In One Color Printer
  By A1BIF55S7IMIMT on 2008-01-14
  Epson Sylus CX8400 All In One Color Printer
  This is a very fine printer and is fairly fast. It also puts out very good quality photos. I would say just what the doctor ordered.
  
  
• Not bad for the price
  By AE1LMUU2NHN2O on 2008-01-20
  I like the price and looks of the printer. But I agree with the others, it uses ink too fast, that or the cartridge don't hold enough. My black only lasted 2 months and I don't use it that much. I think Epson needs to improve their cartridges.
  
  
• So far a great printer
  By A1TJ4TBPXQ0AT2 on 2008-01-27
  I have had my printer a couple of months now and I print quite a bit and I am just now being requested to order ink cartridges. I use to have a Dell all in one and it ate a lot of ink and very expense cartridges. So far I am pleased with this printer and all its capablities for a cheap printer. I like the look of it and has had no paper jams. Even if I have to replace in a year or so it will be well worth the money I spent. It was cheap!!!
  
  
• Ink Guzzer! Pay more for the ink
  By A3PZXPWJKSQDPP on 2008-01-27
  Drinks ink like its going out of style. I rarely use color and it's gone. Now I have to replace with more in order to print. DO NOT BUY unless you want to spend the money on keeping it going with more ink.
  
  
• Great Equipment
  By AN6P0TAPFYZDL on 2008-02-01
  If you read the manual and understand how to obtain the best from the equipment, you will not face problem. High quality printing, scanning and copying. I am very satisfied with this product and highly recommend it to all.
  
  

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