WARNING! DO NOT BUY EPSON PRINTERS!

Hotel Tango · Post by **Hotel Tango** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 12:56 am

I own an Epson CX5400 "Multi-function" printer... Well my all in one printer is just a 1 in 1. After the ink ran out I went out and spent a ridiculous amount of money on the Epson replacement cartridges, installed them and the printer stopped printing. When calling customer support I was informed by the B**CHY woman that the warranty (which is ONLY 1 year) is over so I'm out of luck but if I want to speak to Customer Support about the problem, it was going to cost me TEN DOLLARS! Who charges $10 just to speak to customer support! I paid for that when I bought the product!

After getting nowhere with Epson I found out that the nozzles are most likely clogged beyond repair and to replace them would cost as much as a new printer. After doing some research it turns out that this is a VERY common problem and on average the printers seem to die a few months after the first year, like mine did. Unlike some other manufacturers, the nozzles are part of the printer and not the cartridge and conveniently they clog after the first or second cartridge change. Is this another case of engineered obsolescence? Maybe they're taking a page out of the Detroit automaker handbook on that one.

So, if you're in the market for a new ink jet printer, steer clear of this line. If only I didn't let the guy at Bussiness Depot talk me into this one.

I feel better now... I needed to vent... Now what should I do with my expensive paperweight/oversized scanner?

Big Pratt · Post by **Big Pratt** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 5:26 am

Use a laser printer. I gave up on the BS of inkjets when lasers dropped below $250. Now you can get a decent home use one for around $100. A colour laser will set you back $400.

I'd recomend one where the toner cartridge and the "drum" are separate units. Mine comes out to about $.02/pages.

And that's my 2 cents.

abc xyz · Post by **abc xyz** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 5:44 am

my Epson just went Tango Uniform. Didnt last that long either. Went with an HP replacement so we shall see

laticsdave · Post by **laticsdave** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 8:30 am

my Epson just went Tango Uniform. Didnt last that long either. Went with an HP replacement so we shall see

Hope HP have improved their home printers in the last few years - I had three (should've learned after 2 !!!) go tits up on me quite literally the day after the warrenty expired, and was advised by the cupid stunt on their helpline to "go buy another new one".
Unfortunately, my bet is that you'll be phoning them soon and yelling "smoke, smoke smoke!" (think about it!!!!!!!!!!!)

Wilbur · Post by **Wilbur** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 8:58 am

I've got an Epson laser printer and it's worked flawlessly for 10 years. I get about 2500 pages out of toner cartridge and am on my third and last (not made anymore). I've also got Lexmark and Cannon ink jets that suck. The rate these stupid things go through ink cartridges makes them far more costly to use than my laser. When my laser cartridge runs out, all three are going in the garbage and will be replaced by one good quality colour laser.

Duder · Post by **Duder** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 9:51 am

"PC load-letter!?!?! What the F*** does that mean!?!?!?"

FL410 · Post by **FL410** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 9:55 am

If you're printing a lot of colour on an Epson, get a continuous inking system off Ebay. Costs about 1/10 per unit of ink compared to the cartridges (typically).

200hr Wonder · Post by **200hr Wonder** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 10:12 am

The colging problem with the epsons can be handled if you always turn it off right after you are done printing and make sure it is parked as far right as possible. Just opent he cover and give it a little push. Also printing on a regular basis will help, they do not like to sit.

Though admiditly inkjet printers are all more or less crap.

w squared · Post by **w squared** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 10:13 am

Big Pratt and Wilbur are right. Modern ink-jet printers are engineered to be produced cheaply, not to last. Don't expect them to work properly for all that long.

If you print any quantity, look long and hard at a laser. The purchase price is a little bit higher, but the cost per page will make up for it.

The only exception to this is if you are printing a lot of photos. As far as I know, a dedicated colour "photo" type ink-jet printer is still the way to go for that kind of work.

Walker · Post by **Walker** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 10:50 am

http://www.office.xerox.com/perl-bin/pr ... =8500_8550

For a good color printer I am a BIG convert to Xerox Textronics Phaser line; Lightning fast, good price, amazing quality (you can use shit paper and get photo lab quality etc…)
They don’t use toner, they use wax sticks CYMK. You can get ink dirt cheep off ebay.

Hotel Tango · Post by **Hotel Tango** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 11:21 am

I'm probably going to be getting a laser after I junk this peice of garbage... just keeping it around as a scanner for now I guess.

The worst part was calling them and being told that I had to pay them 10 dolars just to tell them my problem!

Just type Epson CX5400 into any search engine and you find out these things self distruct as soon as you replace the cartridge... Unfortunately this leaves you with a useless printer and brand new cartridges at $50 a piece for black and 20 for each individual colour! $110 in new ink, that's enough for a new printer. Bastards.

I'm still a little angry...

200hr Wonder · Post by **200hr Wonder** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 11:24 am

Walker where I work now we have two Phaser's and they have been shite, both have gone down for replacement parts with in 2 month of installation, one has been out right replaced. They are very fragile. They get testy if they are not sitting perfectly level, if you move them, if you look at them funny if you do anything at all to them.

Sure the print quality is great, but they are not robust in any sense of the word. On the other hand we have very heavy usage on ours.