Idiots? Fools? I don't know about anyone else, but I rarely hav
computer problems I can't fix pretty easily on my own. I haven'
needed to contact tech support in about 20 years. I'm hardly
novice computer user, and my computer rarely gives me trouble - I'
not the sort that mis-uses computer equipment, I usually have an eas
time spotting and solving computer problems, I know what "norma
use" is and what would consitute abuse of computer hardware, an
where the line between careful use and going overboard is
I just want a printer that gets the job done on the rare occassion
need to use it, without a lot of baby-sitting and doofing around wit
it. The Epson CX series is DEFINITELY not the printer to fill tha
position. My experience, and obviously that of many other users, ha
been that it breaks down unreasonably easily under light-to-norma
use, is a total loss for hard work, and that even treating the thin
extremely gently is useless, maybe worse-than-useless, in keepin
these printers working
These Epson CX series printers simply have problems, and that's al
there is to it. It's a shame, because I like Epson's printers, th
only two printers I've ever purchased have been Epson printers. M
first was an Epson 9-pin which I bought back in the early 90's o
late 80's for my 286, and that antique still works! The second wa
an Epson Stylus Colour 800 which got a serious ink clog last year bu
which I was able to fix myself after considerable effort - when i
works right it works beautifully, but I simply have to constantl
baby-sit it and waste ink to keep it from drying out (strangely, i
works better with the cheap generic ink than Epson'
"official" stuff). With my father's Epson Stylus CX6400
I'm beginning to notice a trend: the oldest Epson I've worked wit
has been a fantastic machine and has worked flawlessly for decades i
spite of some hard use, a newer Epson printer developed problems unde
gentler use but is usable with some constant maintenance, and the
there is the Epson CX-series, which is practically new and yet ha
developed such severe problems it might never work again
The Epson Stylus CX6400 has turned into a major headache, and I'
having no luck getting it working again whatsoever. Worked fine fo
a few months, until the first time we tried to change the prin
cartridges. We've used nothing but the expensive Epson cartridge
and ink, and it went in the space of three days from decent prin
quality, to bad print quality, to printing nothing but blank page
the moment the not-empty-yet ink cartridges were changed. I followe
the simple directions on installing the cartridges carefully, and I'v
never had problems with this task on any other printer - I don't se
anything I did wrong. The cleaning cycles have done nothing bu
"use up" ink (actually, since no ink is being printed, th
cartridges are full of ink but the built-in ink cartridge memory i
convinced the cartridges are now nearly empty.) The printer is use
in a clean, cool, dry area, protected in an enclosed cabinet w
specially built for it so it's away from dust and other contaminents
We keep it and all other computer equipment on an uninterruptibl
power supply with a built-in surge suppressor (and a second surg
protector just in case.) It's been used a couple times every coupl
weeks. It's never been dropped, kicked, slapped around, abused, o
otherwise mis-treated: not a scratch on it, it's never had anythin
but the original Epson factory ink cartridges installed and neve
used anything but ordinary name-brand inkjet printer paper. W
updated to the latest drivers a couple times, and updated to th
latest XP service packs, no luck. I'm about to try some chemica
inkjet cleaning solutions, but I don't expect any change.
Basically, if this printer clogged up on us and isn't coming back,
can't imagine it's suitable for NORMAL users (I'm the guy norma
users, and even a few computer geeks, in my neighborhood go to whe
they have problems with their computers): the Epson Stylus CX is
lemon, and I know it's not just me and a couple of other posters her
who feel that way- a couple of quick web searches turn up a LOT of
people who've had the exact same problems, and a lot of them clearly
know what they are talking about, and not a few of them have been
working at the same time with printers made by Epson's competitors,
printers which have given them far fewer and far less expensive and
irritating problems. For that matter, the results of my own web
searches strongly suggest that even Epson's tech support is at a loss
to fix these problems, and their only solution is to trade the
non-functional CX printers for refurbished CX's which develop the
exact same problems a few months later.
As near as I can tell, the only thing my father and I have done wrong
with his CX6400 is that we haven't printed every day whether we need
to or not and run weekly cleaning cycles or something - in other
words, we're not wasting enough expensive ink and forking over enough
money to Epson for more ink to waste. Maybe we should start? No way
baby, ain't happening. I'm looking elsewhere for my next printer.
I'll let the geniuses sitting around here calling people names do
what they want with their hard-earned money, but Epson has a lot of
work to do before I'll ever recommend an Epson printer to anyone
again.
In short, if you aren't going to use your printer very often, if you
don't feel comfortable taking a printer apart to fiddle around with
it every few months, if you don't want to babysit the thing and don't
want to constantly waste ink to (maybe, I don't know if this is even
guaranteed) keep the blasted thing running, then these Epson printers
aren't for you - I hate Canon printers, but I think you might be
better off using even those than trying to fight with the Epson CX
series (in my experience, the cheap Canon printers are practically
disposible, but disposible at maybe a half or less the cost of a
disposible Epson. And if you are looking for something better than a
disposible printer, the Epson CX series doesn't appear to be a good
choice for anyone other than those who want to constantly geek around
with the printer, running regularly-scheduled maintenance and
throw-away printjobs and occassionally taking it apart to manually
clean it, and have the money to constantly throw away on it.)
Having owned some really nice Epson printers in my time, I hate
slamming these CX-series pieces of junk: I kind of feel like I'm
kicking a once-great manufacturer while it's down on hard times. But
I simply can't recommend their newer products based on my experience
with them!
Yron
