Epson CX9400 Printer Review
Multifunction Printer with Scanner and Fax Machine Lacks Quality
With an attractive price point and tons of features one would expect the Epson CX9400 All-In-One to be a big winner. The features are great, but quality often suffers.
The Epson CX9400 multifunction printer, scanner, copier, and fax machine has been receiving a lot of press of late. With significant price cuts, rebates, and other incentives being offered by several online and brick and mortar retailers the CX9400 has been set up to be very attractive to home computer users.
The specifications on the Epson CX9400 are available at many different web sites. Instead of rattling off numbers, this review of the stylish All-In-One multifunction machine will focus on usability, print quality, and scanning accuracy from a general consumer's point of view.
Epson CX9400 Review: Quality of Prints
On standard copy paper the CX9400 does well at printing black and white or color documents. Although the lines and fine details are not as pristine as on a color laser such as the HP Laserjet 2600n, at normal resolution the prints are still very good and more than adequate for most home users.
Home-based publishers or individuals wishing to print proof quality documents may want to consider other printers, but users should also consider that using higher quality paper will often result in higher quality images and this printer is no exception.
Photo printing on the CX9400 is where the true colors of Epson's long lineage come into play. Printing 4x6 digital photo glossy prints at the highest quality setting and using high quality photo papers produces stunning and vivid images with no grain or banding issues. The colors are pure and accurate, often looking even more realistic than on the screen itself.
Multifunction Scanning and Faxing A Mixed Bag
One of the nicest features for the home user is the ability that the Epson CX9400 has to scan and separate multiple photos at one time. If the user has a large quantity of old family photographs to scan they can place up 4 or more photos on the scanning glass at one time and the Epson scanning software will magically recognize the edges of each one, crop it, and scan it into a separate image file. The software is very easy to use, and the automatic sheet feeder makes scanning forms or tax documents a breeze as well.
On the down side the default quality of scanned documents was not very impressive. While it might be possible to improve the scan quality with a little tweaking of the settings the grainy and noisy nature of scanned photos left a lot to be desired. Copies of the scanned image as well as an original are included at the bottom of this article. On a more positive note faxing with the CX9400 was very easy and no problems occurred.
CX9400 Review: A Good Deal for an Entry Level Multifunction Printer
The Epson CX9400 overall is a good deal for the money as long as the user is willing to make a few sacrifices. Epson's product support is always top notch, and when the test unit arrived damaged a replacement was sent out the next day via FedEx.
One caveat: it appeared as though the replacement unit was a refurbished unit rather than brand new as evidenced by the fact that the fax header had already been programmed with another person's last name. Despite all its drawbacks the features do make the purchase worth while for most consumers. As with all electronics purchases however, always hang on to the receipt.
