WHY?
I was looking for a PSC(Printer, Scanner and Copier) device for home use.
About a week ago, I purchased the EPSON Stylus CX 5500 All-In-One printer. I paid Rs.4260/-. Researched about All-in Ones on the internet. Came across quite a few. Narrowed to HP Deskjet F4185 and Epson Stylus CX 5500. I was using HP Deskjet 610C for about 8 years. Oflate it was giving too much of carriage(Cartridge holder) noise while printing.
HOW?
Thought of exchanging it with this new Epson Stylus CX 5500. Contacted a Local distributor and arranged for a buy-back offer. This one is by far the largest selling one in the CX series of printer from Epson. It is a mid-range PSC device. Reason for Switching from HP to EPSON was the cost of printing, HP Provided Only two cartridges Black and Tri-Color cartridge.
"REASON"
"4 different color cartridges"
The Tri-color cart of HP Printers have three different compartments with Cyan, Megenta and Yellow inks filled; these inturn mix and match to produce other colors. If one of the ink color dries out then the consumer has to purchase the entire new Tri-Color cartridge which come at a fairly expensive amount of Rs.1200-Rs.1500 depending upon the quantity of ink in MLs. Whereas EPSON has 4 different carts that provides the consumer a flexible option to purchasing only the one that is empty. EPSON also provided a choise between Heavy duty carts and Economic ones.
This is what prompted me to go for EPSON for the first time in 8 years. "Change is always better.:-) "
Some details about the printer are as Follows:
Looks: The black colour makes the cx5500 look very appealing.
Weight: approx 5 KG.
Color Cartridges: 4(CYMK)
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C: Cyan, Y:Yellow, M:Megenta and K: Black.
The best thing about it is that all the 4 separate cartridges(cyan, magenta, yellow, black) are quite inexpensive and are durable. The standard ones come with the printer, they cost Rs. 460 EACH and the economical ones( lesser ink) for 250 each. So if you run out of one colour you only have to replace that one. I think you can print 180-225 pages with the standard ones, and about 150 with the economic ones.
Printing:
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As for printing, the prints are very elegant. It uses a technology that enables the flow of INK as and when it prints and limits wastage while printing. It uses a special type of Bubblejet printing technique which produces smaller size droplets which spreads faster on the paper and hence reducing wastage of ink. The black txt is the most perfect black you would find.
The print software has 5 options viz. Drafts, Text, Text&Image, Photo and Best Photo. The Text which is the normal print method and further options give very good print quality. However the draft(Econo Fast) option gives prints that are really very light. It is REAAALY just draft quality. The printer quality is what actually amazes most of them. The Maximum Resolution the printer could print could be measured using the dpi s(Dots per inch).
- The EPSON Stylus CX5500 prints in maximum resolution of 5760 X 1440 dpis per 4PL(Pico Litre).
Cons:
The Printer makes noise that is quite tolerable, as it uses a different technique to move the cartridges on a railing that is not cylindrical but it is actually rails or tracks fixed on the inner part of the printer which is visible when one lifts the Flatbed scanner assembly.
At times takes time to print complex high density color prints and documents.
As bigger in size the document/file gets the printer takes some time to get an image on its inbuilt memory. Yes each printer be it EPSON, HP, Lexmark has some amount of memory inbuilt for its functioning and some is kept as reservefor huge documents for printing. Printers also haave cacheing mechanism which allows batch printing.
Scanning:
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Scanner is good, scanner software allows setting scanner dpi resolution even when the printer is used alone(without PC).
Scanning Modes:
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Auto Mode, Home Mode and Professional Mode. These modes allow you to customize the scan options.
It also had a facility to scan to a PDF file.(Adobe Reader format). You can use any software that supports Scanning feature with it and also use the EPSON Scanning software that comes bundled with the printer.
The Software also has special feature that can brighten up old and dusty photos to bright new lively photos.
Color Restoration: Using the Color Restoration feature in Epson Scan, you can transform old, faded, or badly exposed photos into ones with true-to-life color and sharpness. You can restore printed photos automatically as you scan them.
Backlight Correction: Using the Backlight Correction feature in Epson Scan, you can remove shadows from photos that have too much background light.
You can fix printed photos automatically as you scan them.
Scan quality is excellent be it a Matte finish pics or Gloss finish Pics. You also get a editing software with the Scanner software on the CD-ROM that is provided along with this printer.
Copier:
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The Copier allows to copy and scan color photos as well as color/text documents without switching your computer ON. This is a very useful feature as it acts as a photocopier.
Paper Handling:
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The paper tray can hold upto 80-90 A4/Legal US Letters papers. Though I have only used 40 sheets. Shall try to insert more sheets in next print cycle.
Paper Size supported: A4, A5, A6, B5, Envelops, US Legal, Card paper etc.
Paper Type: Bond Paper, Legal drafts, EPSON Gloss paper, EPSON Matte paper, Plain A4/Legal paper, Letter heads.
Paper Weight: *80-90 Gms for Plain paper/A4/Legal paper. 200 gms for matte paper/photo papers.
Maximum weight single sheet gloss paper 280 gms.
Installation of the Software:
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The printer comes with a startup guide and data sheet.
The startup guide should get you going once it is read and understood. I installed my epson without calling EPSON's tech support for initial setup call. It is pretty simple installation. The startup guide provides pictures of the cartridge placements and starting the printer. It also helps installing the complete software.
All this should not take more than 15 minutes for a average person who is aware about computers and software installation. For a novice it should take around 25 mins approx.
Warranty:
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EPSON provides 2 Years of On-site Warranty with EPSON Stylus CX5500 printer. This is an added advantage as the Onsite covers any repair, service or replacement of spare parts of this MFD(Multi-Function Device). I also got the device registered On-Line at the EPSON India site. It allows one to know the expiry date of the Warranty and support calls Status.
My Ratings:
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Print Quality: 4/5
Cost of maintenance: 4/5
Scan Quality: 4/5
Copy: 4/5
Print Cartridge usage limit: 5/5
Built: 4/5
