Epson Stylus NX420 Color Ink Jet All-in-One (C11CA80201) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I've been purchasing many printers for nearly two decades and because we do so much printing, we go through a lot of printers and have went through the negatives such as expensive ink, paper getting stuck and no easy way of removing it, getting stuck and ruining the spools or certain attachments breaking off. And needless to say, I've come to the point where I know what kind of printer to buy and what I'm willing to spend on one.
And recently through Amazon Vine I was able to test out the Epson Stylus NX420 Color Ink Jet All-In-One. For one, Epson has been a wonderful brand when it comes to printers, scanners, etc. In the two decades of using Epson printers, I've come upon a few that have caused me some gray hairs mainly due to the paper carriage and paper getting stuck. But I've gone through the motions of testing this printer out and I have to say, for its price at under $70, this is a very good printer for the budget-conscious person.
A. Installation
Installation was easy. After removing the plastic and installing the ink cartridges which was easy, just plug it in to your electrical outlet and because it is a wireless printer, just enter your wi-fi security code and install the software on your computer (test on a Mac and PC) and no problems. Printing right off the bat. (Note: The printer also comes with a USB plug-in).
B. Copying
The first step was copying a few documents and printing it out. Sure enough, the copy and print using the panel controls was easy and straightforward. Press copy and how many pages and that's it.
C. Scanner
The scanner resolution is 5760x1440 dpi and scanner resolution is 2400 dpi. I do a lot of scanning especially on my Epson Perfection scanner but this time I tried scanning everything from DVD and Blu-ray to CD inserts and seeing how good the quality is and for the most part, I was impressed and I liked the amount of space given for scanning. It's not small and also, easy to use.
D. Printer
This printer supposedly prints B/W pages at 35 ppm and color at 15 ppm. I was surprised by how quick it took to print. No long warmup, it just started printing after a few second of pressing print and I like that.
E. Paper Carriage
This is a top loading printing device. I am now a big proponent for flat-laying printing devices as top-loading printers have caused me nothing but grief in the past. I will say that I like how Epson has put a plastic guard right on the top and made the stand behind the paper easy to use and not detachable. I like how the paper holder on the front comes out, is collapsible and easy to put back up again. There is no fail-safe in the back to pull out the paper if your printer eats up your paper and for me, it's important to have that capability.
And like all printers, you get bundled software and for its price at under $70, that's pretty good.
But as I mentioned the positives, what are the negatives?
- One thing I noticed, especially with my parents is they love the ability to take their flash card from their camera, put it into a slot in the printer and print from that. This is not the printer that can do that and you usually have to pay around near a $100 for that capability.
- Cost of ink. Truthfully, ink is expensive no matter what printer you buy. Fortunately, Epson and HP are the most reasonable (sorry Lexmark, you're prices and the amount of ink in those cartridges are not reasonable) and easy to find at stores. It is true that you can buy each cartridge at around $8.99 but in this case, you have four cartridges (one black, three color). Black goes for $15.99 while color goes around $30+. This is where HP tends to rival Epson and that's the pricing of the color ink. But if you don't use your printer for color printing and are mostly focused on black and white printing, then at $15.99, that's usually the average ($13-$18).
- No rear paper remover if your papers get garbled and stuck. No easy way to pull it off. Granted, I have not had that experience with this printer but having had many printers damaged because of bad paper, its useful to have that capability to go from the back and pull it out. You can't do that with this printer.
JUDGMENT CALL:
Compared to other printers around $39-$69, I have to admit that you get a lot for your money with the Epson Stylus NX420. Printing is very good, speed is very good, ease of use is very good but there are some other things that people may need (especially the flash card capability or even capability to print on photos via a special carriage) which requires for the user to spend about $40-$50 for the next models up.
But this printer is for those who don't need all the bells and whistles. Students that just need a printer that can scan, copy and print especially if you are just using it for black and white printing and occasional color and need that wi-fi capability. So, for its price and how it performed during my tests, it's a very good all-in-one printer for its price point. Definitely recommended!


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