Ickle baby printer (Epson Stylus Colour C20SX)

Member Name: mo79

Product:	Epson Stylus Colour C20SX
Date:	29/11/01 (1240 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap, small, light, attractive, easy to use. An ideal first printer, and one for those on a budget and/or have modest needs

Disadvantages: Looks a bit flimsy, and there are probably better printers for just a slightly more higher price

It was a sad event when my HP OfficeJet 590 printer/scanner/fax combi machine died, but alas there was not much I could to about it. I checked the standard things, but soon came to the conclusion that what I had here was a bust machine that needed servicing. And presuming that servicing would cost quite a bit (maybe) for such a machine, and that there were new budget printers that would cost the same as that, I decided to follow the innocent lure of a new purchase and ditched my machine in search of a new one. I now own an ickle baby Epson C20SX. I have a fax modem and a flatbed scanner too anyway, so I've not lost out.

The C20SX (like it's USB sibling the C20UX) is a cheap, small, light, attractive and easy to use printer. It's an ideal printer for the first time buyer, and then still a good machine for the budget conscious and those with no major needs beyond minor home and small business use. And because it connects via the old traditional parallel interface (cable not included), it's compatible with older non-USB equipped PC's and the system requirements only demand at minimum Windows 95 with 16mb of RAM and 20mb of hard disk space, making this printer age-friendly even. But it's not designed with Macs in mind really, maybe you can use it with them though as the quick start guide mentions them?

The design and build of the C20SX is remarkably simple. There's a lid for ink cartridge access, standard in and out trays, and just two buttons - for power and maintenance. Though the plastic seems a little bit flimsy, it's well designed, even though you'll ponder where they've put Tomy's 'My First Printer' sticker?

Setting up the printer couldn't be an easier task (taking less than 5/10 minutes), especially with the box packaging kept to a minimum and sparse contents. All you need to do is place the light printer near your computer, connect the parallel cable, the power supply and the fee
ding tray and you're ready to start the driver installation.
There's no huge manual (just a reference on the drivers CD which can make floppies of itself, if needed). All you get is a clear quick start guide (plus others for other European languages) and a warranty card.
The driver installer will also guide you through inital ink cartridge installation (inks provided - those nice unbulky ones, unlike HP's), ink charging and testing.

The C20SX can print up to 6.5 pages per minute (obviously a main benchmark for black printing, a little less for colour) and print quality is good enough for an inkjet printer in this price range. Expect a few or so grains in photo printing (although there's an intelligent photo matching facility built into the driver), but otherwise general non-tasking block colour and black text printing for modest uses will produce desirable enough results. Needless to say if you have professional printing needs, this is not a product for you.
You can use paper (none included here) of various styles and sizes, and finding help, reference and troubleshooting tips are all on the CD.

If you haven't got a parallel cable and paper, it'll be advisable to do so before/as you make the purchase to get the ball rolling on arrival.

All in all, the C20SX is a fine budget brand name printer (making it also easier to find accessories for), and for modest needs and new users this is probably one of the best low-cost printers you can buy on the market. I won't hesitate in recommending it, but I'm sure there are slightly more expensive, but better alternate options, should you really want them. I'm happy enough with what this does for me anyway.
The C20SX retails for around £50 excluding VAT and delivery, from most popular online retailers like Jungle.com.

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