Affordable versatility
Pros:
Dual paper trays, flatbed and document scanner, 4-in-1
Cons:
No USB cable, annoying OEM-ink feature
The Bottom Line:
Bulky printer, but bigger is better in this case. This printer has everything you need for the small office (except for card reader).
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
After my Epson CX5200 broke down, I was looking for an affordable multifunction printer. I came across the Epson CX5000 for $40 that was advertised as being able to print 27 pages per minute, but to my disappointment, the speed was nowhere near what I was expecting, not even close to what my 4 year old Epson was capable of. Moreover, a common flaw with all Epson printers is that they routinely go through a head cleaning process that wastes lots of ink, and after printing 60 pages of black and white only, ironically my color cartridges ran out first. It was then that I decided to look outside of the Epson product line.
I decided to buy a refurbished MP530 for $99 from Fry's after reading all the positive reviews on this site. You can refer to the other reviews regarding the high quality of printing and the 33.6k fax modem inside, but I would like to add the following:
Two-sided printing
One of the nice features about the MP530 is that it has the ability to print documents double sided. Although it is not true double sided printing, what the printer does is that it first prints out the odd page, and then it takes back the same page it just spitted out to print on the other side. The printing process is slower than printing out all the pages single sided, but nevertheless, it is a handy feature.
Printing
There is a paper tray on the bottom of the printer, but you can also put in pages in a second tray as well! This is very useful when you print on different types of paper. To switch printing modes, there is a button on the printer to toggle the paper feeds.
My old printer started having problems when I printed some pages without remembering to open up the paper output tray. That is no longer the case with this printer. If it senses that the tray is closed, it will open it up automatically, so you will never have to worry about having a paper jam ever again. One problem I have noticed is that it sometimes complains about a paper jam when I print documents from the paper tray on the bottom. When I open it up though, the "paper jam" is nothing more than a small misplacement of the paper in the tray. So if you have many pages to print from the paper tray, you either must be perfect at inserting the pages correctly in the paper tray underneath, or you should be by the printer in case there are any jams. The other feed is much more reliable.
Fax
I've tried out the faxing today. I only send out faxes occasionally, so what I would like is to have a manual mode for receiving faxes. It does have a manual mode, and you would expect that if you press start when you pick up the phone that it starts receiving the fax, but I haven't been able to get the fax to work unless I have it in fax-only mode. Unfortunately the manual for this printer is not informative in explaining how to work with each fax mode.
Conclusion
These are just some of the things I find impressive with this printer. Sure, the printer scans documents using either the automatic document feeder or the flatbed scanner, but you'll find that in the other reviews. Overall, I'm very impressed by the list of features on this printer.
