Epson Stylus DX7000F Review

Overall Rating

Cheaper than Canon Multifunctions. But That's all.
Delivery was Ok.

No USB cable. Prototype, first experiment and developed as an emergency edition! Awful "start" and installation instructions. Useless CD software. Too much stuff to install that takes too long. Tiny ink cartridges. Creates too many menus on Programs list. Tiny LCD screen.

Bad Product. Still in Development. Do not Touch it! Very Disappointment. Ugly.

I bough this printer to replace my old Canon MPC600F. I could not get ANY help from Canon Customer Service when I needed to repair or replace my old printer, despite trying to communicate with them for many months using ALL communications channels known to human! It was a very bad and an expensive experience. In fact, almost as expensive as a new multifunction printer! Hence why I went elsewhere for a new printer!

Anyway, this 4-in-1 (Printer, Copier, Scanner and Fax) machine was the first of its kind from Epson, who really have NEVER understood about "Multifunction" devices esp fax facility! Other manufacturers have been doing it since late 1990s/early 2000. And in many ways, Epson have not caught up with this yet! S-A-D!!!

Back to the actual printer itself, shall we?
The thing is in extremely flimsy built from lids to paper holder/tray covers, from control panel buttons to ink cartridge holder/ink tanks - and beyond.

It's BADLY designed and in distasteful style from top to bottom, from back to front and from side to side. In colour, it is a bad grey and silver-grey that looks more like grey/black than a silver.

In particular, the menu buttons are wrongly designed and laid out improperly without ANY consideration for functionality, neatly labeling, user friendly/ease of use and even style! For instance, unlike other makes, there are no well organised, properly thought and clearly labelled/colour coded grouped buttons for "Copy", "Scan", "Fax" etc on the machine. Just oddly placed individuals (eg copy icon, too many fax entries; Fax..., Fax..., Fax... Last minute scrambling?) among the disfunctional and disorganised buttons/black&white icons which are very difficult to identify and require the use of a brutal force to operate them! And there is NO scanner button! How inconvenience is that? That's, relying on a PC for scanning etc!

To add insult to the injuries, the machine setup uses American date system i.e YY:MM:DD format!
This is stupidly inconvenient and downright unacceptable, esp if you will be receiving/sending faxes (with the wrong dates).

What's more, there is no 24hrs time clock. Just 12 hour timer with am/pm settings. What on earth were they thinking of ( or were on)? I mean, who uses these things?

The whole package looks and feels cheepo and disgusting. Everything will break or fall apart to the slightest touch - however gentle or careful you do!
It basically seems like a prototype rushed in an emergency (simply to follow the herd) than a finished product.

I first saw it on ebuyer (yeah, my mistake should have checked on Amazon.co.uk). But they refused to deliver it to where it was needed for. And their excuse? "Security" esp for new customers. Load of R-u-b-b-i-sh and over-used nonsense.

Anyway, I have to carry cash and ask my older cousin to order it for me using their credit card details.
I have been using MOST online retailres from Amazon, Argos, Dabs, PC World... to other electronic superstors/shops etc as far back as their online shopping became available. And I had NEVER had this unnecessary inconvenience! They all simply delivered (and still do) things to wherever hell I tell them to - as soon as they get their payment.

I ordered it on Tue 06/03/07 at about 21:00 - 21:30 from ebuyer. And deliverery date was promised as by Wed 14/03/07. It arrived on Tue 12/03/07 evening by ParcelForce Worldwide or whoever it was.

Setup instructions are badly written, one-sentences only and incomplete or even misleading. No step-step guide nor pictures etc to help. Even CD will NOT autostart nor autoplay manually. And if initial problems sorted out, installation takes ages and continues forever. Too much stuff and too many unknown files (taking valuable space) will be dumped into the hard disk in series stages, multiple windows, flashing pictures (Epson product ads!) and endless installs/sub-installs for a very long list of applications. No instructions for proper "custom" installtion eg essential options only verses unnecessary/optional add-ons.

It's wholly unoptimised in every aspect from hardware/components, function buttons to driver software/utilities. Even the I/O connectors eg USB cable, fax/phone sockets are in awkward positions.

Recommended? Absolutely not.
If price/space is not your main concern, stay away from this ugly and fragile piece of rubbish! Spend your hard earned cash on something else instead.