Epson Expression Home XP-4200  Printer Review

The Epson XP-4200/Epson XP-4205 feels fairly sturdy, similar to its predecessor, the Epson Expression Home XP-4100. The power cord is detachable, making it easy to replace if damaged. However, a couple of design elements aren't very user-friendly. You can only access the sheet rollers through the rear panel (when duplex printing) or the maintenance bay. However, the latter is limited in space, making it difficult to access if you have large hands. There's also no dampener to prevent the scanner bed from slamming shut if you drop it, though it does have a plastic lever that keeps the bed propped open. Lastly, the scanner's background is only a thin sheet with no foam backing.

The display is okay. It's small but bright, and it has good vertical viewing angles, making it easy to see whether you're sitting or standing. You can also adjust the panel's tilt to improve visibility. The horizontal viewing angle isn't as good, however, so it's more challenging to see from the side. The buttons feel tactile but a little cheap, and you can't press them too quickly, as the printer won't register some presses. The user interface has large, easily identifiable icons and is easy to navigate.

This printer has very low page yields, meaning you'll have to replace the ink cartridges often. The printer alerts you when ink is low. For black-and-white printing, it doesn't stop printing even if the quality degrades or when one of the color cartridges is empty. For color printing, however, it stops as soon as the ink level is too low or if one of the cartridges (black or color) is empty. There's a high-yield black ink cartridge (232XL) that'll last longer, but no high-yield color cartridges exist.

Like most inkjet printers, the printheads can clog if you don't print regularly. Even a few days of inactivity can cause clogging. Maintenance functions are built in to resolve any print quality issues, such as printhead cleaning, printhead nozzle check, power cleaning, printhead alignment, and paper guide cleaning. Unfortunately, you'll often have to replace the cartridges because they run out quickly. Replacing the cartridges is easy; you need to ensure the printer is on and select the Ink Cartridge Replacement function to access the cartridge bay. As mentioned in the Build Quality section, you can access the sheet rollers through the rear cover (when duplex printing) or the main maintenance bay. As for the input tray, it only holds 100 sheets of paper and will likely need frequent refilling.

See the user manual.

This is an inkjet printer, which means it can clog if left unused for an extended period. Inkjet printers use liquid ink that flows through extremely fine printhead nozzles. During extended periods of inactivity, this ink can evaporate, thicken, or dry out, potentially blocking the ink flow. Environmental factors such as dry air, dust, temperature fluctuations, or direct sunlight can accelerate clog formation. Clogs may cause missing lines, faded colors, or complete print failures. To reduce the risk, we recommend printing periodically and storing the printer in a cool, stable environment. If clogs occur, most inkjet printers include built-in maintenance routines to help clear the printheads, which are detailed in the Expected Maintenance test box of this review.

If you don't want to deal with unclogging, laser printers use a different system with dry toner and a drum instead of ink and printheads, which avoids this issue.

This printer features non-replaceable printheads paired with a low ink volume, which can become quite costly to upkeep if you frequently need to manage clogs. The flushing volume on hand can help clear many issues, but it may not be enough for more stubborn blockages, which may then require multiple cartridges. You also can't simply replace the printheads as a fallback option if severe clogs develop. Careful operation and consistent printing become essential to avoid problems.

• User guide
• Power cord
• Set of Epson 232 starter ink cartridges:
• 1x black
• 1x cyan
• 1x magenta
• 1x yellow

This is a corded printer.

The cost-per-print is decent. Although you must replace the ink cartridges frequently due to their low yield, they're relatively inexpensive, so your maintenance costs won't rise too quickly.

This printer is pretty slow. It takes a long time to initialize and get a single page out, and it's slow to print multi-page documents and photos.

The print quality of black-and-white documents is great. Everything looks sharp, and finer elements are present. There are occasionally vertical lines due to overlapping print lines, but they're not too noticeable. The printer will allow you to continue printing temporarily in black and white if a color cartridge runs out; however, it's unclear how long this temporary status lasts.

The print quality of color documents is good. Text looks clear, and finer elements are visible. However, the colors look a little washed out, and colored areas look grainy.

Although you can print on A5 paper, you can only do so by setting a custom size, as there isn't a preset for this paper size. You can set custom sizes from 3.5" x 5" to 8.5" x 47.2" (89 mm x 127 mm to 215.9 mm x 1,200 mm).

This printer only has a flatbed scanner, so scanning multi-page documents or double-sided sheets can be extremely time-consuming. If you're looking for a similar printer equipped with an automatic document feeder, the Epson WorkForce WF-2950 is a very solid alternative.

There's an optical character recognition feature that allows you to save scans as searchable PDFs; however, it's software-based, meaning you need to install the Epson Scan 2 application to utilize it. It works well most of the time; it only makes mistakes when there are special characters and symbols.

The scanner produces outstanding scans. Fine details are retained, and text is crisp and legible. The image processing boosts the contrast and color saturation to make the scan look more vibrant; however, it might not be ideal if you're digitizing photos and expect the scan to be as close to the source photo as possible.

This printer has a decent color gamut. It reproduces bright, saturated tones well, but it struggles with lighter shades of blue and darker shades of green and yellow. Color transitions look relatively smooth: they're a tad grainy, and there's also a little bit of banding.

This printer has poor color accuracy. Most colors look different from the original source, especially blues and greens. It's fine for printing the occasional family photo, but professionals seeking more accurate color reproduction should look elsewhere.

This printer is outstanding at reproducing small details. Fine elements look clear; it's mainly distant objects that look blurry due to the halftones (dot effect).

The Epson Smart Panel mobile app is very feature-rich. You can use it to print, scan, copy, check the printer's ink levels, view the user manual, and perform maintenance tasks like printhead cleaning. It also features a function that allows you to copy both sides of an ID card onto a single page. The app features Google Classroom integration, allowing you to easily print assignments. The app also contains links to the Epson Creative Print app and the Epson Gallery website. The Creative Print app allows you to create collages and artwork, while Epson's Gallery website features patterns and images suitable for crafts.

You need to manually install drivers on Windows to use the printer, but not on macOS or Chrome OS.