The Canon MAXIFY GX4020 is a compact, high-volume all-in-one printer with refillable large-capacity ink tanks to meet the needs of a variety of users. It is a great addition to a small office or classroom with heavier printing, scanning, copying, and faxing needs, providing a cost-effective solution compared to the competition. The setup is fast and easy, with a one-page “getting started” sheet and onscreen guided instructions.
This is an efficiently designed personal/small-to-medium business (SMB) All-in-One (AIO) printer. The unit weighs in at just under 21 lbs., and with a footprint of 9.9” H x 15.8” W x 16.4” D, it is a compact unit. With the large refillable tanks and ample main and rear paper trays, I won’t find myself refilling either very often.
With a variety of paper-handling options and a fairly high-capacity main and top paper trays, I had a great amount of flexibility and time between refills. The GX4020 also has a single-sheet rear flip-down tray that allows a straight path through the machine in case I want to print on heavy stock paper. The automatic document feeder (ADF) can handle up to 35 sheets of standard (or 5 sheets of legal-size paper) for scanning, faxing, and copying.
Getting Started With The Canon MAXIFY GX4020
When I opened the box of the Canon MAXIFY GX4020 MegaTank printer I could immediately tell that Canon was thoughtful when designing this product. The instructions for unboxing and getting it connected were very simple to follow and made setup a breeze.
Once I plugged in the machine, the 2.7-inch touchscreen walked me through the set-up process, including filling the ink tanks, as well as hardwiring and setting up wifi. The entire process took about 20 minutes, and half of this time was spent waiting for the printer head adjustment process to complete.
I was able to easily add the printer to my mobile phone, via the Canon PRINT Inkjet/SELPHY app, as well as on my PC and Chromebook using the operating system tools. Canon was also very generous with the starter ink included, which will give you about 5,000 pages of black and white as well as color. Don’t worry about putting the ink in the incorrect tanks, Canon “keyed” each tank and bottle to ensure the ink bottle can only fill the tank for which it belongs.
Canon MAXIFY GX4020 Best Features
During my testing I found the GX4020 to be a fast and reliable printer. The output is crisp and very color-accurate. Some of the features that stood out the most to me were:
- Easy setup, intuitive user interface, and device compatibility.
- Low printing costs of less than two cents per page, as per Canon.
- High-capacity ink tanks to print up to 6,000 black or 14,000 color pages.
- Pigment-based ink for crisp and durable prints.
- The print head and maintenance cartridge are easily replaceable by the end user.
- 250 sheet main cassette, 100 sheet rear tray, and a rear flat feed tray that can print on stock up to 0.7 mm thick as well as fabric.
- 33,000-page monthly duty cycle.
Canon Maxify GX4020 Pricing
- $449.99 for the printer
- $123 for a complete set of replacement ink bottles
Canon Maxify GX4020 Key Takeaways
I found the Canon Maxify GX4020 a pleasure to use. During my testing, I had no issues with setup, connectivity, or compatibility. The printer starts up from sleep pretty fast and the print speeds are comparable to other inkjet printers in its class. The automatic document feeder runs very smoothly and, although does not automatically duplex, still can scan and print on both sides of the paper. I just needed to flip the stack over and scan/copy again, the machine figures out the page order automatically so there is no need to worry about page order.
If you are in an office environment or a classroom that needs an SMB printer, such as an art class, then this printer will meet your needs. It may not have a USB or NFC printing feature, but that will not be missed in a school environment. Plus, the low cost of ownership and user-replaceable parts will make district leaders' budgets happy too.
