Canon MegaTank MAXIFY GX4020 Wireless Color All-in-One Inkjet Printer

This is a great printer, and I love the “truth” in the design. Setup is harder than it should be, but I’ll provide you some tips below to save you a ton of time. I’m an IT professional and it took me 3 hours to set it up. With the tips below, you will be ready in 30 minutes.

I quit using ink jet printers probably 10 years ago because I hated the design. The printer was cheap and came with about three drops of ink. When you went to buy a new ink cartridge, the cartridge cost as much as the printer! You ended up paying many times the cost of printer in overpriced consumables.

The second thing I hated – as an infrequent user of the printer – every time I went to use it, the print head was clogged and you had to spend time unclogging it, wasting even more of the precious ink. So I hated them and switched to color laser and never looked back.

Until now.

This printer is designed truthfully, and I love that idea. Sure you pay 2x the cost of a competitor for the printer (an actual realistic cost of the device) but the consumables are CHEAP and HUGE. You get a giant bottle of a color for just over 30 dollars. Amazing. This is the way it should be. I’ll be sure to update the review if I get a clogged print head.

Even after all that – the printer is faster and prints better than my laser printer. Watch the video for more explanation and print speed/quality comparison.

There are a couple of things I don’t love. It doesn’t use a normal IEC style power cord, it uses a figure 8 style. When I was moving another printer out of the way for this one, that required extra work for me, I was hoping to just use the same power cord.

Second, the paper eject tray is quite flimsy and sticks out the front. I’m afraid it will get broken, because you have to keep it in the extended position. If you don’t, it ejects the paper with such force it just throws them in the floor. I demonstrate this at the end of the video.

Here is another tip. After you set it up and print a few pictures, go back through the calibration setting. It will improve the quality of your prints quite a lot by doing it a second time after a few prints. To do this, select the GEAR on the main page, then select MAINTENANCE, then Print head alignment – auto. This will take a few minutes and use 2 pieces of paper.

Now on to the setup tips to make your install go much easier.

1) There is no manual in the box. To read the manual you must go online. The quick start card gives you the URL.

2) When you unpack the box, there is a plastic guide on top of the printer. The manual nor quick start guide give any indication what it’s for, or where it goes. It goes on the rear of the printer, near the hinge. If you look at my pictures, you’ll see there is a slot where you can insert one end and gently bend the other to pop it in place.

3) When you open the top, you have to raise it up about an inch and the leg holding it up will drop back allowing you to close the top. Do not force it. It has a soft close mechanism, so you can just lift it up and then release it. It will gently go down into place.

4) When it tells you to fill the yellow tank, FILL ALL OF THEM. Yes, fill the Yellow, Magenta, Cyan AND BLACK. The diagram on the printer shows filling the yellow tank and closing the lid. It refuses to continue the setup unless you FILL ALL OF THEM. I got stuck here a LONG time. I repeat – It will not continue until you fill all the tanks. Trust me here. When you fill all the tanks, close the lid, then it will continue. The graphic is confusing and incomplete.

5) Filling the tanks is easy and straightforward. You’ll notice they have a valve inside to keep them from spilling, and each color has a specific shape so you can’t mix them up. The ink flows in quite quickly, probably 30 seconds per bottle. My black bottle had a little left inside, so I’ll put the rest in after using it a while.

6) The printer comes with a default password, and the password is the SERIAL NUMBER of the unit and IS CASE SENSITIVE. Enter the letters in UPPER CASE or it will not work. This is not obvious, and I only found it in one small section of the manual. Finding the serial number is not obvious either. To find the serial number, on the front panel press the (i) icon for information. Then select SYSTEM INFORMATION. Write down the serial number or take a picture with your phone.

7) To change/remove the administrator password select the GEAR icon for settings, then select PRINTER SETTINGS, then scroll down to ADMINISTRATOR PASSWORD SETTINGS (it is off the screen, you have to scroll down to see it). Here you have to enter the current password (the serial number, with the proper case) and then you can change or remove the password. My printer is at home, so I just removed the password.

8) Set the time zone. When you set up the mail settings (to scan to email for example) it will complain unless you set the time zone. This is not a normal EST/EDT; PST/PDT. It is a GMT offset. To set the time zone – press the GEAR icon, then PRINTER SETTINGS, then OTHER PRINTER SETTINGS.
To set the date and time, select DATE/TIME SETTINGS.
To set Daylight Savings time ON/OFF (it isn’t automatic) select DAYLIGHT SAVINGS
To set the time zone, SCROLL DOWN (it is off the screen) to TIME ZONE. In the USA, you need to select UTC- (it defaults to UTC+) and then put in the proper offset.
Here are the proper values for USA.
EST – UTC- 5
CST – UTC- 6
MST – UTC- 7
PST – UTC- 8
AKST- UTC- 9
HST – UTC-10

9) To set up email with GMAIL, you have to do a few things inside your Gmail account first. YOU MUST HAVE 2-STEP VERIFICATION TURNED ON TO USE GMAIL WITH THIS PRINTER. You have to set up an app password and you cannot set up an app password unless you turn on 2-step verification. This took a while to figure out – since the printers error messages are not helpful. This step is easiest to do on a desktop/laptop computer.
a) Log into the Gmail account you want to use with the printer.
b) Click your account icon in the top right of the Gmail window. (not the very top account, the one next to the GEAR and DOTS across from the search bar.
c) Click Manage your google account.
d) Click SECURITY on the left side menu
e) Scroll down to 2-Step Verification and turn it on. The easiest one to use is text messages to your cell phone. Most secure is a hardware key. Complete the setup for 2-Step Verification.
*Note- you can select “Don’t ask for 2-step on this device” the next time you log in – so it won’t ask you every time.
f) Select App Passwords (Right under 2-Step Verification you just set up)
g) Click “select app”, select “Other (custom name)” Enter “Canon Printer” or something similar. Click GENERATE. Use this password to put in the printer settings. You might want to copy this to another document so you’ll have it for later.

10) Set up the printer for email – This is easiest to do on a desktop/laptop. You’ll need to install the software per the instructions.
a) In the app that was installed on your computer (Canon Inkjet Smart Connect) select the 3 bars at the top left of the window. Select “Printer Management”, then “Device Information”
b) Click the button for “Open Remote UI”. If you set up a password (or didn’t change it) you’ll need to enter it here. Click “Log In”, and then OK. (Ignore the warning)
c) Click Printer Settings, then “Set mail server / test connect”, then “Set mail server”
d) Enter the sender address. This is the email address you are using. The format is [email protected]
e) Set the outgoing mail server to smtp.gmail.com
f) Set the port number to 465
g) Click the check box for “Secure Connection (SSL)
h) Click the radio button for “SMTP authentication” and click OK.
i) In the next screen enter the email address again in the format [email protected]
j) Put the app password you created in the previous step in the OUTGOING PASSWORD and click ok. It’s far easier if you copy/paste in here (the spaces don’t matter) since you can’t actually see the password.
k) It will return to the previous screen like it didn’t save, but it did. Click PRINTER SETTINGS on the left again.
l) Select “Set mail server/ test connect” again.
m) Select “Test connection to mail server” and click YES. It should say communicating, then “Connection Succeeded”. If this didn’t work, go back through the steps and make sure you have the app password correct. You may want to delete and recreate the app password.

That is it! Your printer is now quite a nice functional printer.

Very sensitive and unreliable but great print quality. I have loved the Pixma series of printers, and have worn out several of them in my small business. Since it was advertised as having great features and excellent print quality, I relied on the Canon name, even though there were few reviews for this machine. It prints on regular paper beautifully, but if you try to do anything else with it, it constantly creates an error message. It currently has an Error 1300, which is a paper jam, but there is no jammed paper, and the machine is useless. I also wanted to print envelopes, but it will only print 10 at a time, and you constantly have to answer question after question about the paper source.

The bottom line is that the print quality is excellent, but it is very high maintenance and I can’t use it. I wish I’d never bought it! I rely on honest reviews on Amazon for my purchasing decisions and wanted to save others from wasting their money.

I love this printer! I never write reviews, but I made an exception for this Canon Maxify GX4020 printer. I print hundreds of copies for my work with preschool children and to illustrate the songs I teach to Primary children. This printer prints beautiful pages on multiple types of paper; super quickly and high quality. Set up was easy and any glitches with wireless printing or finding any unusual settings were quickly solved. The touch screen is small but works very well. Canon updates the software often and when I experienced a printing “error” message, I clicked on the link which took me to the online owners manual solving the problem easily! Filling the ink tanks was easy and is definitely more economical than replacing ink cartridges. The rear tray and output paper tray are sturdy. It also has scanner and fax capabilities! this is a wonderful all-in-one machine!

I needed to replace an old Kodak EasyShare 5500 printer we had since about 2007. For what I needed, the Kodak printer was not the best printer, but it got the job done and the inks were very cheap compared to the inks from other printers of that time. After Kodak stopped making printers, it was getting harder and harder to find Kodak inks and printer heads. The quality of the photo prints was good with aftermarket inks but not the same with aftermarket printheads. I finally ended up throwing it away. So, I started my search for an all-in-one photo printer with a flat top scanner, auto document feeder and duplex printing. A printer that would perform the same or better than my old Kodak. After reading all the good and bad reviews, I put my eye on 2 printers. One was a Brother brand and the other was the Canon MAXIFY GX4020. At first, I had the Brother printer ordered but canceled the order because of the high price for ink cartridges. I put some more thought and research on the Canon MAXIFY GX4020 and decided this was the one. It’s on the pricey side but it had all of the features of my old Kodak and more. I received it yesterday afternoon. It was a little bigger than the Kodak. About the same width at the front but about 2 to 3 inches longer from the front to the back, but it fit on the desk, so I was happy. Plugged it in, went through the setup process, filled the ink tanks and connected to the Wi-Fi network. Did a few scans from the flat top scanner and from the document feeder. I also printed some documents from two laptops and a photo from my phone. For me, the setup was easy and had no problems. As others have posted, this printer does not come with an owner’s manual or online documentation. The only documents in the box were warning information and a quick start card. I have not had this printer for 24 hours yet, so, I will definitely update this review as time goes on.

I bought this for light home use. Initial setup was fine, but then I started running into problems. I tried to set up scan to email. The error codes are difficult to understand, and the instructions are not much help. Be prepared to do some intermediate network configuration. After two hours, I finally gave up. I am pretty sure I did everything correct – I checked and doubled checked everything. I googled this problem and found a lot of people had this problem, so I just gave up. Then I tried to print from the rear flat feed tray, and I keep getting an error. It says the transport tray has been removed, but it’s back there. Again, I’ve spent an hour making sure it’s installed properly, and I’ve tried other workarounds, but it just will not work. The information on this error code on the website is worthless. Maybe I got a defective unit, or maybe I’m doing something wrong? I don’t know, but I’ve wasted a Sunday afternoon trying to get this to work like it should. I’m returning it to Staples tomorrow. Terrible experience.

As soon as I unpacked and turned on the GX4020 got an immediate error 6000. Instructions say to unplug the printer and restart. I did that and immediately get the same error over and over. Cannon support webpage was no help either with no support available or even a phone number to call. Just an endless loop of webpages asking me for my model number, if I would like support for that model, and then asking me once again for the model number over and over. Not very helpful.

There’s no such thing as “good” printers, only tolerable ones. Luckily, this is one of the more tolerable printers out there. I’ve printed hundreds of pages already and all of the colors are still 3/4 full of ink, just from the bottles that came with the printer. It supports double-sided printing, double-sided scanning with the ADF, printing from your smartphone, all that good stuff. While shopping around, I found a lot of printers that did some of those things for around the same price, or all of those things for a much higher price. I still think that if you’re going to be doing really heavy printing, you’re better off springing for a laser printer. However for most “normal” people with above-average printing needs, this really hits the sweet spot of good features, print speed, and print quality at a reasonable price.

Returned an Epson EcoTank ET-3830 that did nothing but jam waste ink. Got the Canon Maxify 4020 and it blew me away. Great prints, fast prints, easy set up and less expensive that the comparable models by HP, Brother and Epson.