Printer Reviews

Even when it was new, the print head slammed got "stuck" and stopped printing while spewing ink inside the machine. The ink cartridges are super-expensive and hard to find, unlike Canon refills which are cheap and available everywhere.

The fax can only handle about 20 pages when scanning to memory first.

The slow scanner produces low-quality images which have herringbone patterns embedded in the image.

The software included is terrible, this unit is not fully compatible with Win XP.

The unit always indicates that it is out of ink when there is plenty of ink left.

If you live alone (and not in an apartment), only plan to print a few pages every now and then, and are not a student, writer, or in business, this might be an ok printer for you. It is very easy to set up.

Do yourself a favor if you're in the market for a new inkjet printer, and go with the HP Deskjet 940C.

The picture quality is very good for such a budget printer. I purchased mine primarily for text printing and am using the BC-20 black print head which has a very large tank (good for aprox. 900 pages of text) compared to the much smaller tank of black ink (good for aprox. 225 pages of text) that is on the BC-21e color print head that is included with the printer. The BC-20 prints black text faster than the color head as it has 128 nozzles for black compared to 64 black nozzles on the BC-21e. The color head has replacable color and black tanks which are cheaper to replace than buying the entire print head. The print head is very easy to replace. It just drops into a slot and a lever is pulled forward to lock it into the holder.

When I purchased my printer Canon had a $30 rebate program that you might want to look into.

It lasted me for 3 years. It made a little noise, took about a minute to warm up, and a few seconds to touch the paper cause the ink can slighly smear. The ink tanks (which have 2, 1 for black and 1 for color) take awhile to empty with minimal use. The black is cheap, like 10 bucks, but the color is like 30 bucks. The 2 ink tanks come with the printer but the cable doesn't.

The main problem with me was the disc that came with it. The software isn't up to date with what's on computers now. So I caught hell with trying to install it.

This is great for college or simple printing.

What a shame.

More details: I had a lot of trouble installing the drivers on my Dell 4300 Desktop PC with XP Home Edition. I finally got it to be able to print, but every time I boot up the computer or turn on the printer, my PC tells me it has found a "new printer" -- the Panasonic KX-P7100 -- and it asks me if I want to install the drivers. I've tried everything I can think of including downloading the latest print drivers from the Panasonic website and installing them. I get the same result from both the USB or parallel port connection.

I liked the duplex functionality & energy efficiency of this printer. But it is kind of slow to print -- the time to the first page is long. I also get a slight skew of the printed image (about 1 degree). The manual feed is a pain and is very hard to print straight this way. I also found that the printer jams a lot (once a day or more).

Next time, I'll buy an HP laserjet printer.

I have had the printer for about 2 months now and have not had any problems at all! No issues with paper feeding or ink (in the 785EPX I was having streaking issues), I leave my printer on all day everyday and when I havn't used it in awhile it takes a minute for it to warm up, but otherwise this printer had resorted my faith in Epson! I highly suggest it over the 825 (becuase of the cartridges).

The price is somewhat on the high side and can add up quickly if you print a lot of full text pages. Most likely you're going to use this cartridge in a color printer, so better buy a few ahead of time.

Unfortunately, Lexmark's cartridges are proprietary so you won't find any 3rd party brands on the market (Compaq Printer = Lexmark Printer). This will ensure that Lexmark has full control over the price you pay.

Lexmark's proprietary design isn't flawless. Should a paper get jammed at the printhead (by a corner curled by a bad feed), you'll have to pray that the head wasn't damaged.

Be sure not to leave the printer (cartridge) unused for more than two weeks, otherwise the ink will dry on the heads. This can sometimes be solved by placing the cartridge in a dish with COLD water for about 5 minutes. But usually it's the end of the cartridge - so much for a 3/4th full cartridge!

If you encounter a problem with the cartridge (or the printer), don't bother calling Lexmark's support number. You'll have to deal with ill-manered and inexperienced technicians.

The images I printed look good at "Normal." My printouts are only for filing and invoicing purposes, NOT DISPLAY NOR ARCHIVING. (This HP Deskjet 3420 prints "Best" quality at 2400 dpi. What dpi is "Normal?" You know, I'm not too sure but I'm happy with my results!)

The two cartridges are each approxiamately $22 bucks. Find a printer that has cartridges that cost less and it will probably have four or more different cartridges. Right off that's a more expensive printer. And changing all four will likely be the same price.

At "Normal" settings, I've been able to print approxiamately forty 4 by 6 inch color photos with the initial cartridges. Add about 40 pages of black text. If I get 100 more pages of text and 30 to 40 more photos without changing the cartridges, I'll be very happy.

If the printer lasts three years, cartridge prices remain below $25 and print quality does not visibly diminish, I'll be satisfied with this purchase.

In the store just before I made my purchase, the Lexmark salesperson exhibited the Lexmark Z605 printer. It prints best quality at 4800dpi, which is better thant the HP Deskjet 3420. The Lexmark Z605 costs 50 bucks, which is cheaper. But the cartridges, according to the sales representative, cost $30, which is more expensive. (Do they have more ink than the HP deskjet 3420 cartridges? I don't know.) I've never had a Lexmark and don't know about there reliability. The sales rep was not very convincing.

The cartridges cost $22. I've worked with HP brand and I know they make good reliable printers. (They also make products that are very disappointing.) But I was more willing to risk purchasing an HP. Also the HP Deskjet 3420 is not large and doesn't take up a lot of desk space to me. For those reasons, I chose this printer.

Be careful with your decision and good luck!

Pros:
1. VERY Simple to install. Just plug the USB wire from the printer to your pc/laptop or mac (and the power-chord too) and you ready to go.
2. Works great with Windows XP.
3. Compact in space, excelent for small rooms.
4. Prints great photo picture.
5. You can see how much ink you have left on your monitor.
6. Ink easy to install.
7. Black ink cartridge is cheap too. (Which I always buy since I print a lot of documents. Average Cost: $18)
8. Prints really fast in Econofast mode. And the quality is still good.

Cons:
1. Uses ink fast, if you print a lot of pictures.
2. Coloured ink cartrige is expensive for something so small.(Average Cost: $25)
3. Kind of noisy when printing in normal-mode.
4. You have to buy the USB wire separately, (but so does every printer that you buy. Cost about 20 dollars or less.)

Who should buy it?
1. People that lives in dorms.
2. People that prints schoolworks, homeworks, letters, reports several times a week.
3. People who prints photos once-in-a-while.

Who should NOT buy it?
1. Heavy printer uses.
2. Digital Photographers, cause you will end up buying a lot of coloured ink cartridges.

So my overall comment is:
NOT BAD for something cheap and and small.