Good all-around fax scanner laser?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mama Bear
  • Start date Start date
Leythos said:
Even their HP1320 series printers will print 250 pages at a time, then
you can add more paper and start again.

Or find an hp1320tn with an extra 250 sheet casette!
I design large scale solutions, and having tested fax machines,
copiers, Kyocera, Brother, Cannon, Lexmark, HP, etc... I can honestly
say that HP is the clear winner when it comes to moving paper.


I own a Cannon laser printer and a Phaser 8400b and 7 HP printers, all
laser, the newest is a HP4250n, and they work great. The cannon and
phaser are color.

I don't believe in purchasing multi-function devices, they tend to be
cheap crap, from all vendors.

Buy a fax machine, even a cheap multifunction one will do in most
cases. Then buy a cheap HP Laser printer printer for printing, you'll
be glad you did.

I can't speak for other makes, but there's no doubt in my mind that the
cheaper Hp models _are_ much more lightly built than the older ones. Even
HP acknowedge that, when they give fuser units, for example, a much shorter
life in the new cheaper models. Of course, the really old models cost
thousands of pounds, often many times what the cheaper models today cost.

HP used to make only heavy duty printers, then they produced a series of
much cheaper models like the 5l, 6l etc series. To my mind these were one of
their worst mistakes. These models always seems to suffer paper pickup
problems for instance, in spite of the kit given away free at one time to
correct this problem.

So even a major manufacturer can produce a bad model. It'll be interesting
to see how reliable the current cheap range are in a few years
 
So even a major manufacturer can produce a bad model. It'll be interesting
to see how reliable the current cheap range are in a few years

For those of us with clients all over the country, abusing them daily,
it doesn't take years.
 
Leythos said:
For those of us with clients all over the country, abusing them daily,
it doesn't take years.

How about a list here then of the cheap but good HP lasers and the cheap but
bad (in the poster's opinion)?
 
How about a list here then of the cheap but good HP lasers and the cheap but
bad (in the poster's opinion)?

Anythign $349 and up, from HP, should be good enough, but don't get
suckered into those all in one scanner/fax/printer units - there are no
good ones of those, not by any vendor.
 
jasee said:
How about a list here then of the cheap but good HP lasers and the
cheap but bad (in the poster's opinion)?

Not a laser, but I can tell you one HP product to steer clear of;

The HP-2575 All-In-One (printer/scanner/copier)

Got one for Christmas *last* year. Has *major* paper-feed issues. To the
point where you have to feed it one sheet at a time to avoid a jam. Tried
all the suggested fixes from HP and every other place else I could find via
Google, all to no avail. Shame too. Because the quality of the scans,
copies and photo print jobs is excellent.

The paper feed problem with this particular model is well documented all
over the Internet. But if anyone has managed to fix it on the HP-2575 I'd
sure like to try whatever you did. Like I said, the quality is excellent.
It's the 'babysitting' I can do without.
 
Leythos said:
Even their HP1320 series printers will print 250 pages at a time,
then you can add more paper and start again.

I design large scale solutions, and having tested fax machines,
copiers, Kyocera, Brother, Cannon, Lexmark, HP, etc... I can honestly
say that HP is the clear winner when it comes to moving paper.


I own a Cannon laser printer and a Phaser 8400b and 7 HP printers,
all laser, the newest is a HP4250n, and they work great. The cannon
and phaser are color.

I don't believe in purchasing multi-function devices, they tend to be
cheap crap, from all vendors.

Buy a fax machine, even a cheap multifunction one will do in most
cases. Then buy a cheap HP Laser printer printer for printing, you'll
be glad you did.

I'm not so sure, judging by these reviews:

http://www.amazon.com/Hewlett-Packard-Q2666A-ABA-LaserJet-All-in-
One/dp/B0001M3UYA/sr=8-2/qid=1167162160/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/102-0604585-
0390511?ie=UTF8&s=electronics

A Huge disappointment, and a sick feeling, $500 wasted!!, October 10,
2005
Reviewer: Christopher J. Mcdivit - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)
The 3030 does not work scanning with Acrobat. I have contacted HP
multiple times and still no success. They don't even try. The Brother
machine it replaced worked flawlessly. HP claims they do not have
Acrobat for testing, and do not support it with their products??? At 3
months old the machine also developed a document feeding problem which
HP claimed was "Not their problem". I use only HP paper and supplies!!!
Finally after several angry calls, they sent out some parts for me to
replace. Still intermittent document feeding. Then they charged me $35
to send a replacement unit under warranty!!!!! Overall recomendation:
STAY AWAY FROM HP, Poorly designed, poorly tested, and poorly supported.
Brother supplies may cost a lot, but at least the product works!!!! I
want my Brother back!!!!

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Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.

HP gone way downhill, October 24, 2006
Reviewer: Pythagoras "angry dad" (New York, NY United States) - See all
my reviews
I had an HP LaserJet 4MP for about a decade before it finally went. I
doubt that I will get that kind of service from this machine. I also had
a Xerox b&w WorkCenter for copying that went about a year later. same
concerns. i got this primarily to replace the copier. With this HP the
toner cartridges go in no time. The scanning is slightly askew, and
there is some color distortion. Also, the scanner utility is pretty
inept. The print drivers do not function properly, preventing my up-to-
date Windows XP from going to sleep mode. HP was once a symbol of
dependabilty.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Nice features but several problems, May 26, 2006
Reviewer: Norm Constantine - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)
In many ways I really like this all in one, it's does great copying,
printing, scanning in all ways except that it often prints slightly
crooked on the paper, off by a small but noticeable amount. HP tried
over the phone to help me resolve this with no success. Since I have
other printers, I learned to live with this until the machine died
recently. HP sent me a refurbished replacement which after about a year
of ownership I was happy to do, they charged $34 for a temporary
warranty "uplifting", no problem with that. However, I am sorry to
report that this refurbished version has the same page misalignment
problem as the last one. Yes, I've checked my power supply, use HP paper
and toner, etc. This is just an unfortunate and non-trivial defect for
this otherwise fine printer.

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21 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
Major disappoitment, October 7, 2004
Reviewer: R. Hill "chill" (Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)
How come no one has reviewed this printer so far ? Mmm.
In any case, the HP LaserJet 3030 All-in-One turned out to be a
disappoitment. I hope I will be able to return it, it's been 31 days.

Faxing I did not have the time to try.

Scanning is very slow, even at 200 dpi. There is dithering at 300 dpi
and up, when looking at pictures at their actual size, which is abnormal
when scanning high quality photos. Listen, it's just abnormal that an
old cheapo scanner of mine, bought 9 years ago for 100 $CA, performs 50
times better than this one.

It is also abnormal that the printer should perform the way it does with
graphics (forget photos!). There is dithering which I did not get with
my OLD HP printer. So if you are printing even a little graphic here and
there, trust me : it will get on your nerves to see that dithering.
MAJOR posterization when printing photos. Again, my old 1100 LaserJet
printer performed a lot better in printing photos, and graphics. What's
up with that.

The HP LaserJet 3030 All-in-One is good with printing text, as well as
decent in photocopying text. If you photocopy graphics -- like when
you're doing your first test with the printer, which is to photocopy a
printed page -- you'll have spots of gray within the darker areas of the
graphic.

The paper handling is o.k. if you are delicate with it. Speed of
printing is o.k. It is not impressive.

Don't buy it. What else should you buy ? I don't know. There doesn't
seem to be an obvious choice for all-in-one laser printers below 1000
$CA, even now.
 
Leythos said:
Anythign $349 and up, from HP, should be good enough, but don't get
suckered into those all in one scanner/fax/printer units - there are
no good ones of those, not by any vendor.


I'll have to buy 2 machines then, something for color scanning, faxing
and flatbed copying ( could just get the highly rated MF3240 for $133
anyway ), and a separate laser just for printing letter & legal, with 2
trays? But unfortunately then, neither would let me copy legal sized
docs. Jeez.
 
Ignore Leythos, the only reason he jumped on this post is because I
suggested Brother. Had I suggested HP he would have posted that those were
crap. He is just a troll trying his best to discredit me.

--

Newsgroup Trolls. Read about mine here http://www.pcbutts1.com/downloads
The list grows. Leythos the stalker,David H. Lipman, Max M Wachtell III aka
What's in a Name?,Fitz,Rhonda Lea Kirk,Meat Plow, F Kwatu F, George Orwell
 
Ignore Leythos, the only reason he jumped on this post is because I
suggested Brother. Had I suggested HP he would have posted that those were
crap. He is just a troll trying his best to discredit me.

You discredit yourself very well without anyone's help.
 
pcbutts1 said:
Ignore Leythos, the only reason he jumped on this post is because I
suggested Brother. Had I suggested HP he would have posted that those were
crap. He is just a troll trying his best to discredit me.

I don't need to do anything butts, you discredit yourself all on your
own.

Just look at the content on your help site:


http://pcbutts1.com/downloads/pervert.htm

http://pcbutts1.com/downloads/license.htm

Is that the content of an ethical person?

Is that the content of a person that's in the right?

Is that the content of a person that really has honor and justice to
stand on?
 
I'm not so sure, judging by these reviews:

You're going to find reviews that state anything you want to hear/read.
HP makes more printers than the others combined, and there are people
that just hate anything BIG.

I'm sure that some people have problems, but I've been an HP user with
thousands of them purchased and used for many decades. While the low end
line in any vendors products is targeted at the very low end customer,
their higher end lines (or mid level products) have been very reliable
for my customers.

I bought a Phaser 8400b (not an HP printer), a wax thermal color
printer, paid more than $1,000 for it, and then another $500 in wax. The
prints were the best color I've ever seen. at 1 year and 5 days it
broke, would not print, and I called Xerox and got the run around, and
then was told that if I had bought the extended warranty that the repair
would be free - or I could pay the $750 and replace the part myself and
hope that it was the right one.... It's sitting on the floor in my
office, in parts, and will never be repaired. I bought a cheap $500
Cannon C5500n printer to replace it, knowing that in 1 year something
better will be on the market, something faster, etc... knowing that if
it breaks I can just get a replacement cheaper than the warranty...

My HP1200 laser printer, one that was under $300 when I bought it, works
perfectly and prints about 8000 pages a month.

My HP ScanJet IIc scanner, which was more than $1000 when I bought it,
still works perfectly.

My HP 2400c Scanjet scanner also works great.

My HP1320n and HP4250n and my HP9040 and 9050 also work great.

I've seen the HP3055 work for clients and never have been called about
it.

Brother, Cannon, Ricoh, Xerox, Lexmark - I'm not purchasing a
multifunction from any of them. We tested a new Lexmark multifunction
unit, 3000 sheet output, 2000 sheet paper tray, fax, document feeder,
scanner, etc.... It didn't feed 2000 sheets before it jammed and it
didn't pull custom printed forms without missing one....

Yes, there is a chance you'll get a crappy HP, as well as any other
vendor, but, if you do your research (read reviews), you'll have a much
better chance to avoid problems.
 
I like your advice about not trying to find an HP Multifunction unit to do
everything. But the Canon MF3240 is highly reviewed and can do everything
I need EXCEPT print legal size, for only $133 with shipping.

SO, what if I look for a workhorse HP printer for the least amount of
money new, that can JUST print legal size for me, perhaps with at least a
250 sheet tray? What's out there in that class that's very good and
reliable ( good reviews at amazon.com for example? ) and costs as little
as possible for me to pick up new?
 
In message said:
Anythign $349 and up, from HP, should be good enough, but don't get
suckered into those all in one scanner/fax/printer units - there are no
good ones of those, not by any vendor.

Unless you get one based on a photocopier, in which case you are looking
at adding at least one zero to the price!
 
In message said:
I bought a Phaser 8400b (not an HP printer), a wax thermal color
printer, paid more than $1,000 for it, and then another $500 in wax. The
prints were the best color I've ever seen. at 1 year and 5 days it
broke, would not print, and I called Xerox and got the run around, and
then was told that if I had bought the extended warranty that the repair
would be free - or I could pay the $750 and replace the part myself and
hope that it was the right one.... It's sitting on the floor in my
office, in parts, and will never be repaired.

I had a three year old 8200 and the paper tray broke and I went round
and round in circles with Xerox and came up with the solution of buying
the previous 860 model and adulterating that, but in the end I ended up
adulterating the 8200 and so have 'upgraded' from the 8200 to the 860 -
although that does give me the advantage of 'free' black ink (when you
buy colour ink you get some black 'free' and you can buy 15 ink blocks
(about 15,000 pages?) for a fiver's delivery)
 
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