Lexmark: have I been lucky?

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Brendan R. Wehrung

The new issue of PC Magazine has ratings on printer brands and they give
Lexmark products almost an across the board "E", awarding HP an A+.

I write this as a satisfied Lexmark user, aside from the cost of ink--but
I don't print that much that I use more than two sets of carts a year.

Has Lexmark quality declined since I bought my Z52, or is there a vast
audience of unsatisfied users out there? I seem to remember a *lot* more
complaints about HP than Lexmeark here, although this will reflect that a
lot more HP printers are sold.

I've bought a Z65 against the purchase of my next computer (I'll keep my
present one as a fully-equipped backup) and wonder if I should have.

Brendan
--
 
Brendan said:
The new issue of PC Magazine has ratings on printer brands and they give
Lexmark products almost an across the board "E", awarding HP an A+.
Click to expand...

I don't know if it deserves a mark as low as an "E". Let's see... My Z55
prints half decent text; individual pages hard to load (can't just drop
them in); noisy machine; very basic, rugged construction; primitive
software with few print options; colour cartridge holds very little ink,
black satisfactory; photos too washed out (no contrast); although
cartridges never clog, cost of new ones is prohibitive. Okay,
unsatisfactory by my standards as my main printer. I'll give it a "C".
But when I look at what I got for $200 (CDN) versus the $229 for a Canon
i850, less than a year later, I have no choice but to give it an "E".
It's not even in the same league.
 
<< From: (e-mail address removed) (Brendan R. Wehrung)
Date: Sat, Jul 19, 2003 4:49 PM
Message-id: <[email protected]>

The new issue of PC Magazine has ratings on printer brands and they give
Lexmark products almost an across the board "E", awarding HP an A+.

I write this as a satisfied Lexmark user, aside from the cost of ink--but
I don't print that much that I use more than two sets of carts a year.

Has Lexmark quality declined since I bought my Z52, or is there a vast
audience of unsatisfied users out there? I seem to remember a *lot* more
complaints about HP than Lexmeark here, although this will reflect that a
lot more HP printers are sold.

I've bought a Z65 against the purchase of my next computer (I'll keep my
present one as a fully-equipped backup) and wonder if I should have.

Brendan
-- >><BR><BR>
The truth is that many consider the Lexmark the last printer to buy from both a
quality and economical basis. I can’t think of any comments I have seen
indicating that someone really loved the photos they printed and how much
better it is than a Canon, Epson, or even HP.
 
The new issue of PC Magazine has ratings on printer brands and they give
Lexmark products almost an across the board "E", awarding HP an A+.

I write this as a satisfied Lexmark user, aside from the cost of ink--but
I don't print that much that I use more than two sets of carts a year.

Has Lexmark quality declined since I bought my Z52, or is there a vast
audience of unsatisfied users out there? I seem to remember a *lot* more
complaints about HP than Lexmeark here, although this will reflect that a
lot more HP printers are sold.

I've bought a Z65 against the purchase of my next computer (I'll keep my
present one as a fully-equipped backup) and wonder if I should have.
Click to expand...

My own experience with Lexmark (based on owning one Z53) is that they
have excellent customer service but that the printer is only fair.

My original one came with a defect (the final powered roller wasn't,
making paper eject flaky), then the color cart died (making *all*
printing impossible). Note that it was not out of ink -- I had hardly
printed any color at all -- it simply died. Anyway, they replaced the
cartridge under warrenty. But it left me very uneasy that a defect in
the color cartridge could disable B&W printing (which is basically all I
do). (Note: this problem of not being able to print B&W while the color
cart is dead may be a limitation in the MacOS driver; I am not sure it
would affect Windows users).

I've never bothered to shell out the bucks for the photo catridge
(making it a 6 color printer) because it seems too clumsy to have to
swap cartridges. Also, I know the photo color comes with a special
storage box, but I still don't trust it. I don't print very much and it
seems an invitation to dry out. And the cartridges are so expensive that
it would be terrible to have it dry out.

The output with 4 colors is mediocre -- grainy. I guess this should be
no surprise (hy sell a photo color cartridge?) but I've seen a 4 color
HP of the same generation that could do quite a bit better so I admit I
was somewhat disappointed.

However, I am quite happy with its black and white printing. I also
refilled the black cartridge once (only once in 2 years of owning this
printer; I don't print much) and that went fine. So it suits me for now.
Eventually I'll get something that can print good photos (and that
doesn't have to have cartridges swapped to do it).

-- Russell
 
Russell E. Owen" ([email protected]) said:
My own experience with Lexmark (based on owning one Z53) is that they
have excellent customer service but that the printer is only fair.

My original one came with a defect (the final powered roller wasn't,
making paper eject flaky), then the color cart died (making *all*
printing impossible). Note that it was not out of ink -- I had hardly
printed any color at all -- it simply died. Anyway, they replaced the
cartridge under warrenty. But it left me very uneasy that a defect in
the color cartridge could disable B&W printing (which is basically all I
do). (Note: this problem of not being able to print B&W while the color
cart is dead may be a limitation in the MacOS driver; I am not sure it
would affect Windows users).

I've never bothered to shell out the bucks for the photo catridge
(making it a 6 color printer) because it seems too clumsy to have to
swap cartridges. Also, I know the photo color comes with a special
storage box, but I still don't trust it. I don't print very much and it
seems an invitation to dry out. And the cartridges are so expensive that
it would be terrible to have it dry out.

The output with 4 colors is mediocre -- grainy. I guess this should be
no surprise (hy sell a photo color cartridge?) but I've seen a 4 color
HP of the same generation that could do quite a bit better so I admit I
was somewhat disappointed.

However, I am quite happy with its black and white printing. I also
refilled the black cartridge once (only once in 2 years of owning this
printer; I don't print much) and that went fine. So it suits me for now.
Eventually I'll get something that can print good photos (and that
doesn't have to have cartridges swapped to do it).

-- Russell
Click to expand...

You may be printing more color than you realize. When I want a black and
white page I set it that way (balck only) in print properties, because
many times a page is sent with color information and what you see is
composite black in the final product.

Brendan

--
 
You may be printing more color than you realize. When I want a black and
white page I set it that way (balck only) in print properties, because
many times a page is sent with color information and what you see is
composite black in the final product.
Click to expand...

Possible but unlikely. I mostly print black text. The driver would have
to be stunningly stupid to get that wrong.

Also the driver thought the color cartridge was mostly full (until it
died). Death was "power on the printer, get mysterious blinking error
light". The documentation hints that the PC driver includes some kind of
key for these blinking lights, but the Mac OS driver does not. The tech
support person said the cartridge had died (not emptied) and sent me
another one.

-- Russell
 
I think you've been lucky.

Just bought an X85 for the kids on an XP Home system. The software
installation was a nightmare and I had to just about everything the opposite
to what was said in the manuals.

Printed fine for a few minutes but as soon as PC suspended or printer went
in power save mode the communications have been lost and cannot be
restarted.

Suggests unplugging the USB cable and/or power cycling. This implies that
it'll have to be done daily or even more frequently which I'm not prepared
to do. My HP V40 at work is faultless and nigh bullet proof so I'm taking
the Lexmark back and changing it for an HP. The Lexmark is so bad that it
must be faulty.
 
I just replaced a Lexmark X73 multi unit I bought new a year ago last March.
The thing worked and printed great for a year, then started developing PC
communication problems. Found out searching the net that many people
experience problems with these units after the first year.

I've always been a big fan of HP, but decided to go Lexmark since I deal
everyday with their Optra laser printer line. Their Optra printers seem to
be halfway decent units (though horribly expensive to fix), but the life of
the X73 was a big $150 disappointment. I wouldn't even consider their new
$99 (Sam's Club) X125 multi unit.

So... back to HP I go. Just bought a HP 6110 all in one that's working
great. Also have a Laserjet 4L and 4P that I prefer over most other lasers
I've worked with. Still love those things despite the fact they're both 10+
years old. Had my old faithful Deskjet 520 so long that I basically just
gave it away in perfect working shape to move up to a color unit.
 
I think you've been lucky.

Just bought an X85 for the kids on an XP Home system. The software
installation was a nightmare and I had to just about everything the opposite
to what was said in the manuals.

Printed fine for a few minutes but as soon as PC suspended or printer went
in power save mode the communications have been lost and cannot be
restarted.

Suggests unplugging the USB cable and/or power cycling. This implies that
it'll have to be done daily or even more frequently which I'm not prepared
to do. My HP V40 at work is faultless and nigh bullet proof so I'm taking
the Lexmark back and changing it for an HP. The Lexmark is so bad that it
must be faulty.
Click to expand...
HP - have had 3 HP printers and now an HP PSC and never any problem or
complaint. The previous 3 are still in use on sisters and nieces pc's
and no problems. Been told by clerks at Future Shop, Staples and Office
Depot to stay away from the Lexmarks.
 
I bought a 1100 several Christmas' ago for $59 minus $50 mail in rebate.
That nine dollar printer worked like a champ with cartridges refilled 2 to 3
times each. Recently I decided to replace it with a $49 I-3, ($99 minus $50
rebate). My rebate request was not honored because they said it was
postmarked one day late. The printer has stopped working. Guess I'll go
looking for something diferent now.
 
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