LEXMARK X1180 - 100 pages over 12 months - Will it last?

  • Thread starter Thread starter junk1
  • Start date Start date
J

junk1

Im thinking of buying a Lexmark X1180 - its only £39 at PC World. Now
a quick search seems to suggest that its cheap because its unreliable
and the refill ink is very expensive.

At £39 a pop I dont mine if it only lasts a year, I dont print much
probably about 100 pages per year. Ive had my previous Lexmark Z31 for
about 4 years and its been fine apart from drying up if left unused for
a few months.

....do you think an X1180 will last a year?

Thanks

David Bevan
http://www.davidbevan.co.uk
 
Im thinking of buying a Lexmark X1180 - its only £39 at PC World. Now
a quick search seems to suggest that its cheap because its unreliable
and the refill ink is very expensive.

At £39 a pop I dont mine if it only lasts a year,

Would you mind if it lasts a week or possibly a day?
I dont print much
probably about 100 pages per year. Ive had my previous Lexmark Z31 for
about 4 years and its been fine apart from drying up if left unused for
a few months.

...do you think an X1180 will last a year?

Thanks

I AM GOD. I WILL NOT TELL YOU. BUY AN HP WITH AN INTEGRATED CARTRIDGE.
 
...do you think an X1180 will last a year?

Do you need a multifucitonal unit or is this just because they are
cheap.

Let me ask you this about your Lexmark z31. How many times a year did
you have to shell out money because your cart dried up? Once, Twice,
Three times? How much did you have to shell out because it dryied up.
£15-£20 for the black, another £20 for the color if needed? Let's
say you did get the x1180 for £40, and a few months of neglect and
you have to shell out £20 to print some more, and another £20 to
print some more later.

Given your ultra light volume, have you thought about an entry level
laser? £80 to £100 is a good deal more than a £40 printer but
there is no chance in heck it'll dry out. Some companies won't give
you a full toner cart when you buy a printer, but others will. And a
1500p yeild that will not dry out after years of neglect might be a
better deal then something with a 400p yield that will dry out after a
few months.

I'm not directly familar with the x1185, only the free dell A920s which
I believe are the Lexmark x1180. I like the software it comes with,
very intuitive and lets you peform basic fuctions like scan to
fax/e-mail with few mouse clicks. Work after a year of light duty use?
Sure! But at least one cart a year required for light duty users.

But on the other hand... I have a niece who still uses a Canon BJ-2100.
It uses thimble sized inktanks about 10ml each. In theory it came
with a plastic container that you should put the entire printhead and
ink tank assembly into for long term storage, but she always forgets.
But using Windex (Windoleen) it clears the clogged ink and continues
working. Whether this would work on the lexmark carts I don't know.

To that end consider the "MP 110" for amost twice as much. I'm not a
big fan of it because it uses the thimble sized almost 10ml BCI24bk
cart @ £6.00/pop and a color BCI24C £12.00/pop. Even if you have to
windowlean the head from time to time, and while it's not as good a
deal per page as other printers, it's better then the Lexmark.
 
another idiotic post by...
Would you mind if it lasts a week or possibly a day?


I AM GOD. I WILL NOT TELL YOU. BUY AN HP WITH AN INTEGRATED CARTRIDGE.


--
 
zakezuke" ([email protected]) said:
Do you need a multifucitonal unit or is this just because they are
cheap.

Let me ask you this about your Lexmark z31. How many times a year did
you have to shell out money because your cart dried up? Once, Twice,
Three times? How much did you have to shell out because it dryied up.
=A315-=A320 for the black, another =A320 for the color if needed? Let's
say you did get the x1180 for =A340, and a few months of neglect and
you have to shell out =A320 to print some more, and another =A320 to
print some more later.

Given your ultra light volume, have you thought about an entry level
laser? =A380 to =A3100 is a good deal more than a =A340 printer but
there is no chance in heck it'll dry out. Some companies won't give
you a full toner cart when you buy a printer, but others will. And a
1500p yeild that will not dry out after years of neglect might be a
better deal then something with a 400p yield that will dry out after a
few months.

I'm not directly familar with the x1185, only the free dell A920s which
I believe are the Lexmark x1180. I like the software it comes with,
very intuitive and lets you peform basic fuctions like scan to
fax/e-mail with few mouse clicks. Work after a year of light duty use?
Sure! But at least one cart a year required for light duty users.

But on the other hand... I have a niece who still uses a Canon BJ-2100.
It uses thimble sized inktanks about 10ml each. In theory it came
with a plastic container that you should put the entire printhead and
ink tank assembly into for long term storage, but she always forgets.
But using Windex (Windoleen) it clears the clogged ink and continues
working. Whether this would work on the lexmark carts I don't know.

To that end consider the "MP 110" for amost twice as much. I'm not a
big fan of it because it uses the thimble sized almost 10ml BCI24bk
cart @ =A36.00/pop and a color BCI24C =A312.00/pop. Even if you have to
windowlean the head from time to time, and while it's not as good a
deal per page as other printers, it's better then the Lexmark.


I have a Lexmark Z52 with carts in it that have to be 3 years old--not
sitting there for 4 years, but purchased before I switched to a Z65. The
clog if you look at them, but its no problem. Just before I print I wet a
gauze pad, snap both out, pat the nozzled down and re-istall (no
allignment, either). Works fine. then it sits for a week or two, since
the computer its on is a back-up.

It doens't get mentioned much here, but apparently cartridges have
exiration dates too, these days (these didn't). I suppose the volatiles
(alcohol?) in the ink evaporate and the nozzles clog up more easily with
dye/pigment. I'm just happy that my problem is solved so simply.

There are anti-Lexmark nuts, but I note that nobody complains much about
the, while Canon problems are a hot topic. Ink cost is the big lexmark
gripe, but apparently Canon won't let you use an entire cartridge--I'm not
sure about ink tanks. I'm thinking about Canon when I replace my Z65
because of the projected economy of ink tanks, but if they are as small
described, where's the savings if I don't refill?

Refilling, that's another topic, full of legend, lore and mis-information.
I bought a cheap laser instead (the Samsung ML 1740 is going for $80 after
rebates and the only thing wrong with it is that it sucks an extra page up
once in a while when it prints a large job). For utility B&W printing it
beats anthing an ink-jet can do, costwise.

Of course, the way prices are coming down, a color laser is no longer a
dream, but then the cost of consumables gets REAL interesting.

Brendan

--
 
There are anti-Lexmark nuts, but I note that nobody complains much about
the, while Canon problems are a hot topic. Ink cost is the big lexmark
gripe, but apparently Canon won't let you use an entire cartridge--I'm not
sure about ink tanks. I'm thinking about Canon when I replace my Z65
because of the projected economy of ink tanks, but if they are as small
described, where's the savings if I don't refill?

-switching to american currency mode-

I have to admit, I'm not big on the Lexmarks, but only because of the
OEM cost of ink vs quality. Their multifuctionals wouldn't be too bad
if this wasn't an issue. Their small size makes them pretty
attractive. I do have some issues with their drivers at times. I
will gladly inform people about their high cost per page except on the
rare models that are more reasonable and let them make up their own
mind.

The Canon I described is one of their entry level models which take
thimble sized ink tanks. I think 9.5ml $7.00 150p or so estimatd
4.6c/page. BCI-24bk. This is pretty lame, but better than Lexmark OEM
generally, and HP sometimes. Keep in mind that this is the option on
their $50 printer and entry level home AIOs.

I'm too lazy to calculate the cost of lexmarks OEM per page, I remember
that the Dell using the Dell T0529 were 6.6c/page.It worked out I
believe to be over $10,000/gal.

Now my mp760 and ip3000, just like others in the ip class
(3000/4000/5000) take the BCI-3e 25ml black 500p $12.00 2.4c/page.
$2000ish/gal IIRC The colors [BCI-6(whatever color} are 15ml. Costco I
believe has the black for $9 each if you buy the 4 pack, or was it a 3
pack. Office depot has Black CMY for $40 but didn't include the extra
black for the ip4000 and others. Not as cool as many HPs that take the
#96 black in therms of raw yield(800p), but very very good cost per
page. Oddly enough the black turns out to be cheaper than their multi
fuctional imageclass lasers using the s35,l50,x25 toners which were
about 3 to 3.6c page.

My experence base isn't enough to answer questions regarding the Canons
not letting you the entire inktank. But I know that the mp760 uses a
prism and light to establish fullness, rather than my Epson r200 that
used bubble count and refused to let me print the last 3ml in the tank.
Not sure on my ip3000.
 
Back
Top