Replace Optra S?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Kelly
  • Start date Start date
K

Kelly

I've got a nine-year-old Lexmark Optra S that needs a new printhead
(errors 934 and 935 involving the mirror motor). About three months
ago, I replaced the fuser and rollers for $200 and my repair guy wants
another $200 for the scanner. He gives me a one-year warranty on parts,
but I'm wondering if anything else is likely to fail soon and if I
should get a new printer.

It's been my impression that printer quality has gone down over the
years and that I may be better off fixing my old one, but I'd appreciate
any thoughts.

Thanks.

Kelly
 
Kelly said:
I've got a nine-year-old Lexmark Optra S that needs a new printhead
(errors 934 and 935 involving the mirror motor). About three months
ago, I replaced the fuser and rollers for $200 and my repair guy wants
another $200 for the scanner. He gives me a one-year warranty on parts,
but I'm wondering if anything else is likely to fail soon and if I
should get a new printer.

It's been my impression that printer quality has gone down over the
years and that I may be better off fixing my old one, but I'd appreciate
any thoughts.

Thanks.

Kelly
Click to expand...

These were very well built printers. If it worked well before the laser failed
I would be inclined to have it fixed especially since it has a fairly new
fuser. Most of the other parts that are likely to fail in time are cheaper than
the laser and the fuser unless you get very unlucky indeed. What is the page
count?
Tony
MS MVP Printing/Imaging
 
Tony said:
These were very well built printers. If it worked well before the laser failed
I would be inclined to have it fixed especially since it has a fairly new
fuser. Most of the other parts that are likely to fail in time are cheaper than
the laser and the fuser unless you get very unlucky indeed. What is the page
count?
Tony
MS MVP Printing/Imaging
Click to expand...

Hi Tony,

How would I find out the page count? The operator panel is frozen
displaying a the needs service message.

Kelly
 
Kelly said:
Hi Tony,

How would I find out the page count? The operator panel is frozen
displaying a the needs service message.

Kelly
Click to expand...

In that case you can't unfortunately. You can only estimate it based on the
paper you have put in the printer.
Tony
MS MVP Printing/Imaging
 
If you've ever printed the menu settings, that page would show the page
count. If it's recent enough, it will provide a good estimate of the
current page count.

One thing that Lexmark Optra S series laser printers will require is a
maintenance kit at 250,000 pages. The printer will actually display
"80 Scheduled Maintenance" when it hits this mark. See your user
manual for this message (still available online). Depending on how
much duty this printer has seen, you may be approaching another repair
bill, as the maintenance kit is designated as not customer installable.
It requires partial disassembly of the printer, and access to the
printer's engineering menus to reset some items (which is not
documented in any user manual). For that kind of money, you may be
better off investing in a new model.

Granted, these are still pretty fair printers, as we still have a few
old networked S's (1855/2455 models) and T's (T61x) left in our
department that are due for replacement, most over 750,000 pages (we've
got about 2,000 Optra T63x and T64x lasers). However, as a personal
printer, their projected life may be limited by technology, as they
only support a parallel port, or a network card (token-ring or
ethernet). No USB on these puppies... too old. So if you ever get a
computer without a parallel port, you'll be out of luck unless you're
on a network.

But then, I'm still keeping my old 1989 HP LaserJet III alive and
kicking, which is even older than your Lexmark's Optra S. I got my
hands on it around 1998 when it had a page count around 1250 (it sat on
a senior exec's desk for 8 years). It now has over 30,000 pages
printed, and it's still going strong. Some of these older lasers are
tanks... almost 18 years old, and it just doesn't want to quit. Mind
you, I haven't spent a dime on it, other than toner and ozone filters.

Bullitt
 
Kelly said:
I've got a nine-year-old Lexmark Optra S that needs a new printhead
(errors 934 and 935 involving the mirror motor). About three months
ago, I replaced the fuser and rollers for $200 and my repair guy wants
another $200 for the scanner. He gives me a one-year warranty on parts,
but I'm wondering if anything else is likely to fail soon and if I
should get a new printer.

It's been my impression that printer quality has gone down over the
years and that I may be better off fixing my old one, but I'd appreciate
any thoughts.

Thanks.

Kelly
Click to expand...

Thanks Tony and Bullitt for all the informaiton!

I decided not to repair the Lexmark for now. I've temporarily replaced
it with a $30 Epson 880 ink jet I got on craigslist because I had to
print for business. The color's fun, the lack of speed is not. Hard to
believe I paid about $1,600 for the Lexmark nine years ago, but I got my
money's worth and wish it was still with me (well, on my desk instead of
in the corner on the floor).

Kelly
 
Kelly said:
Thanks Tony and Bullitt for all the informaiton!

I decided not to repair the Lexmark for now. I've temporarily replaced
it with a $30 Epson 880 ink jet I got on craigslist because I had to
print for business. The color's fun, the lack of speed is not. Hard to
believe I paid about $1,600 for the Lexmark nine years ago, but I got my
money's worth and wish it was still with me (well, on my desk instead of
in the corner on the floor).

Kelly
Click to expand...

I run two Optra S machines. I think if I were in your spot I'd fix the
Optra. You're going to spend 25% the repair bill on Epson ink when the
color printer runs low. You already know the Optra goes thousands of pages
between fillups.

Besides - can you buy anything even CLOSE to the performance of your Optra
for $200? Not hardly.
 
Back
Top