having not owned a printer for 5+ years...

[Pua'i Mana'o]

Re: having not owned a printer for 5+ years...

truth be told, these responses greatly influenced my decision. I went to the store last night to scout the offerings and took about an hr doing so w/o spending a dime.

I thought about my color needs. Over the years they represent just a fraction of our print jobs. 2-sided copying was my more frequent need. Also, the comments about ink consumption compelled consideration. I also make a lot of copies, so that took priority along with the dbl-sided printing.

Then there is my budget to consider, which was under $600. This model was on sale, and like you said, "buy the most you can afford". I tried looking for a color all/one model, but the few offered were too expensive.

For now, if we need color, we can still resort to our print shop services. Maybe we might get a cheapie color printer, but I doubt it.

The bucket shall do.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: having not owned a printer for 5+ years...

As much as I hate lexmark, I bought the Lexmark X8350 at Office Max a few months ago. What sold me on it was it had everything I wanted. It's a four in one machine (print,scan, copy, fax). It had a small color lcd screen to preview jpeg images directly from the plug in multi-card reader, but the two biggest important features for me was that the paper loading tray was just that, a flat front loader.

Some printers like the Epson loads paper from a rear hopper so the paper sits vertically and with damp humid conditions, the paper can limp and fall forward over the printer itself. The Lexmark is a bottom front feed tray so the paper stays flat.

The other important feature was that Office Max had an ink cartridge refilling station right there in the store.

One important thing I look for in an inkjet printer is the cost of cartridge replacement. In the Lexmark case the cartridges were cheap enough and were refillable at Office Max whereas the HP print cartridges weren't.

As for how well a Lexmark is built, I bought the extended replacement warranty from Office Max so if it fails on me Office Max will give me a store credit to purchase anything I want there up to the purchase price of the printer. At that point I buy another Lexmark or upgrade to something better.

Normally I wouldn't touch a Lexmark with a ten foot pole, but because of the features and refilling availbility (cheaper than buying new cartridges) I opted for it. So far this printer prints beautifully and I have had no regrets as I've owned it for almost 6-months now and no glitches yet.

[Konaguy]

Re: having not owned a printer for 5+ years...

Craig, stop the presses I've been in Office Max in Hilo quite a few times.Never once I saw this refilling station you speak of. Where in the store is located ?
Does it only refill certain Lexmark printer cartridges ? I'm curious because I have a Lexmark Z515 Printer.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: having not owned a printer for 5+ years...

Craig, stop the presses I've been in Office Max in Hilo quite a few times.Never once I saw this refilling station you speak of. Where in the store is located ?
Does it only refill certain Lexmark printer cartridges ? I'm curious because I have a Lexmark Z515 Printer.

The one in Hilo offers this service, it's up front behind the customer service counter. It refills most brands. Come to think of it, I think they do refill HP but not Brother. HP's a good brand however in humid conditions (such as in Manoa on Oahu or Kurtistown on the Big Island) I've had really bad results with HP's transport system. I had a Brother in Kurtistown and it performed magnificantly in humid conditions. But the problem with Brother was Office Max's lack of ability to refill those cartridges.


The Lexmark offered flat sheet feeding from a tray, flatbed scanning, multi card reading, color LCD preview, and low cost cartridges. The refill option at Office Max was icing on the cake.

The really nice part of this printer was the footprint on the table. It doesn't have these protrusions that extend beyond itself too far. The fact that the paper feed tray and the ejection tray are accessable from the front makes it easy to load and retrieve documents. It also has a multi sheet feeder for scanning and copying.

[EastCoastTropics]

Re: having not owned a printer for 5+ years...

We love HP printers and have had HP printers since we got our first PC.

I have the HP Photosmart 3310 All-in-One....Printer/Fax/Scanner/Copier. I don't use the fax, more use of it for printing, copying and printing 4x6 photos. I also have this hooked up to a wireless router so that hubby's laptop can print out as well. I love the quality of the prints!

[Konaguy]

Re: having not owned a printer for 5+ years...

The one in Hilo offers this service, it's up front behind the customer service counter.

Mahalo Craig for the tip. I called up Office Max and confirmed they support my lexmark printer cartridges. It will cost 15.00 to refill the color and 14.00 for the black cartridges.