Not worth the price (FREE)
Written: Feb 13 '02
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Ease of Use: |
 |
|
| Paper Handling: |
 |
|
|
Pros: Beautiful color and photo prints!
Cons: You can't do ANYTHING with what you've printed.
The Bottom Line: Do not bother with this printer, an inkjet is just as capable, faster and provides a more permanent copy.
|
|
|
| twisted_pair's Full Review: Tektronix Phaser 850 Printer |
I received this printer FREE of charge from the Xerox free color printer program. As long as you maintain a monthly print capacity (approx. 2500 pages) and buy your ink only from Xerox then the printer is yours.
I'll get to the ink and supplies info in a bit but I'd like to start of with print quality. This printer is being pushed as one of the best, fastest and most cost effective color printers and a replacement for the more expensive color laser printers. I'll be the first to admit that the output from this printer is AMAZING, especially photos on plain paper. It really prints beautifully and the color is outstanding.
The first thing I noticed was the glossy ink texture that gave the prints a photo look. I later learned that this glossy texture is because the ink is waxed based... that's right, just like a color crayon. Now we all know what happens if you run your finger nail over a page that's been colored on... it scratches off! No different with this printer, the exception being that this ink seems to scratch off way too easily. Another thing you don't do with crayon covered pages is to get them too warm because the wax melts. Again, same with the printer which means NO laminating, NO iron on transfers, NO copy machines, NO laser printers and NO direct sunlight! I left an important presentation in my car one day only to find it completely ruined. You can't do anything with the printouts, they are too fragile to pass around, you can't laminate to protect them and if you file the prints away the pages stick together. I wouldn't even burn them for fear of a candle effect. You can laminate the pages if you want a cool acid trip tie-dye effect (I've kept a couple.)
Now lets talk about speed, SLOWWWWWW. This thing was supposed to be fast (8 pages per minute in standard color mode.) They don't tell you about the 5 minutes it takes for the printer to load the document before the printing takes place. Not to mention the time it takes to "wake up" from power save (about 7 - 10 minutes.) This poor printer is also extremely noisy, I called tech support twice on this issue alone only to be told that this is normal.
Speaking of tech support, I've had to call them a lot! This printer is about as reliable as an Pinto. Constantly jamming, coming up with weird errors and printing thousands (that's right 1000's) of printer test pages on it's own random schedule. This last point doesn't surprise me though considering you have to purchase your ink from Xerox, what better way to force a sale then have the printer use up all it's ink.
Now on to the ink itself, I mentioned earlier the "color crayon effect", well that's what the ink is... big fat color crayons. They work well as crayons too, just ask my kids. As the printer melts the crayon ink on the paper there is a lot of melted wax residue that ends up in a tray that has to be emptied on a regular basis (I wonder if Crayola would be interested in the run-off.) The ink is also very expensive but is offset by the free black ink provided by Xerox.
Installation: Yeah, this is where this printer shines. It installs in a snap, works as a stand alone or network printer and it just loves Windows 9X, ME, NT, 2000, XP and Macintosh. No problems getting it set up at all. She's heavy though roughly 27 million pounds and a bit bulky.
In summary: I'm really disappointed in this printer and I'm glad I didn't pay a dime for it. It is really useless and a big eye-sore in my office. With the amount of heat this baby puts out though, it makes a great heater in the winter.
Recommended:
No
Operating System: Windows and Macintosh
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
twisted_pair
|
|
Member: Justin Chamberlain
Location: Everett, WA
Reviews written: 4
Trusted by: 0 members
About Me:
I'm in my own little world but it's ok, they know me here.
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.