The wrong multifunction for small business
Written: May 24 '03 (Updated May 26 '03)
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Pros: Good for scanning to Acrobat.
Cons: Software. Cheap build quality.
The Bottom Line: If you need something for business uses, this is not the one.
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| richa65's Full Review: Hewlett Packard OfficeJet d145 InkJet Printer |
Overview
I purchased the d145 in late December. I was in the process of starting a new business and I planned to use this for 3 things: 1) Sending faxes (I use Jfax to receive) 2) Copying 3) Scanning to PDF. I have not really used it for printing black and white (I have a laser printer) and for printing color I use a Canon S820). Therefore this review will focus on the three aspects that I have experience with.
The Physical Package
Yeah, it's big. It looks good and it seems fairly well-built. However, upon closer inspection of the sheet feeder, you can see that it is probably not going to stand up to some long-term use. If you do decide to purchase the D145 and plan to do a lot of work with the feeder - please purchase an extended warranty or at least buy it with your Amex card to get the additional 1 year.
The Sheet Feeder
I was thrilled with this part of the D145 for the first 4 1/2 months of operation. It was almost 100% accurate. Almost never jammed, almost never missed a sheet. It will jam if you put a slightly thicker than normal sheet in it, and it will miss sheets if you put something through that had been stapled together then the staple removed. I won't knock off points for either of these.
Unfortunately, last week the feeder quit working. If I put more than 10 sheets into it now, it will not take the first sheet in. I just don't believe that the feeder was built to last and I cannot recommend the D145 as a result.
Faxing
This was probably my main use for the 145. I have faxed a large number of documents in the 5 months and I would say that I am happy with it as long as the software was not involved. It is fairly fast and the quality is good. I like the fact that you can fax from the front panel or from the software.
Here's where another problem comes into play. The software for the 145 is really, really, bad. When faxing from the PC, the HP software locked up my Dell 8200 running XP home a number of times (and I have seen other reviews which have referenced this problem). I spent 1 hour on the phone with HP support. They gave me the updated software and it seems to have fixed the old lockup situation. Unfortunately, now when a fax errors out and I go into the log to manually resend it, I get a new and different lockup. Basically, you cannot resend a fax with the new software. The only workaround is to print the fax to my internal faxmodem in my PC.
Copier
The quality on the copier is good for an inkjet based machine. The speed seems to be within the specs that HP has provided. Overall, I'm pleased with the copy function of the unit and having made a decent number of copies of the 4 months (and I never receive faxes nor print to it), I have not yet had to replace an ink cartridge.
Scanner
The scanner was my favorite part of the package up until the feeder died. Scanning files to Acrobat was a very important feature to me as I do a lot of archiving of paper files. When scanning to acrobat, the speed is very good and the quality is excellent. I would say that it takes about 40 seconds per 10 pages scanning as a black and white document. Basically, you put your 30 or 40 pages in the feeder, hit the "Scan to" button, hit the "Scan" button, grab a cup of coffee, then come back and save your new PDF document. This was my only use for the scanner and I have no experience with color or graphics.
Conclusion
I cannot recommend the D145 because of my issues with the feeder and the software - specifically as the software relates to the fax function. I mean I really cannot convey to you just how frustrating it was working with this software on a day-to-day basis.
Let me sum up my overall opinion by saying that despite the many positive aspects of the 145, I am currently awaiting my replacement from HP so that I can ebay it and replace it with the Brother MFC9700. As much as I'm afraid of the Brother name, I cannot buy another HP simply because of their terrible software and lack of support.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 499
Operating System: Windows
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Epinions.com ID:
richa65
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Reviews written: 3
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