The Day My Z11 Died
Written: Mar 08 '01 (Updated Mar 08 '01)
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Pros: Well, it's cheap.
Cons: Poor print quality, expensive cartridges and poor dependability.
The Bottom Line: As with most things, avoid the cheapest. Spend a little more money for a better printer and you'll save yourself a lot of cash and aggravation in the long run.
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| sulkn's Full Review: Lexmark Jet Z11 InkJet Printer |
Now, I've always known that it's not wise to buy the cheapest version of any item on the market, especially when it comes to electronics. However, I when I was looking for an affordable printer to output records of my web purchases , and maybe the odd piece of info that I looked up on the Net for my parents, I came across the Lexmark Z11. Most of the online tech sites gave it pretty decent reviews, it was cheap, and it was on sale everywhere--so I went for it.
At first everything seemed okay. Sure, the print quality was quite poor, and it was slow, but it suited my needs. In the speed department, this printer didn't even have much advantage over my old dot matrix. (My dot matrix printer is still in my closet, in perfect working condition, I might add.)
Since I wasn't really expecting blazing speed or photograph-quality images from my economy printer, I didn't complain. Soon, however, I noticed how quickly my trusty Z11 was sucking up the ink. The printer didn't come with a black-only cartridge, just a full-color cartridge. That meant that every time I printed plain black text (which was almost always), all my ink colors were used. Basically, the printer mixed the cyan, yellow and red ink to make a blackish color. What a waste. I didn't print very much or very often, but my cartridge was half empty within a few months. I resorted to printing text in pure red, then pure green to save ink. It was futile.
The big shock came when I finally broke down and purchased my replacement cartridge. Even the plain black cartridge cost more than two-thirds of the original price of my printer. Also, the black cartridge was only a few bucks cheaper than the color one. What a rip. Not having much choice, I bought it anyway.
At this point everything went horribly wrong. A few weeks after replacing my ink, in total about 5 months after purchasing the printer, my Z11 suddenly wouldn't turn on. I pushed the power button. I pushed it again. And again. I plugged the printer in. I unplugged it. I rebooted my computer. I checked all the connections. I changed wall sockets. I changed rooms. I cursed, and I swore, but not even as much as a green light would flicker on the front. My printer was officially and completely dead! Worst of all, when the premature death occured my expensive new ink was only slightly used. This was a true tragedy, indeed.
Like any good consumer, I looked up the Lexmark web site and visited the support section. After a rather amusing and not-so-productive attempt to communicate with support staff through on-line chat ("Hello?" "Hello?" "Are you there?" "Can I help you?") I was instructed to call the toll free telephone support line.
On the phone, the support woman was incredibly friendly and sympathetic about my printer's demise. We chatted, comparing the sunny weather in Orlando, Florida (where she was) and the icy winds in Toronto, Ontario (where I was). Sadly, however, she seemed to know nothing about printers or computers in general. After an fumbling conversation in which I attempted to explain the complex details of "it won't turn on", I suggested that perhaps there was a problem with the printer's power supply.
"Of course!" she said, as if she'd known that was the problem all along and was just waiting for me to guess. "Is it warm?" she asked. I touched the power supply. It did not seem warm, so I touched some other power supplies related to my computer that had been plugged in for the same amount of time. They seemed warm.
It was all settled--I provided my name and mailing address and the friendly woman assured me that a brand-new power supply was on it's way and would arrive in only a few weeks.
That was four months ago and my power supply never arrived. I just don't have the heart or the inspiration to call support again. I'll buy a newer and better printer soon. In the meantime I'll just use the printer at the office for all my hardcopy needs.
I do, however, have the heart and inspiration to warn others about my tale of woe. My advice is to spend a little more--you'll get a better quality, faster printer, and hopefully it will survive more than half-a-year of moderate usage.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 69.99
Operating System: Windows
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Epinions.com ID:
sulkn
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Member: Gary
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Reviews written: 27
Trusted by: 29 members
About Me:
A 30-year-old web developer in Toronto, Canada.
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