Sharp UX B700 Plain Paper Inkjet Fax

Pros: 200 sheet machine, 20 sheet feeder, 100 page memory, ink-based machine.
Cons: Takes up a lot of desk space, a little slow when scanning.

We needed a plain paper fax machine for home use that could double as a copier to replace our old-fashioned thermal-roll machine. I saw this machine for sale at Costco for $99, less a $20 rebate (for a total of $80 when the check arrives) and decided to ...

Pros: Good scan and print quality. Looks impressive when smashed to bits with a hammer.
Cons: Insanely slow. Paper feed jams every time. Buy cheap, worth every penny wasted.

Below is a paragraph of the review I originally wrote for this machine. I never finished it and it was saved. I'm glad I never submitted it because now I have a chance to update it with the "after the honeymoon" ugly truth! *Quote from original ...

Pros: Refillable cartridge (undocumented) Holds 100 pages, decent print quality
Cons: Tiny cartridge, expensive refill Long-term reliability problems

Have owned the UX-B700 for well over a year now. The ink cart is tiny and doesn't hold much ink, a couple hundred pages, even with the ink-saver mode turned on (defaults to OFF!) Carts are expensive at about $32 each, and no refurb ones are available... ...

Pros: small footprint
Cons: ridiculously expensive ink usage poorly designed features

This is not a good fax machine. First, it uses ink at an astounding rate, and the cartridges are over $30 a piece. It seems to print out 50 pages, and then needs new ink. I have had the machine little more than two months and I've already paid more ...

Pros: Prints pretty good.
Cons: Too expensive to operate. A rip off!

This fax machine prints pretty good but uses too much ink or the cartridges are just so small with so little ink in them to keep you spending over 40.00 per cartridge. It only has a 90 day manufacturer's warranty. Some of the other machines have at least a 1 year warranty. I don't think it's worth the money. I think they have designed the cartridge so that it can not be refilled. To rrgy2k: Did you find a way to refill the cartridge to make it more feasible?

Pros: large paper tray pretty sturdy seeming
Cons: Finicky Slow faxing Sometimes the faxes don't really go through

This fax machine should be fine- it's a business fax and I got a reconditioned model. Well, the thing is soooo finicky, sometimes it lets me fax in a normal way and sometimes I have to go through contortions, dialing only, not using the speaker.

My biggest gripe is that I have had people say they haven't gotten faxes even after the machine says they went through. Now I'm paranoid about this and send them all twice.

I paid practically nothing for this machine after rebates and coupons, good thing because that's what it's worth.

Pros: Cheap - but don't be penny wise, pound foolish.
Cons: Temperamental machine with horrible tech support.

This product single-handedly destroyed my faith in Sharp.

Bought new from CostCo for ~$80, managed to get one text alignment page printed. Unplugged the device, when replugged in it just flashes CHECK CARTRIDGE.

It flashes with it it, with it out, when reset, when unplugged and plugged back in, even called Sharp where they had some unplug/wait/Hold-Start-And-Stop-As-You-Replug-In and it still didn't work.

Have spent hours trying to get it out of this error state. Sharp was no help and wanted me to send them the unit. I get to pay shipping both ways and repair costs, which exceed the cost of buy a new fax machine, meanwhile I'm out a fax. I think not!

Totally unsatisfied with the product and the experience, at least there won't be excessive ink cartridge costs.

[Managed to make some headway: unplugged the unit for a week and just let it sit -- seems whatever whatever holds the fax in that useless state can't survive without power. Was still able to send faxes while it sat in "clueless" mode. Still very, very unhappy.]

Pros: quality of copies
Cons: life-span

This machine provided good quality copies during its short life. After 120 days in use the machine gave error messages that could not be solved using troubleshooting guide. First e-mailed Sharp for help (no response) then called 800 number (received excellent help). End result is that I was told machine needed to be taken to a service center for repairs where the minimum service call costs $125 on the $90 machine. Machine now in dumpster and I'll think twice before taking a chance on a Sharp product.

Pros: it didn't burn down the house
Cons: it can't really get worse from a design perspective. hate it.

Cheap. you will pay a lot in the long run for this product. Sharp will gouge over the lifetime.

It is poorly designed. If you like working on paper jams, trying to figure out a poorly designed interfaces and have spare time to read websites, and go through manuals then this is the machine for you.

bottom line....a losers fax of choice.

Pros: Good print quality; easy to set up.
Cons: Very slow on incoming faxes.

Although the price of this machine is attractive, ($119.98 plus a $20 rebate from Staples), the performance was disappointing. We encountered problems with the feeding of outgoing pages to be sent, and found the incoming rate to be very slow.

Pros: Compact size, sufficient number of programmable keys.
Cons: Consumes ink at a devastating rate.

What would otherwise provide a good value fax machine is ultimately undermined by a voracious level of ink consumption. Our experience using this machine for incoming faxes has been cost prohibitive. In 4 weeks, we have spent over 4 times the cost of the machine in ink cartridges. Today we had a cartridge (perhaps it was faulty) expire in about 2 hours after printing about 20 pages. This machine has definitely got to go. We can no longer afford to replace the ink cartridges at $35 a pop.

Pros: Inexpensive to purchase. Compact. Prints nice. Easy to use.
Cons: EXPENSIVE TO OPERATE! Very Low page yield from ink cartridges. EXPENSIVE TO OPERATE!

This machine looks nice, prints nice, and was rather inexpensive to purchase. I paid about $80 at Costco. After about 200 pages, I got a huge dose of reality. The replacement cartridges for this thing are totally outrageous. They're $35-$40 and they only hold about 10 ml of ink. That's 1/3-1/2 of what most cartridges hold. Going the refill route is only successful about half the time. This machine has something built in that rejects many cartridges after you refill them. The readout says "check cartridge". After cleaning the contacts and reinstalling it several times, it still won't function. I guess that's Sharps way of making sure that you keep purchasing their outrageously priced cartridges.

I'm dumping this thing and getting an HP. It will cost me about $160, but thats only 4 of these expensive Sharp ink cartridges. I know from prior experience that I can refill HP cartridges successfully.

Remember the adage: There's no free lunch! You get what you pay for.

Pros: Inexpensive, easy to use, reliable fax machine
Cons: Bulky in size, copier doesn't do great job

This machine isn't the greatest in the world, but if you aren't wanting to spend a lot and mainly use it as a fax machine (as opposed to a copier)it will work fine. It is easy to set up, and easy to use. It is a little bit bulky, so make sure you have a big enough space for it. I have been pleased sending and receiving faxes, but am not thrilled with how it makes copies. The ink isn't always consistant over the entire page. The fax has quite a few nice features and stores a lot of fax numbers. I think there are alot better machines out there if you want to spend more, but if you are looking for a bargain, then this machine will do the job.

Pros: NONE
Cons: This machine SUCKS INK, and replacement cartridges are $40.00 each.

Extremely disappointed in this machine. The specs say that it will print up to 600 pages per ink cartridge. More like 100 in ink saver mode IF you are lucky. Very misleading information on the amount of pages the cartridge will actually print.

DO NOT BUY THIS MACHINE, THE COST OF INK IS CRIMINAL AND THE AMOUNT OF FAXES THAT ACTUALLY WILL PRINT WITH AN INK CARTRIDGE IS MISLEADING.

I have called Sharp Customer Service and they are of NO HELP.

Pros: Nice looking machine.
Cons: Faxes jam when trying to send. Copy function weak.

This is the worst electronic item I own! If it ever sent a fax without jamming the first six times, I would probably fall over dead. I have not been able to successfully receive a fax and the copy function doesn't seem to work at all. Every time I use this worthless fax machine, I become irritated and regret the day I bought it.

Pros: Print quality good.
Cons: Everything else cumbersome and poor; broken after 7 months of light use.

I bought this because the salesman in Office Depot raved about it. The clincher was that he said the ink cartridges were only about $13. They didn't have any ink cartridges in stock, so imagine my surprise when the ones I ordered came in at close to $40 each!!!! Now, after only 7 months it is broken. The machine says it has no ink even when I put in a new cartridge (I've even tried two new cartridges). So now I can't receive faxes. Do NOT buy this product!

Pros: copies/faxes
Cons: The ink cost is criminal.

The fax works fine. The ink cartridge is expensive and tiny, and there are smarts in the box to make refills difficult for you (you'll be looking at a perpetual "check cartridge" message before you know it).

I'm figuring it costs about $.40 per page just for the ink to use this machine. Of course, this is never disclosed to you. This machine would be a rip-off if somebody gave it to you for free!

Buy something (anything) else!

Pros: nice features, low initial price.
Cons: $40 inkjet cartridges only print ~200 pages; initial cartridge only prints couple dozen pages.

I bought this fax for $80 from costco ($100 - $20). Thought it was a great machine until I discovered that the SPECIAL initial low-capacity inkjet cartridge only lasts a couple dozen prints.

Refills are $40 and print ~200 page.

Did I mention inkjet refill cartridges are $40?