Kodak EasyShare 5500 All-in-One Printer Print, Copy, Scan, and Fax (1600105) Review

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(More customer reviews)I WAS in the market for a replacement for my aging Lexmark X6100 All-In-One so I was very up beat when I found out that Kodak has come up with "cheap ink" AiO printer line.
I got the 5500 at Best Buy for what I though was a decent price of $199.
I set it up, printed a demo page, calibrated the printer and printed a diagnostic page. Printer was pretty slow and noisy but worked fine so far. Then I sent to it a 4x6 photograph and got the familiar and popular error saying that "the print head is missing or needs to be replaced". After reinstalling the print head over and over as suggested by the diagnostic message, I gave up after loosing 4 hrs of my life. Next day, I called the Customer Support at Kodak. The person with a very high level of certainty diagnosed my issue as a 'faulty print head' - seemingly a very popular cause with this printer. The print head was to arrive overnight - It arrived 3 days later. Replacing the head did not help. So, I went to the Kodak website and learned that there is a new firmware for this printer. After uploading the new firmware to the printer it went dumb. It was spitting out two sheets and then wrinkling up and spitting out more pages. No way to stop it except pulling the plug. So, I did. Next day, convinced that it must be an isolated issue, I went to Best Buy to replace the printer. I went through the exact same initial steps again and even got further this time. I was able to print 8 4x6 color photos in the "Best" mode, which looked pretty good as far as color saturation, but were a bit skewed. They also used up close to 50% of my color ink cartridge! So, I estimate that I can get probably only about 20-25 such prints out of a full color ink cartridge, which is much much less than the advertised 35. Then I tried the double sided print from a network computer and found out that the duplex option is disabled on every computer except the one to which the printer is physically connected. This is of course not advertised anywhere. So, I decided to test the double sided printing on the host. It was sloooooooooooow and not printing out a large part of the top of the page. So, I said to my self - Ok, there must surely be a good reason for the new firmware to be offered on Kodak's website. So, I uploaded it again and...the printer went dumb again...
I actually read the reviews on Amazon and still decided to give this printer a try "because it looked sooo nice and offered sooo much". I said to myself, what the heck - I am a pretty savvy techie - I can certainly do better than these "Amazon amateurs". Well, now I am joining what actually turned out to be a pretty wise Amazon crowd with my tail and ears curled all the way down in my disappointment.
Next day, I returned the second printer and am sticking to my old Lexmark for time being.
Kodak 5500 and especially its software and firmware are of poor quality. Endless errors, less than ideal prints, DON'T BUY. Consider yourself warned.
And...please read more interesting reviews of its sibling - the 5300 series.
One more thing - "friendly Kodak guy". Please spare me your comment...


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Print Copy Scan. 32ppm text print speed.28 second best quality photo speed. Best in class print speed in most common print modes for both documents and photos. 20 sheet 4x 6photo tray. 100 sheet main tray. High performance 3840 nozzle dual drop print head. High quality CCD scanner.Make up to 99 copieswithout need of a PC. 2.4 LCD display, memory card slots. Pictbridge and USB drive for singleclick stand alone photo printing. Optional Bluetooth. Fast Black and color faxing at 33.6kbps with one touch speed dials and 100 page memory buffer. Crop photos or copiesto the imagesize and brightness you want from the front panel(No Pc required). Two sided document printing.

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Canon Pixma MP830 Office All-In-One Inkjet Printer (0583B002) Review

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(More customer reviews)I've been waiting for this printer to come out for quite some time. I previously used Canon's MP730 and completely loved it. This new version adds several great features, and after a few days of playing around with it, it has lived up to my high expectations.
The MP830 is a bit shorter and wider than Canon's previous all-in-ones, and it looks a bit more "classy" with a black-on-black keypad and a color LCD screen. There are two paper trays: the main tray is an upright tray in the rear, and a pull-out tray is located on the bottom of the machine. My old 730 had a plastic cover that protected the paper in the vertical tray from dust, and that cover is no longer included. I live is a dusty area, and if the paper gets a layer of dust on it, that dust can collect on and clog the print head. To remedy this, I've decided to use the smaller pull out tray as my primary paper tray (you can select the primary paper tray with a button on the keypad).
This printer uses Canon's new "8" series inks. While these are top-of-the-line inks (UV resistant, pigment/dye system), they are considerably more expensive than the 3 or 6 series inks used my many of Canons previous printers. Also, each ink cartridge has a small computer chip attached to it which makes obtaining remanufactured or generic cartridges difficult. At the moment you cannot find generic ink for this printer, and various websites advise against refilling these cartridges as they ink density is different from the previous inks, and doing so might wreck your printhead. So if you were used to paying $3/cartridge for generic canon cartridges, you might have to raise your ink budget for a while (currently, cartridges are about $14 each, and there are five of them in this printer).
This printer has duplex printing and scanning, meaning that it can scan/print both sides of a sheet. At some point, I was led to believe that the scanner was able to scan both sides *at the same time*, but that is actually not the case. After a piece of paper is scanned through the auto document feeder, it is sucked back in, flipped around and re-scanned. This adds considerable time to your scanning tasks. If you are pressed for time, it is actually faster to scan in "manual duplex" where you scan the front sides of pages, then manually the pages over and re-scan the back sides. However, if you want to hit the scan button and walk away, the auto-duplex does its job well. The same issue exists for duplex printing--it works, but it takes more time than if you had manually duplexed the pages.
The fax is a fax. It works fine, and some test color-faxes I sent came out well.
The copier also works well, and the duplexers allow you to make two-sided to two-sided copies, but as I said before, this takes some time.
The scanner does a great job with photos and documents. It is considerably faster than earlier models, thanks in part to the USB 2.0 interface and new scan sensor. Also, the updated scanning software is a significant improvment over previous versions.
I've printed out some photos and they are of amazing quality, which is what I expect from Canon printers. However, because of the cost of the inks, I will not be printing photos very often. The text is a bit light for my taste (the black is more like a very dark grey).
All in all, this is a great printer/scanner/fax/copier and I am very happy with it.
---
Note: Unfortunately, the memory card slots on the printer do not allow for USB2.0 transfer to the comptuer. If you need to move lots of data from a memory card to your desktop, use a dedicated card-reader; using the slots on this printer takes way too long.
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ADDED 5/9/06: After having this machine for just over a month, I have to say it runs through ink way too fast. My ink status lists several cartridges as only 25% full, and is warning me that two of my colors are "almost empty." I print 90% black text, 9% color documents (web pages, rebate forms, etc), and only about 1% photos (I have only printed 2 4x6 photos since I purchased the printer). My previous Canon printers sipped ink, this machine chugs it, and at $14/cartridge, that is unacceptable. (Especially becuase the print quality isn't much better than previous printers.)

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Epson Stylus Photo RX595 All-in-One Printer (C11C693201) Review

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(More customer reviews)I recently bought a new laptop with Vista. When I bought my laptop, I took advantage of a promotion to receive a free Epson printer and bought the CX5000 which was free after the 79.99 rebate.
I gave my husband my old RX500 and used the new CX5000. Mistake. The CX5000 did not print pictures near as nice as my old RX500 and the pictures had a matte finish even when printed on glossy paper. I also noticed that the CX5000 used ink like crazy! I told my husband to bring my old printer home and gave him the CX5000. He only uses it for text copies anyway. However, I could not get my old RX500 to work with Vista and set out to find a new all in one that I would like as much as my old one. I'm very picky and expected this to be a hard task.
Before looking for a new printer, I did find out that the CX series only has 4 cartridges. The RX series has 6 cartridges. I read about this printer on Epson's site and read reviews of a few other Epson printers on Amazon and decided to give the RX595 a shot. It was on sale at Comp USA for $99 which is a pretty reasonable price. I took my SD card and some paper and went to try it out. I was extremely impressed with the quality of the prints straight from my card. The color was great, the picture did not look like it had a flat matte finish and they printed relatively fast and very quite too! I bought it and hoped that I would be just as satisfied once I got it home and unpacked.
I have not been disappointed. I find myself looking for things to print just so I can see how nice they look. I have also used the burn feature for printing labels to CD/DVD's a few times and am pleased with those results as well. My ink levels are still almost full and I've printed at least 20 4x6's and 2 8x10's plus printed a few text pages.
This is a really great printer! It's quite, fast, and prints beautiful pictures. The ability to burn a label on a CD/DVD is nice too. The only slight complaint that I have is that there does not seem to be a place to store the insert used to place the CD/DVD in when burning a label. Other than that, I could not be happier with this printer. It's the best replacement I could have picked for "Old Faithful" my RX500.

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Set your creativity on the loose with the Epson Stylus Photo RX595 Photo All-in-One printer. Perfect as a personal photo lab or a useful business tool, the Photo RX595 can print text documents at 38 pages per minute and print standard 4 by 6 inch photos in 11 seconds. This efficient photo printer produces a maximum resolution of 5760 by 1440 dpi for crystal-clear photographs printed with smudge, scratch, fade, and water resistant Claria Hi-Definition ink. Your photos will be preserved for up to 200 years in family albums for future generations to enjoy, and the Photo RX595's Auto Photo Correction with advanced face detection corrects overexposed shots and ensures that your images come out red-eye free and beautifully toned.Crop, enlarge, and select images easily with this printer, restore old or faded color photos, and print PC-free using the 2.5-inch color LCD and multipurpose card slot compatible with memory cards, USB flash drives, and digital cameras. In addition, you'll have the freedom and flexibility to archive photos and documents by using the built-in scan-to-PDF feature, transfer files from memory card to computer, and even print images directly onto inkjet printable CDs and DVDs for a professional look with a personal touch. This printer also comes backed by a 1-year limited manufacturer's warranty.
What's in the Box RX595 photo all-in-one, 78 black ink cartridge (T078120), 78 cyan ink cartridge (T078220), 78 magenta ink cartridge (T078320), 78 yellow ink cartridge (T078420), 78 light cyan ink cartridge (T078520), 78 light magenta ink cartridge (T078620), CD/DVD tray and software, power cord, documentation, and CD-ROM (printer drivers and software).

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Cordless Hand Scanner 7E Review

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(More customer reviews)Being a book seller, this cordless scanner has definitely made my life easier. I used to scout for books with my cell phone and it was horrible in comparison. With the cordless scanner, I can place my PDA in my pocket, attach an earphone, and work hands free. It is faster, easier, and more productive!!

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Ectaco C-Pen 20 Handheld Scanner Review

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(More customer reviews)As a scholar who works with books and other printed sources a lot, I have long been on the lookout for an easy way to scan text into my laptop. I've tried using both flatbed scanners and digital cameras for this purpose, but I've found both to be awkward and time-consuming. That's why I was pleased to discover the C-Pen 20 - it's not perfect, but it does the job quicker and more easily than any of the alternatives.
PROS:
- It's easy to use; you just press the pointer to the page and a light comes on to let you know that the sensor is active. You then sweep the C-Pen from left to right at moderate speed as if it were a highlighter, and it converts the text on the page into electronic characters on your computer.
- The text instantly appears wherever the cursor on your screen is located, so you can use this device with just about any Windows program (e.g., Word, Access, etc.).
- The recognition rate is higher than I thought it would be; it's better than 99% on book-sized text. In practical terms, this means that you'll get one or two errors on average per paragraph, but these flaws are easily corrected (particularly if your spell checker highlights them for you automatically).
- It's small and easily portable, so you can take it with you to libraries and archives with a laptop.
CONS:
- The character recognition is sometimes thrown off by underlining and other marks on the page.
- You must use it with a PC or laptop that has a USB port (it doesn't run on batteries like some scanning pens).
- Even though it recognizes just about every major language written in Latin, Cyrillic, or Greek letters, it can't handle older typefaces (like German Fraktur). It also has trouble recognizing some symbols (such as footnotes).
- You have to scan each line of text one at a time, so it's not necessarily the best solution if you need to copy many pages of text.
The bottom line is that the C-Pen 20 has been an excellent investment for me, and I recommend it to anyone who's looking for an easy way to transfer printed text into an electronic medium.

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Ectaco C-Pen 3.5 BT Bluetooth Handheld Scanner Review

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(More customer reviews)After seeing all the positive and negative reviews for the Ectaco C-pen 20, I decided to take the dive and buy the Bluetooth version of Ectaco's handheld text scanner for my wife. I was apprehensive because there are no reviews for this product, but figured we could return the scanner if it didn't work.
My wife uses the scanner pen to scan text and notes from her law school classes. She stinks at typing, so being able to scan all the text she needs into her class outlines is a *huge* timesaver for her.
Caveats: we are on Vista as our operating system.
Pros:
Easy setup (make sure you follow the directions; DO NOT plug in the scanner prior to loading the software).
Scans accurately and quickly when plugged in via USB; see Cons for the story on Bluetooth mode.
Picks up the following kinds of text without problems: highlighted texts, text in books (make sure the pages are flat, though), or underlined text (provided your underline doesn't go through the text; see Cons)
Picks up kooky symbols, like the ones I found in some of my wife's textbooks (deltas, ampersands, etc.)
Cons:
Doesn't scan text well if you have underlined text and some of your underlining moves up through the printed text.
Doesn't scan very well in Bluetooth-only mode. Essentially, you have about 2-3 seconds to scan your line of text before the light on the scanner goes out and it transmits to your computer. I have no idea what the heck the deal is, but if the Bluetooth part of this scanner is really what you're looking for, I would recommend you *not* buy this product.
Scanner doesn't seem like the most well-constructed thing in the world, *but* it has held up well so far, so that might be a non-issue.
Overall: This text scanner does just fine when it's plugged in to the computer via USB cord. My wife really does save a lot of time in her studies. But, as I mentioned above, the Bluetooth really doesn't function very well at all. I originally gave this product 5 stars because it did exactly what it promised, but I'm changing my rating to (a very generous) 3 stars now that we've found out that the Bluetooth part of the show is so bad. Hopefully Ectaco will fix this in their next system update?

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HP Photosmart Premium TouchSmart Web All-in-One Printer Review

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(More customer reviews)I wanted to like this, but I just do not think that the Web feature really justifies doubling the price of the prior Photosmart Premium Fax All-in-One Printer, Scanner, Copier and Fax. (Model C309a)HP Photosmart Premium Fax All-in-One Inkjet Printer (CC335A#ABA). Since the C309a is the model I am replacing this review is really a comparison of this new model over the old one. The old one is still readily available for about half the price of this - which is a really big difference. Also, the C309a - at half the price - has one feature missing here - an automatic document feeder. Why is that important? It is important if you want to be able to easily scan multi-page PDF documents. I can put a stack of papers on the C309a and they automatically run through the feeder (never once had a jam) and a multi-page PDF appears on my desktop. This new model is missing that. The lack of the document feeder also renders the fax absolutely useless. To send a fax you have to stand there and "scan" each page of the fax on the glass. It is hardly honest to call this a fax machine.
The specs between the two printers are exactly the same, except the C309a has the automatic document feeder and this one has the web interface. Also, the old model holds 125 pages of regular paper, but this one is down to 100 - a move totally in the wrong direction. Why can't they just design a printer tray (for a non-commercial printer) that holds a ream of paper (500 pages)? Also, this one is missing the special holder for printing CDs, but I never used that anyway.
The new model is smaller (good) and black (instead of a creamy white). The new model also has better drivers - which were (and still are) a MAJOR drawback of the old model. You can finally install a basic set of drivers that don't cripple functions, and don't add a bunch of junk software. This is a MAJOR improvement.
Print quality on both is absolutely amazing. Prints look just like they came from the photomat. Yes. They are that good. (although, unless you use the little flimsy retainer arm, they will drop on the floor once complete.)
I have mine hooked up through wi-fi and that works great. It is easily seen on all computers on my network that run Win7 and XP.
One negative (on this and the old version) is that you still need a computer to be on to do scanning - even to a network drive. The scanning software runs on a computer, not locally on the printer. Copying, faxing and printing can be done without a computer.
OK. What about the web interface? Well, my personal take is that it is a huge gimmic intended to get you to print more and use more ink. Things take forever to find on the touch interface and it would really be about a thousand times faster just to use a computer. Of course, if you - for whatever reason - only have your computer in a far-off room, this might proove handy if the printer is in a more high-traffic area of the house. But is that really a problem? And would you really put your printer far away from your computer? Not likely. I found the touchscreen slow to respond and - although beautiful to look at - I just didn't get the need for the web interface. The only conclusion I can make is that HP wants you to print more stuff and use more ink.
The ink, by the way, goes VERY quickly. I printed a dozen or so 4x6 photos and a couple of 8x10 and the ink light warning started to go off. Of course, I really think the light goes off WAY too early. It does that on almost every printer I have ever used. I continue printing until I notice a problem with the output. I am guessing that the low ink warning is set to go off when you have used 40% of the ink. I was able to print another dozen photos (after the ink warning) before I noticed any ink deficiency. I could probably print another dozen before it wouldn't let me print anymore.
Overall, I really like the printer quality and the interface, but I can't get past the elephant in the room - the old model is half the price and has an automatic document feeder that this is missing.
The printer comes with a standard set of ink cartridges (not just starter inks), every cable you could need (including a massive power brick), and sample photo papers. It is all packaged in an eco-friendly cloth bag.
Overall, I can only give this three stars. If the old model never existed, I would probably give this four or five stars. The fact that they left off the automatic document feeder is a HUGE drawback for me. The "Touchsmart Web" is fun to play with, but really amounts to nothing more than a flashy gimmic. It fixes a problem that doesn't really exist - everything you would do through that interface is easier and faster on a real computer. Of course, I am also a person who would never just plug a memory stick into a printer and start printing - if you are, this might be a good printer for you.

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HP Photosmart Premium C309N Multifunction Printer CD734A#ABA 74

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Epson Artisan 700 Photo All-in-One Printer (Black) (C11CA30201) Review

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(More customer reviews)I like the printer, and I would recommend it. My only real complaint is the total cost of ownership is high. Order a set of ink at $60 when you order the printer, because within a couple weeks of starting it up, you'll need to replace them.
Pros:
1. Instructions were great for wireless install.
2. Prints quality is good.
3. Machine looks great.
4. The printer has never failed to print.
Cons:
1. 6 individual ink cartridges at $10 each, or $15 each for high capacity.
2. The printer's initial startup uses about 1/2 of the ink that ships with the printer. This is explained in the manual.
3. There is no information on the difference between the high capacity ink cartridges and the standard.
4. I don't think you'll find aftermarket Epson ink like you can with some brands.
5. Sometimes the printing takes a couple minutes to get started.
6. I get a lot of error messages, mostly "The printer has detected some print head nozzles are clogged. To help with the nozzle recovery please wait 6 hours. Then try printing again." Helpdesk's suggestion was that I go into the menu and turn off the print nozzle check. That is an odd solution, but the printer continues to print fine.
7. With the number of print errors I get, and the time it takes to start printing (sometimes), I've never felt totally comfortable with the printer. But helpdesk was responsive, and I've got the box if I need to send it back to Epson.


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Printer, ARTISAN 700, ALL-IN-ONE,

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Quad-Band Yaesu VX-8DR Submersible VHF/UHF Amateur Radio Transceiver Review

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(More customer reviews)First of all I want to compliment the seller. They are truly a first class operation there at Advanced Specialties. My reason for saying that is I had ordered mt items at seperate time and different orders, I would have had to pay many shipping charges. I sent them an email and ask them to please consolidate my orders wich they did, saved me 30 extra dollars of shipping. The package arrived in record time and just as ordered. Great seller. Very Friendly, Proffesional people at this seller company.
Now about the VX 8DR, This is an excellent radio in a very compact package. The radio has such great features like, APRS Network, Global positioning Capabilities, Sensors built in, Altimeter, volt meter, tempurature, Barometer. Quad band Ham radio 50/144/222/440 bands WOW! Completely submersible, with the ability to establish internet connection through radio repeaters. Can monitor frequencies to 1000 Mhz. AM/FM broadcasts you name it. Truly a great HT to have and be mobile. From a Legendary company Like Yaesu. What more can I say? I purchased the external lapel mic/speaker, The GPS transponder attachment, The high capacity 1800mv rechargable battery (RECOMMENDED) for prolonged operation of radio in GPS/ APRS mode. This Rig is a must to prepare for uncertain future. Remember to protect your stored electronics in a small faraday box/container. Walter Cronkite a ham radio operator himself has said many times, HAM IS TRULY THE ONLY FAIL SAFE COMMUNICATION IN THE WORLD. When all system s fail Ham Is there!

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DocuPen X05 Bluetooth Scanner - 1 x USB - PC, Mac Review

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(More customer reviews)This product is, in a word, useless. In two words, useless and expensive.
I am a PhD student in History. I do most of my research in libraries. Some of these libraries do not have copy machines or scanners available, so when I found this product, I thought I had found a perfect solution for scanning multi-page articles from books and periodicals from non-circulating libraries. I am guessing this product was not designed with someone with my needs as a user.
For brevity's sake, I will stick to 3 fatal problems:
- Does not scan as .pdf. Why does this *document* scanner only scan to formats primarily meant for *images* formats (i.e. jpeg, tif)? I have no answer. WHAT THIS MEANS: you will NOT be able to scan multi-page documents as a single document. You will have to scan each page as a separate file. But wait, it gets better...
- The scanner stays "on" only as long as it takes to scan and save. After each file is done saving, it automatically turns off. WHAT THIS MEANS: Any time you have to scan more than one page in a row, you will have to turn on the scanner and wait for it to initialize. "Wow, that's crummy, but I can deal with that," you say...it gets better:
- Do you have a Mac by any chance? (I'm not sure whether this applies to PCs). You know that pesky message that pops up whenever a USB device is pulled out without ejecting it properly? The one that says you may have corrupted the information? WELL, since the device automatically shuts off about 5 seconds after the last active command, as soon as it mounts to your desktop, you have 5 seconds to get any files off of the device, or it will TURN OFF, resulting in an IMPROPER DEVICE REMOVAL error message, not to mention, you will not have your files.
THE SOLUTION: If you are a user with my needs, just use a digital camera. If you have a steady hand, the quality will be virtually the same. You will be able to take images of documents WIDER THAN 10 inches, and while you may not be able to capture them as .pdfs either, you will save a lot of time (I forgot to mention, each file takes 5-10 seconds to save with the DocuPen after scanning). Heck, I've been using my iPhone camera, and it's worked about a lot better than this product.

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