Customer Reviews

Dell V305w All-in-One WiFi Printer

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

This is not a very useful printer. The ink cartridge goes empty in 2 weeks and I use about 4 cartridges a month. Also, the software is SUPER SLOW at processing your commands and the scan function is devastating. It takes FOREVER (and I mean it) for it just to start the scan from your computer... it took 10 minutes once.

If: You print a lot--- DO NOT BUY -- You might as well as buy a laser for the price of the ink!

I have owned this printer for well over 6 months, and I'm very disappointed with it. I did not buy this from Amazon, but I did buy it directly from Dell.

Below are my list of Cons and Pros about the item:

CONs:
1. Uses ink WAY too quickly.
2. Ink gauge is incorrect.
3. Wifi is only good for printing in a Windows PC. Scanning/Copying must be done through USB (which, in turn, installs the printer AGAIN in Windows 7).
4. Does not work in Linux. I run a dual boot environment, and can't use this printer in Linux at all, as no driver is available.
5. Ink is too expensive considering the amount of ink that you will go through. Dell should price the ink for less than they do.

PROs:
1. Decent print quality (even at Draft...although may explain why ink is used so quickly), and I haven't had any smudges yet.
2. Wifi printing is nice if you are in an all Windows PC environment. (you set up the wireless through the Printer PC software.)
3. The printer is super easy to set up, although if you are in Windows 7, you will need to download the latest printer software from support.dell.com
4. It's fairly quiet
5. Has a card reader built in, that supports SD/MS/XD/MMC, as well as CF/MD.

Having used this product for 6+ months and gone through WAY too many ink cartridges (and yes I used them until they ran out), I will be searching for a new printer very soon. I've heard good things about Kodak printers (the ink lasts much longer, and is about half the price of Dell ink).

I have had this printer for 6 months and it is still on the first set of cartridges. I will say that the ink level gauge is inacurate, it has been telling me to change the ink cartridges for over a month even though it is still printing just fine. I will say that I have the printer set on draft mode to conserve ink, which is fine for text and basic color prints. The wifi is great, my laptop is on the main floor and the printer is upstairs in my office and everytime I send a print job the printer comes on and starts printing in under a minute. The printer sends out standard B/W text sheets at a rate of 1 sheet per 5 seconds, this is the fastest printer I have ever owned. I have had HP, and Lexmark printers and by far this is the best printer for the money that I have bought.

First let me say I'm an electronics design engineer with 15 years of product design experience in high tech. This printer came with a computer I bought to sweeten the deal. It's been nothing but a headache. I have it connected via WiFi and I (try to) print to it from 2 different computers, one running Windows 7 and one running XP. I can say with confidence that more often than not when I sit down to print something from either computer it doesn't work the first time I try. Sometimes unplugging the printer and plugging it back in will allow it to reconnect to my netowrk. Sometimes I have to reset the router and unplug the printer. And at least twice I have had to reinstall the print driver which involves connecting it to the computer via USB cable. I do not blame these problems on my WiFi network because I have other wireless devices connected that do not have problems when the printer does. This trouble makes me cringe everytime I need to print something. As others have pointed out, this printer is an ink hog that does not use ink very efficiently. Right now I can't print because my computer can't tell how much ink is in the cartridge even though the printer display shows I have plenty of black ink but I'm out of color ink. Switching the printer settings to print in black and white does not solve the issue. Of course Dell would have me replace the ink cartridges to solve the problem but the black one isn't even empty yet. I will probably solve this problem eventually but this is the last straw. My advice to anyone considering this printer is to STAY AWAY!!! And if it's included for free or at a discount in a package deal do not assign it any value when considering the price. This is a "feature rich" product driven by the marketing department at Dell that fails miserably in the field. If you have good problem solving skills you will probably be able to get this printer working but it will constantly test your patience, erode your wallet through ink purchases, and leave you very frustrated when you're in a hurry to print/scan something.

Danger Will Robinson! Danger! Danger! Despite having many problems setting up the wireless networking connection, this printer developed paper jamming problems about a month after purchase. After a lengthy call to Dell customer support, they sent a replacement remanufactured printer two days later. Straight out of the box, it has paper jamming problems. Avoid at all costs.

Ease of Setup: The printer itself isn't to bad to get working. But the point of this printer is to be wireless. It fails miserably. You can try for days like me, and to no end will you get the WiFi to work. It just never connects. You can get the icon to turn orange, and even then blue (connected). But it never prints. If you take the cord out, it will say connected and fail to print due to no communication.

Ease of Use: A little better, but your constantly told that your ink cartridge is low when its not. Ink is the most expensive liquid on this planet. Literally. So far I am in 7 months printing normal when the printer says its empty.

Features: Not bad, it does scan, copy and print easily. It should have WiFi but it just doesn't work.

Print Quality: Pretty darn good, but the ink cartridges are so damned expensive. The color cartridges are even more.

Print Speed: Normal printer here. Nothing to complain about.

Noise: It only makes one startup noise when the computer is turned on. Other than that it is silent unless you are printing. When printing sounds like a normal printer.

All in all, its a pretty good printer still running after 3-4 years. The color cartridges are expensive, and so are the black but you can't print without a black cartridge. It only jammed a couple of times, easily fixable. WiFi is absolute rubbish. Don't even bother with it.

I give a piece of equipment a lot of slack but this printer is the biggest piece of junk I've ever seen.

I bought this before I got into the habit of investigating user reviews and I paid for it.

The Internet is frought with posts about "communication errors."

Forget the wireless networking...now I can't get the printer to even work via USB. Tried 2 different computers, reinstalled the drivers, changed USB cables. NOTHING!

Don't get suckered by Dell like we did. In less than 2 years it's dead.

You get what you pay for. Dell gave a major discount for this printer when I bought my computer (so they claim), and it is apparent why this thing sells so cheaply. A paired Dell computer with a Dell printer should be the best compatability you could get, right? Never got the WI-FI to connect properly. At best, the printer would print over the WI-FI, but not scan (comm error) no matter how many re-installs were done with the latest drivers. Put into storage for 4 months, and just set up my network again. WI-FI gave numerous errors. Tried connecting via USB and the scanner would work, but the printer would not (comm error) going straight through the USB cable!!! The printer WI-FI does not have an on/off switch like laptops, so this was the major cause for the USB cable not fixing the problem. Now it sits in the landfill where it belongs.
Dell has not mastered the WI-FI device market yet, as this printer is definite proof of that. Don't waste your money on this crap. HP makes much better products that work more reliably. Going to stay away from their WI-FI devices until Dell can at least package the WI-FI card inside the computer, and they learn to put a WI-FI on/off switch on their printers (all laptops have the capability to turn off the WI-FI for good reasons other than power conservation) to enable straight USB operation.

Only one left in stock! Whatever you do, don't buy it! It is the worst printer I have ever dealt with in my life. When it actually prints or scans, it does okay, but getting it to do that you have to go through hell. The Wifi rarely works, so if you want to use it you have to restart your computer about three times as well turn the printer off and on. I don't feel like doing that, so I often use the cord that connects directly to it. STILL DOESN'T WORK!!! It's so new, how can it have that many communication problems when it's connected directly to the computer. It's horrible! I was going to sell it on eBay but I can't bring myself to allow someone to pay me for this piece of crap. I wish Dell felt the same way. I think I'm going to sell it for parts, trouble is finding the parts that work....

We've had the Dell 305W for about 3 years, using it in a Windows xp wireless network. The positives: print quality, low noise, wireless, scan. The negatives: long delay to print, often loses synch and you must re-boot printer and PC, uses lots of expensive ink, does not like compatible cartridges.