Customer Reviews

Lexmark PhotoJet Z705 Printer

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a compact and fast little printer. I use Windows XP Pro, and the setup was practically instantaneous; I've never seen setup instructions with no words, just diagrams, before, but it worked flawlessly first time.

The construction is reasonably robust -- not too plasticky. The footprint is about 18" by 9" with the feed racks pulled in, but realistically you need about 18" wide by at least 10-12" deep -- the front rack, which gathers the paper, can stick off the table OK. The footprint is 18" by 18" with both racks pulled out. The cartridges snapped in perfectly; everything worked fine immediately. The paper feed is not finicky at all and aligned the paper perfectly.

The only criticism I have is simply that this is an inkjet and so without special paper (and even with) it's just not as precise as a laser. I printed out a couple of text pages: the text looked solid and black until I got up fairly close. There was just a tiny hint of fuzz on the diagonals, when I squinted, and a magnifying glass confirmed what I thought I saw -- the line is a little blurry.

The colour is strong and clear, and as precise as the black.

A couple of other points to note: the installation process will make this your default printer. That may well be what you want (it wasn't, for me), but if not then don't forget to go back and reset the system default via Start -> Printers. And secondly, note that Amazon also sells this with a USB cable for just one more dollar; this model doesn't have the cable, so get the other one if you don't have a cable to hand. Search for Z705 if you can't find the other one.

This is a great inkjet printer; for the price, this is as good as you're going to get.

Setup is fast and easy. The printer is reasonably fast and very quiet. Even without the special photo ink cartidge, photos printed on glossy paper look great. Printed text looks fine, too. It's a great little printer.

I've only had mine for one year and only used it for photos. At first it printed well, but the paper feeder is hard to set and often misfeeds (more than one page at a time). The ink in the color cartridge dried up quickly and replacements are expensive. I've had a lot of problems with this one and even though their customer service responds quickly, they didn't always address the issue I was experiencing. I would not buy this brand again.

I have used my z705 for less than two months. The reason I gave it any stars is because the print quality is quite good for a disposable printer. Unfortunately, the black ink cartridge runs out quickly and replacements are overpriced. This is the second Lexmark I have ditched and purchased a Canon i560 instead.

Pros:
Good print quality
Cheap price

Cons:
You are better off buying another brand of printer than feeding the overpriced Lexmark cartridges to this printer.

Best printer I've ever bought, at the best price I've ever paid! Prints gorgeous borderless 4x6 prints, especially with the Photo cartridge (not included). Printing photos on regular paper don't generally come out looking all that great, however. But for photo printing with glossy paper, and general web page printing is lightning fast in Quick Print mode. Would highly recommend to anybody who doesn't print often, but who needs good photo quality.