Customer Reviews

Lexmark Z23 Color Printer

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(18)

 

 

There is a reason why this printer is an added "perk" given to those who are buying an entire computer. Issues dealt with below:

Installation - Uncharacteristically clumsy this time around. Perhaps I had a semi-defective CD installation disc but all sorts of installation issues arose.

Alignment process - Again, uncharacteristically clumsy. Your "choices" for the best "alignment of the printer cartridges" all basically looked the same (read poor quality).

Cartridge installation - Easier installation than previous generations of the Lexmark printer.

Cartridge ink - Ink is used up in the cartridge at an alarming rate. If one is a moderate user of the printer then the amount of replacement ink cartridges required would make this printer especially not cost effective.

Sheet feeder - With a new unit I had more uneven sheet pulls than should be expected. I also had a couple of mangled pages.

My recommendation is that one should avoid this printer especially is if one expects to do moderate to high volume printing.

This is a decent low-end inkjet printer. Be warned though, Lexmark does not include the cable to connect this to your USB port. You'll need a USB-A to USB-B cable to connect. Also, while the printer comes with a color cartridge, you'll need to add the black cartridge to make your blacks black. Also, you'll go through a lot less ink with the second cartridge in place. Other than that, it has proven to be worth everything I didn't pay for it.

I bought mine for my office at the beginning of the year, in a fit of desperation to get a printer, any printer, as long as it would print something on that day. Living in a small town, my choices were fairly limited. By the time I bought my USB cable and the color printer cartridge, then drove to another store looking for the black ink cartridge, I felt like I hadn't saved much money.

For plain old black printing, it's not bad, and the per-page printing rate for normal or draft quality hasn't bothered me. Eventually, I figure it will make a decent emergency backup printer. My biggest complaint is the astounding rate at which I go through cartridges--... "Reconditioned" cartridges cost less but don't last as long. Refill kits are messy and run out even more quickly.

Complicating the cartridge situation is the difficulty of finding the black cartridges. You would think that the store where I bought the printer would carry them. Wrong! Neither office supply store that I regularly use carries them either. (Amazon has delivered quite promptly when I've ordered here.)

I do appreciate the ink level reminder that pops up every time that I print. Given the speed with which the ink runs out and the difficulty getting a new cartridge the same day, the advance warning is helpful. The cartridges also are quite easy to change. Having to print a new "alignment" sheet and attempt to make adjustments frequently proves a tedious interruption.

Since I wasn't specifically shopping for a color printer, the ability to print in color was a bonus. Printing good-quality pictures takes quite a while, and the quality isn't that great. I have noticed that despite the ink-level indicator suggesting that I have plenty of ink, if one color is low, the warning doesn't let me know. For the most part, I've been satisfied with the color printing quality because it suits my purposes: a color-highlighted word or two in handouts that I give to clients and printing photographs of Victorian dresses for my living history research.

The Lexmark's interface with a specialized software that I use for my business has been frustrating. Despite fiddling with alignment and calling tech support, the Lexmark Z23 continues to cut off the "tails" of certain letters when I print single-spaced Courier. Despite selecting the "print last page first" option, which works just fine in my Word documents, my specialized software continues to print "first page first"--which results in my having to handsort lengthy packets. This same software has never proven difficult with other printers that I have used.

If I could just save some money from the cost of cartridges, perhaps I could afford to buy a real printer!

I've owned this printer for about 1 1/2 years now. The bottom line is that it is expensive junk. The replacement ink cartridges will cost you more than the printer itself, with each running over $30. Unlike other brands, all three colors are in one tank, so if one color runs out you have to spend $30. The cartridges themselves work well for the first couple of printings, then begin to look poorer and poorer, until they finally die an early death.

The software that comes with the printer is useless as well. It allegedly monitors ink levels, but it does not. Running the trouble shooter to align the print heads also does nothing.

All-in-all, I'm going back to Cannon.

The only good thing about the printer is the initial price. Don't get too happy, cause you will open your bank account for the ink. When you open the box you will find the need for the black ink. After printing a few pages get ready to shell out more money to replce the ink, as this printer goes through it fast. For the amount of inkl it uses the print quality isn't that great. If you let it sit for a week without use be prepared for the streaking; that doesn't go away. This was the first Lexmark I owned and I should say it will be the last.

THE CARTRIDGES COST MORE THAN THE PRINTER ITSELF! Basically, Lexmark has decided to exploit the people who can't afford a printer that costs more than $30 by charging them more for the cartridges on average than any other brand of inkjet printer. It's a scam! Most of the time, you can't even find the black ink cartridges (I had to order it from an office supply store catalog) and I run out of ink about every month. For the amount of money I've spent on this piece of crap, I could have bought myself a good one!

I purchased the z23 model printer from Wal Mart as part of a package deal for use with my new computer. It came with everything except the USB cable, which was not a huge problem as a good cable goes for cheap. Installation on my XP machine was simple and took less than ten minutes, on my Windows ME machine it was just as easy. Image quality is acceptable for home use, but for better results, high quality print settings along with photo paper are a must. Print speed is acceptable, it took around fifteen minutes for me to print an 8x10 image using high quality settings which was fast compared to other printers I've used.

However, the biggest problems I have experienced with the z23 in the one year that I've owned it are prices and availability of ink cartridges and paper handling. You would think that the retailer who sold the product would stock ink as well, but this is not the case. Wal Mart does not sell them in-store, but they are available through the on-line store or here, on Amazon. Regardless of where you decide to purchase additional ink, be prepared to pay. Ink goes for at least half of what I paid for the printer originally, around $20-$30. The unit's paper handling left something to be desired. While it can handle normal printer paper and photo paper without problems, envelope handling isn't as good. I've experienced frequent paper jams with size 10 envelopes. If you're like me and print a lot of envelopes, this can be really frustrating.

All in all, for the price this printer is great for your home PC. Just don't expect to find good deals on ink, if you can find it.

I got this printer free when I bought a computer, and there's a reason that it's free. The only thing it's basically good for it to print out typed documents which come out fine. Forget pictures though. Even small pictures are all blury and the printer can't handle diagonal lines at all.

If you need a cheap printer right away, I suppose this one would be in your price range, but if you ever plan to print out pictures, pay an extra hundred dollars and get a decent printer. Why not go all out and get a laser printer?

This printer is awful. It's what I get for trying to save money.

First, I've never seen a printer use this much ink. The money you saved on the printer will be returned to Lexmark in spades with ink cartridges.

Finally, when this clunker stopped printing in color, forget about technical support. The printer's troubleshooter is the worst I've ever seen for any hardware. The company's website stinks too.

Perhaps coincidentally, my first Compaq (now Lexmark)printer found its way into the garbage, but lasted 2 1/2 years. This one made it about 6 months. Do yourself a big favor and spend a few more bucks on a higher-quality printer. I would advise against Lexmark.

Spend more money and get a real printer. Ink is expensive, picture quality so-so and it consistently fails to properly execute print jobs... partially printed documents happen far too often. This is easily the most frustrating to use inexpensive printer I have ever purchased. Never again! The only redeeming quality is the price, but only because I won't feel quite so bad when I stomp the miserable @#! into tiny pieces.