Customer Reviews

Lexmark Z515 Color Jetprinter (18K5000)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

At first I was apprehensive to buy this printer because it is only in the $30-$40 price range. I thought it'd be cheap and fall apart. When I set it up, I was pleasantly surprised by its performance and quality. Sure, its not the most durable printer, but for the price there is no way you can beat it. The quality of the finished paper is excellent. I have no complaints whatsoever!

I bought this Z515 printer from one of the big retail superchain stores in Sept. of 2004, at a great price. It is not a bad little printer--ESPECIALLY considering the price-- and fired right up with its installation CD (after a false start--may have been a problem with my CD-ROM drive or USB port.)

Prints nice color photos when using glossy paper, and, in draft mode, literally spits out printed text on plain paper in no time flat! And the results look MUCH better than one might expect from draft quality. Haven't experienced any paper jamming yet, either. The printer doesn't waste ink by going through a head-cleaning process each time it comes on; in fact, you have to instruct it to clean the heads if and when necessary. (I haven't even found a need to do that yet.) Has a nice auto-off feature when you shut your computer down...haven't experienced that before!

The problem with this printer is that it ships with a PREVIOUS version of Lexmark software-- the 510-series software. What this means is that, CONTRARY to what the box and this website say, it does NOT print color photos at up to 4800 dpi. In fact, there are only two dpi settings that I can find, 600 and 2400. Not that 2400 dpi resolution looks bad--it doesn't. But why claim a feature when the printer doesn't have it?? I'm assuming that Lexmark's website MAY have a newer version of the software available for download (an irritating idea in and of itself, having to download appropriate software)...but so far, I haven't been able to access their site without my internet browser program crashing!

Again, not a bad printer, and I'll hang onto mine -- but beware that what you get isn't what is being advertised. I give the printer itself 4 to 5 stars, but the software issue brings it down to 3.

My old Lexmark died on me after 5 years of good service. I needed a replacement and I needed one for cheap. This printer fits the bill. Set-up was quick and easy, I was up and running within 15 minutes. My only complaint is the lack of a USB cable. Since I rarely use my scanner I just took the one from it, but it would be a pain to keep switching cables if I used my scanner a lot. Still, for 38.99 and free shipping, you could do worse than this little guy.

This is a great printer. It is the second one that I purchased(we use two computers). Unfortunately, I believe this model has been superceded by a new model for which reviews are not too good. You need to buy a cord to attach it to your computer (which cost almost as much as the printer). For many years we owned HP printers and were never satisfied with their feed mechanisms. This printer feeds flawlessly. To preserve ink, go to preferences and click rough draft and print in B/W only. The copies are just fine.

Just made the leap into inkjet after my ancient laser printer finally gave up the ghost. This printer worked fine right out of the box. The software install was common sense and overall I am happy with this inexpensive printer. However keep in mind that you do not get a USB cable, and there is no parallel port. Luckily I already had a USB cable on hand.

I was very happy to see two ink cartridges delivered in the box with this printer, color #27 and black #17. Unfortunately the black ink did not work, and I had to run to the store and buy a new cartridge. I ran through all of the tests and diagnostics to confirm the printer was working properly. After replacing the defective black cartridge everything is fine. I still think this is a good choice for a replacement printer.

I am happy with this printer. It works great. Not a lot of bells and whistles like my last $100 printer that went belly up in two years.

When I got it, the power cord was not working, but Lexmark replaced it immediately with out any fuss, so I have to give them credit for execellent customer service.

I do not do a lot of printing so this will fit my needs for the price. The cartridges are surprisingly small, but that is ok because I use refill kits.

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more than a year later:

this printer is still up and running as before. I refill the cartridge with a refill kit and it is SO EASY to do. I am still very satisfied with this printer!

This is a fairly decent printer. If you want a basic printer, this does the job. I had this, a scanner, and all separate items, so I changed to a printer that was inclusive. I no longer need all the separate ones like this, but I still have this one and I'll give it to my nephew or someone, because for a beginner this is a good printer.

Extremely easy installation for even the beginner, decent amount of ink included in the 2 seperate cartridges for the low price (I'd typically not expect to get even 1 catridge for $40 anymore), excellent print quality for a $40 printer, reputatable brand. Definitely recommend purchasing this if you need a basic, everyday printer, for college and grade school children homework/assignments...and ink refills or replacements are not costly on this model :-) I've had 8 different printer models over the past 11 years most failed to impress me, this one is for my niece but I would use myself.

I got this printer because it wasn't high in price, and I only needed it to print a couple of things every once and awhile. It was working fine until it started pulling all of the paper out instead of just one. It would still print on the top sheet, but it was very frustrating. Also, the paper stand would fall down on top of the paper, thus making the paper bend. Bent paper wouldn't print correctly through the printer, so I had to throw them all away.

Not a quality printer even for simple jobs. Not recommended.

Decent enough printing on photos, but it is very confusing to use when using more than one printer. I use an old Cannon BJC-2000 for black printing, because of the huge cartridge (BC-20), and ease of refilling it.

The cartridges that come with the Lexmark Z515 (16 & 26) won't print a lot, so even though the printer is inexpensive, you will have to shell out some real dough to keep it in ink.