Customer Reviews

Panasonic KX-P7100 Duplex Laser Printer

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

Looking for a new printer over the last couple months, I read all the reviews on CNET, Amazon, and other sites to see which inexpensive printer was for me. My key search criteria were: 1) Laser/LED since I print a lot (its much cheaper than inkjet when you consider the consumables price), 2) Decent Print Quality, and 3) Reliability (no paper jams or other problems..i.e. NO HEADACHES!)

My initial takeaways were that if you wanted to go ultra cheap, to buy the Samsung ML-1430, and if you were able to spend around $..., to get the Brother HL-1440. However, the Panasonic KX-P7100 intrigued me because of its auto-duplexing for $.... (I tend to print long documents to read, but dislike carrying around huge reams of paper with me.) Unfortunately, the reviews I read were all pretty average (or negative as seen here) and tended to focus on the lack of networking (or at least the difficulties of networking) and its relatively slow speed compared to its competitors. And - I was skeptical that this would be able to auto-duplex without the annoyingly intermittant paper jamming to be expected of a cheap unit. Yet, I was bouyed by the fact that none of the complaints I found on various sites were regarding the reliability, or the auto-duplexing capabilities of this printer. And, since I don't really care whether my actual print speed is 9ppm vs. 11ppm (do you really print documents that long consistently?), the supposedly slower speed vis a vis its competitors was not that big of a deal for me. Yet - it was still a hard decision.

... I decided to try out the Panasonic mainly because of this reasoning: with laser printer technology these days, how [bad] can this thing be? it should be average at worst and if the auto-duplexing works well, an amazing value. ...

Well... I got the printer, and I can say after a couple weeks with it, that it is exceptional. As the CNET review say, there is nothing exceptional about the print quality. But then again, when was the last time I printed something from my school's $5000 printers and said, "wow - this text quality is amazing!". Never. And do you really print at ~4-font and compare that to output from other printers? (which CNET does) How often do you print that small?? And the auto-duplexing works like a charm... Have printed about 100 pages so far, and it hasn't jammed once. Print speed is only a little bit slower than rated from Panasonic, and with this price level, I think this printer is a real bargain.

So in conclusion, I am very happy with this purchase. That said, I'm sure the other two printers I mentioned and others that are highly touted are excellent as well. If you don't need or want auto-duplexing, this printer probably isn't for you (why bother?). BUT, If you do enjoy and utilize auto-duplexing... again - this is an exceptional value. From my experience and from what I have read, if the only concerns you have are that the auto-duplexing will cause you many headaches... so far, my experience has been very positive. And if you need an easily networkable printer, you know what to do - get something else.

I saw this printer in my local PC World store, and I read all the reviews I could find before buying it. The price is amazing for a duplex laser printer, and I am very happy with my choice.

It works absolutely fine on my LAN. I have it connected to a Windows 2000 server and had absolutely no problems printing from client machines. I have to point out that I did not use the drivers on the supplied CD, but the latest ones downloaded from the Panasonic web site (after reading tips about this on other review pages).

Print quality is fine, so long as you don't use the Toner Save option. I use the printer for printing large documents where the duplex facility together with reducing multiple pages to a sheet can save a lot of toner and paper.

If I need photo quality colour , I have a dedicated Epson Photo ink-jet printer. When I want good quality grayscale in large quantities, I use the KX-P7100.

This thing is taking years off my life. I've never had trouble with its print quality, its fine, actually the same toner carteridge for over a year now. The thing that kills me is the 30 second "warm up" period and the CONTSANT paper jams. It jams about 10 times a day ( I print maybe 25 pages a day). I have sent the thing back to Panasonic twice to get "fixed" to no avail. Now I can't get an answer from them.

It is garbage. It does jam. The "4 pages and jam, 4 pages and jam...." is about what we get on ours as well. If yours doesn't jam, then thank your deity that you got a fluke. If you count the amount of time spent opening it up, removing the paper jams, and restarting the print job, then it prints almost as fast as the HP LaserJet 4MP that it was purchased to replace, with 1000 times the hassle. We haven't had any sharing problems under W2K Pro, but who the heck wants to use it? I agree that this is a zero-star product.

As everyone else has generally said, the printer seemed a good price for the spec and for about the first week using it, it was fine, but oh how short lived this was. It decides it has a paper jam when it does'nt, goes offline when the monitor says it's online & ready. You have to keep opening the thing up re-seating the toner etc and re-printing only to find it has 'jammed' again. There are some XP issues sharing via the usb port on a network, although these seem to have been ironed out. Buy an H/P Laserjet or an entry level Brother, but not this RUBBISH!! Mine is now a door stop!! Panasonic stick to making TV's, because you sure as hell can't make printers..!

This was a great deal, but as they say...you get what you pay for. It jams incessantly and for the past month or so, almost every time I try using it. The features are nice, the duplexing works well but only when you can keep it from jamming. I am putting mine in the basement and replacing it with a Brother duplexing laser. Stay away from this printer; it is not worth it at any price.

This is all you need to know: this printer jams every time I use it. It almost always jams on the first page. After I open it up, pull out the toner, and clear the jam, it usually prints another six or seven pages without jamming.

Doesn't matter what paper it is: thick top quality, cheapo laser printer paper, whatever. It jams. Every time. Didn't do it so much in the first few months which is why I didn't return it, plus the hassle of returning mail order. A big mistake.

About a year ago I bought two of these units from Tiger...(...) was too good to pass up. Neither unit ever jammed when new, but both started jamming incessantly after the very first use of the manual feed. They seem to be a little better if I keep only about 50 sheets max in the tray. They never actually jam... the printer just thinks its jammed and shuts down. I suspect that there is probably some dust or dirt on one of the sensors but you can't get to them unless you rip open the printer.

Print quality has been good but not great. The duplex feature works just fine. I've had absolutely no problem sharing either printer in mixed WinXPPro/Win2k environments. The printers are both attached to Win2k LPT ports in both networks. Never had any software or driver problems, either (always used latest drivers from web site.)

The printer at work has gone through 3 toner refills and is already in need of a new drum... print is getting dark and streaky. Seems kinda soon to me. The cheapest price I've found for a new drum is $189... nearly twice what I paid for the printer in the first place. With the constant paper jams I think I'll just look for a new printer and save this one for parts for the home machine.

This printer is a piece of junk. I cannot even use it because it jams all the time. It does help if you turn the printer off between print jobs - I have no idea why. I will never buy another Panasonic product. What a waste of money. My old NEC printer did not jam as much in 5 years as this printer did during the first week of operation. STAY WAY FROM THIS MODEL UNLESS YOU WANT A HEADACHE.

It seems to make no difference what quality paper I buy for this printer, it just seems to misfeed or jam all the time.

Stay well clear. It has to be the most disappointing Panasonic product I have ever bought, not to mention the most frustrating.