Presto A10 Printing Mailbox for Presto Service

by Presto!

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 18.4 x 15 x 6.5 inches ; 13.3 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 14 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B000JERC8A
• Item model number: A10
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (124 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #17,677 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 2, 2001

Product Description

Presto is a combination of the Presto Printing Mailbox and Presto Mail service. It allows you to use the convenience of email to communicate with loved ones who don’t use a computer or the Internet. Highlights * Allows you to send email to people who don’t use a computer * Combination of the Presto Printing Mailbox and Presto Mail service * Transforms emailed messages into beautiful, easy-to-read e-letters with photos and other attachments automatically printed * Nothing new for your loved one to learn — messages and photos are automatically retrieved and printed on a schedule you choose, up to five times per day How it works 1. Send email, photos and other documents to a Presto-provided email address 2. The Presto Mail service transforms emailed messages and photos into printable, full color e-letters 3. The Presto Printing Mailbox automatically retrieves messages via the phone line and prints them out

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

211 of 217 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Keep your loved ones in the email loop!, December 5, 2006

By 

Elizabeth Fisher (Baton Rouge, LA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Presto A10 Printing Mailbox for Presto Service (Electronics)

My elderly mom has memory problems and can't check her email by herself, or at least she couldn't until we got her the HP Printing Mailbox. Now ALL she has to do is retrieve the printed email. It really couldn't be easier. Our family and friends send Mom pictures, interesting articles, puzzles, and family emails. Presto provides an additional selection of newsletters. Attach a gif, jpg, or bmp to your email and it will print it out. Add a command to the subject line and your picture will be inserted in a calendar or any of the other selections of holiday, special event, and other colorful formats.

Think of this Mailbox as a printer with a modem in it. The only cost to you is purchasing the HP Printing Mailbox, and paying the $[...] monthly fee for the Presto service (or $[...] for a year). After that your only expenses are plain white paper and an occasional inkjet cartridge.

[...] The website is well done and user-friendly. You choose the email address and set us a "white list" of email addresses that are allowed to send email to the Presto account. That eliminates spam and phishing emails. There isn't any way to reply to emails using the Printing Mailbox, but the Presto folks print out the senders phone number on the emails. You aren't charged for the Presto service until the Printing Mailbox calls in for the first time.

Setup of the actual mailbox was easy too. Instructions are clearly written. Plug in the phone line and power cord, install the inkjet cartridge, put some paper in, wait a few minutes and you start receiving emails.

The Presto website tells me if the printer runs out of paper, and it tells me how much ink it has left. The only thing I would change if I could is to have a paper tray that holds 500 sheets of paper instead of just 50.

The HP Printing Mailbox is one of the best uses of technology I've ever seen. If you have an elderly parent you'd like to email, or perhaps someone who is living alone and may be lonely, this is a great way to brighten their world and to make them feel like they're participating in current technology.

86 of 87 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A gift of love....., February 21, 2007

By 

James A. Alfaro "Tico Jim" (Florida, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Presto A10 Printing Mailbox for Presto Service (Electronics)

Rosa, our Grandmother, is an 83 year old that does not even want to see a computer, much less touch one. The TV remote is pretty much her limit.

Since half of us live on the East Coast away from her, we purchased the HP Printing Mailbox for her. At first, there was suspicion that this was "one of them new fangled computer things" that she wanted no part of.

That feeling lasted about one day. She called us after her first batch of printed Email and told us how thrilled she was to get all that "Email." Every time we talk to her on the phone she tells us how much she appreciates her new "Email" link to the family. She even uses the term "Email" now in her conversations.

Things we like:

1. Low price for printer and service vs value provided
2. Very simple for Rosa to use. Just loads paper and occasional cartridge
3. Link to G'Kids who don't know how to write an old fashioned letter
4. Ability so share pictures with her
5. Daily automatic calls to pick up Email while Rosa sleeps
6. Pure Email, no spam. Only people I designate can send Emails to her
7. Gives Rosa something positive to look forward to when she awakens
8. Hearing over and over how much she loves her "Email Machine."

Things we don't like:

1. Frankly, I can't find anything. The HP Printing Mailbox has functioned flawlessly. Sure, the pictures are not photo paper quality, but, she has pictures to look at and at 83 that is good enough. It also keeps the supply cost very low.

Suggestions:

With all the new found messages and pictures, Rosa needed a way to organize them rather than a pile of paper. So we gave her a 4 inch binder and an electric three hole punch so that she could easily keep everything in chronological order and organized.

Highly recommend this product and the Presto Service. Rather than giving your G'ma that has everything another knick knack to further clutter her home, give her this gift of love. Good for G'Pas too, of course.

In my opinion, the best gift you can give an oldster that is often lonely and feels out of the loop with technology that has left her behind.

Oh, I almost forgot - how will she answer the Emails? The old fashioned way when she talks to you on the phone. She always comments on the Emails when we call her. The important thing is she be in the loop, not so much that she respond to Emails. All of us have too much Email already anyway.

Jim Alfaro

80 of 82 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This was perfect for a relative in a nursing home, December 19, 2007

By 

K. Corn "reviewer" (midwest, United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Presto A10 Printing Mailbox for Presto Service (Electronics)

When considering this product, focus on who will be using it, how often and why. It is perfect for many grandparents. We gave one to a grandparent and one to an aunt. Both quickly became addicted!

In our case, our relatives:
1. Did not have space for a laptop or regular computer. Besides, space or not, they weren't interested in browsing the net. They just wanted to be "in the loop" and be connected to friends and family across the country.

2.Suddenly, they were receiving jokes, emails and photos. They were delighted. We could find something on the internet and send it to them, after a bit of editing and tinkering with it, if desired.

3, Due to memory issues (with our relatives, not the Presto), anything more complicated would have been trouble.

4. If MOST of your time is spent answering emails, why would you need anything more? If you like to share photos, this could do that as well.

BUT DO CONSIDER THESE FACTS:

1. There is a monthly charge - if you pay that long enough, you'll have spent enough to buy a computer (but it'll take awhile to reach that point).

2. This is no substitute for a computer. It is a good way to get information, photos and letters to people quickly. I think of it as a mini mailbox, instant delivery.