Samsung CLX-3160FN Color Laser Multifunction Printer

by Samsung

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 21.5 x 31 x 25.1 inches ; 1 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 57 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B000KB6DZU
• Item model number: CLX-3160FN
• Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (57 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: January 18, 2007

Product Description

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

82 of 83 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Color Laser with Scan to PDF function, a few quirks, April 3, 2007

By 

G. Twiss (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Samsung CLX-3160FN Color Laser Multifunction Printer (Office Product)

THE HUNT FOR THE PERFECT ALL-IN-ONE OFFICE MACHINE!

Like one of the other reviewers here, I am in real estate and needed a multifunction machine that used color laser printing instead of inkjet.

But the major consideration for me was a Scan-to-Email (PDF) functionality. When you are working on deals in multiple cities, scanning the large documents is much easier than Fedexing paper all over the place.

I couldn't find any comprehensive reviews on this product because of how new it was. Now that I've owned it for a couple of months, I figure I better post one myself to help out those who are looking at this machine.

After running the machine for a couple of months I am quite happy with it and it is running well. Basic setup of the machine out of the box was very simple with easy visual instructions and tabs. Out of the box I could do color copies, black and white copies, and faxing. Setting up the printer driver over the network was very simple too. Setting up the network scanning and scan-to-email functions involved a bit more pain.

PERFORMANCE BY FEATURE-

COPIES - It makes great black and white copies and decent color copies. Copying is simple, Green button for a color copy, Grey button for B/W copy. You can copy multiple pages via the document feeder or lift the lid and copy something odd sized on the flatbed. My only gripe is that you have to wait for the unit to warm up before hitting the copy button. It would be great if I could just put the document in the feeder, hit the button and walk away, instead of staring at it while it warms up. But it does warm up quickly. Sleep settings for the copier are selected in the web-based control panel.

FAX- Its a fax, I don't know what else to say. It works fine for me, but I don't use the fax function that much.

PRINTER- I can print from my wireless laptop, sweet! The printer setup on the network was relatively simple. I installed the driver, the software found the printer and configured itself and I was up and running. I found that print quality was too thin on the regular setting, I changed it to BEST quality in the printer driver and it looks great now.

My only gripe with the printer function is the additional Software Samsung installs. They included this program called Dr. Printer or something like that, supposed to troubleshoot printer problems. However, it doesn't support the network printing at all. I had the network printing setup perfectly, but I was curious what the Dr. Printer software did. So I ran it, it says "I found and fixed the problem". It had totally deleted all of my network printer settings and set the printer up as local USB connected printer. So I had to reinstall the whole network printing thing again. Damn my curiousity.

SCANNING- You can scan from the flatbed or the auto feeder in either legal or letter size. You can either send the document as an e-mail directly from the machine or send it directly to your computer. Sounds great, unfortunately it won't do all of these things without being set up first.

Scanning direct to e-mail on this machine is my favorite feature, but it was also the hardest damn thing to initially set up. The network scanning feature (scan to your computer instead of e-mail direct from the machine) was much easier to setup.

SCANNING, TWO DIFFERENT WAYS--

SCANNING TO YOUR COMPUTER VIA THE NETWORK- This function requires the installation of software and it also requires your computer to be on when you are scanning. I found this feature reasonably easy to setup. You push scan, network scan, and then select a destination for the scan on your computer... such as Adobe Acrobat, or particular folders you setup. The scan then magically launches the application on your computer and the document is right in front of you ready to be e-mailed or manipulated.

BUT, each network scan destination can only handle one setup. That means the paper size, resolution and color/BW settings are written in stone for each preset. Which drove me crazy because the only application I use is Acrobat. I got around this by setting up seperate preset folders for the type of scan I was doing, like "Color Legal" "B/W Letter". The good part about doing this is that I don't have to hunt for the file regardless of what folder it goes to because Acrobat automatically launches with the scan open on the screen. From there I usually e-mail or save it where I want it to go.

SCAN DIRECTLY TO E-MAIL FROM THE MACHINE- The direct "scan to e-mail" function was the hardest thing to setup. You have to have an actual POP e-mail address for your scanner, which is how it sends PDFs or JPGs of TIF files directly from the box. Getting an e-mail account setup is simple enough, but the control panel won't recognize the servers by name, for example standard pop mail server names list POP.GMAIL.COM. Instead you have to actually convert the server names into IP addresses (I found a website somewhere that did this) and insert that IP address into the control panel.

Once setup, the scan-to-email function works just as you'd expect. But it requires way too many key strokes on the machine to actually send the document. "Are you sure, Are you really sure, Are you really really sure?" (not exact quotes, but you get the idea)

I'm in my late-twenties with a background in the tech field, yet programming this direct-to-email function had me cussing and pulling my hair out. I imagine most people will setup the network scanning application and stop there. The network scanning application is actually a lot more versitile than the direct scan-to-email, even though it requires you to have your computer turned on. But using the network scanning the document just appears, then you can forward it to whatever e-mail you want via your computer (and keep your hair).


OVERALL, I'll give it 4 stars. Revolutionary product, not quite all the bugs shaken out.

PROS:
Very quiet for a Color Laser- Color Laser machines generally sounds like jets taking off, but this unit isn't so bad. Its not silent, but not bad.
Easy setup out of the box for color laser copying and faxing.
Easy setup of printer drivers for printing through the network.
Only machine I found with color laser printing, an auto-document feeder and flatbed and robust scanning features.

CONS:
Small LCD Display with no backlight- No big deal if the room is well lit, but if its dark you can't see what you are doing.

Direct-to-Email Scanning feature is not worth the trouble it takes to configure. (Use the included Network Scanning software instead, you have to have your computer turned on but it is much easier!)


One good firmware or software update would solve all of my cons, except the LCD display. But, overall I'm happy with my purchase.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars I had high hopes but at the end I am very dissapointed., March 18, 2008

By 

B.P. (San Jose, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Samsung CLX-3160FN Color Laser Multifunction Printer (Office Product)

I really hate to write a negative review - in fact this is the first negative review I ever wrote - but two printers later and nearly BURNING THE OFFICE DOWN pushed me over the edge.

This printer has high potential, it has many wonderful features but it means nothing when most of my day was spent on clearing/fixing paper jams, random clicking and constant errors. A little background about myself: I'm a mechanical engineer, software programmer, and a former IT. I have extended knowledge of networks and computers, so please understand that my frustration does not come from ignorance. As an engineer I respect Samsung for their time and efforts of designing the printer - I understand that a lot of time is sacrificed even on a `crappy' product. It seems that the ideas worked really well on paper - a feature packed printer for an affordable price - but perhaps somewhere along the process their budget was shorted, or quality management failed as so many corners ware cut short.

Anyway, I purchased this printer for my office, it's a small office with a five person network. As I had good experience with Samsung brand equipment before, I decided that this multifunction printer will be adequate. As the printer just hit the market, most of review ware positive and promising. The network installation took me 1.5 minutes and was straight forward; it sent fax, it scanned and it printed - perfect! What else would I need out of a printer?... reliability maybe!

Although it had many good features, the reliability was less than ideal. I soon discovered that most of the features ware really half baked. The network printing itself was solid, but network scanning and faxing worked half of the time... it usually took a restart of the printer to get it working again, and restarting became a normal office phenomenon.

The most unfortunate part of the printer is the paper tray feeder, it jammed daily, to the point where I would spend more time fixing the jams than working. Most jam would happen while printing in color, for some reason the paper would catch on some under-engineered piece of plastic and fold in like an accordion, leaving a nasty half baked goo on the rollers. Soon the printer would leave really nasty stains and smudges on the paper because of the dirty rollers. The quality became unacceptable and cleaning the rollers would mean disassembling the printer which I would not about to do.

The toner cartridge also developed a problem. Although the change of the toner is as simple as it can be, the design, size and price is not ideal. They are very high priced for amount of toner they posses, on average, the toner would last me less than 500 pages which is way less than advertised, and at $60 a pop, toners became a big expense. I believe that faulty printer drivers are also to blame, with every toner change the overflow container would be full, meaning that half of my toner went to waste! Also, for some reason the toners would slightly pop out of the holder and the sprocket wheels would start sliding and damaging the printer and the cartridge. It got to the point where I had to insert a paper clip to hold the black toner in place.

Convinced that my printer was a lemon, I took it back to the store for replacement. As I purchased extended warranty (and I'm glad I did) I received a brand new replacement (the same model). Hoping that my troubles ware over, I soon found myself in the same position as before. The toner started making loud clicking noises right after installation, and paper jams started soon after. The only difference was no smudging (yet).

The last straw came less than a week after receiving the new printer. While receiving a fax, the printer jammed and froze! Immediately it started spewing black smoke as it COUGHT ON FIRE!!!! I opened the printer to discover that two sheets of paper jammed on the `iron' roller. I'm really glad that I was in the office at the time, as if this happened at night it could potentially burn the whole office down! I did not believe that this was possible to happen. Nevertheless, I was able to return the printer for a full refund under warranty, but the whole experience really scarred my image of Samsung, I'm really disappointed at this printer and at Samsung. Unfortunately this review might cut into Samsung's profits, but I hope they will learn not to cut corners in the future and not to release under-developed and potentially dangerous printers. I eventually purchased a Brother MFC-9440CN as an replacement and I'm very happy with it. Not a single problem yet!

So, on the final note - would I recommend this printer to anyone? Absolutely not, not worth the hassle and potential life devastation!


------------------------- EDIT 07/16/08 ------------------------------------

So I had the Brother MFC-9440CN since I originally posted the review, and not a single issue yet! not even a single paper jam. The starter kit toner lasted for few good months, and now I'm on second set of toners and lots of life left... I highly recommend that printer instead.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Solid printer, but has some drawbacks, March 29, 2007

By 

G. Blanks (Lynchburg, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Samsung CLX-3160FN Color Laser Multifunction Printer (Office Product)

I am a Realtor and needed an economical printer. The inkjets were proving to be too costly. With that in mind I need a color laser printer and decided on this one because of the multifunction abilities. The printer has provided good clean and crisp images which I am pleased with. The machine works as advertised and the ink usage seems reasonable. I have yet to get to 75% of the starter cartridges capacity after 1000 pages of print.

Few minor problems that I don't like concerning the printer:
1) It is louder than I like when it's awake.
2) Takes too long to go back to sleep mode after it prints, est. 1 hour
3) Flat bed scanner is not good, allows some sidelight. Worst scanner I've owned from a quality of scan point of view.
4) The auto feeder is really rough on paper and will skew the paper when you are faxing. I use a nice heavy grade of paper and that works fine, but recycled standard paper may rip during copies or scans.

Those are my complaints. I have not used all the features in the month I've owned it, but those are the functions that I use.

With that being said, I would buy this printer again. The price was outstanding and I purchased a 3 year replacement warranty in the event that it does not have longevity.

Good luck to you all.
Greg