Customer Reviews

Samsung Color Multifunction Laser Printer (CLX-3175FW)

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

I am a nice guy. I have patience. Customer service is inherently frustrating, I'm okay with that. Things take time. Things break. I'm okay with that too. But this is OFF THE !@#$% SCALES OF BEING OKAY.

1. My printer broke. Wouldn't scan or copy, just print.

2. I call customer service. I describe the problem. They said they'd send a replacement part and a guy would come fix it. Weird, for a $300 printer, but whatever.

3. The printer guy comes. Says they sent the wrong part. Reorders the part.

4. Two weeks go by. I call Samsung. The part is on INDEFINITE BACKORDER. I was not told. I talk to "Executive Customer Service", they say that they can just send another part that works just as well. WHY DIDN'T THEY JUST SEND THAT IN THE FIRST PLACE?

5. The printer guy comes back. Installs the part, it doesn't work. He says that he charges $400/hour. That means Samsung has already paid for two replacement parts + shipping and about $1200 in repairs to NOT fix my broken $300 printer. Genius. He marks it "unrepairable". I call Samsung, they say they're going to call me when his report goes through their system.

6. A week later. They never called me, so I call Samsung. They say they'll finally send me a new printer. GREAT!! FINALLY!!!

7. ...wait. They're not sending me a new printer. They're sending me a new unit, but I have to keep the toner, the accessories, and I have to pull out the "imaging unit" and put it in a box because if I expose it to light, the whole thing is destroyed and my printer is worthless. No matter that I don't know what the part looks like, I should be able to pull it out in the dark and put it in the conveniently sized light-proof box I don't have. Great. I ask for an email instruction or checklist so I can make sure to take out all the right parts. The Samsung tech support guy says "we don't have email." Really? Great move. A tech support department without email. Perfect.

8. Nope...not over yet. They aren't sending ME the printer. It's getting sent to my local UPS store. I now have to hope I pull out all the right parts to my broken printer in the dark, put them in a box so the "imaging unit" doesn't break, go to the UPS store, pick up the new one, and hope that I can put it all back together at my house and that I haven't left a part in the old printer because I'm supposed to take out the parts that were on a list that they wouldn't give me.

9. I call the UPS store that Samsung tells me about. They have no idea what I'm talking about and have never had a Samsung printer sent to them, ever.

[...] YOU SAMSUNG!!!!

Your crappy Epson printer breaks, they send you a new one for free, you don't even have to send the old one back. THAT'S customer service. I will never buy another Samsung product, just to not have to deal with this moronic process again.

Pros: Meets Expectations, Features, network scan with mac and pc great
Cons: Set up

I purchased this All-in-One color laser printer last night from my local Office Max. I was hoping to see in store how to function of the wireless actually worked. The sales guy was unable to demonstrate this after trying on one or two of the floor computers. As a leap of faith (and a few months of reading on the internet before purchasing), I bought the machine at the sale price plus the 2 year OfficeMax warranty.

I brought it home and unpacked and plugged it into the wall at a location not next to a computer or next to a router or wired network connection. My first idea was to set this up wirelessly so I can leave it a universally accessible location like my family room. Well playing with the 2 inch display and 10 digit keypad was becoming frustrating. The printer found my wireless SSID, I typed in the proper credentials but the wireless functionality never started. I then moved the printer next to the router and a computer which I should mention is a Netgear 802.11g router and an old G4 eMac running OS X.4.

Before I tried accepting this to my network, I decided to give it a static IP address on my router. I typed in the MAC address and the IP address I wanted. Then using the CLX-3175FW's 2 inch screen and on-board menu, I entered that static IP into the network configuration. I plugged the printer using an ethernet cable into my router and typed the IP address in my Firefox browser on the eMac. It immediately opened the SyncThruWeb page and I was able to configure some settings.

I immediately tried to setup the wireless function. I tried ever possible configuration and disconnection of the ethernet cable possible. I could not get the wireless function started. I plan on calling Samsung when I have an hour to kill. At this point I decided to move onto the next couple tasks, setting up the printer and scanner, and maybe fax.

I downloaded the software from Samsung's website: 1. Smart Panel 2. Print Driver and 3. Scan manager. I installed the Print driver first, then the scan manager, then the Smart Panel on the eMac. Once I did that, I opened up System Preferences and added the printer to the computer. Once that was done, the Smart Panel icon in the top right was active. I clicked it and was able to access all fucntions of set-up using Samsung Smart Panel. I decided to set-up scanning now.

Within the menu of the Smart Panel, there is an option for Scan Manager. On the eMac, I clicked this and I was able to locate the CLX-3175FW on my network. I set up a folder and two applications. First folder was just generic PDF scanning. My wife likes to scan bills and semi-important mail and documents. The ADF feeder will take 15 pages and scan a multipage PDF file. I then created an application prompt to open up Adobe Acrobat. I often use Acrobat to scan important work documents and need robust functionality to edit and review documents. I then set up a iPhoto application for when want to scan pictures from the flatbed, etc. Time to test.
I grabbed some mail, I had a 5 page wireless bill, and stuffed it into the ADF on-top. The Samsung beeps to let you know you are ready. I select the scan button and scroll right to select "Scan to PC" and click ok. I can see that it found my eMac so I click ok. It then sees the folder I setup called Bills/Mail so I select that. It then asks for color or gray, 300 DPI, etc. I click ok, ok, ok until it finally starts scanning. Immediately on a screen pops up on the eMac showing the progess of the scanned document. The scan finishes in less than a minute and immediately Preview opens up ans shows me my 5 pages scanned document....pretty slick.

I then decide to set up all this on my two laptops. I have a G4 iBook running OS X.4.11 and an Acer Netbook running Windows XP Home. As expected, the scanning function worked exactly the same on the other two computers. I am very happy with the scanning function. It works MUCH better than I could imagine. I use an MFP at work, Ricoh Aficio 161, and the Samsung software is much easier to use and gives better options for scanning to a networked folder. Kudos to Samsung on this one.

I then decided to try fax but I didn't have much luck here because I have a VOIP system at home. I've tried many configurations and even tried calling Comcast for some possible answers but to no avail. Basically I can plug the fax using a standard phone cord into the my Comcast modem, my MTA has two ports. The fax will dial out but it doesn't complete the fax. An error report will be printed out showing a No Answer error.

Overall, I am pleased. Having a network scanner and printer at home are great. If I can setup the wireless function I would be even happier so I can move this All-in-One unit to a more convenient location. But the network printer works great. The Samsung is set to sleep after 15 minutes and it wakes fast and responds to a network wake. I was able to send mulitple types of documents (PDF, Word, JPEG, internet prints) to the CLX-3175FW without a problem when attached to the network. I don't have the USB cord plugged in. There is no need. No need to have an active computer, it will run solo. If you want to network scan, you need to have a computer online or setup a drive or folder on your network to act as a server. I plan to setup my NAS (Network Attached Storage drive) which is primarily a backup disc as a server for scanned info but so far its great.

I purchased this printer in the UK (since I live there). It is excellent. While in the USA, I purchased black toner cartridges for this printer. Be advised that ONLY toners purchased in the Euro States will work in the Euro (UK)machines. This is due to a security chip in the toner cartridge. Thus USA cartridges will only work in USA machines. Anyone want to buy 2 new (never used) black USA toner Cartridges-good price!

I got sick and tired of replacing my ink cartridge's on my Lexmark inkjet printer at home so I went looking for a good laser colour to replace it. After an extensive search I came across this samsung printer and I was impressed with all the reviews so I decided to give it a try. I was not disappointed.

I have installed this as a network printer flawlessly using the wireless NIC then wired directly into my router. I have install the drivers flawlessly on my wife's MAC, My dual boot Vista/Xp laptop, and my home Windows 7 device. The linux one is the only one I havn't tested, but I will in a couple months on a VM.

The Printer it's self is small for a multi-colour laser printer and fit's perfectly in a little cabinet whole I made. It's a little to big for my desk but that's to be expected as for what it is.

I have printed various maps, documents, pdf's, and I really can't notice too much of a difference from my ink jet other then the brightness of the colour, but your going to get that with all Laser colours so I don't count that as a negative.

I have tested the scanner and it scans and/or copies great the only issues I have is getting the scanner to scan connected over the network. I have not been able to fully attack this problem yet (gave it about 5 minutes of my time), but this is a known problem with alot of all-in one printer's (not just samsung) that are 64 bit (which my machine is)

Overall though I have been most impressed with this Printer, and definitly recommend over it's HP and Lenovo counterparts. I say this from years of IT work at 17,000 + employee hospital where I've worked with all types of printers and computers.

So far, so good! JSamsung CLX-3160FN Color Laser Multifunction Printer

I haven't mastered all the functions,thus far, but am very happy with what I have used. It is SO quiet but it truly is LARGE! I am amazed at the quality of the color pictures. My old color laser didn't produce good color pics. I just hope and pray that it continues on as well as it has been to date.

First, DO NOT DOWN LOAD ANY FIRMWARE UPDATE from Samsung. They prompted me to install a firmware upgrade for a "bug" in the printer copier. There has been no issue with it. All has been working fine. Until after the install. I have been buying off-label (Green Apple brand) toner/drum cartridges which save me a bit of money (not alot). I have 2 for backup. Immediately after installing the firmware upgrade, the copier will not recognize the toner. Saying "Incompatible toner cartridge installed". And will not work. I called customer service, and first they told me to uninstall the software. I said it can not be done, as it is a firmware, installed in the copier. They transferred me to a technician, who said that it has to be done by an authorized service center, and they said that since my copier is under warranty, I can bring it to a local service center to have the older firmware version 1 reinstalled. I called the facility, and asked them TWICE if this is a service they can do. They confirmed they can. I brought the printer over and left it for 4 days. Then called them. They said I'll need to buy a new toner with Samsung brand. I said that the whole reason why I brought it over is to have the firmware reinstalled, and they had confirmed it can be done. Then today, a Samsung representative called me, saying that they will not allow the old firmware to be installed, as they specifically said in the manual that only Samsung toners can be used in these machines. To me, this is scandalous, to tell owners to install an update to fix a "bug" when the bug is simply the fact that they want to BLOCK you from using non-Samsung toner and drums. This is not a warranty issue with defective equipment, but an issue that SAMSUNG does not want people to use aftermarket or non-samsung products. BAD,BAD,BAD,BAD..... I will not recommend any SAMSUNG products to anyone!

This printer isn't very fast, but it's a cheap color laser all in one and the ink price is reasonable. I liked it well enough until today. I was printing several documents and in the middle I got a dev.home error. It now won't print anything. I searched for this error online and found out that it is fairly common and expensive to fix. I've tried to reach samsung with no response.

I am disappointed with the lifespan, as I replaced other printers that were much older with this one that has already died.

Just received the Samsung's CLX-3175FW printer. I researched many printers after having HP printers for the last 3 years and all of them dying in about one year each. I read the majority of the reviews and it seemed that this was the perfect machine other than the wireless connection problem that everyone seems to have problems with. One review I read talked about connecting the USB wire PRIOR to connecting the wireless. So I connected the USB and followed the rest of the directions and within 10 minutes my computer was hooked up to the wireless. I then disconnected the USB cord. Easy.
Now with my other laptops, I did not use the USB as I already had my wireless working on my main computer. I went into the Start-Control panel-Printers area and clicked on "Add a printer". First of all had a slight problem with not finding my printer in the selection. But after clicking on the Windows Update, the list of all printers downloaded. This computer was listed as "Samsung cls 3170 Series". Just clicking on that and following the on screen directions, that laptop was connected within 5 min.
One last note, if on your other computers or laptops while trying to connect to the wireless part, one of the on screen questions asks if you have the disk. I did not have to use the disk the way I did it, but that sounds like a easy second choice to setup. Good Luck. :)

I've been using the Samsung CLX-3175FW Color Laser Multifunction Printer for several weeks with great success. It was set up very easily just plugging it into my network router directly via Ethernet connector. (I didn't test the wireless operation but all the devices on my network connect to it wirelessly through the router.) Driver installation on Mac OS X Snow Leopard was straightforward and easy.

You can find the latest drivers here... [...]

The color printing and photocopying quality is very good. It is so much better than an ink jet printer. You can actually print decent quality photos on plain paper without ink showing through the paper. You don't have to worry about ink drying out. I'm about ready to toss my ink jet in the trash now. (More likely I'll recycle it though.)

This unit has a small desktop footprint compared to most color laser printers. For the price, you can hardly go wrong. It's not even that much more expensive than a high end inkjet printer.

I tested network scanning using the TWAIN plug-in with the GraphicConverter application and it worked great. I highly recommended this application for basic image editing on the Mac [...]/. Now I have no more USB cable swapping for all the Macs in my office to be able to scan.

All told, I highly recommend this unit for the small business or home office.

I bought this laser printer despite some scathing reviews and some equally glowing raves. My goal was to buy an ALL-IN-ONE (AIO) Laser printer that would not break the bank, would not take up a lot of desktop space and most importantly print quality docs wirelessly. The SAMSUNG CLX-3175FW met all these goals admirably and then some more.
I love the wireless aspect the most. It was as easy as running the included ethernet cable from the back of the printer to the back of my airport base station which was already connected to my Motorola cable modem by another ethernet cable. My airport was already configured to wirelessly access the internet for my MacBookPro and once I had the ethernet connected both my imac and my MacBookPro instantly recognized the printer on bonjour and I was able to print right away. The only thing that I forgot to mention that i did before the physical connection described above is to install the included software on both of my computers.
The print quality is exceptional for the price ($299). The B&W and color prints are great for documents, brochures, presentations etc.
I have a dedicated Canon photo printer for my photos so I do not use this for photographs since laser printers do not accept photo paper anyway.
I have owned several HP deskjets and officejets and was hesitant about Smasung brand name but let me be very clear - THIS ONE IS THE BEST PRINTER I have ever owned!

FINAL WORDS - Buy this printer for its wireless ease of use, small footprint, good looks and laser print quality and for its fax, scan, photocopy, and print quality. I love this printer.