Customer Reviews

XLNT Idea Direct to Disc Printer (XI440)

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This may be the worst printer I have ever used. The tech support it carries is useless as well. The quality of the prints were laughable at best. Pixelated enough to distort the image. Two times I called tech support and got two different answers from two different people. Very hard to understand them as they are from another country. In the specs the unit says it is Mac and Pc compatible. This is NOT true. It was not working well on a Mac, and to make matters worse the software that you MUST have in order to use the printer on the mac does not come with the printer. You must, must, must buy the software yourself. Tech support made this sound like it was no problem. Just buy xyz software and you will be great. Well, I downloaded a trial version and that's when I saw how horrible the quality was. Stay away from this printer.

I needed to do occasional disc printing, maybe a few jobs per month in batches from one to 10. I bought this printer because it used standard, off-the-shelf Lexmark cartridges.

Right off the bat, I had problems. With new cartridges, I got good results--for the first printing. But when I tried to print a week or so later--nothing. The cartridges had leaked and dried out. I've never had that problem with other ink-jet printers.

After cleaning with alcohol and a soft cloth, it was finally up and printing. But every time you remove a cartridge, the software wants to realign the print heads, and that requires a disc and a lot of time. The alignment program is a pain.

When it prints, the results are great. But I've had poor results with both Lexmark-branded cartridges and with generic cartridges. I guess if I were printing lots of discs on a day-to-day basis, things would be better.

Software:
The included DiscStudio software is functional, but clunky and counter-intuitive. You enter the text with one menu, then go to another to change the typeface and size, and to another to add any special effects. Yikes.

And as mentioned, if you've removed the cartridges, you must let it know you don't want to realign the print heads--even when you're printing with black ink.

I'll continue to look for a reliable, long-lasting, non-dripping, non-clogging, non-expensive cartridge. Until then, I'll keep my cleaning materials by my side.