Lexmark C530dn user reviews

Pros Actually prints great photos for a laser jet, duplexer works well, is reliable.

Cons OH BOY, does it chew through toner! It DOES NOT come close to fulfilling stated toner usage. The fan is loud but not terrible. When the black ink runs low (which it quickly does) a gray cloud appears over the entire page.

Summary I want to give this printer a good rating but I just can't. Overall I have been satisfied with the printing when the toner is full. When it begins to run low there is a gray cloud that covers the page. I can shake the toner cartridge and get the cloud to disappear for a few prints but easily the last 500 pages (roughly 1/3 of the cartridge--yes, it DOES Not get the 3000 pages as promised.....) are cloudy. That is pretty unacceptable, especially since it begins before getting a low cartridge warning and only after maybe 700 pages. Most of the time there is a agray cloud-=-and there has been since it was new. I was warned by the reviews but hoped it was merely something coming from the low cartridge and wouldn't affectd the majority of my prints.

I am a professional student and need double sided color printing that I can highlight so I need a printer like this. I researched many options and it finally came down to two criteria: a duplexer (so as not to waste paper) and the cost of ownership based on intial purchase cost and an estimated number of prints over the course of 5 years. I came up with a number of prints in a 5 year time, divided it by the number of prints expected from each cartridge, multplied the number of cartridges byt he cost per cartridge and arrived at a cost. I added that tot he purchase price and that was the cost of ownership. I ran the numbers on all the machines and chose this one because of the significanlty lower cost of ownership.

After making at least 3 toner changes (at $100/cartridge x 4 cartridges = $400 per toner change) that seemed to come quickly I measured exactly how many prints I was making by counting the reams of paper I used (3 reams x 2 sides = 3000 printed pages). I can get through about one ream before I get a low toner message and can maybe stretch the toner out to half-way through the second ream. That means I am getting ONLY 1500 printed pages on cartidges that advertise an average of 3000! This isn't just a fluke--I am on my thrid replacements and getting the same results. I am printing probalby less than average on each page (6 Powerpoint slides/page with mostly just a few lines of text and white background on most) so it isn't that I am saturating the pages with text.

So essentially, this low cost of ownership machine is literally costing me twice what I expected to pay per cartridge refill!

How can we be smart consumers if we don't have accurate information?

I thought I was making a smart consumer choice but Lexmark either wasn't being honest or they have changed their product specifications.

As consumers we only have the power to give our money to a company or choose not to; we vote on what we want wtih our dollars. That might not seem like a lot of power, but without our dollars, the companies can't stay in business. This Lexmark printer doesn't do what was promised and what Lexmark continues to promise when they advertise the capacity of thier toner cartridges. Vote against that approach--don't buy this printer.

I feel as though I bought a car promising 35 miles per gallon and am getting 20.

14 months into this printer I will be ahead if I sell it and buy another brand. It is too expensive to own.

Pros Very affordable, fast printing color laser printer with automatic duplex. Good toll-free tech support. On-site repair for one year. Color quality is good but not spectacular (but what do you expect for a $400 printer?). Good enough in most cases.

Cons Manual feed for paper and envelopes is not stable and jams often. That part of the printer needs a complete redesign. If it doesn't fit in the main printer tray, you probably won't be able to print on it with confidence.

Summary This printer is only weeks off of warranty and has an internal problem that the technical rep. said was either a bad fuser or the connections that go to the fuser. I doubt it's the fuser because the stats page says it's still at 75% of useful life. The printer now attempts to print but when it gets to the fuser it stops. The ink hasn't been set into the paper and gives up.

Bottom line, if you need this to do regular color charts and reports with some graphics, it's a perfectly good choice. I would purchase this printer again if it wouldn't have died after only 13 months and 12000 prints. I am going to try to have this repaired, but since I only paid $415 for this new, it might be worth it to toss the whole thing. Too bad, since I just replaced the photoconductor modules for all four colors. I also have spare toner cartridges on hand. I thought a Lexmark would last longer than this.

Pros Great print quality

Cons Toner cartridges run out quickly

Summary This printer is certainly designed to eat toner. I've owned the printer now for 6 months. I am self employed and use it for occational printing in the office. It gets light use compared to any regular office since I'm out of town every week.

Even though I print mostly black and white, I've replaced all the color cartriges 2 times and the black twice (soon to be three). So this inexpensive printer has cost me over $800 in consumables in just 6 months! I'm definitely replacing it with something more affordable. Prints look nice and the duplexing comes in handy occationally. But it's just too expensive to own. Beware!

Pros If you don't change paper types or trays ever- this is a very good printer

Cons Big Problem- so big that my national retailer negotiated a 100% return for me from the Lexmark- Driver doesn't work

Summary The driver contains all the menus and functionality you would expect to allow a user to designate different paper types,weights, sizes and locations (main tray vs. multi-purpose feeder MPF) which you must have if you print envelopes. I kept getting error messages and would have to use the on-printer menu to handle each different print type. After 6 months of consistently getting error messages, I then learned from Lexmark that the printer doesn't read any directions from the driver regarding the MPF- I pointed out then that the menus make one believe in trying out the product that it has that functionality and that's deceiving.