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"Finally found a winner!" on by nancy1965
Pros: Fast, Excellent Print Quality, Quiet, Straight Paper Path
Cons: Initial set up of toner cartridges, 110 lb cardstock paper gets jams easily
Summary: I bought this printer after returning 2 other brands (Dell & HP). I have no regrets at all. This printer is by far the best. I love everything about it. The output is simply perfect in my opinion with great colors and detail. However, I do not use the factory setting (Automatic) as I found that those colors were lighter and the colors didn't match my computer monitor. The setting that I use is "Natural" and next to that I have it set on monitor (6500K) Vivid. That setting output best matches my monitor colors.
This printer is also extremely fast. Printouts are finished in no time at all. The paper comes out of the printer nice and straight.
I have no complaints about this printer other than the fact that when I first purchased it, I couldn't understand how the cartridges fit into the drum. Subsequently, I dropped my magenta cartridge and it spilled all over the place! Directions could have been a bit better as far as installing those. Also, 110 lb cardstock paper seems to get jammed in this paper. If you will be using that kind of paper, make sure that you kind of hold each sheet until it goes into the feeder. The output looks great on that heavyweight paper but you do need to monitor it so that it doesn't get jammed.
Other than that I would highly recommend this printer to anyone who is looking for a color laser printer. I paid $500 for it after $100 rebate.
I love this printer! -
"Excellent...trust me, I've owned it for over a year..." on by yattaboy
Pros: very fast print speed, print quality, printer construction
Cons: some pixelation, footprint, media size and weight adjustment
Summary: This is the first high-quality "laser" (ahem, LED) printer I've owned for my soho, but I've been using laser's for years. I liked the Cnet review, but it's missing a couple of important points. This printer is very well made, not a feather-light piece of injection-molded plastic like most mass-made printers. The other is Oki's support and free software.
Oki emailed me some utilities for color swatches and print supervision which tracks toner and page usage on-screen, and others. They also sell the toner, duplexer, etc. on their own website, at "street prices". I received the duplexer by UPS in 3 days for a final price of $152...lots of online vendors can match that, but that's not bad from the manufacturer. I print reports with rich text, .jpg headers, charts, etc. and the printer spits them out almost as fast as regular text docs. I do not like the need to enter the menu every time I need to print something less-ordinary like a transparency or No. 10 envelope or 28 lb. bond paper -- an express option for media changes would be nice like a dedicated button or switch. I also found that saturated colors or small fonts "pixelate" (have jagged edges) at times. It's very small, and unless you proof very closely, you probably wouldn't see it -- it can be corrected too by printing on the "best" print setting. However, it would be nice if it didn't do that at all.
I respect other people's experiences, but honestly, I just didn't understand "rhansen's" review that toner costs are high. I looked at toner cartridge prices and yields quite thoroughly from Lexmark, Canon and HP before buying, and found when you compare a "2K" cartridge from Oki and see what it gets you...about 2,000 prints...it's in the center. Not the cheapest, not the most expensive, but it does give high-quality. After using it for a year, I think it meets those estimates fairly closely (you can always increase or decrease print quality to consume/save toner). I also didn't agree with the review where a person bought it used and found it didn't work. Maybe Oki should honor a warranty to anyone for 1 year, but if you were in the business of manufacturing low-margin printers, would you do that, knowing there are owners who may run their off-road vehicle over top of the printer before selling it to a second owner? How can you guarantee a printer's performance when it didn't come direct from your factory?? More importantly, do Okidata's competitors do better or worse in this regard?
Anyways, I have found Oki's shipping and cartridge prices reasonable, but don't take my word for it...check their website, and Staples and various online vendors and see. If you need an all-in-one, maybe you should get the HP for a few dollars more as the Cnet reveiw says, although I personally found HP's sharpness was a little less for printers in the same price category as the C5500n. Also, I don't think most people buy the C5500n for full $599...it's pretty easy to get it between $400-500.
I wanted a high quality printer for a small home office business, not another 1 pound piece of plastic from Costco. At 57 pounds, maybe the C5500n is overbuilt, but it reminds me of the business class printers I've been using for the last 25 years. I wrote another online review for a popular computer mag website, and said the same thing there: If my office burned down tomorrow and I had to buy another printer with the insurance check, I would probably buy this same printer all over again, because its strength's and Oki's support greatly outweigh its weaknesses. If you want an all-in-one for your home computer, and don't care about the occasional ink-jet smudge or loading paper in 50 piece stacks or printing every odd-numbered page and then flipping the stack over to print every even-numbered page, then yes, the review correctly notes this is an expensive printer. Personally, I'm fed up with cheap consumer junk and would probably buy this printer again even for non-soho use because it could probably fall off of the desk it's sitting on and still work. -
"Great Print Quality For Both Text, Pictures & Graphics" on by Kevin8813
Pros: Excellent Overall Print Quality & Reasonably Priced Toner
Cons: Weird Start Up Sounds. Clunk, Clunk, Errrrr
Summary: I have owned this printer since September 2006 and I am very pleased with the quality of the print output. Print output looks very professional, especially when used with laser gloss stock. I am amazed with the picture quality. Sharpness, color and density are all excellent. I am so glad I researched this printer before I purchased. I made my own choice after talking to friends that have owned OKI LED printers. I am sold on this product. It is big and heavy, but I am not marrying this gal. I wanted a performer, not a beauty model that was cheap date. Any toner from a manufacturer is going to cost more than inkjet cartridges. But, the number of pages per change over is high. Cost per page for this printer is very reasonable for what you get. Professional print shops are going to charge you two to three times the cost of each page as compared to this printer. I bought mine at Staples with a $200 rebate. I don't need to duplex, but if I did, I found a place online that sells
the OKI duplexer for about $150. OVERALL I would give this printer a higher rating than CNET did. I am not an employee of any manufacturer. I am a commercial realtor.Updated
I am still pleased with this printer. I've had it over 6 months and it still does a great job. Sure I had to replace the factory toner carts fairly soon after I purchased, but that's gonna be the story with any printer. Output is manifico! The only complaint that I have is that not many store outlets carry the toner. Odering online was easy. Delivery in 2 days. No break downs, no jams and alot of printed marketing materials and report jobs finished. Print quality is a 10, graphics a 9! and speed is good. Good luck friends. -
"Beware Oki Toner Price" on by rhansen
Pros: They run fine
Cons: But the cost per page is high, 3rd party repair lacking
Summary: My former employer loved Oki's because we had lots of "Oki Bucks". These came from our purchasing impact printers for inclusion in our products. Problem was,the toner price was a budget killer. Nobody carries the supplies and there is no 3rd party market per HP. We also had tremendous issues trying to find somebody to service the printers. Buy HP...lots of tech's and 3rd party supplies available.
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"Best bang for your buck!" on by bbde
Pros: High quality & low total cost of ownership
Cons: Color photo printing alters some tones
Summary: Overall this is a great printer. It has the best overall package for my home office setting (purchase cost, toner cost, drum cost & user serviceable). My only grip is that it alters the tone of objects when I've tried to print digital photos (rosey red cheeks & red eyes).
Updated
I've had the Oki for about 3 months now. The speed, quality, and toner life have been great. You won't be disapointed. This is the best bang for your buck if you need color printing for a small workgroup. I only wish it could handle 11x17 paper.
Oki C5500n user reviews
Where to Buy
MSRP: $750.00
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