Great print quality packaging and warranty but a few problems
This is one of a few inkjet all-in-one's packaged with XL ink cartridges (official yield rated at 600 pages for color 510 for black) auto 2-sided printing and document feeder wi-fi connectivity and comes with an un-matched 5 year warranty (1 year initial 4 additional years after registration) for less than $150. You might want to look at the Pro705 which can be similar in price. You will have to stay with Lexmark's "Pro" printers to get the 5 year warranty everything else in their line is 3 years or less. The Pro205 has 64MB built-in with a max print speed in draft mode of 33 PPM in black 30 PPM in color which is about average.
The packaging of the product is top-notch. The unit was thoroughly taped (at least 10 separate pieces) to protect the unit during transit and the printed documentation was fancy although I never needed to read it. Of course the highlight is the aforementioned XL ink cartridges and the package also comprised of a USB cable phone lines and an installation CD which includes OCR software. The installation itself was a breeze and the video animation was helpful. The construction of the unit has thoughtful touches: a spring-loaded button opens the document feeder casing to clear jams and the glass to copy/scan documents has clear arrows telling you where to position the document. The unit is made in China and the ink cartridges in Singapore. Cold start up time is about 39 seconds wi-fi connectivity about 15 seconds longer if it works (more on that later). Warm start up time is about 6 seconds.
As for print quality on premium inkjet paper I'm very impressed. I printed out maps from Bing 3D using "Best" quality setting and friends could not believe how sharp the prints were (you could see tennis court boundary lines). The cost of the "Best" setting is high ink usage - you can see the ink drain quickly using the software's ink monitoring graphics but that's probably true for all inkjets. On regular paper the color quality was not so impressive even using the "Best" option with pictures lacking vibrance and loosing color accuracy compared to premium paper. The drop-off in photo quality is I think mostly due to the paper. Black text is so-so on either paper - obviously not laser-sharp probably about average among other inkjets.
My wi-fi connection was sporadic at best even though the wi-fi status light shows green although I'm not sure if this is because I am using Windows Vista 64-bit on my primary laptop (yes I downloaded the 64-bit drivers from Lexmark's site). I usually resort to sticking in the USB cable for 100% reliability and faster data transfer. My other laptop running Windows XP had no problems with the wifi connection.
Regarding paper handling if you're planning on printing on paper thicker than standard this unit really struggled. Using Avery 4x6 card inkjet paper which is thicker than standard paper the unit would either jam print in the wrong location or not feed in at all and the unit would start printing on nothing (you can hear the print heading moving and printing). I would have hoped on the latter situation that a sensor would know there is nothing to print on but no. After printing about 50 sheets on thick paper the rubber rollers started to peel out particles like a rubber eraser on a pencil. Occasionally on regular paper the automatic duplex printing would jam as the paper is reeled backwards but most of the time this worked.
I am very impressed with Lexmark's customer service. That's a good thing. Why I'm calling customer service right after I bought the unit is not. Any document I scanned or copied would have a thick vertical black stripe across the entire page. The customer service rep had no idea besides clean the glass reset the printer to default settings and reboot. But he was nice and polite and Lexmark had a new unit shipped and arrived in record time - 2 days (maybe it helps that they shipped from Los Angeles and I'm in San Diego). My confidence is slightly shaken but the new unit does not have this problem and works perfectly so far except of course the intermittent wi-fi connectivity.
Due to the excellent color print quality features packaging customer service and stellar warranty at this price point I'm willing to give the Pro205 4 stars.More detail ...
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