We decided that we wanted a new printer when our Cannon BJC-1000 started smudging ink on the paper just 6 months after we got it, so we took it back and searched online for something about the same price about £50.
We settled on the Lexmark Z12 having seen it on QVC and ordered from Jungle, it arrived in a box, with no cable, but we had one anyway and instruction book and a colour cartridge.
I set it up and then couldn't find the installation disk, oops there it is, in a pocket in the back of the manual.
Once installed we decided to see what the print was like using the Calendar that is included on the installation disk - WOW!!! Compared with the Cannon the Black was really Black and the colours were really Vibrant.
The ink cartridges are quite expensive , around £27.00 for Black and £30.00 for colour, and we have found that they don’t refill properly with the home refill kits, but we have found that Dixons, and other stores have started to do the re-conditioned “own brand” alternatives for around £18.00 each.
We tend to leave paper in the machine as it takes up to about 100 sheets of normal paper, 10 envelopes or sheets of card. The paper support will fold down to enable you to use Banner or continuous sheets.
The onscreen ''Control Programme'' means that you can set up the printer with a new cartridge without having to mess about. From the control programme you can also set up for sorting your document so that the colour cartridge will only print the colour pages and you can then change to the black cartridge for the ''Text'' pages. Although I haven't tried this yet I am sure that it will help when I need to do projects or assignments for College.
There is an annoying voice that tells you when the printing is starting and finishing and also tells you if there is a problem during printing. Great if you have gone to make a brew, as you have an audible warning that there is a problem and don't come back 5 minutes later to find that there is a problem, when the printing should have finished. (You can turn the voice off in the control panel though.)
All in all - the Lexmark Z12 will never compete with some of the more expensive Ink Jets, but is better than many of it's peers. You get what you pay for.
- Thank You! We appreciate your effort.