Lexmark Prevail Pro705 Small Office Wireless Multifunction Inkjet Printer

5 comments

1. 

   G. Huber on May 22, 2010 at 1:47 pm

   I have primarily owned HP printers for the last 15 years, but was having sporadic problems with my main printer, an HP D360 photo printer. I was tired of troubleshooting with HP, so I decided to give in and go with the Lexmark Prevail Pro705. I shopped around and didn’t really do much research prior to buying. I knew I wanted to try a new manufacturer and was hoping to get a multi-function unit. I was in an office supply store and asked if Lexmark was comparable to HP quality, and saw for myself that there wasn’t a lot of difference in quality.

   The Prevail Pro705 was the new model at the time of purchase (Oct 14th, 2009). This is my first purchase from Lexmark and I am very pleased. The most appealing things to me about this particular model were the number of features (Fax, Scanner, Copier, Printer), the 5 year warranty, and the slightly lower costs per print than the HP model. The color cartridge claims to get about 200 prints more than the HP 02 color cartridges, so that (ideally) means more prints for less.

   After unboxing the printer, I first tried to set it up on Windows Vista Ultimate PC, connecting via USB cable (included). I was able to print a test page, but had difficulty printing pictures- the progress bar would only go to about 30% or so. I contacted tech support help troubleshoot my issue. They spent 4 hours trying to tweak things while remotely connected to my computer, with no luck. At the end of the first support session I was worse off- the printer was struggling to print a complete test page. Fortunately, my issue was escalated to second level support whom I was able to get in touch with the next day. After another two hours of trouble shooting, I was told this was an issue that may need to be submitted to the software engineering team. I was getting ready to pack up the printer to return it, but I decided to mention to the technician that I had another computer (a netbook) that had Windows XP on it and if that would make any difference. The tech recommended that I try to install the printer on that using the USB cable. I followed his instructions later that night and was able to get the printer installed and it printed everything, including pictures, perfectly. After that, I thought I’d try printing using wireless (instead of the USB) from my Vista computer and everything worked perfectly. Apparently, there are still some bugs that need to be worked out for Vista, or it is possible that my Vista computer has other issues that prevent the printer from functioning properly over USB. Since I also had issues with HP printer, I think it is possible that my computer settings are the culprit. The Lexmark support technician said the issues seemed to be related to a firewall on my computer, though we disabled that and still had the problem. The tech support people were very helpful and spoke good English, despite being in another country.

   Had it not been for the trouble that I ran into while installing the printer on Vista and the lengthy tech support calls, I would have given a 5 star review. There are many pro’s: the photo prints are very comparable in quality to my HP D360. The printer makes some noise when printing, but a lot less than my old printer. The wireless capability of this printer was a life saver and it was very easy to get set up with the software included (I am using a dlink wireless N router, with WPA security). It seems that it is also possible to set up the wireless capability from the printer, but I didn’t try that.

   The copy functionality of the printer works well. It took less than 30 seconds to make a copy and it looks very clean, though some colors (like light grays) seemed to be a little darker on the copy. There is also an “eco” setting that will automatically make copies on two sides of the page. This is a nice feature and saves paper, which I like. The eco mode also puts the printer into sleep mode after a certain amount of time.

   I would recommend this to anyone looking for a solid multi-function printer. It seems to have similar quality and capability to the more expensive HP printers.
   

2. 

   TZ at DeepSkyRanch on May 22, 2010 at 2:30 pm

   Our “old” Dell printer (which was almost a freebie that was thrown in when we got our office computer) didn’t last two years (as I expected). Recently, I went on a pretty detailed search for a new printer, and after spending two days reading all the reviews, this Lexmark Pro705 seemed perfect for our small business office.
   
   What I liked:
   
   - The setup was really easy! (the hardest part was getting the packing tape off the ink cartridges)
   
   - It prints pretty fast. AND the print is really crisp!
   
   - It has a nice look to it – it looks like a professional machine.
   
   - The fax lets you setup all your contacts by typing info into the computer – this is so much easier than trying to key in data on the fax itself, as many other faxes require. After you set up your contacts, the fax displays them in a nice little scroll list for you. AND you can edit and change your settings at any time by accessing the little handy desktop shortcut.
   
   - It has buttons on the front for FAX, COPY, SCAN – so my boss doesn’t have to toggle thru menus to make a copy or send a fax. This is a really EASY to use machine.
   
   - LOVE the double sided printing. All those long reports don’t seem quite so cumbersome now, not to mention the paper it saves.
   
   - During my research I found that some printers will just run out of ink without telling you in advance, and some printers won’t print black UNLESS there is color ink in the color cartridges.
   
   THIS Lexmark will tell you when you are running low on ink, and will continue to print black text just fine if your color cartridges are empty (they just need to stay in place).
   
   -Lexmark offers a terrific ink program – for every 5 cartridges I buy and recycle to them, they will give me 2 cartridges FREE. No one else does that!
   
   - AND speaking of ink cartridges, the printer is shipped WITH the extra large ink cartridges, not just little sample cartridges.
   
   LOTS to LOVE about this machine.

   What I don’t like :
   
   I will have to dust it off occasionally.(grin)
   
   Seriously, I haven’t found anything not to like.

   What doesn’t apply to me:
   
   I have heard comments regarding “not the best for high quality color photo printing” – but
   
   we only need this for black text, invoices, reports, etc… so this wasn’t an issue for me.

3. 

   Gaart on May 22, 2010 at 4:48 pm

   I had just “junked” two HP printers and decided it was time to look around for another brand. A friend just bought a Lexmark Pro205 from Amazon; liked it, so decided to look for myself. I saw this printer for $20 more and decided to try it. As usual, Amazon had the best prices on the Net!
   
   Lexmark Prevail Pro705 Small Office Wireless 4-in-1

   I received the printer within 3 days. I opened the box, read the instructions and started to install according to their steps. I got to the part where you install the ink cartridges, opened the sealed packages and the top of the cyan cartridge looked like it had either been exposed to high heat or chemically melted. There was no way to remove the protective seal. So had to stop the installation for that evening and call Lexmarks’ “hot-line”.

   I called and the automated voice said there was a 25 minute wait, sure enough it was about that amount of time. When the rep answered he had a very thick accent and I could barely hear him. After a lengthy discussion and me having to repeat and phonetically spell out all my information, he informed me that someone would call the next day for a resolution to my problem.

   The next day I decided I couldn’t wait, so went to a “big box” office supply store and bought a replacement cartridge, so I could finish the install and get the printer going. I had lots of backed up printing jobs I needed to get out to my customers. Later in the afternoon (second day), I received a call from Lexmark that I would be receiving a replacement cartridge within 1 to 2 days, so I guess I will have a spare.

   After I put in the new cartridge, I had to resume the install. The software had a selection to resume or correct the previous installation. I selected that option and it finished the install.

   I must say that Lexmarks’ software is way more “user friendly” than HP and that isn’t saying much. For anyone who has used HP, I think their software is about as “UN-user friendly” as you can get. I had a problem getting the software to recognize the memory stick from my Sony digital camera. They have this great troubleshooting software that “walks you” through each step to troubleshoot the problem. I followed the steps and voila…problem solved! I know HP supposedly has it to; but they use the Windows format (which is a joke) and most of their solutions are “way out in left field” and/or totally useless.

   I would recommend this product to anyone looking for a good Wi-Fi all-in-one printer. It’s relatively quiet, has individual ink cartridges and is very user friendly. Their tech support is “so-so” at least in my experience. Too bad they can’t keep their support base here, rather than “off-shoring” it.

4. 

   GET REAL on May 22, 2010 at 5:00 pm

   I initiated operation of the Lexmark Prevail Pro 705 on Nov. 19, 2009 and it has worked in all aspects. I have not done photo printing yet. It is a fast and quiet and dependable machine. This product has a 5 year guarantee and lifetime phone support which is far better then any other printer company offers. It is one of a new line of recently released machines. The best feature is that I called up Tech support and he took over my computer and downloaded the new drivers and software and set up the wireless which was time consuming. The most difficult thing I had to do was cut the wrappings off the inks. The first tech person was incompetent and actually hung up on me which was fortunate because the second tech person was excellent and helped me test all the features. I paid $[...] from [...] on Amazon site. Delivery was free and fast. The packaging was excellent. The comparative model is the HP 6500 Wireless, which has a lot of negative reviews on Amazon site. This machine is replacing my HP 6310 which wound up requesting “reset power” and HP support was no help in resolving issues. HP’s are not made like they were in the past. I have used all the features except photo printing and they are faster and quieter and work much better then HP. Much better customer support. Lexmark is going for leadership in this field and with their new line will succeed. I should have bought a second one at this price. This is an N wireless with full duplex.

   A positive feature is that this product comes with four extra large ink containers which holds three times as much ink as the standard size that ships with the other leading brands.

   The negative is the ‘paper’ set up directions is very poor and the CD that comes with the unit is not for Macs and there is no warning about this.

5. 

   j.d. on May 22, 2010 at 7:06 pm

   I tried hard to like this printer!

   HERE’S A SUMMARY OF WHAT HAPPENED:

   The first printer gave an error message when installing the print head and was sent back to Amazon for a replacement. The second printer did the exact same thing and was sent back to Lexmark for a replacement after working with Lexmark phone support. The third printer would not print merged images correctly on my checks. After using Lexmark e-mail support, that issue was corrected (more or less). Then the printer stopped printed black after only 50 or so pages total through the printer (This was corrected with a deep printhead cleaning). The final nail in the coffin of the third printer was that it would not duplex print. I spent just under 3 hours with Lexmark chat support on this issue(even letting them remotely take control of my computer). In the end they wanted to send me another (my fourth) printer. I declined and asked that they refund my money (I was now outside of my 30 day Amazon window). I am currently waiting “4-6 weeks” to see if I get the refund from Lexmark.

   KEEP READING FOR ALL THE DETAILS:

   The first one I bought gave me error messages when installing the print head and printer cartridges. I could never get past the error messages. I called Lexmark customer support and the recording said it would be a 25 to 30 minute wait! I hung up and shipped the printer back to Amazon and requested a replacement. The new one came in today and I got the exact same errors during setup. I called Lexmark support again and this time waited for a support representative. After 20 or 30 minutes of doing what she said (which mostly included unplugging and replugging the power cord many times) she finally said I would have to wait for someone else to call me back in the next 24 hours to see if there was anything else I could try. At this point I’m going to wait for the call, but if they can’t get it going, I’m just going to return the second printer to Amazon just as I did the first and buy something else.

   Update: Lexmark Customer Serviced called back about 22 hours later. They said they were calling to confirm my address so they could ship me a new printer. There was no mention of trying anything else to fix the printer first. I decided to go ahead and try for a third printer. I’m supposed to receive the new printer in two days.

   I have yet to connect any of the printers to my computer. This all happened on initial setup, so it has to be an issue with the printer itself…(unless I’m just much dumber than I think I am)

   Update: Well, third time seems to be the charm. Lexmark customer service sent me my third printer and it appears to have set up fine. The only problem I had setting up the printer was finding the MAC address. If you limit MAC addresses as part of your wi-fi security, you have to print off the setup page under Network Setup on the hard printer buttons to get the printer MAC address.

   Update: I was paying bills today and was trying to print my checks as usual using Versacheck 2004. The printer was randomly leaving off graphics. I reprinted the checks several times and each time different graphics were left off. The print preview always showed all the graphics in place and printing to an Acrobat file worked fine. Dare I try customer service???

   Update: I decided to try Lexmark’s e-mail support this time and sent off an email explaining the problems I was having printing merged images. Their website says support via e-mail is supposed to happen within 24 hours. I sent my original e-mail on January 28 and received an automated confirmation e-mail that day. At exactly the same time 24 hours later, I received another automated email that said “We are working to assist you and address your e-mail as soon as possible”. It is now February 4th (more than a week after I sent my support request) and I have yet to receive any additional e-mails from Lexmark Support.

   Update: I received a response from Lexmark e-mail support on February 8 (after 12 days). I am implementing their recommendation of changing the spool format setting from LEMF to NTEMF 1.008.

   Update: I paid bills today for the first time since changing the spool format as stated above. The graphics on all checks printed correctly, however, the black ink appeared to run out while printing the last page. This was odd as I have printed less than 50 pages on this machine. I ran a deep clean on the printhead and the printer started working correctly again. I am very surprised that a virtually new machine needed the heads cleaned. I hope this isn’t a regular occurrence.

   Also, the printer is occasionally spitting out a blank page after a page has printed. It seems to happen when there is text near the bottom of the printed page. In some instances the printer doesn’t print the very bottom portion of the bottom line.

   Update: I tried to print a three page document on the printer and it was printing page 1 then page 3 then page 2 and then a blank page, each on a separate sheet. The printer should have been printing duplex based on the settings. I contacted email support and emailed back and forth several times until the suggested that I should contact Lexmark Chat support. I spent just under 3 hours with Lexmark chat support on this issue(even letting them remotely take control of my computer). In the end they wanted to send me another (my fourth) printer. I declined and asked that they refund my money (I was now outside of my 30 day Amazon window). I am currently waiting “4-6 weeks” to see if I get the refund from Lexmark.

   What an utter disappointment and waste of time this has been.
   
   Guess I’ll start my search for a new printer again.