Lexmark X502n colour laser multifunction review

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7.0

very good

Average user rating from 1 user

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Lexmark X502n user reviews

December 21, 2007

Posted by: risa

"Does what it says on the box"

What I like:

The printout quality, speed, price

What I don't like:

Irritating fan noise in power saving mode

Review:

I have been using this printer for two weeks.

I was looking for a good quality multifunction laser printer for replacing of my old HP inkjet multifunction printer and the OKI LED b&w laser printer. When looking at the prices, I found the HP printers far too expensive and I went for this printer instead. Until now, I think I have made the right decision.

The quality of the B&W and colour print outs are quite good. The speed of the printer is fine. I have to admit, that the speed was not taken into the considerations for buying this printer and I was used to the speed of the OKI laser printer, which is fast too.

The printer unit is heavy and looks quite solid, no plastic sounds. It is heavy, I managed to move it my self without problems.

The setup of the printer is done by following the graphical guide only in pictures. The basic unpacking went without any problems. The first problem occured, when I wanted to install the drivers. What the graphical guide does not tell you is, that if you want to use it as network printer (X502n), you have to set up the network on the printer prior installation of the software drivers and how to do it. If you fail to do so, the software drivers will not be able to find the printer and you have to restart the whole installation procedure. For some reason, the IP address of the printer was set to something like 192.0.0.? and normally set up local network is usually not able to route to this destination. After this was done, the rest of the installation completed without problems. With one exception. One PC was set up with the OKI and HP printer drivers on VISTA and the installation failed with strange error message. It seems to be problem in Windows VISTA printer support, simple uninstallation fixed the problem and everything was working perfectly after that.

Scanning requires some setup to be done before you can do anything, so please read the manual. You can do it by accessing the printer’s web interface.

Copying works fine, I needed to alter the default setup, because the color copy was too light.

Fax worked fine first time I tried it. I do not have any special requirements for faxing, other then; it should send the fax to the specified number. And it did.

The manufacturer/reviews claims that the machine is targeted for small offices/workgroups, i.e. in many cases places, where the printer is placed inside the same room as your own desk. I do not think, that the printer fits into this environment, because of its power saving feature. After a specified time period, the printer goes to power safe mode as expected. However for some reason one of the internal fans cooling the device continues to run making quiet, but remarkable hi pitch noise. The only way to get rid of the noise is to switch the device off, or move it to another place. So don't expect it to have the printer close to your own desk. It is a bit pity, because this printer is ideal for small and large offices and even for home users.