The Xerox Phaser 8500N's greyscale-text speed of 12.07 pages per minute (ppm) is average for devices in its class and in line with that of the Oki C5200n, but it falls a dozen pages per minute behind the similarly priced Dell 5100cn. Even so, the 8500N's 11.05ppm colour-graphics speed was zippier than that of the HP Color LaserJet 3550. This Xerox lays all colours down at once, so it's faster than most colour lasers that apply each colour separately.
Colour laser speed (Longer bars indicate better performance)
 |
Text |
|
Graphics |
Dell 5100cn
24.48
13.43
Lexmark C762
15.00
13.63
Oki C5200n
12.81
11.45
Xerox Phaser 8500N
12.07
11.05
Brother HL-2700CN
11.27
6.48
HP Color LaserJet 3550
8.68
8.83
When it comes to print quality, the Xerox Phaser 8500N's solid-ink technology produces mixed results. Text prints in our tests looked fine from reading distance but fuzzy up close, much like the output from an inkjet printer. The 8500N's monochrome graphics looked mottled and grainy. Colour graphics were good overall, with accurate colours, but skin tones weren't well blended, and we could easily see the ink dots that made up the image. We don't recommend this printer if you plan to make lots of full-page colour prints. If that's what you need, try a high-end colour inkjet, such as the HP Business InkJet 2800, or a colour laser, such as the Dell 3100cn.
Colour print quality (Longer bars indicate better performance)
|
|
Graphics |
|
Colour text |
|
Greyscale graphics |
|
Greyscale text |
HP Color LaserJet 3550
Good
Good
Excellent
Excellent
Lexmark C762
Fair
Fair
Good
Excellent
Oki C5200n
Fair
Fair
Good
Excellent
Brother HL-2700CN
Fair
Good
Good
Good
Xerox Phaser 8500N
Good
Fair
Good
Fair
Dell 5100cn
Fair
Fair
Good
Good
Edited by Elsa Wenzel
Additional editing by Nick Hide
on Printers 
Facebook 
iPhone App 
Newsletters 
Twitter 
RSS Feeds 
Send Us Tips
User reviews4
Add your review
royalsiam 14 September 2009
Good: It was fine when it worked !
Bad: Spare costs
Comment: I am so disappointed with this printer. I bought it new 2 years ago - only 6000 or so prints thus far and the LCD died within the first year. Now the heating element or something like that is broken and the cost of the spare part from non-xerox repairman is £1,300.
However if one wants to call out Xerox to service the printer its £300 incl of labour and all spare parts. The silly thing is that it is cheaper to buy a new colour laser than to repair it ! How silly is that for a relatively new printer ? It would appear that I am not an isolated case as the repair man i called up was telling me that Xerox was pricing all their spare parts at extortionate prices to force people to only use their repair facilities.
When it did print at the time, the colour was so so. I have always used HP printers and should have stuck with that. Avoid this product.
Tania Houston 12 July 2007
Good: Fast when printing
Bad: Colour, noise, warmup, efficiency...
Comment: What a big mistake this printer is. When on standby (and as previous reviewer says, you NEVER switch it off) it takes over 5 minutes to warm up. When warming up it is so noisy - it sounds like there's something wrong - that you can't speak on the phone if within 20ft. I've never managed to get decent colour out of it - blues always look grey. The envelope feeder needs you to manually push the envelopes in. It's noisy when printing. The inks are really expensive as are 'maintenance kits' whatever they are. Hate it - worst IT decision I've ever made.
Brad Orluk 13 June 2006
Good: Print quality is spectacular and colors are vivid!
Bad: Ink dump when powering off to move unit.
Comment: Overall this printer is fantastic. The colors and print quality are great and the fact that it uses wax gives the picture a very nice glossy look. The power saver features and intelligent ready mode are great since you don't have to turn the unit off unless you want to move it.
See all 4 user reviews