HP Laserjet M3035xs

Worst Machine Ever Made by HP

First off, website was deceptive. Unless you read the very, very fine print, you won't know that the base model of this "MFP" doesn't include a FAX. How can it be an "MFP" without a FAX? In fact, once I had unpacked the machine and began to assemble then realized there was no FAX, I learned that you can't even upgrade it for a FAX and they won't exchange without a 25% re-stocking fee. What a racket!

Second, within days I learned that the ADF jams frequently in duplex mode, and there is NO PROCEDURE for clearing an ADF jam. You literally have to disassemble the ADF then tear out the jammed document bit by bit. Finally convinced HP to send another ADF...it jams too...but only if original weight is less than say 22 lbs paper. 20 lb originals are very iffy for duplex copying...may jam, may not.

Third, variable output quality. Actually, print quality is OK and one of the reasons I bought HP...none of that light-weight eyestrain typeface that comes standard on every Brother printer. However, copies are atrocious. There is no 'copy' setting that will produce consistently dark enough copies that can actually be copied themselves!

Finally, technical support that actually gives the US Post Office a run for its money in terms of indifference, attitude and stupidity.

Now today, my partner has informed me the printer jams on virutally every print job. To clear, one must remove and replace the paper tray, open and close the toner door, then wait for printer to reset.

I'll sell ours today (eight months old, spare ADF, only 18k copies) for $500. Still have the original shipping carton...hell of a deal.

My how the mighty HP has fallen. Used to be the defacto standard of reliability & quality.

WARNING - Product does NOT include a Windows Scanner

WARNING--HP sells this product as a Windows scanner. It is not. HP does not provide a scanner driver for the product. You cannot access the product from any Adobe products such as Acrobat Professional. It cannot be accessed from any Windows applications. Windows does not recognize this as a scanner because HP does not provide a scanner driver. You will not be able to use any of the special scan features built into Acrobat and your scans will suffer in terms of quality and convenience. If you want to use the scan capability of this unit, you will have to install this unit on a network. With a USB conection, you have no scanner. And if you're using a wireless network, you'll be forced to deal with that to get this unit on your LAN. The failure of HP to include the industry-standard TWAIN driver with this product is serious shortcoming if you expect to use it for scanning. And the failure to make it clear in the product advertising or manual that this is NOT a Windows scanner is over-the-line.

good at first, then it breaks. Expensive maintenance.

Bought this in Feb.2007. Features were great. Scan to network (and PDF build) were the main reason for buying this. Fax was excellent. Jams in the doc feeder were more common than should be for something over $2,000 in price.

After the 1-year warranty expired, a cheap rubber belt in the document feeder broke, which stopped the entire printer from functioning. That cost $400, because they won't sell the belt, and the authorized service tech will not do it. You have to buy an entire document feeder assembly, pay for the installation, then the installer takes the old one away.

Now, the printer crashed in the middle of copying. The firmware was trashed and cannot be re-loaded. Wasted 2 hours with HP tech support (which costs $25 for an online chat session). Went through the same procedures I already spent 1/2 hour doing. I kept having to correct the HP rep and repeating steps.

This board replacement will cost $629. But, at least I get my $25 "chat fee" returned. Whoopee. They won't even refer it to our local authorized HP shop that's a mile down the street. They're sending an independent tech. What great business.

If you are going to buy this printer, buy the extended service pack from HP. You will definitely need it.

Started the "chat" at 3:42pm. Ended at 6:11pm. Funny, at the beginning there was a pop-up request for a satisfaction survey. Now that the session has ended...there's no survey.

I'm usually a big HP fan. Their output is never the prettiest, but the machines keep working for years and years, even after heavy use and infrequent preventative maintenance.

Seems like their quality has gone seriously downhill. Just replaced two identical JetDirect cards that went south. Both are three years old...one was never even used. Just sat in the printer.

I hope HP can resurrect their image. Bad techs and broken equipment just won't cut it. Especially when you pay a premium for the brand name.

Awesome

This printer is awesome. The scan to network feature actually works! Integration to Active Directory is a bit tricky but there is a nice writeup with examples here: http://nvelocity.info/index.php?title=MFP_3035xs_LDAP_configuration

MFP's rarely work as advertised, but this one does it all. The Fax and Scanning features are top notch and the printer is fast fast fast.