Lexmark E260d

A fine printer - that does print Envelopes on a Mac!

I had a Lexmark E232 for 6 or so years and it was a great, reliable printer for my modest home office needs. I wanted higher resolution with duplex and so, given my experience with the previous Lexmark, it was natural to upgrade to the E260d.

Well, I've had the printer for several days now and can report that it's everything I was expecting - great print quality, fast print times and no paper feed issues.

The only slight problem ... seemed to be the dreaded Mac envelope mess reported here. The first time I tried an envelope ... argh! ... exactly as other users have said, the print was off the side of the envelope. I have to admit, I read those reviews before buying and figured a company like Lexmark couldn't have failed to solve an issue reported as far back as 2009. Looking further around now that I had the issue, there seemed to be no solution posted on the internet. I was worried. BUT ... I contacted Lexmark support and, within a few minutes they had a solution. And the solution, seemingly for the first time on the internet is:

In the print dialogue, from the menu that initially reads 'Layout', select 'Paper Feed'. From the menu that appears, change 'Auto Select' to 'Manual Envelope'. And that's it.

Now, Lexmark has had 2 years to fix their paper 'Auto Select' which seems to fail to 'auto' select Envelope when the page size is set to Envelope ... but still - their support was excellent and the printer is a bargain for what you get. We'll see what the toner costs turn out to be - but I was pleasantly surprised by the toner use of my E232 and I'm hoping this will be the same.

Bottom line: If this fits your needs, you wont regret buying it.

Avoiding paper jams; high toner costs

Paper has a curl to it. Holding maybe 50 pages between your fingers, let it fall naturally and you should see it curling up a bit in one direction or the other. For the E260D (and most other printers) I have the curl facing up in the paper tray and that really reduces paper jams. Fanning the pages helps a lot, too. I have seen people scrounge up a few bent-up sheets and load it into the paper tray, and complain that their printer jams up a lot. <g> My Lexmark has jammed only a few times and I think it was my fault.

Toner costs are my big complaint. I got the E260D on sale for $50. I was told that it did *not* have a limited capacity starter cartridge but I should have known that the salesman was lying because his lips were moving. <g> I soon learned that the replacement cartridges sell for around $130. For 3500 pages. Ouch! I was hoping that I could refill them but they do have a chip that would need to be replaced. I had read that if you refill them before they run out completely you do not need to replace the chip. I do not know if the chip also has a date code. (I am really frustrated with my Epson R260 because it will stop working if it doesn't like one of the cartridges. Not just clones but real Epson ones.) I think I will order the aftermarket toner refill kit and give it a shot.

Note: I have the E260D not the E260DN but I suspect that they are very similar in design and performance.

So far, so good

I just set up my Lexmark e260dn this afternoon and so far so good. It's not thing of beauty - pretty much another putty and graphite colored peripheral - but the lines are at least modern and the actual buttons you need to use are clear and simple.

Set up was really easy using the USB printer cable I had lying around my office. Be warned that the printer doesn't come with a USB or ethernet cable. I had some trouble setting up the wireless connection because the machine doesn't instantly know how to play with my Airport Express. So I called Lexmark support and they walked me through the setup. In fact, I gave them access to my PC and they did it themselves! The whole thing took 10 minutes and support could not have been better.

Loading up the printer driver using the provided CD was really fast. I also have an HP printer upstairs and the driver takes so long because of all the fluff and useless stuff HP stuffs into their setup process.

So I really like the printer so far. It prints really fast and clearly. If I have one complaint, and it's really not a big one, is that the printer is far from quiet. It's not like it's rocking the house or anything, but I did raise an eyebrow the first time I printed.

I would highly recommend this printer. I bought it because I needed a home office printer, really just for myself. I wanted to save paper and this one has auto-duplexing. I wanted wireless just to reduce all the cables. Finally, I wanted a manual feed for envelopes. Pretty simple. I didn't go with HP because their install is clumsy and my experience with HP support has been very hit or miss. I had read several reviews commenting on how great Lexmark support was and so I went with that brand. Support was everything that others said it would be.

Great printer

This printer is awesome - very compact, prints 2-sided, starts up very quickly and prints w/ relatively low noise and high quality & speed. The print cartridge seems to last forever.
The printer has a 10/100 RJ45 network port to allow an easy network setup. The price is very fair for what you get - hazzle free printer. The printer was also reviewed in Germany's biggest computer magazine c't which also evaluated nano particle emissions when starting up to print the first page. It was found to be very low compared to most other laser printers.

A Nice Flexible Printer

More and more work at home folks have to connect to the corporate system via VPN. This usually means that once connected, you can't use local devices like an IP printer. This is not a problem for this printer which has a USB connection in addition to the IP connection. That allows your work computer to use the printer in addition to any other computers you may have that are IP connected. A number of folks have mentioned how quickly the printer goes through toner. There are setting that can limit the amount of toner that is used. Draft mode is perfectly usable for everything I print. Also when the toner light comes on it does not mean you should immediately run out and buy a new toner cartridge. My light has been on for months but there's plenty of toner left. If print quality suffers, just take the cartridge out and give it a good shaking.

Better than expected

Excellent printer. I wanted to write this review to respond to some concerns I've read about this printer elsewhere.

Very fast in printing large graphics files, and auto-duplexing is also very fast. It "wakes" from idle to print almost as fast as you hit the "print" button on your document.

Quality of print is great for both images and text. Very sharp, clean and crisp.

To save toner (which is not super cheap with this model), you may want to change the default settings to "Draft" 600dpi and set the toner darkness to "5" (out of 10). Even at that setting, text and images remain dark, sharp, clear. I don't anticipate printing with any other setting except in rare circumstances. To change the default settings for this printer after installing the software on you computer, go to Start > Settings > Printers > Lexmark e260dn > (right click) Properties, then click on Preferences, etc. You can also find reasonably priced toner cartridges if you hunt around a bit online.

(If you're technically savvy, there are a bunch of additional programming settings that you can make to this printer through various commands and setup options. Read the PDF user manual to learn about these. You can use the PDF manual to learn how to output a Printer Settings Configuration sheet (which is built into the printer), that has way more options on it than I know what to do with. I think you can fine-tune this machine for virtually any application, but it also works just fine out of the box.)

No paper jams! I've read that some people have had issues with this. So far, the machine appears to move paper without a problem, including paper and envelopes in the bypass tray.

It's absolutely silent when at idle, but is somewhat loud when printing. Not a big deal to me, since that was not the priority. (Someone wrote this printer is quiet. It is not quiet when printing.)

Build quality is excellent. It's clearly built to last. The design is not as high-tech or space-age as some other printers, but I wouldn't want that anyway. This printer has a very clean, professional, and business-like appearance. It is perfectly at home in any business setting, and it doesn't look like a piece of home audio equipment.

It's heavy, but that derives from the build quality.

Does not have wireless, but again, that wasn't the priority for me. Lexmark put the cost of this printer into quality laser printing components, not wireless. It does, however, offer almost every other kind of networking: ethernet, USB, and even an old-style Parallel printer port.

Auto-duplexing works great. Printer appears to hold the paper through the process with an iron grip: very solid and fast.

Bypass tray works great for hand feeding paper or envelopes. No paper jams so far. (Process on my printer works like this: First open the bypass door, insert your paper or envelope and let the printer "grab" it, THEN send your print job and watch your paper or envelope go through the machine.) If you print envelopes, it helps to open the rear output door so the envelope won't curl. Standard stuff.

Lexmark is a company that apparently does only one thing: make printers. Their printer drivers are often relied upon as industry standard printer drivers, and their printers are well-known business workhorses.

I bought this from a major retailer on sale for $150 and it was a steal (included 2 years free repair service). I also got an additional $50 off for bringing in a printer to recycle. End price: $110. Unbelievable, but it's still a good deal at $180 or more.

Superb Technical Assistance, Printing Envelopes

I bought the Lexmark E260d as what looked like the best overall value to replace an HP Laserjet 1200 that failed after years of service. Printing regular bond from the paper tray worked perfectly. I misunderstood the owner manual's instructions on "open manual feeder door" so could not print envelopes or labels. The email tech assistance wasn't very helpful with this problem. After several email evolutions, I called 1-800-Lexmark, expecting the usual delays and marginal responsiveness that we have learned to associate with free tech assistance. Not so with Lexmark! After hardly any recorded phone tree queries, I was speaking with a human in less than 2 minutes. He was attentive and correctly determined I'd loaded all the printer driver and other software correctly, so transferred me to the hardware dept. There another efficient, attentive techie took a minute to set up another E260d in front of him, so we would each see and do exactly the same thing. Big dummy me, had been opening the entire front panel instead of the actual "feeder door" which is the middle section on Amazon.com's photo of the printer. I wish the manual had been clearer on exactly what was the feeder door (like a photo of the opened door), but the outstanding tech support made up for it and then some. I am a Lexmark fan now and will buy other of their products.

After my 20 years of suffering through mediocre tech support from various companies, Lexmark really shines in their helpfullness and cooperation. No giving me the third degree, no wanting all kinds of detail to prove when and where I purchased the printer. No hassles whatsoever! Lexmark simply took a real interest in my problem, then solved it logically and directly.

great buy for the money

I had to replace a very expensive HP laser printer because it didn't work with Windows 7. I bought this printer to have a quick and quiet printer at my desk and I am very pleased. The prints come out instantly with no warm up and it is actually very quiet. I would definitely recomend this.

WON'T PRINT CUSTOM SIZES, EG. ENVELOPES, CHECKS

THIS PRINTER CANNOT PRINT ENVeLOPES, CHECKS, MONEY-ORDERS OR OTHER CUSTOM SIZES.

I have tried the various drivers, and it just won't print custom size documents, like envelopes, or checks. The From address, typed in the top left corner falls on the top right, where the postage stamp would go, and the To address typed in the center falls off the page, and so it does not even show up. I just see the word To in the right margin, but the addressee's name and address are missing. These are old MS Word files that printed fine with all other printers before. I have spent days with tech support and online, without a solution. I have tried and tried and tried but it seems there is a bug or poorly designed driver.

Good for the money

If you need a black and white printer for low cost home business volume printing this is it. It's not especially quiet but it is fast and inexpensive. The duplex feature saves on paper costs. Easy to set up and is ready to print quickly after turning it on. I have it plugged into my Apple Airport Express and it is shareable with my desktop Mac and my Macbook. Decent sized paper tray and not paper jams at all after a month's use. Lexmark set up is easy and that's one of the reasons I bought this printer. I also have a Lexmark color inkjet that works on Wifi and was impressed with how easy it was to get things going. Much easier than my friend's Wifi printer. Print quality is fine for home use. Not as nice as the HP I had before but HP support was poor. I've owned and worked with a number of laser printers and this one is a good deal.