12 out of 12 people found this review helpful.
Kodak Easyshare 5500 Copy/Print/Fax/Photo
Date of Review: Sep 20, 2007
The Bottom Line: I recommend this printer for home or a small home/office. The issues I've experienced are minor, and overall I am pleased with my purchase.
I was interested in this particular printer ever since I first saw the display at my local Best Buy store. Normal price was $299 but a sale went into effect and I saved 10%. The big appeal of this printer for me was it's 4-in-1 functionality, the Kodak name, and the promise of inexpensive ink. Ink cartridges are advertised at approximately $10 for b&w, and approximately $15 for color.
Installation was easy and I experienced no problems with interfacing the 5500 with Windows Vista. The device appears well constructed, but does display some cost cutting with the numeric keypad, as well as some "cheap sounding" noises that emanate from the printer interior when running.
The printer has a fairly shallow paper reservoir, so I don't recommend this printer if you are planning on large volume print jobs. It does, however, produce decent quality print, and the convenient 4x6 print tray for Kodak photo paper produces respectable images. Printing standard sized envelopes has been easy.
The fax component works as advertised, although some of the menus for programming the fax settings are not intuitive and require some degree of trial and error before the device runs exactly as you want it to.
The print head I received with my printer was defective and I was initially not able to print more than a page before I received an error light and error message. I contacted Kodak's toll-free support line and they were very helpful. I had a new print head sent to me via overnight mail. They also promised a free container of b&w and color ink upon receipt of the defective head. I sent the defective head back in the prepaid envelope and as promised, received my free ink within two weeks. Despite the initial inconvenience, the customer service was excellent and I can not complain about how Kodak handled the situation.
According to the displays indicating the amount of ink remaining, the printer does seem to use ink faster than other printers I have owned, which most recently was an HP. This may negate the promised cost savings of inexpensive ink, but I have yet to have the need to replace the cartridges and can not quantify the true amount of ink used as compared to other machines.
Overall I think this is a fine printer for home or a small home/office.
