Garmin NUVI 775T Black Friday Sales!

Garmin NUVI 775T Black Friday Sales!. Garmin NUVI 775T Black Friday Sales!.

Product: Garmin NUVI 775T

List Price: $599.99
Average customer review: star35 tpng Garmin NUVI 775T Black Friday Sales!

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Garmin has a somewhat confusing product line, which is somewhat alleviated by a reasonably ample online guide on the manufacturer's web state (you buy the features you are looking for, and it narrows down the choices to fewer and fewer models until you glean what you are looking for) ;

I was specifically looking for a model with both North America and Europe maps, sterling of supporting multiple languages for speech synthesis (so that my non-English speaking parents could exercise it as well), traffic information, lane attend, and aesthetic suited UI.

I had narrowed my choices down to the Garmin nüvi 775T and the Tomtom 930T, but eventually went for the Garmin for a couple of reasons. For one thing, I am a minute biased, having feeble their aviation panel mounted models for a few years and I knew that Garmin makes qualified units. I was also impressed by their customer support: they replied to a couple of questions I had about their products handsome fast, even though I hadn't bought the 775T yet.

This is a feature rich device; I haven't had time to play with all its functions yet; it is able to come by a satellite fix even in non optimal situations (such as tree coverage, stout building, even indoors if a window is nearby) ; the routes it picks gape quite reasonable (by the way: do not try to acquire it compute 'silly' routes, such as asking it to compute a driving route from some position in California to some region in Europe... the unit will find stuck and might require a hard reset) . The user interface is very intuitive IMHO and presents the information in a very concise and effective manner (necessary while driving!)

So overall, I am very gay with this lift, especially at the designate that was offered on Amazon (significantly cheaper than what I had found elsewhere) .

A couple of things in no particular order:

The safety lock feature is smart (you can protect the unit with a PIN, and if you dial the PIN heinous too many times, the unit can only be unlocked by returning to a 'safe dwelling.' Sounds super, until you realize that it is easy to misdial the PIN (until you pick up old to the touch camouflage I whine), which might be a snag if you do that many miles away from said 'safe location', for instance, when on vacation. I disabled that feature as a result.

The manufacturer's web situation was not specific enough IMHO about which voices were provided 'out of the box' for the speech synthesis function (where it speaks the instructions and street names) ; it turns out that the nice customer service representative answered that inquire promptly. Stamp that not all the voices / languages provided can voice the street names (e.g., the various English, French, Spanish, etc. voices can, but the one Arabic snort cannot)

If you resolve a state of a different language than the locale, its pronunciation of the street names can be a bit puzzling at times :-) it does however a remarkably edifying job most of the times (I went out of my diagram to try to confuse it :-) ) .

Finally, don't forget to download your one free intention update (you'll have to decide between either the North America or European draw for this free update), and the free firmware updates. There are also fair spruce applications available (which combined with some Google Maps features, e.g., possibility to overlay the contents of GPX files that the unit can export onto Google Maps, increase the possibilities.)

Okay, I got sluggish and bought the 775t from Amazon. I must say, this is a broad improvement over the built in nav system in my car and even more so over the $100 drawl of a nuvi I purchased retail for my wife last year.

I will be traveling to Germany, so paying extra for the built in maps was worth it to me. Fabulous detail there, by the contrivance. Even walking paths I veteran in Awful Homburg were on the intention.

As an aside, I've learned that the built in nature of the European maps is an improvement to my uninformed suggestion below. Yes, you can do a few dollars by buying the 770t and purchasing additional maps on SD chips, but I suspect this will tedious the device retreival process somewhat. The convenience of having the maps preloaded may be worth the extra cost of the 775t.

The 775t is amazingly intuitive. There really is no user's manual to notify of (unless there's something online at Garmin, which I haven't checked) . The rapidly commence pamphlet that comes with the unit is all you need to initiate using this method.

The bluetooth implementation works flawlessly with my Motorola Razor cell phone and is Noteworthy easier to spend than the blue tooth implementation in my car. All the phone numbers in my cell phone transported (transparently) over to the nuvi, and how all I have to do is buy the number out of the nuvi's phone book and have the nuvi dial it. I'll be getting another one of these to replace my wifes unused "budget version" nuvi, unprejudiced to obtain her telephoning hands-free in her car!

Speaking of my wife's car: It has an "aux in" port that she can connect this nuvi to. I copied a couple hundred of my current mp3 files to the nuvi and these play beautifully over her mom-bomb's stereo system. The media players functions are minimal, so don't put a question to this to replace your i-pod or other mp3 player. Peaceful, it's nice to have.

The traffic feature may work well, but since we don't live in the middle of a major urban plot, we don't seem to ever glean ourselves in a dwelling where we're re-routed because of taffic delays. The construction zones we negotiate don't flag traffic delays. I like that this nuvi comes with permanent access to traffic info vs the 30 day trial her budget version did. The traffic signals advance to the nuvi via fm receiver - no accessories or contracts required for this, unless you upgrade to a different service. This may suggest that the free included service may not be around too long, but think yourselves advised.

I level-headed can't give the unit 5 stars because diverting to other features requires the user to step succor repeatedly (via Relieve button) to return to the main menu. There you have to touch the Method icon to return to the mapping function for the route that's being plotted. Seems to me there should be a simplified function to return you directly to the scheme from unbiased about anywhere you divert to in the unit.

For example: You're driving into the city to a friend's house (the nav system is guiding you there) . Enroute, your passenger decides to contemplate for an Asian restaurant arrive your friend's house. To return to the arrangement displaying your route guidance can bewitch as many as 5 or 6 steps "abet" to obtain to the main menu. There you have to touch the way again.

But as for finding that asian restaurant, it's pleasing slick. If you know the name of the residence you're looking for, you can type it in (Spell) and viola, the unit hunts for all occurances containing that name. Be determined to purchase the one you're looking for though, because the unit will continue to search ad infinitum to come by more matches in the data imperfect. Once found, it returns the address and telephone number of the space. You can decide to have the nav system acquire you there. But if you do it on the hover, I assume it will override the destination you are presently being guided to. You can program in a sequence of destinations beforehand to accept around this.

I've aged this simply to acquire a phone number of a restaurant and fancy that aspect of it. The savings in terms of directory assistance charges alone may serve defray the cost over time.

Another potential flaw is that, despite my powering the unit off, I've near assist to my car to bag the unit on. I don't know if conceal burn is an shriek on these units, and I don't know how, when or why the 775t powers itself befriend on. If it's colorful enough to know the car door is opened upon your return, then it's a astronomical feature. It it starts up on its gain minutes after I park the car, it's a flaw. I state I could always unplug it overnight while parked in the garage, but I would acquire if the unit honest stayed off. Perhaps I'm doing something injurious and a visit to Garmin's website will definite this up for me.

I recommend this unit despite the minor flaws I've encountered in its programming logic.

==================================================================

original (fleet) review follows:

The 3 star review (which I can't change as I revise my review) had more to do with Amazon pricing practices than the precise product.

I'll probably purchase this unit elsewhere because Amazon mis-states the Garmin list effect at $849. Garmin lists this for $699. Granted, Amazon's brand of $565 reflects a decent discount from list, but other web sites offer it for considerably less (as obscene as $440 last time I looked) . Now as a long time Amazon shopper and Amazon Prime member, my first choice is always Amazon, but this is the second instance recently where Amazon was considerably more expensive than alternate web sites. Where pricing is stop, I usually give the business to Amazon as they have treated me well over the years. Even so, this time, I may shop elsewhere.

Another tip. Even at Amazon you can set aside money by buying the 765T ($407) and the Garmin City Navigator Europe NT SD card (010 10680-50) ($110) instead of the 775t with maps already loaded. If I do rob at Amazon, this is the route I'll choose. ($517 vs $556)

Good luck.

NOTE: I tagged this to other Nuvi units affected by a killer firmware bug as per Garmin web site: Notice update at bottom. It was originally writted for the Nuvi 775T I purchased.

****

I recieved a 775T in leisurely April 2009 for general spend and for exhaust during a month long business scamper in Europe.

It worked gigantic in Norway last week, a sincere blessing to have it and I was very tickled.

Awesome Unit When It Works: = Five Stars

I had a few minor issues updating the maps under the upgrade policy, but after a while (about 4.8GB data to download that took eight hours on broadband to glean, plus a few hours for the unit to actually update) managed to procure what was needed done.

There were not any dual scheme downloads available for dual way units. I had to go through customer abet that helped me nicely, but took awhile to find to during small access hours. Also, most tremendous software system updates update the changed code and data instead of the whole thing, so that updated can be performed far more efficiently. Moral: open your updates early, especially if you have both NA and Europe to update.

Minus 0.5 stars for 'hard to update'

= 4.5 Star Rating

Yesterday I turned it on and changed my country set to Germany. It started to regain satellites and then unbiased died. Ist Kaput. Looked up my dilemma on the web and tried resetting this on various chargers, as this apparently resuscitates most units with my symptom of 'dead', but this unit is totally gone. I have not abused the unit in any plan.

Minus 2.5 Stars for Quality of Gain THE UNIT LASTED LESS THAN 60 DAYS!

= 2 Star Rating

I called customer back four times over the course of the day today, from Europe, from my cell phone, during the little hours that they are launch. Each time, the wait on recording says that the enjoy time is 'more than 30 minutes due to high call volume'. Hmm, my cell call costs almost $2.00 per exiguous to utilize from here, that's already $60 before I even talk to someone.

I wrote an e-mail on their customer relieve e-mail. They say they will earn encourage to me in about 3 days.

I am stuck with a expressionless unit, I won't accumulate my money serve, and I already invested more than $500 in this plus about ten hours to procure it upgraded and it is not built to last.

Minus one star for difficult to near customer service that will do nothing for the listless unit in Europe but will probably replace it with a refurbished unit when I rep home.

= 1 Star

**************

UPDATE: June 24th; I spent three hours yesterday at an electronics super-store in Germany where Garmin Germany serve said I could swap out the unit. However, I could not do that because I bought it in the USA (even though assist said I could) . I also found out that the 7x5 units hava serious flaw in the firmware that kills the units completely. According to Garmin, they MUST be sent wait on for exchange.

Garmin will not Fed-Ex me a novel unit, I can query to wait 'typically about three weeks after we recieve the ragged unit back'. Buying it for this plug was a ruin and they do not provide pleasant succor for their high-end units even with bugs that truly demolish the the units boring.

This from the Garmin location today (Dated June 24th) :

< <<

" It has near to our attention that the Garmin nüvi 7x5 series has a firmware error that is causing some devices to invent an unprompted GPS software update and in some cases shut down [permanently - without any ability to open up again - reviewer]. We are aware of this bid and we are working diligently on a solution...."

And:

"Today, Garmin released a free, mandatory GPS software update to moral a software converse that has been discovered to cause acquire GPS devices to repeatedly attempt to update GPS firmware, and then either shut down or no longer get GPS satellite signals. The products affected are the nüvi 7x5 series, nüvi 800 series, nüvi 8x5 series, zûmo 660, GPSMAP 620 and GPSMAP 640.

Garmin nüvi 7x5 series products that are no longer able to glean a GPS satellite signal may download a firmware update immediately that will apt the software order. This firmware update may be downloaded using Garmin's WebUpdater.

Firmware updates for other affected products will be available online through Garmin's WebUpdater in the approach future. Affected customers who have registered their GPS diagram will be notified about these updates through email.

Garmin nüvi 7x5 customers who are no longer able to power on their GPS plot will need to visit www.garmin.com/support, and engage the first FAQ titled "My nüvi 755T, 765T, 775T or 785T is giving me the message `Updating GPS Firmware' or will no longer power on..." Customers will then need to follow the instructions to demand a return authorization so that the method may be repaired under warranty.

"

>>>

***

My one star review peaceful stands due to:

1) Dreadful quality control that causes this to happen in the first spot.

2) Garmin leaving me hanging with useless unimaginative unit when they could easily Fed-Ex me a replacment. I even offerred to pay the shipping cost since that is cheaper then renting cars with NAV systems or buying a current Tom-Tom here.

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DEWALT DW849 Christmas Sales!

DEWALT DW849 Christmas Sales!. DEWALT DW849 Christmas Sales!.

Product: DEWALT DW849

List Price: $382.54
Average customer review: star45 tpng DEWALT DW849 Christmas Sales!

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I bought this polisher to compound and wax a boat and I was extremely contented with the results. The variable hurry dial with a maximum RPM of 3000 was definitely the brand on the parts of the boat that were suffering from severe oxidation.

I found myself running at about 1800-2000 RPM's over most of the boat but having the extra power when needed was definitely a time saver.

The only drawback I could mention is that this tool is not excellent about accepting generic polishing and cutting pads produced by "other" manufacturers. The Dewalt mounting toddle for the flex backplate leaves few options other than to expend DeWalt pads unless you want to spend the drawstring type, and I have been unable to obtain any drawstring pads worth purchasing.

This is the best polisher/buffer i have ever conventional. I hold a detailing company and this is the only high race buffer we expend. Very well built. We have one that is over 4 years former, and unexcited works like it is price fresh. The variable speeds do this buffer enormous for beginning polishers and expert detailers. A must remove.

To the person who has problems with, and refered to tie pads.
Any major paint wholesaler can sell you a kit that will replace
the pad with a velcro based plate to which you can position a foam
or wood pad with a touch and all work titanic.

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Wagner Electronics MMC220 Black Friday Deals!. Wagner Electronics MMC220 Black Friday Deals!.

Product: Wagner Electronics MMC220

List Price: $395.00
Average customer review: star45 tpng Wagner Electronics MMC220 Black Friday Deals!

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I have been using this instrument for four months How did I ever do without this meter... I recently attended IWF-2002 in Atlanta. Wagner, etal were showing their various moisture meters at this point to. I took some sawmill meander to the expose with me. I tried all of Wagner hand held moisture meters. I mercurial discarded all of them except the MMC-210 and the MMC-220. I decided on the MMC-220 because of the capability to calibrate this meter for any species of wood using specific gravity. It is easy to calibrate and exhaust and does not leave holes in the wood. I would recommend that anyone using saw mill lunge and air drying the same Exhaust this meter. It is definitely the best of the hand held meters.

I bought this meter two weeks ago. After playing with it my impressions are this is a very first-rate meter in general with a very fine range. Unlike model L609, which requires you to retain pressure on the switch to finish on, the MMC220 stays on after you press the switch once and let go of the switch. The MMC220 also has an automatic shut off that activates after a couple of minutes of inactivity.

There are only a few minor negatives in ergonomics, which are not a mountainous deal, but could effect the unit easier to consume. For something costing $270, it should have a strap to prevent inadvertent pain from being dropped. Also at this ticket, it should have actual button switches instead of cheap membrane switches.

The density correction is also a tad of a nuisance to expend. After the unit has been turned on, if you want change the density setting, you have to press the species button once to issue the recent setting. Then if you want to change it, you'll have to press that button again to enter the density change mode. Then you press the button again or believe it to scroll or quickly forward to the unique density setting. It's not a quandary at all if you only have to change the setting once in a while, but if you're in a store with lots of exotic woods and you have to change the setting with each species, it gets to be a small annoying. Maybe some kind of electronic rotary input dial or even a numeric keypad might work better.

I don't know how I ever lived without it! Specific Gravity chart does not veil very many of the exotic, imported, and burl woods that I employ. However, it's astronomical for all other woods and you can gain educated guesses on my difficult coast. Every woodworker should have this unit. It's the best I've ever seen!!

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Acer AS4810TZ-4508 Best Prices!

Acer AS4810TZ-4508 Best Prices!. Acer AS4810TZ-4508 Best Prices!.

Product: Acer AS4810TZ-4508

List Price: No List Price Available
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I've owned 7 laptops from Toshiba, Dell, HP, and a few others over the last 12 years and this one is the best I have owned by far. The battery life is outstanding however not the 8 hours Acer advertises. It averages closer to 5 hours which is serene kindly. Performance wise, it is only average but its light weight and the advantage of not worrying about running out of power while working away from an outlet more than do up for it. I have only had this laptop for a week but I am very gratified with my recall. Being the best laptop I have owned to date, it makes me smile to know that it has also been the least expensive. I recommend it wholeheartedly. I bought my wife an Acer netbook last X-mas and she loved it so I gave Acer a try when it came time to replace my Dell. My only predicament now is my wife now wants my Timeline laptop because it is as slim as her netbook but with a bigger hide.

I ordered the Acer Timeline 4810TZ-4508 to replace my two-year venerable Lenovo Thinkpad T61, and I like it!

Getting started was very easy. It only took me about two hours to register Windows 7 Home Premium, upgrade to Windows 7 Professional (through the Anytime Upgrade feature), manufacture factory default backup discs, seize some bloatware, and install some of my accepted programs. After reading some of the reviews of the older models, I was terrorized about the prospect of flashing the BIOS or updating the VGA/LAN drivers, but my computer has worked delicate without those updates. I suspect that Acer may have fixed those problems for this model, since it's a recent release with Windows 7.

Although the processor is ostensibly slower than the Intel Core 2 Duo processor in my T61, I had to underclock the T61 because it tended to overheat and shut down. With this Timeline, I'm able to accelerate the processor at corpulent accelerate without any heating or cooling problems. The computer is surprisingly zippy. I found that I was able to listen to music, convert tracks on iTunes, surf the web, and install programs all at the same time, without any noticeable paddle in performance. Beefy shroud streaming video on [...] and [...] also looked amazing, without any jerkiness or skipping. (In fact, video playback was better than on my Thinkpad which, notwitstanding the faster processor, had less RAM and a slower video card.) The conceal is very lustrous, and even at the dimmest setting, I was surprised with how grand clearer it was than my mature Thinkpad. It is a glossy cover, however, which means that it looks titanic indoors but is very difficult to utilize outdoors. I have found the glare a bit distracting, but not a deal-breaker. I don't play computer games, so I can't say anything about its performance in that regard.

Of course, one of the main reasons I purchased the Timeline was for portability, and it really doesn't disappoint. The laptop is noticeably thinner and lighter than my T61 - I judge the total weight is about 4 lbs. and it's honest over an rush thick. Acer wasn't kidding about the battery life: I spent 4.5 hours today at Starbucks surfing the web, listening to music, and using Microsoft Word with the conceal at medium brightness, and detached had 45% battery by the kill. I am determined that I could procure about 8-9 hours of total battery life, if I minimized all the settings. After fighting for power outlets and worrying about tripping over power cords with my Thinkpad, this is a refreshing change.

Coming from using the T61's improbable keyboard, I was kind of nervous about this chiclet-style effect, but I easily got extinct to it. The keys give a lot of tactile feedback, and they are well-enough spaced that you don't hint the ghastly keys. The touchpad, however, is a bit difficult to expend, and I'm smooth getting musty to the stiffness of the touchpad button.

Overall, this is a extraordinary computer, and a broad value at the designate. I consider if you are considering the different 14 dash models, the 4810TZ-4508 has some advantages over the cheaper/older models: more RAM, faster processor, 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium, and newer drivers.

Amazing laptop. Long battery life. I went from an older 14 flow Acer to this one. Twice the CPU hasten, less than 1/3 the power usage. It's level-headed, wintry, light and runs a broad OS with 64bits. You can gather a machine smaller, lighter, or faster but nobody has beaten this package. Also, it looks enormous. Sophisticated and shipshape no knowing plastic that shows every fingerprint and scratch. The keyboard seemed a bit uncommon at first but I'm up to plump race on it after about an hour.

This model has a dual core CPU. Don't bother with the older Acer Timelines with the 2700 or 3500 single cores. That was fair a warm up until the accurate stuff came out from Intel.

I like this machine so mighty, I'm thinking about spending another $300 on a solid position drive.

The only negative I found is the crapware that comes installed and having to kill an hour or more uninstalling software.

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Hewlett-Packard OJ PRO 8500 Black Friday Discounts!. Hewlett-Packard OJ PRO 8500 Black Friday Discounts!.

Product: Hewlett-Packard OJ PRO 8500

List Price: $367.00
Average customer review: star40 tpng Hewlett Packard OJ PRO 8500 Black Friday Discounts!

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Note that ink for this printer will space you attend One Hundred and fourteen dollars!!!

Before purchasing the Officejet 8500, be aware that there appears to be compatibility issues with the new drivers (as of 5/5/2009) and Windows XP. Basically, the user gets the following error: "The printer has not yet responded, but the Microsoft Office program may be able to fade without printer information". I have spent hours on the phone with their India-based tech wait on and with their chat technical benefit. Sadly, HP provides the worst technical relieve that I have ever experienced. The telephone reps barely content English and the chat reps assist multiple customers at the same time, leading to long delays between their responses. Moreover, I have been slash off during chat sessions five times, which leads me to enjoy it is intentional as this always seems to happen when I attempt to corner them on difficult questions. Before getting sever off today (5/5/2009) the chat technical help derive acknowledged that there are known incompatibilities between the drivers and Windows XP. Presumably, this means the software was written for Vista.

Also be aware of the tremendous ink cartridge prices that will area you attend half the cost of a unusual printer.

This is the third HP multifunction printer I have purchased. Historically, I have purchased top-of-the-line models from the HP Officejet line for my home office. Generally, I have been rather gay and impressed with their ability to work for years with few paper jams, either in the printer or document feeder. My necessary complaints with HP and these printers are twofold: 1) the ink prices are exorbitant (i.e. pay as you go) and 2) HP has inferior tech assist. The Officejet 8500 appears to have all-around better construction than the other HP Officejet multifunction printers I have owned. Yet it hasn't been without problems.

Looking attend at my other purchases, it is striking how worthy prices have approach down. Yet HP continues to gouge its customers on ink with the four cartridges costing $[...]+ tax. The first Officejet (d155xi) worked almost flawlessly for three years. I finally decided to sell it when entertaining. The second Officejet (7310xi) worked extremely well until one day it would not power on. Apparently, something had gone substandard with its main processor. The printer was on a surge protector the entire time, so I have no understanding why this happened. I do turn the surge protector off every day before going to work to establish electricity as this severs vampire loads from the electrical system. Perhaps the on/off cycles were not pleasant for the printer. After determining the 7310xi was beyond repair, I purchased an Officejet 8500 from HP reveal. The printer appears to be well made, but it has problems with communicating with my notebook in addition to having issues with photo printing that have been not fully resolved.

The timeline of my Officejet purchases:

2002 - March Officejet d155xi (HP Swear) 800 + tax/shipping

2006 - March Officejet 7310xi (Sam's Club) 368 + tax

2009 - April Officejet 8500 (HP Boom) 269 + tax/shipping -fifty buck trade-in rebate for 7310xi

The 8500 does not advance with a USB cable, which was not an notify [at first] since I have so many surplus cables. Apparently, the 16ft cable I outmoded with the 7310xi was not compatible, possibly because it may have been a USB 1.0 version, which I can't choose. So I tried one of the dozen or so shorter USB cables I have, some of which were in fact USB 2.0. While I got the printer to work, I repeatedly find errors such as "The printer has not yet responded, but the Microsoft Office program may be able to depart without printer information". So, I purchased a unusual 16ft. Belkin USB 2.0. Unfortunately, I calm rep the same errors and freezing of the computer. I have not resolved the scrape and don't leer forward to calling HP's tech attend. Their Indian wait on reps have the worst English I have ever had to deal with in a tech back setting. I do enjoy their unusual chat tech-support option, which allows the customer to rob his skill level such as "novice" or "expert". Yet, the chat sessions abruptly severed communication with me multiple times with a red warning message, "we are having technical problems, please call tech encourage". What a ridiculous headache!

PRINTER Form AND Fabricate QUALITY

Despite HP's less than acceptable tech attend, HP's engineers deserve credit for improving the get and accomplish quality of their multifunction printers. Even though the previous printers never had a spot with broken paper trays or document feeders, these plastic pieces seemed extremely flimsy. The 8500 seems to be better constructed in that thicker, rigid plastic was primitive. Additionally, the parts that require interaction by the user, such as the receptacles for the ink cartridges, are noteworthy more accessible.

SPEED

While I have not conducted a side-by-side test, both printing and scanning appear to be faster than my most modern Officejet prior to this one, the 7310xi. Despite the increased run, the 8500 doesn't shake my printer stand as violently as the 7310xi did, suggesting the engineers old-fashioned a lower-inertia print head. The scanning appears slightly faster, but really not speedy enough for tall jobs. Truthfully, I would pay a lot more for considerable faster scanning. I have a grown accustomed to using a Ricoh 6500 copier/printer/scanner at my day job. The ~50 page/minute scan to pdf capability really changes the utility of the printer.

STILL NO DOUBLE SIDED SCANNING

One of the features that really attracted me to the novel Officejet was its double-sided printing capability. Unfortunately it doesn't provide upright double sided scanning. Some of scan options suggest the 8500 can invent double sided scanning but this appears to be more of function to interleave the second (support) site of pages. For larger double-sided documents, I rep myself using the industrial strength Ricoh 6500.

PRINT QUALITY

The sunless text quality appears to be slightly better than that of the 7310xi. In fact, it appears indistinguishable from laser print quality. However, there have been some problems printing in color. First, when printing on dead white paper on regular ink volume settings, the colors appear a bit less quick-witted than the prints I made with my 7310xi. In fact, I have a few samples of color documents printed on the 7310xi that I was able to compare side-by-side with the output of the 8500, which clearly showed the incompatibility between the two prints. Yet, this may be a result of HP's strategy to market this printer as being more ink efficient.

When printing on photo paper, there appears to be some issues when selecting the photo quality settings and "HP Advanced Photo Paper" as the paper type. Using both HP photo paper and Kodak "everyday" photo paper, there were striations across the center of the page. It isn't positive if the HP photo paper I was using was truly their "advanced" paper as this was a sample pack from HP. When using the "other photo paper" option, there were no striations. With obvious other papers, however, I found that the ink would bustle with the slightest exposure to water - even after drying for more than one hour. Barely visible drops of water would cause easily visible spots on the page. While it isn't positive precisely what was done with the ink and requisite paper compatibility, the 8500 does appear to be more fickle than the predecessors.

In summary, the 8500 appears to be better designed and constructed than previous Officejet models but is less user excellent. My guess is that many of the problems I am experiencing will be resolved when current drivers are made available. However, as a fairly technical user, I would not request so many difficulties getting the printer to work. Moreover, HP's consumer tech abet is so unforgivably awful the company does not deserve your business.

Cons:

*Tech serve is totally unacceptable, off-shore reps have both a dreadful deny of the English language and extinct technical skills

*Online chat tech wait on is disjointed with reps chatting with multiple customers simultaneously

*Printer communication problems unresolved as of 5/5/2009

*Photo printing requires more adjustments of settings

*Still doesn't have a fair double-siding SCANNING mechanism

*Drivers for XP seem to have compatibility issues

Pros

*Fast printing and scanning for a section of home office equipment

*Sturdier construction than predecessors

*Reasonable brand for the performance/functionality

*Smoother/quieter than previous Officejet printers

I have been looking for a networked color laser printer worthy for home and limited office expend for some time. Then I received an ad for this printer. I was convinced to try it because of the recent ink technology, the relatively uncouth cost of replacement ink cartridges and the duplex printing capability. So far I've been completely joyful. It's easily quick enough for my consume. Print quality is high. It seems to have well-behaved color accuracy; I've printed a couple of photos on high quality photo paper and been quite jubilant. It was a tear to install (we are a Mac household) . The scan and copy functions are easy to consume. Duplex printing is humdrum but adequate for the times it is dilapidated. I've yet to have to replace a cartridge so I can't narrate to the cost per page of printing.

In our runt office we print over 5000 sheets a month and section the printer over a USB switch with 4 of us. We exhaust it also for scanning and sending out customer documents. Accelerate for faxing and scanning was necessary as we often scan and fax 20 to 40 pgs.

The sign per page was marvelous due to the oversized ink cartridges printing 2 or 3 times the number of pages as we had previously obtained with other HP ink jets. For every day printing we have further carve printing costs by 75% by using refilled cartiridges from ebay. Overall the best color printer we have purchased in the last 4 years.

Only drawback that we have found is that for pdf scanning, a order usb connection to a PC is required. Bottom line: Its got run and the initial effect is higher, but with considerable lower ink costs, payback is in a couple of months.

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