Customer Reviews
Great for text, but not for photos 
2004-09-10
This is a good printer for regular print jobs, but it does not print to photo quality. If you don't print photos from a digital camera or if you are not concerned about photo quality then this is the printer for you. It is a cheap, easy to install printer that will handle your daily print duties, but photos are pixellated and off-colour.
worst printer ever 
2004-09-02
Ok, it's not very expensive. But it is still a complete waste of money. I'm so tired of page after page of lines smudged into complete illegibility. It's not even good for printing rough drafts (the reason I bought it). I'm throwing this printer in the garbage and buying something (anything) else. A 20-year-old dot-matrix printer would be an improvement.
Not the fastest printer I've ever used... 2004-08-19
But for the money, it probably can't be beat. I've had bad results using non-Lexmark printer cartidges, though. And, aside from the sheer wastefullness, at the price these printers go for new, it's cheaper to buy another whole printer (along with the ink cartidges it comes with) than to spend the extra $10 to buy just the ink cartidges all by themselves!
WORTH ITS WEIGHT IN HORSE DROPPINGS. 2004-07-31
PRINTED OUT FOUR (4) PAGES AND QUIT ON ACCOUNT OF REQUIRING A NEW COLOR INK CARTRIDGE. HEY FOLKS, IT IS BRAND NEW! THE PRINTER LASTED ALL OF TEN (10) MINUTES. TWO HOURS OF SCREWING AROUND WITH THE INK AND ZERO (0) TECH SUPPORT SENT THIS PILE OF MANURE TO THE DUMPSTER.
Perfect for text! 
2004-07-01
When the Epson Photo 820 (read the bad reviews; they're all true), instead of just using tons of ink when I cleaned the heads (needed often), started leaving streaks of black ink across the page, I tried to get some help from Epson's customer service. I found that a wasted effort. They must have known what the problem was (I've since figured it out from other Web sites), but refused to tell me other than to tell me to clean the heads or take it in for service. I remembered the wonderful little Lexmark that came with my iMac several years ago and how reliable it was, and I wound up buying this printer. It's wonderful! Fact is, I'm in school and don't print photos. I hate that Epson, which you can't run without both black and color inks, even if you just plan to print text. The Lexmark will run with just black ink. It does a wonderful job on text. If your primary need of a printer is text, you can't go wrong with this wonderful little printer.
How to stop it from talking 2007-08-20
To stop this darn printer from saying "printing started/completed" you need to go to the Lexmark SOftware Center. There should be a voice option in it. In mine, I had to click on "troubleshooting" then "voice/skins" and then I had the option of unclicking the sound option.
good printer 2007-08-17
printer was used but its satisfing my needs, it is also compatilbe with windows vista.
Penny-wise, pound poor 
2007-01-09
The title pretty much sums up my feelings about this printer. To begin with, as others have noted the cartridges for this model cost too much and you will find yourself buying a lot of them. I do a lot of text printing and even though I use the most ink-economical settings I can expect to go through an ink cartridge every two months or so. Also, after a year and a half of use, the piece of plastic that holds in the printer cartridge broke. I don't know if this is typical or not, but the way the plastic is designed to flex in order to lock the cartridge in place seems like it would inevitably break with day-to-day use (can you say "planned obsolescence"). This product waste's money in the long run even if it is cheaper to start.
Nice Features, But Very Ink-Hungry 2005-11-24
I've now owned and used this little printer for almost two years. There are a few things I like about it, but one major thing I do not like.
First, the positives...
It's easy to use. The software included with the printer, which monitors the print jobs and lets you choose various print options, is nicely designed. All the options are clearly presented. The tool for cleaning and/or aligning the print nozzles also works well, although it takes some time to go through the test.
The text quality is fine, and in "best" mode it can be very nice, especially on good paper.
Now, the negatives...
There is a voice that announces, "Printing started!" when the job loads, and "Printing complete!" when the job is done. This is rather unnecessary, and a little annoying.
The printer is rather slow, even slower than a five-year-old Epson I owned prior to this one. But I knew this when I bought the printer. Speed is not that important to me -- I don't mind waiting an extra two minutes for something to print! Even five extra minutes, believe it or not, will not be the end of the world!! More important to me was economy, and I bought the Z605 because I wanted a simple printer that produces good-enough quality at a reasonable price.
Which brings me to my biggest complaint about this printer, what I call "real economy." What at first appears to be an inexpensive printer actually turns out to be more expensive in the long run. The reason? This printer goes through ink like water. I try as often as possible to use the "quick print" option, which saves ink. But still, in a very short time I'm running low on ink. At $20 to $30 each, those ink cartriges add up! I had to buy three black and one color cartrige in just one year. Another printer, which costs even $100 more to start with but which uses ink more efficiently, would quickly become equal to this one, and within two years would be a better value.
The bottom line is, you get a printer with average print quality, decent software, but in the end costs as much as a more expensive printer that manages ink better.
thirsty little bugger 2005-07-23
I bought this printer because it was the cheapest available, and I was in a situation where I needed a printer for just a few weeks and then I had to abandon it.
Unfortunately, this turned into a bit of false economy on my part: I failed to consider the cost of the cartridges (with this thing, you'll need the 17 for Black and the 27 for color). Together MORE than the cost of the printer itself.
The cartridges are used up so quickly that any money you saved on the machine will be lost on the cartridges.
You're better off buying a middle-of-the-road HP printer, as the quality is slightly better and their cartridges last so much longer that in the end you probably will end up spending the same amount of money.
Another thing I hate about this printer is that there's no way to stop that irritating voice from saying "Printing started!" etc. You've just got to endure him.
