Customer Reviews
Be Warned: Will Not Work With Digital Phone Line 
2008-06-22
My grandparents and I were thrilled with the prospect of their receiving email messages and pictures without a computer. The thrill was short lived when the HP printer quit working, after transmitting one message. We had techs from the cable company and electronics store come take a look, and it was discovered that the HP Presto Printer will not work with common digital cable phone lines. When I called Presto they confirmed that the machine will not, in fact, work with a digital phone line. This REALLY should be stated in the product's description. Disappointing.
One of the best gifts I have ever given 
2008-06-21
Like so many others I bought this for my in-laws who just did not want to go through the hassle of learning how to use a computer. It has been great for the family to stay just a bit more connected with them. My mother-in-law told me the other day that they race each other downstairs each morning to check the email machine. Pretty cool. Set up was simple and you can monitor ink, paper, and connectivity on-line.
Fantastic way to stay in touch with the elderly 2008-06-19
As long as there's someone available to change the ink cartridge when necessary and to make sure there's enough paper loaded into the machine then all your elderly loved-one has to do is pick up the messages and read them! You can even use large fonts.
Of course, some elderly are able to rise to the challenge of replacing the cartridges and paper by themselves. My mother's quite feeble, and lives in a nursing home, so I maintain it for her.
By the way, this is a WONDERFUL gift for someone living in a nursing home.
For my mother's machine, I find I need to replace the ink cartridge every few months -- and we send lots of photos. I have set her preferences to the ink-sparing "simple" setting -- the fancy borders, calendars, etc. that you can choose at the Presto website use up lots of ink, unnecessarily.
I find I can put something like 50 sheets of paper in the machine, in spite of the lower limit suggested by Presto.
One suggestion: choose printer paper that has three holes punched in it when you buy it. That way, it's easy to gather the messages into a three-ring binder. I tested a bunch of them and found one that opens easily (with a lever that's especially easy to open for someone with little strength in their hands). I think I found it at Staples, but don't have the binder at hand, so I don't know exactly which one.
Choose one with a clear pouch on the front, and the first email you send can have a favorite photo on it, with the title "Grandma's Email Messages" or whatever, and you can slip that into the pouch to make a decorative cover.
(Martha Stewart's got nothin' on me!)
I got the Presto machine for my mother in December, and 7 months later, we're about to begin binder number three. Each one is a kind of journal, documenting family goings-on during that time period.
-Janis Jaquith, author of BIRDSEED COOKIES: A FRACTURED MEMOIR
Birdseed Cookies: A Fractured Memoir
PS We can even take a picture using our cell phones, and send it directly to be printed out at Mum's Presto machine. Wicked cool.
Can't forward messages easily 2008-06-16
UPDATE TO PREVIOUS REVIEW - After I gave a negative review (1 star - see below) to this product, I was contacted by the company. Apparently, Presto's customer service department gave me incorrect information. I still have a problem forwarding photographs, but it looks like the problem can be resolved with assistance from their technical support team. I can't change the rating, but I'm impressed with their responsiveness. They just need to improve the quality of their customer service team.
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I bought this product for my elderly mother - I speak to her on the phone every day, but she likes to be in the loop with messages, pictures, etc & she loves to get mail, so I thought this would be great. It is good that it only allows messages from designated senders, BUT it has one VERY BIG problem - if a designated sender forwards a message that was originally received from someone NOT "on the list", it rejects the email. I assumed that if a designated sender forwarded the message, it would be viewed as coming from that person. BUT NO! It also looks at every email address in the body of the message and if any of them aren't on her list - it rejects the message. So everything we forward to her would have to be edited before sending. That needs to be corrected. Also, it goes through the printer ink very quickly. But the overriding problem is that you can't easily forward message.
Mom Loves It .. Now Ready for Computer 
2008-06-16
Purchased back at Christmas for my Mom and Dad to get emails from the grandkids, and the occassional photo (see note below on this). My mom has loved having it around and now wants to tackle at age 74 getting a computer. As to Presto service. I am happy with the service and how we are able to send stuff to them. It's protection of junk mail is great and that one person has control and who has access to the account (who can send emails to my folks). The thing to watch out for is those folks who love sending all the internet junk stuff. Cool pictures, FWD FWD FWD emails that waste paper etc. Since everything is automatically printed you can not clean up the page before you print. It does waste paper and ink which can get expensive. Especially if you send a lot of photos.
Mom has loved being connected and getting stuff from friends. I would do it again to start Mom on the back roads to the information super highway.
Grandpa dislikes technology but loves Presto's Mailbox 2008-07-16
I wanted to find a way to easily communicate with my grandpa, and I found this "mailbox" by Presto. At first I thought it'd be for the younger generation of grandparents (my grandpa's 86), but I read some reviews and found that many older grandparents liked it. When I first gave it to Grandpa, he had some reservations about it. But in the days that followed, he would tell me how much he enjoyed receiving "e-mails" from me. The best part is that I am easily able to send him pictures as well. While the photos are simply on white computer paper, they are still good enough quality that he can hang them up on his refrigerator to show his friends. Presto's mailbox has made communicating with my grandpa so simple and quick!
Great for Mom! 2008-07-13
This was perfect for my elderly mother who is not "on-line". It was very easy to hook up (I wasn't even there) and managing online is easy. We had a few bugs in setting up the delivery times (took a few days for it to sync with five delivery times instead of three)and at first I was frustrated by many calls for service in which I received many different answers, but it was finally resolved and has worked perfectly since.
Having the youngest grandchildren 3000 miles away, it has cheered my mother immensely to get daily pictures of my boys. Very worth it!
Best gift ever for my grandmother! 2008-07-10
We purchased this gift for my 88-year-old grandmother in June and have been beyond pleased with the Presto. My grandmother lives alone and, unlike my other grandparents, has not done well with computers in the past. We set up the Presto in about 10 minutes and have not had a problem since.
And my grandmother LOVES her emails. We send her pictures and emails everyday just so she has something to get. Everytime she hears the machine's music start, she runs over to wait to see what pops out, and then calls us to thank us for the email or photograph or whatever. My brother is currently out of the country studying and he sends her updates every few days so she knows that he's safe. It's a great way to keep her in the loop and also to keep in touch because she calls us almost every day to check in. She told me that she feels a lot less lonely and she just loves getting emailed updates from us. She even bought a folder to keep all of her emails and pictures in.
We are so pleased with the Presto and cannot say enough good things about it. I have recommended it to everyone i know with older parents and grandparents. It's a fantastic way to keep in touch with her and to make sure that she doesn't feel left out of the fun and news. I highly, highly recommend the Presto.
great for anyone who is not tech savvy 2008-07-07
we purchased the PRESTO printing mailbox for my senior citizen parents who's only tech experience is the TV remote.we have opened up the world of e-mail for them (be it only recieving) and they are thrilled !! we (the kids)and there chosen friends with e-mail can now send pictures ,news articles,jokes,ect... they now look forward to seeing what may pop out of that printer up to 5 times a day if they choose,and i monitor paper,ink, ect.online from my home 80 miles away.it's great !
they can also use it to recieve important documents from accountants,financial advisors ect, like a fax machine. so far ink is lasting good (purchase the 97 cartridge).so far so good. if it works as good for you as it does for mom and pops you'll be happy :)p.s.if you know anybody that fwd's everything under the sun dont give them the e-mail address they will burn up paper & ink and annoy the s*** out of you :)
Just OK 
2008-07-04
I purchased this product for my parents because I want then to be informed by e-mailing them articles that may interest them. This was also purchased so that pictures can be sent, especially since they have their first great-grandchild on the opposite coast. Unfortunately, you can't use photo paper in the machine which was a big disappointment. I'm still going to have to send them picture DVDs. Otherwise it works fine for the family needs.
