Lexmark Impact S305 printer
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Key Specs | |
| Color inkjet USB 2.0, memory-card reader, USB/PictBridge port 8.5x14 inches 4,800x1,200dpi 2,400x1,200dpi 1,200x2,400dpi No 2 inches 9.7x21.2x15.9 inches 14.3 pounds | |
Lexmark Impact S305 Review | |
| Reviewed by: Jonathan Rougeot Review Date: October 2009 | |
| At first glance, the $99 Lexmark Impact S305 calls to mind discounted sushi: It looks perfectly fine, but you're wary why it's so cheap. This printer didn't leave us queasy once we tested it out, however; indeed, this inkjet all-in-one (AIO) can keep up with pricier models in some areas. Its design may be a bit staid, and it doesn’t include some features that many of its sister models do, but home users who need quality prints at respectable speeds will not be disappointed. The Impact S305 is simple from the get-go. Made mostly of matte-black plastic, with silver edging around the scanner top, it's not going to turn heads, but it does have a nice, sturdy body. At 10x21x16 inches, it’s a little bigger than its sister models, but it still won’t take up a great deal of real estate on your desktop. A control panel juts out from the front of the printer. (It's not finely adjustable, however; it can be left recessed into the body, or pulled out to about a 60-degree angle.) The panel is simple, with just a few buttons to navigate the operation of the printer. Power and setup buttons are on the left side of the panel. In the center is a two-line, 2-inch LCD; copy, scan, and photo buttons; forward, back, and OK controls; and a return button to navigate through the printer’s menus. On the right are buttons to toggle between monochrome and color printing, and to start and stop the printer’s operation.
 The Impact S305's control panel juts out from the front of the printer and features a 2-inch, two-line LCD.
On the right side of the printer is a unified slot for reading flash-memory cards (supporting the SD, MultiMediaCard, Memory Stick, and xD-PictureCard formats), as well as a USB 2.0 PictBridge port for connecting a camera or flash drive directly to the printer. Another USB port (which serves as the PC interface) and the recessed, brickless power cord are located on the back. The power cord protrudes a bit from the rear, meaning you'll have to leave a little bit of clearance behind the unit, wherever you place it. The Impact S305 has an adjustable paper tray at the back that can hold up to 100 sheets of plain paper. Paper ejects into a pull-out tray in front. In our tests, we did not experience any jams or misfeeds. Worth noting, though: This model does not come with an automatic document feeder, and it cannot print double-sided (unless you manually flip the paper and figure out the orientation yourself). Those limitations are something of a minus if you intend to use this printer to handle small-office tasks, but they're not surprising considering the price. Lifting up the cover provides access to the Impact S305’s printhead and ink cartridges. (This model uses three color tanks and one black.) The printhead automatically moves into place when you lift the lid, providing easy access to change the ink, and the design keeps you from inserting the color ink tanks in the wrong slots. Setup is easy: Just insert the setup CD into your PC, and it walks you through everything, from installing the ink to connecting the printer via Wi-Fi. Once you're ready to print, you shouldn't run across many problems; printing, scanning, and copying on the Impact S305 are simple. Three modes are available when printing: Quick Print, Normal, and Best. When copying, you only have the choice of switching between black-and-white and color. When the printer is working, the progress of the job is displayed on the lower-right corner of your PC screen, and the time-to-completion estimates that we observed were accurate. Besides printing from your PC, you also have the option of printing directly from a flash drive, memory card, or PictBridge-enabled camera. As for scanning, you have the option of scanning to a computer, to a removable memory device, or to e-mail in up to 600dpi. You can also choose between scanning in black and white or color.
 Paper enters through the 100-page feeder at the top of the printer and exits in front.
The Impact S305 isn’t just easy to use, it’s also speedier than many other models in its class when doing certain jobs. It printed our standard 20-page text document in Normal mode in 2 minutes and 27 seconds, about 40 seconds faster than the HP Photosmart C4780, although it lagged behind the Epson Stylus NX515, which did the job about a minute faster. (The Photosmart C4780 and Stylus NX515 are both comparably priced AIOs.) In Best mode, the Impact S305 did the job in 8 minutes and 24 seconds, besting the Photosmart C4780 by about 45 seconds and the Stylus NX515 by 20 seconds. The Impact S305 also showed it could handle text and graphics on the quick. It printed our 10-page text-and-graphics document in Normal mode in 1 minute and 54 seconds, beating the Photosmart C4780 by more than a minute, but falling behind the Stylus NX515 by about 30 seconds. In Best mode, it did the job in 4 minutes and 17 seconds, about on par with the Stylus NX515 and more than 2 minutes faster than the PhotoSmart C4780.
 The printhead moves into place when you lift the lid, allowing easy access to change the ink.
The Impact S305 was surprisingly fast dealing with photos. It printed our 4x6-inch color print in Normal mode in 33 seconds, about one-third the time of the Photosmart C4780 and the Stylus NX515. It printed our 8.5x11-inch color photo in Best mode in 1 minute and 20 seconds, about one-fifth the time it took the Stylus NX515 to do the job. (An interesting note: The Impact S305’s print times were almost identical to those of its $199 sister model, the Interact S605. As a result, if you can do without the bells and whistles of the pricier model, you can save $100 by going with the S305 and not sacrifice speed.) Scanning was where the Impact S305 lost some of its speed advantage. It took 18 seconds to scan our one-page text document, a job that the Photosmart C4780 did 2 seconds faster and the Stylus NX515 did 7 seconds faster. It handled color photos much better, however, scanning our 8.5x11-inch photo in 18 seconds, a job that took the Photosmart C4780 twice as long to do, and the Stylus NX515 about 10 seconds longer. Copy-speed results were a wholly mixed bag. A copy of our one-page text document took 20 seconds, a job that the Photosmart C4780 did about 7 seconds faster and the Stylus NX515 about 12 seconds faster. We saw some mixed results when it came to photos. It copied our 8.5x11-inch photo in 1 minute and 25 seconds. The Photosmart C4780 did it about a minute faster; the Stylus NX515, more than a minute slower.  On the right side of the printer is a flash-card slot and a USB 2.0 PictBridge port. Considering that this is a $99 AIO, we were pleasantly surprised by the Impact S305’s output quality. Text was crisp and clear down to 3 points, and graphics reproduced respectably. What we were really surprised to find, though, was that the Impact S305 printed some nice-quality photos. Our 4x6-inch test photo displayed accurate colors and contrast, with images appearing bright and crisp. Even our 8.5x11-inch photo, on which we usually note some quality loss, came out respectable. On the other hand, using the photocopy function on a budget AIO tends to yield middling-at-best results, so we didn’t expect too much of our test photocopy of our 8.5x11-inch photo. In this case, we were right. The copy’s colors were much more muted than the original’s. Copies of our text and text-and-graphics documents, however, fared much better. In most regards, it was difficult to tell the difference between the copies and their originals, though colored text was a bit more washed out. Color cartridges for the Impact S305 cost $9.99 for regular-size tanks and $17.99 for high-capacity; black cartridges cost $11.99 for regular, $24.99 for high-capacity. With the high-capacity cartridges, the cost per page works out to 5 cents for monochrome printing and 12 cents for color. This puts the Impact S305 at about average cost for both monochrome and color printing, but those figures are still good for a model that costs only $99 at the outset. You won't get many extra features with the Impact S305, but you will get a solid AIO that offers respectable speeds and quality prints. Its inability to duplex may make this model a no-go for some users, but those who need a simple home printer for everyday jobs won't be disappointed. * Editors’ Note: Parts of this review include excerpts from our review of the Lexmark Interact S605. Price (at time of review): $99 (mfr. est.)See all of our Lexmark Impact S305 coverage | |