HP LaserJet 3390 All-in-One Printer/Copier/Scanner/Fax (Q6500A#ABA) by Hewlett Packard
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Digital camera reviews of HP LaserJet 3390 All-in-One Printer/Copier/Scanner/Fax (Q6500A#ABA)
Digital camera Review: HP going downhill - avoid
Summary: 1 Stars
After using HP products for a long time, I can no longer recommend their products. The HP Laserjet 3390 software is the worst I have ever used. About once a year I have to call HP tech support and get them to walk me through uninstall/reinstall (very complicated and time-consuming). The scanner software always breaks. Now that my 3390 is out of warranty they want me to pay them (!) $50 to fix their buggy software.Digital camera Review: I wish I could give zero stars
Summary: 1 Stars
It is now August of 2008 and I still can't scan with this device which is not compatible with Windows Vista and there is no evidence that it will ever work. So it's a great printer but if you really wanted what you paid for (a printer, fax and scanner) and if you have Windows Vista, save your money.Digital camera Review: Meets my home office needs
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased the LJ3390 to replace an existing LJ3320. The $350 rebate available until the end of Oct was the deciding factor as it made the unit a very reasonable purchase.
My main interest in the upgrade was to purchase a network connected printer. Duplex print capability was the other factor that tipped the scale in favour of the LJ3390 over the LJ3052.
I now have 3 desktop and 2 laptop printers all printing successfully. All run XP SP2 and are either connected via a wired or wireless network connection. Software installation went flawlessly.
While I can't comment about HP versus other vendor software, I can say that the LJ3390 software is a major improvement over that of my LJ3320. Scanning is faster by at least a factor of 2X, quite likely more like 3-4X. Printing of complex pages is also much faster, exactly what I would expect from a newer generation print engine and an HP Laserjet printer.
All in all I am very pleased that I upgraded. It has met all my upgrade goals. Printing is faster, scanning is much faster. The network connectivity ensures anyone can print without another machine being forced to be a print server and constantly left on. I haven't played with the fax side yet, but am hoping this finally let's me retire my trusty standalone fax machine.
Digital camera Review: Minor problems but good unit
Summary: 4 Stars
I have found through experience that multifunction devices usually have drawbacks of some sort, due to compromises over functions. This machine performs better than the previous three combination printer/fax/scanners I have owned. I am generally satisfied with the product, except for a few problems.
I had a malfunction in the initial set up. I could not get the fax machine to answer the special ring tone the phone company has set up on my line. Even when programmed to pickup on the special ring tone via the menu on the machine - nothing happened. The exact nature of the problem was later diagnosed by HP support. It appears that the internal software was not correctly setup on the machine when it left the point of manufacture - I had to download some files that were needed to fix the problem. The support person did a great job, and took his time to diagnose and fix the problem. It took a while to go through the steps. I can't say for sure, but I think this was an oversight on my particular unit. Since then, it works as advertised and answers faxes on the special ring tone. Faxing out has always been a breeze.
The scanning software is not the best and can be frustrating - I have had similar software on another unit. But scanning generally works without a hitch. However, if you are serious about scanning, you might be better off buying software for that task, or buy a machine specifically dedicated to the task. I have some third-party OCR software that I occasionally use with scans from this machine. For some reason, any scan from this machine that is sent to my OCR software generally works poorly. Because I have used this same OCR software on other scanners with much more success, I presume (but don't really know if) the problem is somehow connected to the scan options on the HP scan software. I have fiddled endlessly trying different settings, but nothing improves the OCR. The same OCR software has worked very well out-of-the-box with two other scanners. I don't have a great need for OCR, so this has not been a problem for me.
The sheet feeder occasionally gets jammed. But I found that my other units, especially the cheaper ones, had the same problem - if not worse.
Printing is dependable and never has been a problem. I have never had a paper jam from the print tray, and the printer cartridge, which is expensive, is easily exchanged. I don't print envelopes often, but it appears that they have to be fed individually. The printing software has worked reliably, which is saying something as I have connected to my computer via USB. I have found printers connected via USB have problems of all different sorts.
The unit itself is rather large, but what can one expect from a machine that does all this?
If you do a bit of faxing and/or scanning, and a bunch of printing in a small office or at home, this is a good unit to consider. If you have more than a few people depending on a machine to do all the tasks in an office environment, or you have serious scanning projects, you might be better off paying more $ for a better machine.
Digital camera Review: NOT Vista-Ready
Summary: 3 Stars
HP's telephone Sales staff and its website say clearly that this printer is Vista-ready. They mean exactly that -- the PRINTER is Vista-ready. What they don't tell you is that the scanner and fax modem are NOT yet supported by Vista-compatible software. The software that comes with the printer will not even install under Vista. The Vista-compatible software on the HP site is a plain printer driver -- no scanning, no faxing, no fancy printer-configuration interface.
They promise to have something for Vista soon, but their initial date for that was May 2007, it's now the end of July, and nothing yet.
This is a great printer, but if you have Vista and need the other all-in-one features now, get something else.
And shame on HP for claiming an All-In-One is Vista ready when it isn't!