Feedback for Kodak Printers Event

[AnnMumsnet]

This thread is for those who attended the Kodak Printers event in London in April - but it's also a chance for other Mumsnetters to ask questions about the printers and printing in general & to see what the attendees thought about Kodak printers.

Some background on the project: A total of 9 Mumsnetters attended the event and were shown the Kodak printers and allowed to have a play on them - printing their own photos. A discussion was held about them, printing in general and the "hidden" costs of printing at home. Each attendee received travel expenses and a gift from Kodak. Kodak were so impressed with the feedback they received they decided to send everyone who attended a new Kodak printer to keep.

Questions for attendees:
~ Were you surprised to find out at the event how much printing at home can cost in terms of non Kodak ink? And how did you feel about the costs of Kodak ink in comparison?
~ Do you think the costs of the ink for your new Kodak printers would encourage you to print at home more frequently/ more pictures?
~ Since you've had your new Kodak ESP printer have you increased your printing? What kind of things have you been printing?
~ Have you or would you recommend Kodak printers to your friends/ colleagues/ family due to the potential costs savings for ink cartridges?
~ Any other points you'd like to share?

Thanks
MNHQ

Just tried to post and my essay post vanished and a weird screen came up so this is a test post.

Hurrah! Worked, here goes...

I was quite aware of the cost in terms of non Kodak ink as I have done a huge loads of printing at home a couple of years ago for a family party (never again). The Kodak ink is unbelievably cheap and very simple - you only have two cartridges - my old printer had about six!

It has already encouraged me to print at home, have done loads of printing since it arrived as have over 2000 photos of DD that I haven't printed.

It encourages me to do more printing because I don't have to leave the house and it is cheap. I have got round to sending pics to all the far flung relatives I haven't seen in ages who I have been meaning to send stuff through to for ages. I work FT and don't ever really want to spend my weekends standing in a shop on the high street for half an hour, messing about with the on screen stuff and then waiting another hour for to get prints.

DP is going to use it to print off some A4 flyers that he normally prints professionally for a club night that he runs so will save us some pennies there! My Dad has got me to scan in pics of my late Grandfather that he was anxious about losing/damaging etc as they are irreplacable, he feels so much happier now we have multiple copies online.

All in all I have been really impressed and it has been so easy to use, would definitely recommend to everyone I know. Only slight downside is the size, it's quite big and although I understand that they probably can't physically be much smaller it does take up a quarter of my dining room table.

Thank you so much Kodak and MNHQ.

~ Were you surprised to find out at the event how much printing at home can cost in terms of non Kodak ink? And how did you feel about the costs of Kodak ink in comparison?
The prices they were quoting were in terms of the cost of the ink only, and not the cost of the paper - which is fairly crucial! I'm not yet sure what difference the 5 paper makes as opposed to the 3 quality paper, for instance, as we were only given top quality paper to try and I haven't yet tested it on 'cheaper' photo paper.
Personally, whilst I would like to be able to print pictures at home occasionally, if I wanted to print in bulk I would still prefer getting them printed professionally.
~ Do you think the costs of the ink for your new Kodak printers would encourage you to print at home more frequently/ more pictures? Yes
~ Since you've had your new Kodak ESP printer have you increased your printing? What kind of things have you been printing?
Finally managed to get the printer installed this weekend - the software to install the printer didn't seem to be very good (according to dh/IT expert!) - installation incredibly slow and kept failing. However, now it is all set up, I am pleased with the quality but at this stage have only really done 'test' runs.
~ Have you or would you recommend Kodak printers to your friends/ colleagues/ family due to the potential costs savings for ink cartridges?
I would recommend Kodak for the quality of the photo print, rather than cost of cartridges.
~ Any other points you'd like to share?
Thank you for the printer! We have very varied items for printing in this house and it truly is all-in-one.

Firstly thank you very much Mumsnet and Kodak for the event and for my new printer.

I wasn't surprised about the high cost of printing, we have been using our ink cartridges long after the computer tells us to change them as the replacements have been so expensive to buy. As we run our own B&B business we do print out a lot of breakfast menus, registration forms and invoices and at the moment have been relying on the goodwill of my brother by photocopying them, but this involves a drive and a queue. So to find out how cheap Kodak ink cartridges are compared to mine is great (about £20 difference).

The cheaper costs are definitely enabling me to do more printing of all kinds.

Since I have had the ESP 9 printer, I have printed photos of DS (I have lots on the computer but haven't had the facilities to print them), copied and printed invoices and breakfast menus, DH has printed information from the internet, and I have also scanned, edited and printed old family photos which has saved me and my sister a lot of money.

I have already been showing and talking about the printer, I have a friend who is looking for one and likes the idea of WiFi as they have multiple computers in the house so would just have to be set up under the desk.

I have also been looking at the projects that Kodak have on their website and will be giving those a go at some stage.

My only critcism is that while I managed to get it connected easily bu USB port to my old dinosaur of a computer, I had to get my nephew up to connect it by WiFI to my laptop after 2 hours of trying. This took some time and hes doesn't know whether it was made more difficult by Vista or by NOrton Security. But now it is set up it is very easy to use, I am really enjoying it and thank you so much to all involved.

Interesting to see foofi had problems with the software.

I was not suprised to find out about how much in the ink cost in other printer as this is the reason I did so little printing. I WAS suprised to find out how little it cost in the new kodak printers though. The cost of printing photos is cheap if you do not factor in the paper. Paper can be expensive, but if you search hard, you can find deals. I bought a 60 pack of Kodak 4x6 photo paper online with WHsmith for £4.28 instead of the £8.99 a pack of 20 cost in my local kodak shop. I thinkI worked out the price of a 4x6 print with that paper as around 7p which is pretty good!

I am definately printing at home more already - not just photos, but I am letting the kids print stuff from online with lots of colour in it which they were banned from doing before.

I have also used the scanner and the copier features a lot and both are really simple to use.

I have the printer hooked up by usb to my old desktop and by Wifi to my newer laptop. This is one of my favourite features of it as previously I had to email anything i wanted printed to myself and then print from the desktop. I had no problem installing the software on either computer and set up was relatively easy. I have also had no problems using it - it is fairly intuative on the screen.

I would, and have already, recommended this range of printers to friends and family - mostly because of the ink costs, but also the quality of the print of photos is excellent.

Thanks Kodak for giving me a printer!

~ Were you surprised to find out at the event how much printing at home can cost in terms of non Kodak ink? And how did you feel about the costs of Kodak ink in comparison?

Was aware of the cost - it was one of the reasons why we've never bought a Kodak printer before. We go for printers with separate colour cartridges as they are more cost effective (PITA to throw away a cartridge with ink in it just because one of the colours has run out) HOWEVER, even my DH has admitted that with the lower price of the new Kodak cartridges, it's more cost effective than our Canon printer. I still feel a bit twitchy about the wastage of multi colour cartridges, but I'm sure I'll get over it

~ Do you think the costs of the ink for your new Kodak printers would encourage you to print at home more frequently/ more pictures?

In the long run yes. We don't tend to skimp on printing, but sometimes there can be a big gap between running out of ink and replacing the cartridge. The cost of the cartridges are low enough that we'll always be able to replace them ASAP. The DCs will be happy that they won't get banned from colour printing as the ink levels drop.

~ Since you've had your new Kodak ESP printer have you increased your printing?

Yes, because I couldn't print from my laptop before. The WiFi works brilliantly, and was easy to set up (although I cheated and let DH do it - fiddling with tech makes him happy!)

What kind of things have you been printing?

Photos, documents - did a nice montage of family pictures for DS1 to take on his residential school trip.

~ Have you or would you recommend Kodak printers to your friends/ colleagues/ family due to the potential costs savings for ink cartridges?

Yes. The print quality is fabulous, even photos printed onto plain paper look clear and sharp, with good colours. We've always like Kodak, but as I said above have avoided them solely because of cartridge issues. I'd be happy to recommend.

~ Any other points you'd like to share?

The only thing I need to do is to try and print via a USB stick direct to the printer. We were having issues with this on the day, and I was curious to see if it was a one off problem with those particular printers. Unfortunately I've lent my flash drive to someone so can't try it atm, but will give it a go when I get the chance. It's not an issue for me (WiFi solves that) but it might be important for someone else.

Oh, and yes should have said - thank you very much for lovely shiny new printer (please note that my niggles are exactly the same as before I was surprised with it, no undue influence here )

The kodak printer is absolutely brilliant! At the London testing/event, we didn't really get a chance to "play around" with the printers, but on recieving the ESP 9 and having had a few weeks to figure it out, I can only give it a 10/10
It is very easy to use, very cost effective (I seem to be printing 2x as much for the same cost of my old HP ink) and the quality which is the most important thing to me is second to none. Very professional.
I have definately been printing more photos at home (bye bye photobox) and have recommended to anyone who will listen! My DH who also works from home has been using the scan and fax option. The fact it has wi-fi is another wonderful benefit. (although from a technical point of view, took us hours and hours to try and install. we got their in the end, but was incredibly frustrating).

Whilst the price issue is important, for me the quality is what makes these printers stand head and shoulders above the competition.
If anyone wants to ask me anything else, please do.......happy to help.

thanks so much Kodak and MN

we got THERE not their

Hi,
Have not had my printer long, but to add my views..........they are fantastic printers!!
I have the ESP9 which was easy to install (so says DH) and works perfectly. (I will update witht he wifi when that has been installed)
The issue of the cost of printer ink was one I was aware of and i used to wait until I had absolutely no ink left in the printer and then I would buy supermarket equivalent inks.I can't envisae this issue going forward.
Both DH and I are truly impressed with the quality that this home printer produces.
I have already volunteered my printer for use for the school YR2 leavers photos and can see that family will be bored once again with the astounding amount of photos that I can send themm of my gorgeous children!!
I have already recommended the printers to many friends, and showed them the pictures that I printed on the day.
Thanks again Kodak

Mine arrived today. So excited - clearly i haven't had time to do much with it and will report further later. It took me and ds (9) about 30 mins to set it up with usb cable, then dh (43, IT expert) about 1.5hrs to set it up wirelessly. We have so far used it to print out a model of the houses of parliament from the canon site, on 13 pages, it will take us weeks to make it but the print quality is stupendous. We sat cutting and listening to classical music - how revolutionary!

~ Were you surprised to find out at the event how much printing at home can cost in terms of non Kodak ink? And how did you feel about the costs of Kodak ink in comparison?

The ink is definitely a good price, so for colour printing on paper that's great. Haven't done much photo printing yet but i've bought some paper on ebay.

~ Do you think the costs of the ink for your new Kodak printers would encourage you to print at home more frequently/ more pictures?

possibly. but it's the paper cost as well that makes it less cost effective than going to the shop.

~ Since you've had your new Kodak ESP printer have you increased your printing?

A little. I've made a few birthday cards.

What kind of things have you been printing?

Birthday cards, models for kids to make, as well as usual notes and letters.

~ Have you or would you recommend Kodak printers to your friends/ colleagues/ family due to the potential costs savings for ink cartridges?

haven't yet, might do so.

~ Any other points you'd like to share?

the wirelessness is the best difference for me.

Were you surprised to find out at the event how much printing at home can cost in terms of non Kodak ink? And how did you feel about the costs of Kodak ink in comparison?

The ink is definitely cheaper and I would probably print more at home because of it, I'm also a bit more relaxed about the kids using the printers

~ Do you think the costs of the ink for your new Kodak printers would encourage you to print at home more frequently/ more pictures?

Kind of answered this above, but do need to remember that you do need decent paper also for quality printing, but you can make the decision to cut costs and use cheaper paper for everyday stuff.

~ Since you've had your new Kodak ESP printer have you increased your printing?

Not really

What kind of things have you been printing?

Invitations, normal day to day printing

~ Have you or would you recommend Kodak printers to your friends/ colleagues/ family due to the potential costs savings for ink cartridges?

Not yet

~ Any other points you'd like to share?

A few shops that you would expect to stock the printer ink doesnt and has no plans to do, Staples for example.