[BUGS] HP 2605DN

[Trevor Roydhouse]

Rob Hurle wrote:
> I'd be interested to know what the problems were with 
> the HP2605dn.  I have one, and it's been great.  Again, I don't use it for bulk 
> photo printing, but I've been producing some printed material which contains 
> illustrations, many of which are photos.  I've been very happy with it, although 
> I think that it may almost be cheaper to buy a new printer on special than to 
> replace the toner cartridges!

The HP 1600, 2600 and 2605 series (along with a similar Lexmark model 
using the same laser engine) suffer from a grey mottling effect on any 
white area on a page which uses colour toner. I didn't notice it at 
first, but as soon as I used the thicker photo quality HP paper it 
became very pronounced. I then compared a normal 80gsm sheet of paper 
which had not been through the laser with one that had (with some colour 
print on it) and it became obvious that it was happening on every page. 
You can in fact see the "mottling background" if you open the front of 
the printer and carefully examine the image transfer belt (the black 
shiny film) with the light at the right angle. Cleaning it made no 
difference. The grey appears to be a result of excess cyan and magenta 
toner bleeding during colour printing.

I have since seen the same issue with every other demo 1600, 2600 and 
2605 unit I've seen in Australia (including the current demo model at 
Harris technology at North Ryde), the USA and Europe over the last two 
years.

HP denied it was a problem, but their own forum has some long threads 
from US and European purchasers who've had several printers replaced (up 
to 6 in a row few cases) and all of the suffered from the identical 
issue - some worse than others. At least Lexmark customer service 
acknowledge the problem and quite openly state "Most people don't notice 
it". HP just prefers to pretend it doesn't exist and "comes to an 
arrangement" with any particularly unhappy customers who press the 
issue, but only on condition that said customers do not publicly reveal 
the "accommodation". I returned mine to Harris Technology at North Ryde 
who grudgingly conceded the issue and refunded the full purchase price 
after two weeks.

I looked at other colour lasers, but few met my requirements (duplex, 
network, PS2 or 3, < 22Kg) and those that did seemed to have various 
documented issues. So when in the last few weeks my HP 2200DN B&W laser 
finally gave up the ghost, I replaced it with a Fuji Xerox B&W Phaser 
3428 (duplex & network & PS3 & 1 year on-site warranty) for 1/5th the 
cost delivered ($322). It's so nice to have an LCD readout back (like 
the LED readout on my old HP4) and no longer have to decipher various 
flashing LEDs!

-- 
Trevor Roydhouse
BJuris, LLB, LLM (UNSW)
System Developer
Australasian Legal Information Institute    Web  : www.austlii.edu.au