LEXMARK FORMS 2580 OEM RIBBON CARTRIDGE (CHARACTER YIELD)

Lexmark Forms 2580 Review

Overview:

Designed for narrow forms, the Lexmark Forms 2580 is perfect for receipt printing up to 6 sheets deep. This 9 pin dot matrix printer is a heavy duty device built to withstand harsh work environments and last for years, all while producing quality results that simply cannot be achieved with an inkjet or laser printer.

Pros:

The Lexmark Forms 2580 relies on a simple 9 pin impact printing setup, which means that it cannot print in high resolution but is great for printing through thick stacks of carbon paper. The device can print to 1 original plus 5 copies at a time, creating a receipt that can be signed by hand for additional copies of the signature as well. This is one element to dot matrix printing that laser printing simply cannot touch.

Another notable element to dot matrix printing in general is the stability of the hardware. Epson and Okidata still produce dot matrix printers that are long lasting, but Lexmark seems to outdo both brands in the area of robustness. The Lexmark Forms 2580 printer rarely fails on its own, though eventually its print head will become completely warn out. This usually takes about 300 million characters of print, though. Unfortunately, print heads are very costly and it is probably best to just purchase a new dot matrix printer when the head is no longer usable.

Print resolution topping out at 240 x 144 dots per inch is very poor quality indeed, but is just about what should be expected from a 9 pin dot matrix printer. This technology is, keep in mind, forty years old or more and really hasn’t changed much over the years. It requires only an extremely limited amount of memory to function and, in this case, the Lexmark Forms 2580 is fitted with 512 MBs of RAM.

Keep in mind that the Lexmark Forms 2580 is a narrow printer and relies on a tractor feed, though an automatic narrow sheet feeder is optional as well as a narrow tractor 2 feeder. Users who have Windows 7 systems may have some degree of trouble setting up their Forms printer as it was really only designed to work with systems as late as Windows XP. This represents one of the problems inherent in using an older model, but compatibility should ultimately be possible with any Windows system. Macintosh users may be completely out of luck when it comes to Lexmark Forms printers.

Cons:

The price on dot matrix printers continues to climb as the units become more and more scarce. Their sole purpose for surviving this long is multiple form printing which some operations cannot live without. Less and less brands continue to produce these limited use printers and they have at least double in price since their more popular days in the 90’s. With their high cost considered, any serious buyer should definitely look into alternatives to multiple form printing as carbon paper is expensive as well, not to mention the cost of ink ribbons which also seems to continue to rise.