To be perfectly honest, I haven’t exactly had the best of experiences with Lexmark products in the past. Many years back, I went through two less than stellar Lexmark printers. I was unhappy with the print quality, print speed, and overall build quality. To be fair, they were remarkably cheap and I guess I got what I paid for. Fast forward many years later and I suppose it’s time I get Lexmark a fair shot at a second chance. In this review, I take an in-depth look at the Lexmark Genesis S815 all-in-printer. Let’s just say that it has more than a few unique tricks up its sleeve to win me over again.
Features and Specifications
When you’re trying to shoehorn a home office into cramped quarters, an all-in-one printer is an absolute must. Even then, they can take up too much room. Lexmark tries to address part of this was the vertical orientation of the Genesis S815.
Instead of having a horizontal flatbed, it has a vertical area for scanning. To make matters even more interesting, it doesn’t have a “scanner” in the traditional sense. Instead, it uses a 10 megapixel imaging sensor to quite literally take a picture of your document. This is with the company’s so-called Flash Scan technology. There’s also a 4.3-inch color touchscreen, WiFi-N wireless connectivity (with WPS support), fax functionality, Eco Mode, and full color printing.
The Lexmark Genesis was announced this January at CES 2011 for Canada, but we’d already heard of its arrival for the US market in October. It’s currently shipping and it’ll set you back at cool $399 Canuck Bucks which is probably around $349 US. Considering many all in one units cost far less, the Genesis will really have to impress us.
What’s in the Box?
If you’ve ever used an all-in-one printer in the past, then you’ll probably be reasonably familiar with what to expect with the Lexmark Genesis line. In addition to the printer unit itself, you get the four ink cartridges (three colors, one black), USB cable, telephone line (for fax), power cable, installation CD, and user guide.
To get a closer look at some of these components, as well as a brief overview of the printer and how it’s laid out, check out the embedded unboxing video above.
Connectivity, Setup, and Configuration
Having a printer with integrated Wi-Fi isn’t exactly groundbreaking, but it is definitely a useful feature to have. The Lexmark Genesis S815 comes with 802.11n, so you can enjoy faster speeds and greater range than those G-equipped all-in-ones. The setup process, at least initially, requires a wired USB connection.
You can stick with a wired USB connection and use the Genesis as a local printer, but the wireless connectivity is great for sharing the printer across computers. The setup and configuration process took longer than expected — a little over half an hour — but you really only have to do this once.
After plugging in the power to the printer, it starts the setup process automatically. This is where you can set your language, date/time, and time zone. It’ll also get you to install the print cartridges, of course, and getting them in there was a little more finicky than I would have liked. They don’t “click in” all that easily, as you need to find that sweet spot of an angle before it fits just so.
After that, it’ll print out a page to align the print cartridges. It takes the paper in and out several times over the span of several minutes to do this, so be patient. After all of that is a go, you then run the software CD and connect the USB cable when instructed to do so. The wizard is very easy to follow, but it’s unfortunate you need to run through it (at least a truncated version) on every computer that wants to use the Genesis.
Touchscreen User Interface
Touchscreens are all the rage on just about every consumer device these days. Maybe we can thank the whole smartphone and tablet revolution for that. The good news is that the menu navigation on the Genesis is markedly better than what I experienced on the Samsung SCX-5935FN. This interface is colorful and reasonably responsive.
The main menu shows your four main options: copy, scan, fax, and Smart Solutions. The last option is effectively comprised of different “apps” that you can download and use. Beyond that you’ll see quick shortcuts along the bottom for wireless options, Eco Mode, settings, and so forth.
Below the touchscreen are a series of touch-sensitive controls that light up as needed, like the question mark for help, a red X for cancel, and a green diamond to activate functions like the scanner. It’s elegantly laid out and easy to navigate.
The Camera-Based Scanning Utility
Lexmark says you can go from “document to digital in as few as 3 seconds” using this Flash Scan Technology. It certainly is a different way to scan a document, because it is vertical and it basically uses a special camera rather than more conventional scanning technology.
I found that the flap on the front to access the scanning bed opened a little too easily; some sort of locking or clicking mechanism would have proven useful. The hinge does allow for some slightly thicker documents, but not much. When I tried scanning the Scott Pilgrim book (which is just under 200 pages), the lid wouldn’t stay shut without me holding it in place.
Documents can be scanned into a variety of formats and you can choose its end destination. For scanning to the PC (over Wi-Fi), the process was quite fast and the “My Documents” window popped up on my computer almost immediately after the scan was complete. I also appreciate the ability to “preview” the scan on the 4.3-inch color touchscreen before going through with a full scan. The resulting image was vibrant and well detailed.
Print Quality and Speed
Let’s start with the print quality. By and large, I’d say that it is at least as good as something like the Epson WorkForce 600, if not slightly better. Colors are vivid and the resolution holds up for both photos and text. No complaints here.
For print speed, we obviously can’t expect the same kinds of speeds that we’d get from a laser printer, but for an inket, this is more than fast enough for the average home office. Using the “normal” and “automatic” settings throughout, I printed a plain text document. It took 13 seconds for the printer to look like it was doing something after I clicked “print” on my computer; this is over the Wi-Fi connection.
After that, the first minute produced a total of thirteen pages of text. This is considerably below the claimed 33 pages per minute, but you could get a lot closer to that with the “draft” quality setting. To finish printing the 23-page document, the total time elapsed from clicking the print button to the last page being spit out was 2:12. If we take out the initial 13 seconds described above, this works out to just over five seconds per page.
Closing Thoughts
I went in bracing for the worst. I’ve stayed away from Lexmark for years based on those early experiences, but it seems like they’ve drastically improved quality all around. The Lexmark Genesis S815 actually brings some innovation to an otherwise bland AIO printer segment.
The Smart Scan Technology for the scanning portion is certainly interesting and makes for some great images, but the lack of an ability to scan thicker documents can become painful (gravity is not on your side). The lack of a feed scanner might be a deal killer for some folks as well. This is not for power or heavy users at all; the smaller paper capacity and smaller ink cartridges speak to that too.
At the end of the day, the Lexmark Genesis S815 is a solid product that’ll serve the average low to moderate capacity home office. The wireless N is great and the touchscreen user interface is attractive. The current $400 list price (though it’s sold cheaper by certain retailers) can be a deterrent though.
Pros
- Aesthetically pleasing design with color touchscreen
- Innovative imaging technology for scanner
- Integrated WiFi-N connectivity
- Good print quality and acceptable print speed
Cons
- No feed scanner
- Cannot take on thicker documents, books, etc.
- Easy to accidentally flip open the scanner cover
- Comparatively expensive
Overall Rating: 8.0/10
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