Any suggestions? My $50 Wal-Mart special is dying a slow death, and I’m sick of it.
I’m probably looking for a scanner/printer/copier/fax, but the fax is the most important component.
I don’t need a $ Ricoh or Xerox, but good enough to last more than a couple years.
Are you down with OPP?
Low-e storm panels improve the energy efficiency of these old sash windows without changing their classic look.
"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
Dig into cutting-edge approaches and decades of proven solutions with total access to our experts and tradespeople.
Start Free Trial NowGet instant access to the latest developments in green building, research, and reports from the field.
Start Free Trial Now
Replies
do you really need a fax ?
I find most peaple can email the doc if you ask . try esnipe .com for free fax number for times you really need one .
for the times you really need to fax you can pick up a cheap machine or check grage sales /thrift shops for a used machine .
I have a Brother 'Intellifax 2800' from about 3 years ago. Cost about $175? I use it all the time, usually daily. The best part... I have rarely replaced the ink cartridge, in fact maybe once in all that time. I send a lot more than I receive but it has still lasted for hundreds of pages. Other things I like: it can remember the time and fax header info for hours if unplugged or the power goes out, it prints a report if a fax send is not successful, it can scan many pages for sending very quickly so that I can feed them thru and then file them without waiting, it sends quickly and prints quickly also.
I have had that same Brother fax machine for about 4 years, and my experience has been the same as yours.********************************************************
"It is what we learn after we think we know it all, that counts."
John Wooden 1910-
I think it is Staples that has had either a Panasonic or Brother Fax machine advertised on sale/clearance for something like $20 or $30 recently. Dont know a thing about the quality of it. But for $20, Id see it as something disposable.
HP Officejet 6110 All in One. I have a second line for the business, so it is plugged into that. It runs through hundreds of pages before needing a cartridge change. I find we use the copier function most of all. Great machine, had it several years now and would buy it again.
"I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul." Invictus, by Henley.
Wow... we have an HP all-in-one printer/copier/scanner and it needs a new black ink cartridge every 5 minutes!
I had a Brother before the HP and it sucked. It used a film cartridge that was like carbon paper, and regardless of how little or how much text was to be copied, one whole sheet of the film was used. Ran through that stuff like spaghetti at an Olive Garden.
I had to replace an ink cartridge for the HP a few months ago, first time in at least a year. And my DW uses the machine more than me. And two college kids use it as well, when they're home.
"I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul." Invictus, by Henley.
little while ago I picked up a Brother MFC-640cw ...
just read that off the label as I sit here. It replaced a similar size Xerox. The Xerox worked OK ... it just lived it's useful life ... plus ... something with the driver never quite worked with the new(er) computer ... so I got tired of the two of them not speaking to each other.
That xerox used the worlds most expensive ink ... and it lasted like a day and a half!
it was like having another mortgage using that damn printer.
the Brother is another all in one ... prints great. Think it ran somewhere around $150 or so ... ? actually have no idea how muhc I paid for it? But it wasn't too expensive.
I went thru all the stores and checked for the features I thot I'd want .... then ... checked the ink refill prices. Brother looked to have the cheapest ink too.
it's been a coupla months ... we like it.
also prints decent photos.
and they have a cheaper one w/o the corded handset.
Jeff
Buck Construction
Artistry In Carpentry
Pittsburgh Pa
HP V Serieres All-in-One. Works great. Goes through cartridges fast, but don't buy them at Office Depot, et al. Go to your local cartridge store. No problems so far. “The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.†– Albert Einstein
I have a Brothers unit, all in one laser. Nice unit. Cartridges are $70 ish but the last 6-8 months. The first one I bought cost $525 and when it died I bought the exact same model new off of ebay for 350. Really like it, reliable and the scan works well as I keep all my buiness files in paper port. DanT
I've had pretty good luck with HP machines. The last one our manager bought for here was as "MFC" brand. It really sucks - Nothing but problems. I think the "MFC" stand for Mother F______ Crap".
Is It Cold In Here, or Is It Just You?
MFC isn't a brand, it is an acronym for Multi-Function-Copier, as far as I know. My MFC-8440 is made by Brother and it has been great.I can get a couple hundred pages faxed in some weeks (average 100 pgs./week). Toner cartriges last 6 mos. or so.
"MFC isn't a brand, it is an acronym for Multi-Function-Copier..."
You're right. I went out and looked at it closer. It has "MFC" in big letters on top, and I assumed that was the brand name. You have to look real close to find the "Brother" brand name.
It's still a piece of crap. I'm surprised to hear you say that you've had good luck with yours.
Hope is a waking dream. [Aristotle]
I am sitting next to mine right now, it is a MFC 9700 from Brothers. Love it. Sorry yours hasn't been as good. DanT
costco- panasonic fax machine/ cordless phone/ answering machine copier for less than $125
no complaints.
You'll be wanting a "telephony" modem for your computer and an all-in-one printer.
For high volume, an HP or Xerox laser; for low volume, probably a refurbed Lexmark would be perfect.
Phill Giles
The Unionville Woodwright
Unionville, Ontario
I've had a SHARP UXB-700 for about 3 years now, with no major problems, and it's used several times per week.
Renaissance Restorations LLC
Victorian Home Restoration Services
http://www.renaissancerestorations.com
Do you need to send or receive faxes primarily? Or both?
We use Efax.com for incoming and send from Efax when on the road. In the office I have a modem installed and just use the built in XP fax app.
I have a scanner that I use to create .pdf files of all incoming mail, etc. I just cleaned out my last file cabinet drawer. The only paper I save now is tax records and signed contracts. Everything else is scanned, saved, and either thrown away or shredded.
Jon Blakemore
RappahannockINC.com Fredericksburg, VA
Hi Jon, Efax totally replaces a fax machine? What's the reliability? Cost?
I ask with the interest of disconnecting our land line once I finally figure out internet without it. We fax a lot out, only maybe 2/day received. DW's very suspicious, but I can hardly get her to use the scanner. Even our antique computer (98 SE) has builtin fax, which I haven't tried. It's been difficult getting the 15 or so companies she works with to email, rather than fax. Old habits die hard. Kinda like our fax machine, an old Sharp thermal that just keeps going.
Paperless in this office isn't going to happen anytime soon.PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
Tom,
The Efax service costs $150/yr. and something like $.10/page for out-going. I typically only send out a few faxes when not in the office so I don't pay much more than $150.
The ability to receive faxes from any net accessible location is very nice. And multiple users can access the web site and pull down the faxes they need.
Another nice benefit for me is the faxes are already in electronic format so I just print to .pdf and save the fax. No printing, scanning, & saving.
When we signed up they only had 703 numbers so that may be a downside for you, although they might have 540 now.
Have you looked at Vonage or Sunrocket for phone over internet (Voip)?
Jon Blakemore RappahannockINC.com Fredericksburg, VA
Thanks Jon. I'll keep this in mind. $150/yr surprised me. I gather you haven't found any reliability problems. Probably couldn't be any worse than what we experience with a land line now.
We fax out a lot of sales orders. Took almost 5 mintues today to receive a fax with bold text- no reason for it not to have been emailed. We have a few stores that fax us orders, haven't caught on to email.
I haven't figured out why we'd want voip. Received a voip call this week on our land line. OK, not great, but wifi was involved so I don't know where the lag came from.
DW requires a cell phone for travel, I figured I could get an add-on phone to her account when we finally get satellite internet. Give her more prime minutes that way. Then the only remaining question is fax. At one time long distance service got careful scrutiny here, big bucks. No longer. Cell phone is great. Rare for us to call outside the US. Not often I use a phone. PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
Tom,I just remembered something.I think Efax has a free service where you get a number (maybe shared or maybe dedicated) from some random area code. I have never researched this, just recently read it somewhere.I agree about landline phones being irrelevant. The only reason we have a land line is for the business, all personal calling is cell. For internet (both personal & business) I would likely either opt for cable or satellite.I share in your frustration about lack of email skills. I think fax machines should be abolished, but unfortunately a large portion aren't with me just yet.
Jon Blakemore RappahannockINC.com Fredericksburg, VA
For internet (both personal & business) I would likely either opt for cable or satellite.
I've been itching for quite awhile. Just this yr a friend in the satellite TV business offered me a yr's worth for a (large) rock, delivered. Couldn't resist that. We're miles from nearest cable, and probably too cheap anyhow.
Now he tells me satellite internet is happening at a cost I can live with, although it'll take a different receiver. I'm waiting for him to get the training and come out.
My elec coop has a trial program of broadband over the elec lines which is going to be offered to all members. Unfortunately, they're so disorganized it'll probably be yrs before they get to my neighborhood.
BTW, I've still got lots of large rocks at that job. Client couldn't believe anybody would want one. I haven't bothered with anything under about 5 tons. Come by (Crozet) and I'll load you. Much larger available, but I can't lift them.PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
I saw some pretty big rocks on Monday at a picnic.I have a good friend who is in the greenhouse business and they're adding a couple of acres. The sitework contractor had almost finished scraping the grade down and I was surprised at the number of beetle sized rocks that were lying just under the surface.He's on Rt. 522 about 5 miles from Culpepper so it's getting closer to the mountains but still pretty flat. Every time I see something like that I can't but help imagining contracting to build a 20x32 addition and finding something like that right in the middle.Do you have any idea how to estimate the weight of large rocks?
Jon Blakemore RappahannockINC.com Fredericksburg, VA
Not exactly fax machines.... LOL
I'm familiar with my truck enough to know within a 1000 lbs or so what's back there. And my track loader goes over on its nose with more than 4 tons in the bucket unless it's pointed uphill. Hydraulics give up at around 7 tons in the bucket. For a Cat, small.
The rock in the truck (7' wide bed) wasn't much over 4 tons. The other pic, rocks are 5-7 tons. Haven't yet remembered the camera for the big ones.
Was there this am, enjoying the weather. Cat's got a broken track rail. I'm one bolt short of removal but some idjit put a socket head bolt under there. Deformed a 3/4" hex bar just before my 1/2" breaker bar snapped. Grinder time.
I'm surprised you have large rocks there. This is bottom of the Blue Ridge, these rocks rolled down quite awhile ago. I cut a driveway and house pad. Owner told me to roll anything I couldn't pick up off into the woods.
Turned out to be a less than great idea. Directly downhill, 75' elevation drop 40% slope, is a neighbor's house. The first (and only) one, nice and round, took off. Fortunately hit a large tree before it picked up very much speed. Really nice folks who now tell everybody about how I tried to roll a rock into their house. Pretty sure their (insubstantial) house wouldn't have stopped it if it'd gotten that far. Two more houses down the same slope is the owner's current house. This is the guy who bought the backhoe in Culpeper, where you don't live.PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
I can't get good perspective on the rocks pictured with your loader but they seem to be nearing the size that I saw.I was trying to guesstimate the weight of one large rock. I would guess the rock was 12' long and 6' in diameter at it's greatest width. If it was cylindrical and composed of solid slate (I also can't identify any types of rock, although I'm sure it was not slate) it would weigh 57k lbs (my Pocket Ref. says slate is 4,536 lbs/CY).I can't imagine it was 4x the rocks you have pictured but I also have no idea to account for the natural "slope" of the rock. I remember it being shaped like a potato.There is so much I don't know.
Jon Blakemore RappahannockINC.com Fredericksburg, VA
Whoever was doing the dirt work could probably give a good guess. Mine are granite. I never tried to estimate weight from the size. That 12'x <6' cylinder is probably larger than anything I ran across. But somehow 57k lbs sure doesn't sound right.
I'm sure I couldn't budge anything that heavy. Really don't have a good idea of the ones I could only push downhill, other than 2+ times the ones I could pick up.
Potato, eh? Don't remember who had too much time on his hands the first time I posted that rock in the truck. PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
I have an el cheapo Panasonic that has been held together with bungee cord since about 31 days after I bought it. The bungee cord was required because the tiny cheap plastic piece that holds down the paper roller to the printer broke (poor design), and the whole darn machine depends on it. It works OK, but if you do a lot of faxing I would not buy it.
I have had wonderful success with HP multi-function machines / scan copy print fax. Priced from $140.00.
I just replaced one that was 8 years old and still working..... gave it i to our Church's print shop.
Dustin
I've had Panasonics, HP and Brother. The old Panasonic was the best. Idiot proof, though I tested it a few times. The cheaper $290 HP died early and left me with a bitter taste. Went to Brother and their MFC wasn't impressive either (Got the remains here if anybody wants it.) Got talked into another HP Model 5600. Went lower end because it's not being used as often. I think it uses too much ink and for scanning/copying, it's so slow that it's sickening. All my Multi's were ink jet. I might have to consider laser next time round.
Don K.
EJG Homes Renovations - New Construction - Rentals
Canon Pixma MP780. Did gobs of research before buying, always owned HP before. Flawless so far...seven months.
Spendy for just the fax function, but great if you use all it's features. Canon hit a home run on HP with this one. One thing to note is that color cartridges are replaceable individually, all HPs I've owned combined ALL colors in one...$.
If you look hard, you can get one for $225-250.
PJ
Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end.
I hardly use my fax anymore, except to to send or receive pages to or from people who don't have computers. When I do, I use my computer's built in, MS fax. It's good, because I can save digital copies of each of them, and I have order sheets in MS Excel which I "print" to the fax to send off to firms that can't deal with emails, and I'm told these copies are as good as would come out of my printer; it's bad, because mine is a laptop, so I can only receive when it's in the shop.
Most of the time now I use email. I have a scanner to copy hand drawn sketches, etc, and save them as Adobe Acrobat .pdf files. Acrobat is great, because it produces unalterable copies of any printable file in my computer, and the printed copies are as perfect or better than my printer produces. If the recipients also has Adobe Acrobat (full version), they can mark up or highlight text in my document, but they can't mess with what I wrote or drew. Using Acrobat, I also digitally sign contracts and other documents, for a legally signed copy that can be emailed.
Gary W
gwwoodworking.com
Edited 6/1/2006 2:46 pm by GaryW
I have the Brother MFC 7820 all-in one laser and love it. I had an inkjet and got tired of always buying ink and cleaning the heads. If you do alot of work go laser.
Headstong, I'll take on anyone!
http://www.computers4sure.com/product.asp?productID=1990808&info=Over#tabs
This is what I've found so far. Any thoughts?
Are you down with OPP?
You're more than halfway to a really great scanner at that price. Of course you can't print with a scanner, but a scanner laser printer combo is the way to go.OK, I'll go back in my corner now...
Jon Blakemore RappahannockINC.com Fredericksburg, VA
I too own a HP 5600 series printer/scanner/copier/fax. It is a good machine for the price ($150 ish I think) but it is a little slow. If I used it more I would want a faster one and with more paper capacity (more $$). It uses a black ink refill every 4 months and a color every 6 months. I like the ability to print off the occasional 8x10 color photo on photo paper of my work to show a perspective client. For the money you would spend on the Panasonic, you could get a higher end HP all-in-one. I had a Brother MFC that lasted a year before I bought the HP, it announced the end of its short life when it sprayed black ink all over some tax forms and the carpet, I had to take it out back and finish it a la "Office Space" to let it know how I felt about that.-Day"It ain't the slip off the roof while smoking pot that kills you, its pissed off boss paying WC insurance at the bottom."
-overheard a roofer's lead Foreman telling new hires on a job site the other day
“[Deleted]”
I'm going to set up a free fax in my office. But I even don't have a better experience of using a fax before. So this time I have been searching for a fax guide which can help me to send and receive unlimited faxes. Can you please help me?
Fax? What is Fax? Is it something you use with buggy whips?
Not really! Actually fax is used to send documents from one place to another using a machine. Can you help? As a random user, I intend to send international fax online using googlefaxfree and reading blog articles like https://googlefaxfree.com/best-free-fax-app-for-mac/ I hope I could learn a new how to send lots of faxes effectively.