Good budget solution (Apollo 1200 Inkjet Printer)

Member Name: MichaelR

Product:	Apollo 1200 Inkjet Printer
Date:	18/02/01 (355 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: So very cheap. Good enough b/w quality.

Disadvantages: Paper jams. Poor paper pick-up. Poor DPI.

I received one of these printers as a gift a couple of years ago, and I have to say that for such a cheap printer (I've seen the price tag in Dixons. The Dixons group which includes PC World and Currys seems to be the only place that sells them) its performance is surprisingly good.

If you're just thinking of doing a lot of monochrome printing - perhaps the odd document out of Word that's only a few pages long - then you really can't go wrong with one of these. It's when you start getting into colour printing that things start to look decidedly worse. The DPI on this printer is very poor, even for an inkjet, and so colour prints do look exceptionally poor even when you use the highest quality setting.

The poor DPI and slow printing speed are problems with this printer, but then you'd experience the same problems with most inkjets.

There are two very big problems specific to this actual printer though.

The first is that it is very hard to align the paper properly. When the sheet feeder draws a sheet of paper from the tray, it doesn't seem to take it in a straight line into the printer, and you often end up with a print that is not centred on the page because of this.

The second big problem is that it is VERY prone to paper jams, and they are a nightmare to clear. I actually broke one of the small teeth that is used to draw paper into the printer whilst trying to clear a jam, as the paper had got folded over and badly wedged underneath the tooth, and when I gave it a tug, the tooth just came away along with the paper.

The other minor niggle is that you have to manually swap cartridges when you want to change between colour and monochrome. This is an exceptionally simple process however, so it’s not that big of a problem, but it would be nice if both cartridges could be installed at the same time, as with many other inkjets.

It's not all bad though. The printer is bui
lt on Hewlett Packard technology, and uses Hewlett Packard cartridges. If you've ever had experience of a Hewlett Packard product, then you'll realise that this is a good thing...

It's also very small and compact, and the paper tray folds up when not in use as a further space saving measure.

It can also accept various paper sizes, label sheets, envelopes etc, and so it is very versatile.

It also comes with software that is very, very easy to install and use. Every task that you could think of can be easily accessed from the start menu, including maintenance tasks like ordering the printer to perform a self-clean cycle.

I think that overall, if you've got very little money and really need a printer, then the problems can be lived with. I still use this printer for drafts, and it really doesn't perform badly except when it jams!

If only for the low price, it has to be worth a look. You get a standard LPT cable to connect it to the computer, as well as a Hewlett Packard colour cartridge in the box.

Consider that this cartridge alone costs £25 and you can see what excellent value this printer represents...

As implied there, the official Hewlett Packard cartridges for this printer can be expensive, but they are less expensive than cartridges for many other printers, and if you're really looking to save money then there are a number of compatible third party cartridges available very cheaply. I picked up a third party b/w cartridge for £6, so it is very cheap to run...

The cartridges also last an age... I've never changed the black cartridge yet, and I only recently changed the colour cartridge that came with it.

At under £40, it has to be worth a look.

Summary: