Product Review:

Kodak Easyshare 5300 All-in-One Printer

Reviewed by: Jason Gillard

One of the biggest problems I have always had with inkjet printers is, the manufactures sell you a printer at a good price and then charge you an arm and a leg for the ink.  Kodak has set out to change all that.  This is a review of the Kodak 5300 All-in-one Easyshare printer.

At a cost of $199.99 this printer has a lot going for it.  It is a copier, scanner and printer all-in-one.  It also has a SD/Memory Stick/XD card slot built into the front of the printer, along with a compact flash slot and 2 USB ports.  You can print straight from memory or if you have a Pictbridge compatible camera you can print straight from that. 

The first thing I was surprised by when I got this printer was its weight and size.  This is not a printer with a small footprint so make sure you clear ample space for it.  Most of this size is because it has a full size scanner on the top of the machine.  Plus the ink cartridges are a little on the large size as well.

After opening and removing the printer from its box I pulled out the quick start guide and began to assemble the printer.  I had a little trouble getting the print head in, but I think that was just me as my wife had no problems installing it.  After the ink cartridges are installed, it will print out a calibration sheet.  The only issue I had with this is it prints out on a 4x6 sheet instead of normal paper.  This is ok since they include a sample pack of paper with the printer, but you might want to make sure you have 4x6 sheets on hand anytime you change an ink cartridge.  The biggest advantage of this printer is definitely the cost of ink.  You can get the black ink cartridge for a MSRP of $9.99 and the colour at $14.99.  Those prices are insane!  I was paying double that for my Canon inkjet printer.

Now cheap ink costs are fine, but if the printer can’t produce a decent picture then it might not be worth it.  I am happy to tell you that the quality of the printed image exceeded my expectation.  I printed some photos on Kodak’s Ultra 4x6 paper and the results were stunning.  Plus it dries instantly.  I also printed out some pictures on regular paper and the quality was good on that as well.  It took about 30 seconds to produce a high quality 4x6 which is pretty decent.  I was really impressed with the image output. 

Now how does Kodak get away with selling ink so cheap?  Well I would have to think it is because the print head is separate from the cartridge.  Most cartridges have the print head already on them.  By making it separate you’re saving on the cost of producing these ink cartridges. 

The 5300 has a 3 inch LCD which is pretty easy to use.  It works well when printing images from a memory card.  It also makes it easy to adjust the setting as well.

When using the copier function with regular paper the image came out quite clear.  Now obviously if you use photo paper it’s going to yield better results.  But it is definitely acceptable with regular paper.   Another thing I should mention is that it has a dedicated 4x6 tray.  You just load it with paper and then when you want to print something on 4x6 you just push the tray in.  A green light comes on to show you that the tray is active and then you can go ahead and print.  This is a great feature because you don’t have to get up and switch the paper tray around.  I am glad that Kodak included this.

One gripe I had with the printer is that it is a little noisy before it actually starts to print.  You can hear the rollers moving around.  But this is a small price to pay for a printer that produces nice images and with ink costs so low.

The biggest issue I had with this printer is that it doesn’t include a USB printer cable!  It’s not a big deal but it would have been a nice bonus.  I actually had a cable lying around so I just used that.  But maybe the reason they don’t include the USB cable is because technically you don’t need a computer to use the printer.

Considering this printer is under the $200 dollar mark I think it makes it very attractive to the home user.  Like I said before, most people would like to print in colour, but until now the ink costs don’t make it very cost effective.  Now you really don’t have to think twice about printing in colour.  I have used the printer quite a lot since I got it and the ink tanks have not dropped below 90%.  I think Kodak has a winner on their hands.  If you’re in need of a new inkjet printer, you should definitely consider Kodak on your short list.

Highly Recommended.