Lexmark Genesis S816 All-in-One Printer Review

Conclusions

Lexmark is trying to break out of the mold with this Genesis S816 printer. It has an upscale look and good quality. It offers ease of use as well as the fastest scanning that we’ve seen in an all-in-one printer. The Genesis S816 performs all of its functions well, including printing, scanning, copying, and faxing. Features abound in this printer, including an automatic duplexer, a front-side USB port, and a three-year extended warranty with registration. Anyone who scans a lot of single-sheet documents will be happy with this all-in-one. Unfortunately, its lack of a document feeder makes it unsuitable for heavy use of multiple-page document scans or copies.

This is the second Lexmark printer where we had a problem with Smart Solutions. Although this time we got everything working properly with an update from Lexmark, we cannot say whether or not the Smart Solutions is yet ready for prime time. Smart Solutions does, however, have good potential and is being upgraded on a regular basis.

Lexmark is promoting this printer as a small office all-in-one and for that reason has included fax capabilities. Yet, because of the 100-sheet capacity of the paper input tray and the relatively small capacity of the ink cartridges, we cannot recommend this printer for office workgroups. We feel it would be more appealing for home or home-office scenarios.

When this printer was released, the retail price at the Lexmark website was USD 400, which was a little pricey, but a recent reduction to USD 200 makes it a much better value. That combined with low ink costs make it an attractive acquisition for home or home office.

Strong Points

• Striking appearance
• Quality build
• Compact footprint
• Responsive touch-screen
• Ultra-fast scanning
• Straight-forward paper path
• Wireless
• Web-connected, SmartSolutions

Weak Points

• Difficult to scan small documents or photos
• No document feeder
• Smart Solutions needs more stability
• Poor technical support
• Small print capacity, even in high-yield cartridges