I was given this printer by a friend who no longer wanted it. My first question was "is it broken". No was the answer. After a short discussion about why he didn't want it, I accepted it with gratitude. I didn't know what I was going to use it for as I already had a printer but who turns away free stuff?
You may be wondering what a dot matrix printer is. A dot matrix printer is a printer that you may have seen from the 80's, it works by striking characters onto the paper. The paper used is the type that has holes running up each side. The holes are used to feed the paper into the printer. Dot matrix printers have the perception of being loud, in my expirence they are not that loud, although they are louder than a normal laser or ink jet printer. The prints from a dot matrix printer are of poor quality, so printing photo's is pretty impossible. Dot matrix printers are used to make carbon copies of things, as you can feed in more than one piece of paper at a time and the characters will strike all bits of paper making a copy.
After recieving the printer free I took it home and connected it to my P.C via a USB cable (this was supplied with the printer). I was reliable informed bu my friend that the printer will work on my windows computer and it did.
The first thing I printed was some tables of data, they came out fine. The data was visible and not at all hard to read. The speed of the printer eas reasonable, taking only a minute to print about 2 sheets. Since then I have done a few more prints and all but one has been fine. Once the paper got jammed and it took me about 20 minutes to sort it out.
I would recommend this product to you if you are a regular user of a dot matrix printer as it produces good print outs. I have not used my more than 5 times, so if I had paid for it I would consider it a waste of money. I don't really need a dot matrix printer but as I was given one I tried to make use of it. I have never used it for carbon copies so I am not sure how good it would be at them but at printing single sheets the printer is satisfactory. I cannot comment on the price as I got it for free.
Pictures of Epson LQ 300+
The Paper Used
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Sorry to nittpick my friend but Dot Matrix printers do not print by striking characters into the paper, as the name suggests they strike dots taht can make up charcters or anything you wish.
I do miss the sound......
very helpful by (29%):
helpful by (71%):
![Epson Colour Ribbon [for LQ300/LQ300+/LQ300+II] Ref C13S015077](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/95222593.jpg "Epson Colour Ribbon [for LQ300/LQ300+/LQ300+II] Ref C13S015077")
