Conclusions

Quality on text from the Kodak Easyshare 5300 is quite good, though not as good as a decent home office laser, no shock there. Very little matches the sharpness of a laser on text. Still it's good enough for us, and to the naked eye it's as sharp as a tack. Only people like us with tons of spare time on our hands actually nitpick like this.

Photo quality in our view is outstanding, and the combined strategy of Kodak watermarked paper, it's automatic detection by the printer, and the Kodak 5-ink printing system results in flawless professional appearing output rivaling what you'd find in a digital photo lab.

From a cost standpoint, while the Kodak 5300 is a little pricier than some cheap AIO printers, it's clearly better constructed than most of the less expensive AIO printers we've seen, some of which feel downright flimsy.

The real issue here is how Kodak is changing the paradigm for consumables. With their very inexpensive ink cartridges, and aggressive pricing and bundling deals on paper/ink packs, HP, Canon, Epson, and Lexmark have something to worry about. There are some savvy consumers who just might be getting tired of paying more for ink than their printer cost!

If you're interested in controlling your long term printing costs, or plan on printing a lot of photos, we honestly see no reason at this point why you'd want to consider any other AIO printer. Other higher end and comparably priced printers can match the print quality, but there is currently no one that can touch them on the costs of actually USING a printer, and that is sort of what people buy a printer for right? Currently the printer is exclusively available online at Kodak's online store, and at your local Best Buy or Bestbuy.com. By late summer you should see these printers widely available.

We at Fastsilicon give the Kodak Easyshare 5300 our Editors Choice Award for outstanding photo quality, rugged construction, an impressive and easy to use software bundle, and the guts to change the way the business works.

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Carol (71.63.118.xxx) 2007-11-23 12:25:42 Excellent informative review for consumers. Thank you. Reply | Quote 0   0

Kodak-easyshare-5300 Cheryl (12.74.75.xxx) 2007-12-29 18:25:28 Thank you. You've just helped me make a very informative decision that I was laboring over. I appreciate all of the facts and info that you have provided to us who try to spend our money wisely. Keep up the good work. Reply | Quote 0   0

Kodak EasyShare 5300 Mrs_Cornbread (98.26.254.xxx) 2008-01-12 10:58:18 Thanks alot I have been considering getting a new printer and after watching parts of the kodak infomercial on the Kodak EasyShare 5300. I was really interested in this particular model...you have really out did yourself on the quality of information that you have given the consumer on this product...Thank you! Reply | Quote 0   0

A kodak employee (12.104.255.xxx) 2008-03-04 14:17:14 I work for kodak with these printers, i provide tech support when something isnt working right on the printers. I think this printer does make it cheaper for the ink, But it isn't worth the hassel, It has tons of problems installing drivers on vista. So if you have vista i wouldn't recommend this printer. also if you don't have the internet it would be usless to buy this printer since it needs so many updates from the internet. Also this printer does have a problem with not printing black ink, The ink cartridges have spouts to distibute the ink to the paper and they get clogged all the time, Yes, cleaning the printhead does help it sometimes but what will happen when the one year warrenty is up for these printers how much will the printheads cost to replace? -hint- it will add up to be as much as other cartidges. Reply | Quote 1   0

I have the 5100 Paul (64.184.6.xxx) 2008-05-16 21:42:53 I just purchased the 5100. I own a Canon MP160, Canon i5000 and a HP F4180 all combo units. Thus far the Kodak 5100 leaves all of my other printers in the dust. The set up was just fine, it took a bit longer but was well worth the effort. Supplied software is very, very good. The size of this machine is larger than any of the other units I own. It is also much heavier. The style of the case is very attractive. The best thing is the picture quality both scans and print outs. It just can't be beat in the typical home user range of printers. The quality would rival any other method of printing in this class of printers and for that matter, even a professional development business. The ink prices are much cheaper than any other mainstream company that makes printers. And from the reviews I have read, the pictures will last much, much longer. Yes, ink dry time is slightly longer but who cares. So far, ink usage has been less than my other machines. These are the carts tha... Reply | Quote 0   0

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