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The Kodak Hero 3.1 color inkjet multifunction printer offers a lot of bang for thebuck. At only $100, this copying/printing/scanning device producesexceptionally nice photos, and its inexpensive inks make it cheaperto operate than other MFPs in its price range. Kodak also providessome elegant software, though it suffered from a glitch in ourtesting. We miss the Kodak-gold highlighting of older models, but the Hero3.1 is a competent-looking unit that appears to be reasonably wellbuilt. Its paper-handling features are strictly low-volume: a100-sheet rear vertical feed, manual-only duplexing, and noautomatic document feeder. Disappointingly, for a unit that lacksan ADF, the scanner lid (for letter/A4-size paper) doesn ttelescope to accommodate thicker documents. The Hero 3.1 s controls, on the other hand, seem more upscalebecause of the 2.4-inch color LCD display, which you navigate bymeans of a four-way rocker and a select button. A single Startbutton initiates all operations; you choose between black and colorprinting by selecting from the appropriate menus prior to theoperation, which adds steps. But that s a minor fault in anotherwise easy-to-operate machine. The software glitch we encountered occurred in Microsoft Word 2007for Windows: The print properties dialog box took some 20 secondsor so to open. Kodak confirmed our suspicion of poor interactionbetween Word and the printer monitoring software. After we closedthe monitor, the print properties dialog box popped open almostimmediately. Back to the good news: The Hero 3.1 surpasses the least-expensivetier of MFPs on the market with its excellent photo quality andvery good (though slightly soft-edged) text quality. Color graphicson plain paper are quite nice, too, offering a more accuratepalette than most other units in its price range. Though the Hero 3.1 s output is very nice, it arrives slowly. Textpages printed at a slothful 3.3 pages per minute in both our PCtest and our Mac test. Draft mode is at least twice as fast, butoutput from that mode can suffer the soft-edge defect. Graphicsprint speeds were more in line with those of competing machines:4-by-6-inch photos printed at 2.3 ppm on plain paper and at 1.3 ppmon glossy photo paper--slower than average, but not by much. Afull-page photo printed on glossy paper took about 4 minutes. Scansand copies were slower than average, too, but the waiting timeshouldn t torment you in small doses. We noticed minor alignmentissues on some documents printed in draft mode. No other vendor prices the inks for its cheaper MFPs as low asKodak does. Black pages from the 335-page low-capacity blackcartridge (priced at $13) cost 3.9 cents per page; the 670-page XLcartridge ($20) reduces that figure to just 3 cents per page. Colorcosts are equally appealing. The regular $20 cartridge lasts for275 pages or 7.3 cents per page (2.43 cents per page per color) andthat drops to 6.5 cents per page with the 550-page XL cartridge($36). Bear in mind that this is a unified, tricolor cartridge; ifyou don t use the colors evenly, color cost per page can behigher. Still a four-color page for as little as 9.5 cents per pageis a major attraction. Macworld s buying advice Aside from the software glitch of the PC, the Hero 3.1 appears tobe quite a bargain for a color inkjet MFP. It produces nice-lookingoutput, though it s a little on the slow side. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as Short Shaft Outboard Motors , Gas Outboard Motor, and more. For more , please visit Long Shaft Outboard Motors today!
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