Lexmark No. 35 Color Print Cartridge Review

A couple years ago, I invested in a Lexmark Model No. 5270 All-in-One Printer a/k/a "My Little Rascal", which scans, copies, and prints.  I love Lexmark printers and would have reviewed my "Little Rascal" by now if it were not already obsolete and replaced by other similar models.  Yes, time marches on in the tech world but black and color cartridges are still available for this model and the Little Rascal continues to print like a champ ... or at least it DID, until the other night.

Truth to tell, I can't say that I hadn't been warned by the printer software that I was running out of colored ink.  I took this advisory seriously and was prepared with a replacement cartridge but -- economic times being what they are -- I had printed on and on until we had reached the bottom of the barrel, so to speak, and I had no choice but to replace the cartridge. 

As I had done so many times before, I removed the old nearly-empty cartridge and inserted the new one which seemed to be in perfect condition, hit the "Continue" button and sat back, exhuding a smug air of complacency and confident that the Little Rascal would now generate a "print test" page.

NOTHING HAPPENED.

Upon closer inspection, I realized that a message had come up:  "Color Ink Cartridge Missing."  Hope springs eternal and my fervent hope was that somehow I had made a mistake (because in the Kingdom of Tech, one's own mistakes are usually the easiest to fix).  Eagerly, I checked to make sure that I had removed all the protective tape from the back of the cartridge which I had.  I wondered if I had installed it incorrectly or if I had damaged the printer somehow but when I replaced the old cartridge, everything worked beautifully except that the old cartridge wasted what was left of its precious ink in its relentless determination to print out another test sheet. 

There I was, with an important time-sensitive legal document to print out and what I hadn't realized was that -- when the old color cartridge finally emptied itself -- the BLACK ink cartridge wouldn't work either!  Thank God for the 24-hour delivery turnaround from Office Depot.  Thanks to them (and a hefty dose of Atenolol for my blood pressure) I was soon back in business.  I inserted the cartridge Office Depot had just sent me and it worked beautifully too.  It didn't take Sherlock Holmes to figure out that -- if the old cartridge and the newest one both worked but the one cartridge hadn't -- obviously, it wasn't a printer or installation problem, it was a defective cartridge.

MY VIEWPOINT:

It's too late to get my money back for the defective cartridge and who would I complain to?  There was nothing apparent to the naked eye to indicate a defect, only placing it in the printer and expecting it to work properly revealed a flaw so I can hardy blame Office Depot.  The defective cartridge appeared to be part of the same manufacturing batch as the previous one which had been bought at the same time and had given me months of use ... so perhaps Quality Control which is hopefully in place at Lexmark cannot be blamed either for not detecting a problem. 

If I were just reviewing this one Lexmark No. 35 Color Print Cartridge, I would have to give it no points at all because it was a total wash-out and is already on its way to The Kingdom of Landfill.  The fact remains that I have used dozens of Lexmark printer cartridges in the last five years (both for this Little Rascal and the one which preceded it) and this is the first problem I have had.  For that reason, I think it's only fair to deduct just one star out of respect for the usual high level of quality in this product. 

The point of this review is to show that one stand-by cartridge is not enough if these things aren't to be totally trusted and also to send a message to manufacturers at large about how important a manufacturing defect can be.  Every day, all over the world, thousands of little gadgets of various types are tumbling down production lines where they are assembled, shepherded along and packed by employees who are sometimes understandably tired, bored, and very possibly underpaid and mistreated.   In a situation like that, it is easy to forget how important all those little things swishing by are going to be to the ultimate consumer but take it from me -- when it is midnight, and you have a time-sensitive legal contract to print, and only one back-up printer cartridge to depend on -- well, then in a situation like that, little things mean a lot.