ColorQube 8580DN: Overall impression

[CherylO-Xerox]

Hi salvo,

Thank you for sharing your experiences with the ColorQube 8580DN. 

[salv0]

Leading up to my purchase, I did a fair amount of research.  This replaced an Epson Stylus Photo R1900 ink jet for personal use by my wife and myself.  Over the past four years, the cost of  Epson supplies slowly ratcheted upwards with an increasing need to clean the jets.  Eventually we became disenchanted with ink jet technology.  Being sporadic users of printers, we decided that dry ink might be a better fit for us.  Short of extensive time and usage, we are initially very please with our choice. 

I had read that this printer has a generally noisy reputation.  From my experience specifically, this printer is noisy only while handling paper.  All other activity pales in comparison.  The printer handling mechanism sounds industrial -- I suspect it could outlast me.  :^)

With good reason, this printer officially is not recommended with a UPS.  On the other hand, this printer's uncharacterstically low-power load makes it a good candidate for a capable UPS, one that may be residentially less common.  I happen to have such a UPS which never "tops out" with this printer.  This setup is my preference because I must endure numerous brownouts that do not bode well for the longevity of electronic devices. 

For anyone considering this printer, here is a technical breakdown of our devices that use this printer. 

Snow Leopard.  Because there is no driver available for the 8580, we successfully are using the 8570 driver.  Supply Levels are not visible.  Print Panel help text for Xerox Features fails with "The operation couldn't be completed. (HVURLHandlerErrorDomain error 1002.)".  Both of these are minor issues. 

Windows XP and 2003 Server.  These are static, depricated systems with unchanging legacy software behind a firewall.  No issues with the Xerox driver. 

iOS 8.1.3.  This iPad4 is isolated in a WiFi subnet, separate from the LAN.  Multicast DNS (mDNS) is configured for Apple (Bonjour) using firewall access rules along with IP Helper policies for mDNS and NetBIOS.  AirPrint across subnets has been flawless. 

Android 4.4.2.  PrintHand 7.1.6 works well with the ColorQube using the RAW protocol and 'generic pcl 5c/pcl xl printer' driver.  There are no issues.