Sharp AM-900 Digital Office Laser Copier, Printer, Fax, and Scanner

Average customer rating: 3.0

Tries to do a lot but not well
Acceptable but may not be compatible with Vista
Not recommended
Squeals like a stuck pig
CAUTION: drivers not available on Sharp's website ....

Sharp AM-900 Digital Office Laser Copier, Printer, Fax, and Scanner

Manufacturer: Sharp
Product Group: CE
Binding: Electronics
ASIN: B0009JP4DK
2005-04-05

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Sharp

Product Description

Office/SOHO MFP Copier, Printer, Fax and Scanner-Digital Laser, Prints up to 12 pages per minute, up to 12 copies per minute utilizing the Sharp Single Scan System (SOPM), Fast super G3 plain paper laser fax, full color USB 2.0 scanning, electronic sorting of multi-paged documents, 20-sheet automatic document feeder, SharpDesk an innovative software solution for managing scanned documents and images

Customer Reviews:

Tries to do a lot but not well.......2007-02-28

This review is for a Sharp AM-900 bought in 2005 so it may not apply to newer models. Scans, copies, faxes and prints. Scanning and faxing is fine. Copying is slow and printing is extremely slow. Toner is expensive and it has all kinds of minor problems. Would not recommend.

Acceptable but may not be compatible with Vista.......2007-02-24

I bought a couple of these when they were on sale. In a lot of ways it's convenient. It does a fairly good job of scanning, copying, printing and faxing in a Windows XP environment. Perhaps most impressive to me is I've run thousands of copies through the auto sheet feed with minor problems. I've found that more reliable than most.

I have had some problems with it waking up to print. As one of the other reviewers suggested, unplugging the USB cable and plugging it back in seems to help. It doesn't happen that often but it's more likely to happen if you've been copying and now want to print.

Perhaps my biggest issue with this all-in-one is the lack of Vista support. I checked with Sharp. They confirmed they didn't have Vista drivers and were unable to say if they ever would. This makes me cautious about this printer and will also make me cautious about buying Sharp products in the future due to poor support.

From a scan and copy perspective, the AM-900 does fairly well with good copy. If you have something that is light or faded, you will probably need to find another copier or scanner. I have an inexpensive Samsung Laser all-in-one that does a good job scanning and copying faded documents that this device has difficulty reproducing.

The device does seem to be durable as I have carried it to a location to use for making copies and I haven't had any reliability problems in doing so.

I also find the scan software fairly easy to use and you can use the auto document feeder. Unfortunately, the software, at least the XP level can be unreliable so save your work often or it may abend and lose it.

When I upgrade to Vista, I'll probably be limited to using the AM-900 for copies and faxes only unless Sharp updates their drivers and software.

Be cautious about buying from Sharp until you know what kind of support they offer.

Not recommended.......2006-08-19

The AM-900 works as a copier, scanner, printer and fax.

It is very noisy.
It is slow.
The toner is hard to find except at $99.00. It does
not seem to last that long.

Squeals like a stuck pig.......2006-06-02

I would not recommend buying this printer. Mine is only 4000 copies old, has already gone through 3 toner cartridges, and emits a high-pitched earsplitting squeal when printing. Since it was still under warranty, I got Sharp to exchange it. Sharp customer service is fast and pleasant, but the problem remains unsolved. The replacement (refurbished) machine is even louder.
I can't pinpoint the origin of the noise, except to say it is not the scanner unit. My guess is either the paper exit roller or the drum. The drum is not guaranteed, but should certainly last longer than 4000 copies. It also eats large quantities of toner while producing copies that are way too light. It is also considerably slower than the 12 sheets a minute it is rated.

CAUTION: drivers not available on Sharp's website ...........2006-06-01

I would like to advise all current and potential owners of this model that Sharp does not post the drivers for the AM-900 on their website. Sharp will, however, charge you twenty-five dollars for a disk containig the driver software. (With shipping, my total was just under thirty-seven dollars). So, although I cannot speak to the printing quality of this model (my company has only one of these, and we just repurchased the driver software, so I therefore have not had a chance to fairly evaluate the printing charactresitics of the AM-900), I cannot recommend an all-in-one that requires a repurchase of the driver software (if you did not store the original in a safe place). Therefore, I suggest to current owners that you make a backup so you do not have to repurchase the driver software like I did.

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