Sharp AJ-1800 review

This is the first inkjet we've seen from Sharp, and as the cheapest printer in this test the AJ-1800 was in prime position to make a big impression.

Design

The first sign of Sharp's cost-cutting was in its documentation.

No poster setup guide was supplied, just a quick start guide that was distinctly lacking in graphics. With the main manual in PDF format, new users will be left floundering by the alignment patterns, which aren't helped by poor English. We were even less impressed when it started printing - at times, it actually vibrated so much that our screen shook in sympathy! Thankfully, it has some good points. Not its looks, but the separate ink cartridges and replaceable print heads, together with the large input tray.

Print quality

The Sharp only exceeded our expectations in one test - the newsletter, where it printed everything extremely well, apart from solid blocks of grey. This test was on coated paper, and sadly it couldn't continue the good form on plain paper. Text quality started to deteriorate in our report test, while solid blocks of colour suffered from slight banding. The text-only document was even worse, with Times New Roman characters becoming far too fuzzy for easy reading. This is no photo printer either, with the relatively low 1,200x1,200dpi resolution showing itself in visible dots.

Speed

We never expected a great turn of speed from the AJ-1800, so we weren't shocked by its results. It took almost a minute and a half to print five pages of simple text, and nearly five minutes for the single-page newsletter. The photo was the only redeeming test, taking just over four minutes.

Overall

Despite its low price and reasonable running costs, we aren't impressed by the Sharp AJ-1800. It's loud, it's slow, and the end results just aren't good enough.

Author: Tim Danton