The Kodak Office Hero 6.1 color inkjet multifunction printer (copy/fax/print/scan) delivers on its marketing boast on approximately all counts. The noteworthy exception is speed, which is more like that of a home unit than of one intended for a small or home office. Still, for $200 (as of 12/06/2011), you’re receiving a full load of features, as well as stellar photo quality.
It's a shame that Kodak dropped its classic gold group across the front of the printer for a red one. That gold group was a nice nod to Kodak's tradition, and it made their printers look friendlier and less cheap. The red just highlights some poor styling choices, such as dull-silver buttons, and detracts from the otherwise solid erection and flawless performance.
The front panel of the Office Hero 6.1 sports a 2.4-inch color LCD and an array of logically placed controls, as well as a keypad for faxing. The ink cartridges are easy to get to, and the machine has Secure Digital, Multimedia Card, Memory Stick, and USB/Pictbridge ports for easy photo printing or offloading scans.
They may connect the unit via USB, Ethernet, or Wi-Fi. The bottom-mounted paper tray holds 200 sheets, and the output tray, approximately 50 sheets; the automatic document feeder for the letter/A4-size scanner holds 35 sheets. Duplexing is fully supported, with both two-sided printing and two-sided-to-two-sided copying and scanning.
We had been careless if we didn't mention the Office Hero 6.1's Home Center software. The package is the easiest to use and the easiest on the eye of any place forth by the major vendors. It's also extremely integrated: Everything is done from within the application.
The fun 3D-photo feature prints and photo as a 3D photo; Kodak even provides a pair of 3D glasses for enjoying them. The OCR (optical character recognition) feature is so well integrated that you know it's there only because it has a save-to-RTF (rich-text format) selection for document files. The OCR is not fit for recreating complex documents with graphics, but it's great at grabbing text. The only thing missing is the documentation, which is available only online.
Ink costs are another plus for the Office Hero 6.1. The standard-sized $10 black cartridge lasts for 425 pages, for a per page cost of only 2.4 cents. The joint cartridge costs $20 and lasts for 420 pages, or 4.75 cents per page. Combined, a four-color page costs only 7.1 cents. In addition, a 770-page, $17 XL black cartridge reduces black costs slightly to 2.2 cents per page. Not a huge savings, but it nearly doubles the time between cartridge changes if you print a lot.
A barn-burner the Office Hero 6.1 is not, but in every other way it is a worthy inkjet MFP. It's extremely cheap to operate, it offers an easy out-of-box experience, and the photo printing is the best you'll find in this or most other price ranges. If you need faster performance, spend a hundred bucks more on the Epson Workforce 840 or the HP Office jet Pro 8600 Plus.
