Remember the Epson LX-300 printer?

We went on a media tour of Bicol in the last 3 days with Epson and during their presentation, I asked if they still sell the LX-300 dot-matrix printer.

Having bought the LX-300 back in 1997 (my very first printer) and still seeing a lot of these units until now, I wondered if it’s the longest running printer in history.

Epson reps told me they have an even older model that’s still in production. The LX-300 though have gone thru several refresh and been made more compact and it’s the most familiar model of dot-matrix printers I know of. In fact, it’s the only printer I know that’s been around for 15 years and actually become more expensive thru the years (I bought my LX-300 for about Php5k back then and the LX-300+ II now costs over Php8k).

Dot-matrix printers still exists because of a number of inherent advantages over newer and more advanced printing technologies — they’re way cheaper and allows for printing multiple copies at once (by layering carbon paper). As such, they’re pretty useful with printing invoices, receipts and other office documents.

Epson’s been selling tons of them every year and it looks like the dot-matrix printers are still here to stay.

Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

https://www.yugatech.com

36 Comments

Josh says:

15 years ago

Yup, we still use one in our office but the one assign to me has that thing which keeps the ribbon turning automatically everytime it prints broken, so I have to turn the knob manually everytime I print, FAIL =p
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Jon says:

15 years ago

I remember when I was a kid, We had an Epson LX-800. Damn, it was so noisy, and it took a lot of time to print a single page.

I still see several offices using this noisy clunkers. Yep, I guess they’re here to stay.
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pinoy word of mouth says:

15 years ago

I’m a former employee of epson, circa 2001-2004. Yes, this is one of the oldest models still in production.

I stumbled on your blog in Technorati.

BY the way, since you’re Pinoy, you may visit my site for interests in Philippine travel. My blog site is – http://pinoywordofmouth.blogspot.com

Hope you explore my site.

Thank you.
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Louis says:

15 years ago

The dot-matrix printer is a good printer for business becomes its cheap and it allows to use carbon paper triplicate forms that way its easier to facilitate invoice printing.
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Gerald says:

15 years ago

We still have an LX-800 somewhere at home! But I couldn’t find a driver to make it work. :(
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Pedro says:

15 years ago

We still use this model in our workplace… govt hospital… its more efficient than inkjet printers… we use carbon paper if we ran out of ribbon ink…hehehehe… yes carbon paper still exists…
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kerov7 says:

15 years ago

Loud and Proud! the LX800!! super noisy. hehe.
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herbert says:

15 years ago

We’re still using this at home. Very cheap in maintenance, refillable ribbon can be bought in NBS for less than 40 pesos (though the original is about 200+).
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JeffBlagnac says:

15 years ago

Hi,
Also in France, you can buy a lot of differents models for dot-matrix printer ;-)
15 here : http://www.ldlc.com/tri/450_p1_tri3_1.html
Jeff
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William Drilon says:

15 years ago

yah I remember that printer infact my office still uses that printer.
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jbitpc says:

15 years ago

I miss this printer; used to have one at home. Very reliable and low maintenance. Too bad needs have gone up and a dot-matrix is reduced to offices on budget. Ours ended in the warehouse rotting.
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Miguel says:

15 years ago

The AK-47 of printers.
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Adrian says:

15 years ago

old school. yan din po first printer namin sa bahay :)
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Ryan says:

15 years ago

Still have those babies at the office. Very dependable. Fell from the table once although a few cracks still works!
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Agrimensor says:

15 years ago

Ours is still alive. Just need some dusting & greasing.
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david says:

15 years ago

Back in the 80’s I had an Epson MX-70 printer.
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janice says:

15 years ago

we still have this in the office.. the billing dept use this to print sales invoice..
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Victor says:

15 years ago

yep, this printer model is still good maybe for another 5-10 years. Cheapo ink system, efficient and easy to use. Mostly for receipts, records and text heavy data. Minsan lang may topak yung ribbon pero manageable naman.
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Jhay says:

15 years ago

We have three working units at our unit office in DLSU-D. It’s the most widely used printer in campus.

Nothing beats the experience of hearing its signature sound when it starts to print a document.
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Eizan says:

15 years ago

Yep, I still see it being used in offices (specifically the Business Office in my university) which is used for printing receipts and invoices. Fast and economical~…
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sylv3rblade says:

15 years ago

It’s really hard to dispose of such a cheap (in terms of printing cost) printer technology.
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Edgar says:

15 years ago

Our first printer was an Epson FX-1050 that now sits in an old stool in the corner. Even the M&S Dept. won’t take it. But I miss the noisy old guy. It has served us well, churning out those Wordstar and Excel documents. We printed our first CBA with it. Senti. haha!

We had since replaced it with a Canon inkjet, and an Epson RX630.
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rene says:

15 years ago

Smart I think is one of the most tech savvy company but still it uses the old reliable LX-800 for its receipts printing.
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Onynz says:

15 years ago

Wow, this was our very first printer that came with our very first PC an Intel Pentium 100.

This was a very much reliable printer compared to the desk jet and the bubble jet of today.
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hannah says:

15 years ago

yes, we’re still using it. we have 4 units in our small office. mahal kaya ang bili nyan! 7thou plus pero mas malaki naman ang ROI.
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buknoii says:

15 years ago

LX300 is my first printer and it has a capability to print colored documents..it was cool coz a dotmatrix printing colored documents hehehe
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durantula says:

15 years ago

I think most government offices still use lx-300 printers – as a result, slow processing of papers. :)
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Pilipinas Got Talent says:

15 years ago

I still got this on my room. And still working.
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Eason says:

15 years ago

I don’t get the logic, they can just buy a printer with a continuous ink system. Its cheap as well and you can print with better quality and pictures as well.

Well I’m going to be open jaw if I will see a dox matrix printer with a scanner/ fax or those 4-1 in one functions ahahaha
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Susan K-S says:

15 years ago

I have a Star Micronics Nx 2420 that I have had since 1993. It is just now starting to bite the dust. I will check out Epson’s printer now.
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telong says:

15 years ago

I need driver for this device, hope someone can help me. thanks.
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pops says:

15 years ago

i always wondered why they make such ear tingling noise!!hehehe
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will says:

14 years ago

Yes, it’s around for long and will stay.. how I wish my LX300 did not flooded by typhoon sometime year 2000.

I wish printer manufacturer start producing “non-disposable” ink jet printers. How ironic, the ink cartridge cost like 60-70% of a new printer (with ink). Besides, the ink cartridge is so small that I bet the cost of plastic (cartridge) is much much higher than the ink (content).

Just my 2 cents.
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global mobility says:

14 years ago

I have not wholly comprehended the detail here in the post about Philippines, Technology News & Reviews. I think I get what you are saying. I possibly know what you are stating, but you nonplussed me in the end. This perspective is actually one I would care to consider more of.
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Pedro says:

13 years ago

still using it at East Ave Medical Center very efficient… just use carbon paper if u run out of ribbon… hehehe…
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Epson connect printer setup says:

6 years ago

Ensure that both ends of the USB cable are firmly inserted. If the printer is networked then make sure the Ethernet cable is firmly inserted.
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