Product Description

The Pocket Printer A6 is a compact and lightweight mobile printer perfect for the on-the-go business professional. Easily print from your Palm Powered PDA or notebook computer. Featuring wireless infrared connectivity for use with infrared enabled devices, the Pocket Printer A6 is ideal for mobile computing. Print directly to the printer without using cables. And for non-infrared enabled computers a serial port is also included.

Product Details

• Size: Blue
• Color: Blue
• Brand: SiPix
• Model: PR-00064
• Platforms: Palm OS, Windows Me, Windows 98

Features

• Handheld portable thermal monochrome printer
• 400 dpi resolution
• Versatile IrDA (infrared) or serial connectivity
• Uses four AA batteries
• Ultra-thin compact design

Amazon.com Product Description
Offering you portable printing capabilities, the SiPix A6 Pocket Palm Printer connects easily to either PCs or Palm Pilots. While it may not be as fast as your in-office printer, this little gem weighs in at less than 1 pound and churns out documents at 2 ppm with a decent 400 dpi resolution. Overall dimensions are scarcely larger than some wallets (5.8 by 4.25 inches), and the thickness is less than 1 inch.

The direct thermal printing method means the only consumables are the paper and the batteries; if you use the AC adapter, your only expense will be replacement paper rolls. Run time with the adapter is a full hour, while the batteries supply just three minutes of power.

Included in the box are both the adapter and a starter set of batteries, along with a roll of paper, a power cable, and a convenient travel bag. SiPix offers a one-year warranty that covers parts, labor, and 12 months of free telephone technical support.

From the Manufacturer
The Pocket Printer A6 is a compact and lightweight mobile printer, perfect for the on-the-go business professional. Print easily from your Palm-powered PDA or notebook computer. Featuring wireless infrared connectivity for use with infrared enabled devices, the Pocket Printer A6 is ideal for mobile computing. Print directly to the printer without using cables. For non-infrared-enabled computers, a serial port is also included.

There are no ribbons or cartridges to replace. Using advanced thermal technology, the Pocket Printer A6 provides reliable, trouble-free operation. At less than 14 ounces total weight (with batteries), the printer is light enough to carry everywhere you go. Get high-resolution, continuous-tone memos, addresses, to-do lists, mail, or datebooks from your Palm-powered PDA using the included I/S Complete IrPrint driver. Or use with your notebook computer to quickly print contracts, presentations, and spreadsheets anytime and anywhere.

Providing maximum portability and ease of use, the Pocket Printer A6 uses continuous-feed paper or single sheets. A roll of SiPix high-quality paper is included with each printer. For power, the printer uses four AA alkaline, rechargeable batteries or the included AC adapter. The energy-saving feature saves power by automatically shutting off the printer after three minutes of nonuse. Available in both solid black and translucent cool blue, the Pocket Printer A6 is the ideal mobile companion.

Customer Reviews

SiPix A6 & Dell Axim X5
On impulse I bought the Sipix A6 printer, brand new,(for a mere 19 bucks!) after checking it's compatibility with my invoicing software -Lowfat Invoice. However, I DID NOT check whether there were any known issues with the Dell Axim X5 and I was unaware of the wonderful people at AXIMSITE.COM.

Soooo, the unit arrives. I giggle. I Take it out the box, pop in the CD and there were only drivers for 2000/98/ME and Palm. %$!!&#! I'm running XP Pro and PPC 2002. I google and search for drivers. I found these: http://www.sipixdigital.com/support/PocketPrinterA6/drivers.shtml and I'm printing in XP - Woo Hoo! Load the CE drivers, attempt to print from LowFat - nuthin. %$!!&#! I made several attempts of removing and reinstalling the drivers, even changing the location (SD Card, main memory, built-in storage) -all, to no avail. Then I spot a thread response in Aximsite Forums by zipidydoda that recommended removing all the expansion cards and reloading the drivers. So I:

1) Remove my SD Card and the compact flash card
2) Did a soft reset
3) Put it in the USB Cradle
4) Used ActiveSync to remove the Sipix Printer Driver (if you get an error stating that a file is still loaded in memory you may have to tap> Start> Settings> System> Memory >Running Programs> Stop all - however, doing a soft reset before this step should help you avoid any errors)
5) Did a soft reset (after taking it out of the cradle)
6) Put it in the USB Cradle
7) Reinstalled the driver (location provided above)
8) Turned Axim off (after taking it out of the cradle) -this was also part of the instructions provided by Sipix
9) Turned Axim on
10) Print from A6print (tap > Start>Programs> A6print -it is best to choose a small txt file for quick printing)
11) Voila !!

So I'm printing -Woo Hoo! I try it in Lowfat -same error as before "Unable to Establish Infrared Link". What?!!? Just as I was about to chunk the thing -I thought long enough to calm down and approach it as if it were an error on a desktop. Since it's the IR port that's not jiving, I thought it could possibly be a transfer rate issue. I go into Lowfat> Tools> Print> Advanced> More Settings. There was no setting for IR Port Speed and the one for the Serial Port was defaulted at its lowest settings. I unchecked "Alternate IR Connection" and "IR Buffer Adjustment". Prayed -attempted to print...

Thank God!!!!! I'm printing -not only can I print with the A6Print and A6Capture utilities but I can print from LowFat Invoice too!

Sorry this was so lengthy but I didn't want anyone else to have to spend a whole business day trying to get their Sipix A6 to work -or worse...give up. I hope this helps somebody.

God Bless,
Axzym

Lack of Sofware
In principle, this a great printer for the Palm, but be aware of the sofware. The printer comes with a sofware that allows you to print only from Datebook, addressbook, todo, and memo. In my case I wanted the printer to be able to print my documents from Quickword, and Quicksheet, multimail. After contacting Sipix, I was informed that I had to purchase Palmprint, which can print documents from Quickword, and for Quicksheet, I find out that I have to purchase Printboy. Bottom line, on top of the cost of the printer, you still have to purchase other printing softwares in order to take full advantage of this printer, which translates into more $$$$$$$$$$.
This is absolutely rediculous, it should be up to the manufacturer to supply the proper software that will enable the users to print from any applications that they use. Beside, this printer is aimed at businessman/women, buying a printer that will allow printing only from addressbook, todo, memo, or datebook is by no mean of any help to any business person. The reason I wanted to buy this printer, was to be able to print my documents while on the road (word, excel, e-mail, faxes..)
Defenitely not worth the buy, until it is supplied with the proper software that will enable printing from any application.

SiPix A6 Portable Printer
This thermal paper uses small rolls to print on - requiring no ink. It's small, lightweight (except with 4 "AA" batteries) and can receive data via its IrDA port OR serial connection. This did not work with my Jornada 680e but did with a iPad 19xx so it may not work with older PDAs (though, it was designed to work with Palms). You *can* use it with a desktop or laptop but you simply cannot install the drivers and "voila!" The properties of the connection between the printer and computer must be manually modified for it to work properly - but when you get it to work, it's perfect. I use it to print receipts and it is absolutely fantastic. I suppose the only "downside" to it is that paper for it is pretty expensive...the starter rolls aren't going to be enough to do much with so plan on looking for CUT or ROLL (preferably) cheap.