OKI MICROLINE 320 Turbo POS Dot matrix Printer

This is probably the 4th or 5th Oki 320 Turbo we have purchased - all either used or refurbished on ebay. What can I say - these units are tanks, and are ideal for printing on multi-part forms (we have used on up to 5 part carbonless forms with no problems).
The look of the dot matrix image is not as crisp as laser printers but if you are using multi-part forms, this is the printer to get.
We use ours all day for sales orders/ packing list and invoices. Once installed, you only need to change the ribbons periodically.
New units like this price out at around $400-$500. The units are workhorses, so if you can find a clean looking used or refurb on ebay, don't be surprised if it has a lot of life in in for $100 or less. If and when the unit dies, you can buy another cheaper than you can fix it. We have had a couple die on us, but we have always gotten our money out of them first (and then some). The failure usually is electronic, or in the carriage. We have yet to have the print head itself fail.

The only downside to these units, apart from the print quality (relative to laser printers) is they are loud. We find it best to keep them in a seperate room - away from desks or phones. Otherwise, if you are printing a lot, they will drive you crazy.

I don't think you can go wrong with one of these, if you are in the market for a capable dot matrix.

I suppose it is a good printer for a Dot-Matrix. I just don't like dot-matrix printers, but my software did not support laser or ink-jet. It is suppose to be a very sturdy, long lasting printer. I found it hard to setup the automatic top & bottom print margins after tear-off. I had to have a computer guru help me. Ask me again in a couple of years.

Bought Okidata Microline 320 Turbo to provide a printer for printing 3X5 and 4X6 cards for vehicle check-lists.

Tried for three days to configure Apple Macintosh Macbook PRO (w/ OSX 10.6+). no really good results. The Unix system generic printer driver does not work. Configured as per Apple instructions, and found the driver in the printer-drivers list. When hooked up, the system STILL does not work correctly.

Tried Oki 320 printer w/ older Mac Powerbook (OSX, 10.4+). After loading driver, printer works very well. Page-top sensing and move-up for tear-off works very well.

I had forgotten just how NOISY a dot-matrix machine can be. But after putting in a fresh ribbon and getting it all working w/ OSX 10.4, I am quite satisfied.

Printer works exceptionally well as a multi-part-form(s) printer; an option that I am currently using for order-processing. Two part works well. Intend to try 4-part forms later.

Overall ratings:

Quality: good.
Price: very good
output quality: acceptable for usage. (Certainly NOT letter quality, but do not need that).
operation: good. All features work and are easily set in software.
Noise: loud (compared to laser-printer)
Speed: slow - compared to laser printer.

I have some older equipment that is compatible with only the OKI 9 pin Microline 9 pin printer and needed to buy this exact printer.

It is a very good printer, you need less money to print and works all day, ii is very fast also for a dot printer, I would definite buy another one if needed.