My original fax machine was fine until June of this year. While I could happily send faxes and get my work done without a problem, I was horrified one morning when my fax machine began to hum and all that came out was almost complete blank pages. You could see the barest hint of printing. Immediately, I called the sender and asked that the papers be sent to a different number for me while I tried to find out what happened to my machine. Upon taking it to a local repair shop, I discovered the print head was broken and I’d been advised that the repair would be more than the price of a new machine.
That afternoon, I went shopping. Looking for the best machine that would suit my needs for the best price I hoped to pay, I went from store to store until I found one in which I was satisfied. My purchase was the SHARP UX-510A. I know, you’re probably saying, What makes this fax machine different from the others?. Yes, you plug it into the electrical outlet just like any other fax machine – and just like any other fax machine, you need to plug another cord into the phone jack. And, yes, just like any other fax machine, this one has speed dial. My new SHARP UX510A can store up to 99 numbers! That’s the first good thing you find about this item. When you need to call a number you’ve stored in your speed dial, just press, speakerphone, speed dial then the two numbers you’ve assigned to your recipient. You can also store up to 36 numbers with the ONE PUSH BUTTON method. The other 63 numbers are dialed as indicated above. In addition to being able to store so many numbers, the UX510A has what is known as BROADCASTING. This feature allows you send the same fax to as many as 20 different numbers AT THE SAME TIME. Now, doesn’t that make a writer’s life easier!? This machine is equipped with CALLER ID (providing your phone service supplies it) for your own information, should you begin to received call you don’t want. Should that begin to happen, just initiate the BLOCKING RECEPTION OF UNWANTED FAXES control.
You’ll be free of any annoying people who think nothing of using your ink rollers and papers for stuff you don’t care for. The UX-510A comes with a hand phone receiver should you plan on using this for this purpose as well. If you do, you can set the ring mode to sound differently for incoming faxes. One feature that I don’t use is the COVER SHEET. Yes, you can let the fax do the work for you, but when I need to send faxes, the Cover Sheet needs to be specific so I must create one as needed. Since my faxes are always more than a single page, the BATCH PAGE NUMBERING system on this machine is awesome and a feature I use regularly. What this feature does when activated is mark each page with the page number AND the number of pages in the text. For instance, if I’m sending a 15-page item, I load the manuscript, program the machine for 15 pages and then hit sent. Each page will be marked, P1/15, P2/15, etc. Have you ever tried to send a fax only to find out that your recipient’s line is busy? Don’t you just hate that? If the document is important enough, it keeps you tied to the fax until that line is free. With the UX-510A, you can cut those strings! This fantastic little machine has SENDING MEMORY. What that means is that the machine will scan the document immediately and should your recipient’s be busy, it will just REMEMBER your document and keep redialing until that line is free and the fax is finally sent. You can even activate this control for more than one fax. What a joy to have! Another feature that I haven’t used yet is the POLLING TRANSMISSION. This would have been wonderful if I had this machine immediately after my first one broke. What the POLLING TRANSMISSION does is allow you to call another fax machine and have it send YOUR machine a fax already scanned into it. Confused? Okay, when my first fax broke, the document intended for me, had already been scanned by the sender’s fax machine. If I had my UX-510A, I could have called back that machine and have re send the document to my new machine. I don’t know about you, but many times (in fact, more times than I’d like to admit to), my desk looks like it’s been hit by a tornado! When it gets that bad, I put all my work into neat little piles (that don’t last long, but I try). I work with one pile at a time until it’s gone. Sometimes that includes sending important faxes. The problem is that too often, I might be at that point in my work but realized the recipient won’t be ready. I just program my fax machine for its TIMER OPERATIONS mode. This allows me to scan the document and set it in the number all ready to be dialed at a certain time. I can set the timer for up to 24-hours in advance. How’s that for convenience? There is another feature I know I’ll never be using but that doesn’t mean no one else would. It’s the USING PROGRAMS feature. What this does is store your item in its memory and lets you assign a certain KEY to that document AND the recipient. By using this feature, you can easily resend the document as many times as needed by pressing the assigned key. For instance, if you’re involved in a group that meets the second Tuesday of each month, it’s easy to program the reminder into the fax machine. Then one week ahead of your meeting, press your USING PROGRAMS key and your reminders will be sent. Just looking at the face of the machine, it looks like any other fax machine. There are the usual buttons for REDIAL, SPEED DIAL, SHIFT, VOLUME and STOP. But on this machine, there’s more.
The UX-510A allows you set the resolution for the receiver. Should your document be something a light print, you can set the resolution for a darker reception. If your document is dark and you don’t want to waste your recipient’s ink, just set the resolution for a finer reception. When you need to use the desired MEMORY feature, all you need to do us press the MEMORY button. For those who might use the RAPID DIAL feature, that button is clearly visible on the front. (Remember the Rapid Dial is those number from 37-99.) This machine also doubles as a COPY machine. I’ve saved the best for last. The UX-410A comes with a built-in OPEN-LCR key. The OpenLCR, will automatically search for and route your call to the best available long distance rate – both nationally AND internationally – that you can find. Of course, to use this FREE feature, you need to register with OpenLCR and you can do so by either phone, fax or their website. Lastly, yes, you can set this machine to be used with an answering machine. There is a second phone jack for an addition phone should you need one. The ink rollers are very reasonable and easy to install. You can use regular and legal size paper and the machine will automatically date your sent faxes with the time and date. Honestly, with this new SHARP UX-510A fax machine, it takes a lot of pressure off the things I need to do. Actually, it makes me feel as though I have my own secretary right here. Now, if it could only clean off my desk!
COST: $100.00