Art-ology

The Sharp UX-CD 600 Communications Center is a circa 2003 combination two-line (expandable to multi-user phone console, copier, fax machine, and answering machine. The Sharp UX-CD 600 Communications Center uses CD600 Toner and the fax printer doubles as the copier.

This is not a photocopier. Consequently, copies are limited to text documents. Something over 12,000 UX-CD 600 Communications Centers are still in daily operation, primarily in home offices. The unit is lightweight and compact, measuring 13 inches in height and length and 9 inches in depth.

The fax has 448 KB of memory, which is sufficient to hold as many as 24 legal size pages of text. A design fault to be aware of is that faxes come in paper side down. Many users have complained that you can’t tell if a fax has come in simply by give the machine a glance in passing. But other than that, the center is well thought of by most users.

As a copier, the UX-CD 600 uses the same printer and the same Sharp UX-CD 600 Toner cartridge as the fax fcomponent. The fax, by the way, operates off a 14.4 modem and both fax and copier print at about 6 pages (letter or legal) per minute. The paper tray is thin at 50 sheets. That makes this likely the only copier made where the copier quantity setting (max 99) is higher by half than the tray maximum.

The UX-CD 600 Communications Center has a cord handset on the unit itself and comes with a 2.4GHz cordless phone (and charging base). The Center can handle up to 7 additional cordless lines, but they have to all be 2.4 Gig spread spectrum types. As you can see, this is a clever design – using the UX-CD 600 Communications Center as the hub for a cordless phone network. Always use Sharp Toner.

The included cordless phone is the usual 2.4 GHz, spread spectrum digital technology type and I must say it is high quality, delivering a strong signal a long way out. I tested it and was able to go from my second floor back office all the way out to my car in the front driveway without any noticeable drop in clarity or volume. The phone will operate without a charge for 8 hours of talk or, if off but not in the cradle, 2 days of standing by before it needs to be recharged. There’s a low battery light on the handset and recharging to full is an overnight operation.

There is a caller ID window. Assuming you subscribe to a caller ID you can use that and the system can handle call waiting if you subscribe to that feature as well with your phone service provider. The UX-CD600 has a duplex speaker and a speaker phone feature that enables hands-free communication. The integrated answering machine provides as much as 20 minutes of recording time, as well as multiple (8) mail132013201320boxes.

With printers and fax machines that are no longer in manufacture, replacement Printer Cartridge can be a worry. Thankfully, with thousands of Sharp UX-CD 600 Communications Centers in use, Sharp UX CD600 Printer Toner is easy find, either from the OEM or from any of a number of generic replacement cartridge makers.Sharp Toner is trusted worldwide