jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

It's not only camera makers who are not shipping manuals with their products. My son got a Vizio TV, and it came with a skimpy Quick Start Guide. Inside, it said that in order to "reduce paper waste," he would have to go online and download the Owner's Manual.

I don't see an Owner's Manual as being a waste of paper. Maybe Vizio is trying to save money. Unless you have the manual on a laptop or tablet, it's not very convenient referring to the manual while working on the TV. Printing 50-something pages puts the expense and "waste" at the feet of the consumer.

Photo Girl Loc: SE Pasco County, FL

Plus, the manufacturer can print a smaller footprint manual and that saves paper. I can't depend on viewing my manuals on my laptop. What if my computer crashes? I have to print out my manuals but for me it is not cost effective.

Wahawk Loc: NE IA

However, by printing them out ourselves, we can make sure they are printed with large enough text that we can read them instead of the smaller and smaller type that is being used for manuals at the current time!

marxgo Loc: Central Iowa

The last manual I printed out was ridiculous and I never wanted to depend on that again. The print was too small and overall, too awkward. So, when I bought my SX50, I ordered a manual from Manuals Ink (through Amazon) and got a nice spiral bound manual for $18.00. Well worth it to me. I recently bought a 2nd camera and will do that again (with the 10% discount I get for the next manual). Getting a preprinted one with the merchandise would be better, but guess companies have moved on from that.

jgitomer Loc: Skippack Pennsylvania

My Nikon D600 came with a 340 page manual. My Nikon D40 came with two (yes 2!) 126 page manuals, one in English and one in Spanish. My Nikon Coolpix S8100 came with one quick start manual with 24 pages each for English, French, Spanish and whatever languauge Pb stands for.

I find a 24 page quick start guide to be laughable. Especially for a Point and Shoot camera. A true quick start guide shouldn't be more than one or two pages long.

After all what do you really need to know to take snapshots of the kids, the pets and family members sitting in the living room watching the TV.

What I don't care for about the 340 page manual for the D600 is the lack of a quick start guide section. I really didn't want to go through the full 340 pages in order to learn what all of the menu settings control. (I already knew that in order to take a picture you have to turn the camera on, point it in the general direction of the subject and then press the button on the top right. Note, if you are not using Nikon the button may be located someplace else on your camera.)

Pierre H.J. Dumais Loc: Mississippi Mills, Ont.

The manufacturers do not do this for the convenience of the consumer or because they are good corporate citizens. They do this to wring out every cent of profit. They'll argue that most people want only the quick start guide, that it's a waste of forest resources blah, blah, blah.......
This is the golden age of rank profiteering.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I'm printing 52 pages of color, text, and graphics now so that I can have an Owner's Manual. This is definitely not an economical move for me.

It's like hotels telling us to reuse towels and sheets so we can "save the planet."

mdorn Loc: Portland, OR

No, Vizio is trying to 'make' money. I think printing manuals is a waste regardless who does it, but then again, I live in Oregon. :-)

mdorn Loc: Portland, OR

Why do you need the manual? Once the TV is setup, what else is there? Just curious. Plus, according to my wife, guys don't read the manual anyway. :-)

Morning Star Loc: West coast, North of the 49th N.

Something to be said for those smaller footprint manuals - IF you have good eyes. Even with my trifocals I have to use a magnifying glass to read the text in a manual that is less than 1/4 the size of regular letter paper. So now I have two manuals: the one that came with the camera and still looks brand-new, and the one I printed out myself, 2 pages to a letter size sheet, had it spiral bound, and it is lovely dog-eared.
But where's the savings in paper in that? It's more like higher profit by the manufacturer, I'm sure they haven't dropped the camera price by the amount they saved not printing a larger manual...

Pierre H.J. Dumais Loc: Mississippi Mills, Ont.

Exactly!
Since we're talking paper, notice too how the pulp band paper industry still charge the same for paper products e.g. paper towels, bathroom tissue, napkins etc., but the package content is half of what it was a few years ago. They'll argue that it is better for environment and that production costs are higher.....blah, blah, blah.
If that were so they would not bleach these products. Also, notice too that they charge more for bleached paper. Again, they have a blah, blah, blah line.
My how the money rolls in, rolls in........

LoneRangeFinder Loc: Left field

IMHO, the manufacturers are just saving a few $s AND passing the print cost to the consumer-- and they get to brag that they are "green".

A side "benefit" is users asking "how to" questions on UHH.



;-)

ecobin Loc: Paoli, PA

I agree! Personally, I don't like reading manuals on my computer or iPad, so I print them also.

G Brown Loc: Sunny Bognor Regis West Sussex UK

In the 60's and 70's we were promised a 'paperless office'.
Somehow the amount of paperwork that we need to produce has increased with the ease in which questions can be asked. The way information can be stored and retrieved has altered the rational behind why we keep the answers to one set of questions and then cross check this with other sources. As for printing getting smaller - its simply because we can. There is no actual need for most of the information that gets printed (do not overfill kettle - do not immerse in water whilst plugged into the mains etc) but someone threatens a lawsuit if we don't. We need Darwin back!!!lets idiots die out....then there would be space left for a bigger font.

As for printing your own manual surely that depends upon what you are buying and how often you need to change the settings (washing machine springs to mind - how many wash cycles do you use -v- how many available) What is the manual going to tell you that you cannot work out by pressing a button or two. OK a camera may be an exception but as an exception it should be acceptable to print one out and loose all the rest as a waste of money.

In the 70's there was created an English Society that ensured Government and Public Offices published paperwork without long words and jargon. Perhaps we should start a society that demands big fonts and no nonsense masquerading as 'advice'. We could call it the Calf Society (Little Bull)

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

In many cases, the warranty and "safety" information requires a large booklet than the operating instructions.