Color printer buying time

[kc5dlo]

Several years ago we bought a Kodak all in one color printer. One of the selling points for this printer at the time was cheap replacement ink cartridges. They were selling color cartridges with some photo paper for something like 10.00.

Now the printer no longer works and the ink cartridges are no longer cheap so I am tasked with picking a new printer for our home. We dont use one much but they do come in handy a few times a month. I fell for the cheap printer ploy one time only to find out the replacement ink was twice what the printer cost. The ink that came with the printer was a teasingly small amount. Also would like to be able to buy cheaper third party ink when needed. Photo quality would be nice but not mandatory.

Any suggestions on models or brands to consider or avoid and any deals out there currently?

Thanks,
Steve

 

[Wagtail]

I obviously can't recommend a local store to purchase from but as long a you get a well known brand, such as Hewlet/Packard (HP), where the replacement ink cartridges are readily available then you can't go wrong.

My last all-in-one printer (HP) was on sale for around A$20! And that was at one of our large department stores (in the Big Smoke). Cartridges are for sale in my local Post Office.

Heck, I've seen all-in-one printers for sale in supermarkets!

 

[RBLapham]

I got sick of buying ink cartridges so I found the Epson line of Eco Tank printers. Search for Epson ET - they start at about $200 and go way up to over $1,000. They use 4 ink tanks instead of a cartridge. It comes with ink to fill it up and lasts an average user 2 years. The replacement ink for all 4 colors is only $30 for Epson, even cheaper for generic. I bought the Epson ET 2550 all in one and it has been working beautifully for a year now, hardly any ink usage showing in the tanks. Prints great photos. The ink is so cheap I print in color all the time. Epson is one of the oldest printer companies and have always had good printers from them.

 

[Jim Shooz]

I got sick of buying inkjet printers (about 5) and having the ink dry out and then dumping what had been a good printer. I spent more on ink than the cost of the printer. Bit the bullet and went for a FujiXerox colour laser printer/copier with all the whizzbang features. After3 years no problems.

 

[mddorange]

Like RBL, I got tired of high priced ink cartridges and went with the Epson ET4550 over 2 years ago. It came with extra bottles of ink and I have never had to use them.

My grand daughters, 5 of them from 4 years old to 17, are always having the wife print something off for them and most of time it is for many sheets at a time.

I keep checking the ink levels and only the black tank is even noticeable but it has only went down a 1/4 inch. We print everything in HIGH quality and it looks beautiful. I don't know how Epson does it but I will never buy a printer with ink cartridges again.

 

[donaldj]

Get a laser printer.

I had a few different inkjet ones and I spent more time and ink clearing nozzles from infrequent use than I ever did printing. Laserjets are more expensive, and their cartridges are more expensive.

And it will be cheaper to operate in the long run,.

I ended up with an HP Laserjet Pro 200 3-1.

 

[newbury]

Several years ago we bought a Kodak all in one color printer. One of the selling points for this printer at the time was cheap replacement ink cartridges. They were selling color cartridges with some photo paper for something like 10.00.

Now the printer no longer works and the ink cartridges are no longer cheap so I am tasked with picking a new printer for our home. We dont use one much but they do come in handy a few times a month. I fell for the cheap printer ploy one time only to find out the replacement ink was twice what the printer cost. The ink that came with the printer was a teasingly small amount. Also would like to be able to buy cheaper third party ink when needed. Photo quality would be nice but not mandatory.

Any suggestions on models or brands to consider or avoid and any deals out there currently?

Thanks,
Steve

"a few times a month"??
Reads like our usage. A tax form, a UPS shipping label, maybe a copy of a grocery list. Used to print maps and coupons but now just use the images on our cell phones. And the wife prints off the taxes each year, probably 100 pages max. But as far "regular" usage goes, I just had to print a page yesterday for returning an item to Amazon. First page in two months.

Printers are like razors, it's not the device it's the consumables.

I got sick of buying ink cartridges so I found the Epson line of Eco Tank printers. Search for Epson ET - they start at about $200 and go way up to over $1,000. They use 4 ink tanks instead of a cartridge. It comes with ink to fill it up and lasts an average user 2 years. The replacement ink for all 4 colors is only $30 for Epson, even cheaper for generic. I bought the Epson ET 2550 all in one and it has been working beautifully for a year now, hardly any ink usage showing in the tanks. Prints great photos. The ink is so cheap I print in color all the time. Epson is one of the oldest printer companies and have always had good printers from them.

I was once into printing, bought a large format (12" wide) tank printer, didn't use it enough, head dried up.

The Ecotanks are a great idea for those that print a lot, they came out in 2015. The low end 2650 comes with enough ink to print 4,000 pages black, 6,500 pages color. At my usage rate that would probably be my lifetime if I live to 150, especially if I can wean SWMBO from printing the taxes, after all she files electronically.

A while back, I think maybe about 2008, I got fed up with the cost of cartridges and waited until WalMart put their low end All-in-ones on sale for Thanksgiving.

They were like $25@, I bought 5 plus some extra cartridges. We had them scattered, one upstairs in Virginia, one downstairs in Virginia, one in Mississippi and one hot spare in both states.
Occasionally I catch my wife buying replacement cartridges for more than the cost of the printer. Also occasionally one has died, the electronics mess up and it just won't print. I think we've "lost" 3. I've replaced them with similar buys, again from Thanksgiving sales.

If you can hang in there until the Black Friday sale prices hit get an Epson with some extra cartridges, then you know your price up front, but buy a couple because invariably the electronics will die and you may be stuck with cartridges that won't work on a new machine.

 

[coolreinfarm]

Printers are cheaper than the ink cartridges, thought about throwing the printer away and get another one when the ink dries up!

 

[newbury]

Printers are cheaper than the ink cartridges, thought about throwing the printer away and get another one when the ink dries up!

Also so many things I used to use a printer for - maps, instructions, manuals, coupons, sale ads etc. I now just store on my phone or 8" PDA.

 

[Redlands Okie]

Laser jet printer recommended also. Same reasons as above. No liquid ink drying out or have to be cleaned. One thing to keep in mind is not the cost of the printer only. Dried out ink cartridges are expensive. Which is what makes laser printers so nice. Nothing to dry out. Look at the pages per cartridge that you can print and calculate your cost per page. May not sound like much but it can add up fast.

 

[robertsa]

We have one nice inkjet printer for printing photos and a color HP LaserJet Pro M252dw. I have also phased out all of our inkjet printers at work with the same HP laser printer.

Inkjet printers have their place, and it's for printing high quality photographs. For anything else, they are junk. The laser will cost more on the front end but will last for years and years of trouble free use while you could be banging your head against the wall trying to figure out the latest reason the inkjet printer is broken again. The cost of ink is also ridiculous; a high capacity laser cartridge will last for a very long time and doesn't dry up. If it is just occasional use like you mention, you could be talking about buying cartridges in units of years instead of weeks or months.

 

[rekees4300]

Any suggestions on models or brands to consider or avoid and any deals out there currently?

Consumer Reports Ratings:

All-in-one:
1. Epson Expression Premium XP-640 $80
2. Epson Expression Premium XP-830 $130
3. HP Envy 7640 $130

Regular Printer:
1. HP Officejet 200 Mobile $280
2. Epson Workforce Pro WF-5190 $235
3. Epson Workforce WF-100 $300

 

[dstig1]

Laser jet printer recommended also. Same reasons as above. No liquid ink drying out or have to be cleaned. One thing to keep in mind is not the cost of the printer only. Dried out ink cartridges are expensive. Which is what makes laser printers so nice. Nothing to dry out. Look at the pages per cartridge that you can print and calculate your cost per page. May not sound like much but it can add up fast.

+2 I got tired of ink drying out in inkjets, and went laser. I had gotten a cheap B&W laser printer for the bulk of the printing (much faster/cheaper) and left the inkjet for color printing only. Rarely used, so didn't work when needed. Eventually got a color laser along with the cheapo B&W laser. The B&Ws have been Brother or Samsung, I think (often for $60-80). The color one i have is Samsung C460 which was $200-300. I have often just replaced the B&W printer when the toner ran out, but one time talking to a guy in a store he said it is far cheaper to replace the toner as the toner that comes with them is a short load, so even though the toner replacement is close to the price of a new printer, it is way more pages worth of printing than buying a new printer, and more cost effective. I am just having to replace the first of the toner cartridges in the color printer now after 2 yrs, so i will see if the replacements last longer than the ones it came with...

 

[dragoneggs]

Consumer Reports Ratings:

All-in-one:
1. Epson Expression Premium XP-640 $80
2. Epson Expression Premium XP-830 $130
3. HP Envy 7640 $130

Regular Printer:
1. HP Officejet 200 Mobile $280
2. Epson Workforce Pro WF-5190 $235
3. Epson Workforce WF-100 $300

I have the Envy 7640 and it has been flawless. I don't use it a lot so I can't justify a laser printer. Bought at Costco. The ink that comes with is a 'short pour' so you will need buy the replacements shortly but they last much longer. Make sure you print something weekly and the jets shouldn't clog. I have a B&W laser for large black and white jobs such as manuals, etc.

 

[WM75Guy]

I recommend the laser. All my printers are HP. I have a B&W laser all in one and a color laser. The B&W all in one scans in color. I do have an inkjet 24" wide carriage for poster prints and stained glass patterns for my wife. The only issue I have is that HP printers last so long that HP stops updating drivers and toolkits for each version of Windows after so long that I have to use a generic Windows printer driver instead of the printer specific driver for my printers.

At work we have Lexmark laser printers. They are cheaper up front but expensive to operate in the long run. You have to replace too many parts after so many pages such as waste toner kits and imaging kits. With HP you just replace the toner cartridge.

With HP lasers the toner cartridge in a new printer is the same as a replacement, not a shortened version. Some aftermarket remanufactured or refilled recycled toner cartridges don't have the counter reset so you always get a message to replace the toner cartridge and you don't know it is low till your pages don't print. I bought replacement toner cartridges from Imagine Office till they closed that were half the price of OEM cartridges and didn't have that issue. Since we don't use a printer as much now I will probably go back to HP cartridges.

 

[RBLapham]

+2 I got tired of ink drying out in inkjets, and went laser.

I have had 10 ink jet printers and NEVER had one dry out. Guess I print a lot at 3 or 4 pages a week My current Epson ET 2550 with the ink tanks - reviews/questions asked is there a problem with drying out and everyone sad no. I think they even sell a cleaning kit for such a problem. I also have a color laser, it's in my closet, very expensive for toner - verses $30 every 2 years for ink.

 

[oosik]

For years and years I had HP all-in-one printers. Then I switched to Epson. I find the Epson a lot less complicated and much easier on ink than any of the HP I had. I don't print enough to justify one of those Epson "tank printers".

 

[fatjay]

I have a samsung color laser that I picked up a few years ago for about $100. I've replaced 2 toner cartridges so far, ebay has them for half price and they work great. I print quite a lot, my wife's coupon's, taxes, kids school work, etc. I get about 1000 pages per cartridge of black, color isn't as bad.

For actual photo's though, I use CVS or walgreens, they regularly have deals for 10 cents a picture, we just had 200 vacation photo's printed for $20, you just can't beat that.

 

[EddieWalker]

Great timing. My Canon printer is starting to give me trouble after about three years. The ink is too expensive and seems to run out faster then I would expect with the small amount of printing that I do. It's also very confusing to scan anything. I can never remember how to do it, and it seems that every time I do it, the scan ends up somewhere different and I waste more time trying to find it.

 

[kc5dlo]

I have had 10 ink jet printers and NEVER had one dry out. Guess I print a lot at 3 or 4 pages a week My current Epson ET 2550 with the ink tanks - reviews/questions asked is there a problem with drying out and everyone sad no. I think they even sell a cleaning kit for such a problem. I also have a color laser, it's in my closet, very expensive for toner - verses $30 every 2 years for ink.

Thanks everyone, I ended up order a Epson Ecotank 2550. It is a refurb from epson, cost was a little under 200 with tax. Really considered the lazer but thought I would try the inkjet one more time. Going to try to make sure i exercize it at least weekly if not more to keep it from drying out. With an estimated 4,500 copies between refills, It should still last practically forever. I will keep my eyes out for a lazer printer for in the future maybe.

Steve