Good printer recommendations?

[railrider1920]

Hey Folks,
I need to get a printer so I can print up the instructions for the pens I'm making. As well as other things. I'd like it to be a desk top. Having a scanner with it would be a plus. We don't do much printing, even when we did have a printer. If there is a type that has a good ink cartridge shelf life (opened), that would be great. Less expensive cartridge is always a plus. It doesn't have to be USB powered, but that would be fine. Windows XP compatible. I'm not wanting to spend a bunch of money on it, but expecting $50-$150 +/-

Can anyone recommend a couple to choose from?
Thanks

 

[OKLAHOMAN]

We just bought a Lexmark X4850 at Sams for under $100.00 that is WI-FI, love the ability to not have to have it attached to the computer and now can use the Laptop to print from anywhere with out having to take it to the printer 3 rooms away.

 

[Rifleman1776]

I was going to say 'anything except a Hewlett-Packard'. I have had quite a few HPs. The printers are OK but the software can cause nightmares. Currently I have an F4100 series all-in-one. The unit is OK but has has huge downside for my use. The ink cartridges are small, only 5 ml. There are times I do a lot of printing, like 400 page manuscripts. My ink usage is heavy. But, you say, you will not be doing heavy printing usage. At about $60.00 this printer-copier-scanner is a good machine from Wal-Mart. It lacks fax, you have to go up in price to about $150.00 to get that also.
BTW, I believe everything out there today is USB powered.

 

[ashaw]

Any of the HP all in ones are good. Lemark is a cheap printer but the ink cart. are priced out of this world. It's cheaper to buy a new printer every time you run out of ink.

 

[Russianwolf]

We bought one of the Canon all in ones as I like the fact that the ink cartridges are individual. Meaning it has 5 cartridges instead of 2, so you only replace the color that you need to instead of throwing away ink. Had it for a bit over a year and we did have one issue.

One day it wouldn't recognise any of the ink cartridges. Bought new ones and still no go. Called Canon and they sent me a new printer and had me mail the broken one back. Very god customer service. They even told me to keep all the extra ink.

 

[mdburn_em]

The cheaper the printer, the more the company is going to make selling you ink.

70% of HP's profits are from ink. I'm sure that percentage is approximately true for other printer manufacturers. The more expensive the printer, usually, the less cost per page to print.

Some of the cheaper printers will cost you pennies per page. (even up to a dime) Compare that with more expensive printers that will give you up to 20k pages for $100-200.

You will pay the printer companies one way or the other.

A very economical MFP is the Brother intellifax 4100e. It's more than your indicated price range though. B/W

 

[jnelson]

Rob,

I work in IT as a full time job, and here is my suggestion:

Go with any brand, but make sure that is is laser-based instead of ink-based.

All of the desktop printers that rely on ink as basically disposable. The companies make their profits off of the ink, not the printer.

I have a Brother 5250 laser that I bought three years ago, and am still on the "starter" cartridge that came with it. I print my taxes each year (40+ pages), I use it to print all of my checks for bill paying, and I print pen instructions. I have never had a moment's problem with this that was not caused by me.

If you will watch DealNews.com, you can catch various makes and models on sale. I really prefer HP, since that I what I use at work. I manage a network with over 300 laser printers, and have 15 years experience in maintaining an repairing HP lasers.

We tried LexMark for a short time, and found them to be very expensive doorstops.

Just my $.02 worth.

 

[turned_for_good]

Like jnelson said,
Get a laser, brothers are good machines and if you get the right one have inexpensive toner cartridges. You pay more for the machine, but the toner last forever. I bought a Brother 1440 two years ago with a new toner and print things about 2-3 times a week, havent had to buy a new toner yet. No color unless you want to shell out the $ though.

 

[Dario]

Will share my experience. A year ago, I was looking for an all-in-one unit. After a lot of research I bought a Canon ImageClass MF4150. It is a laser copier, scanner, fax, and scanner. I love it and will buy it again. Bought mine at Staples and they have it now for $179.98 after rebates.

http://www.staples.com/office/supplies/StaplesProductDisplay?&storeId=10001&langId=-1&catalogId=10051&partNumber=664481&cm_mmc=GoogleBase-_-Shopping-_-Technology_%253E_All-in-One_Machines_-_-664481-1483B001AA&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=664481

 

[Dario]

BTW, just this morning, I printed and made copies...approximately 400 pages. No sweat and super fast. Quality is first rate too.

Since buying it, I probably printed/copied close to 3,500 pages. I bought one cartridge online ($53.02 after s&h) and bought some refill inks as well ( http://cgi.ebay.com/5x150g-Canon-toner-104-FX9-FX10-L120-4150_W0QQitemZ360072561005QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item360072561005&_trksid=p3286.m14.l1318 ).

The one I am using now is a refilled cartridge by yours truly and works like a charm.

 

[BigShed]

We bought one of the Canon all in ones as I like the fact that the ink cartridges are individual. Meaning it has 5 cartridges instead of 2, so you only replace the color that you need to instead of throwing away ink. Had it for a bit over a year and we did have one issue.

One day it wouldn't recognise any of the ink cartridges. Bought new ones and still no go. Called Canon and they sent me a new printer and had me mail the broken one back. Very god customer service. They even told me to keep all the extra ink.

Another vote for a Canon printer here. The cost of the printer is not the only thing, it is the total cost of ownership that counts. As said above, most Canon printers have separate cartridges for each colur and black. So when you run out of Yellow or Magenta, you don't throw out any other colour inks you have left, you just replace that colour. Also, aftermarket Canon cartridges are very cheap. I bought 50 mixed colours/black for my Canon IP3000 more than a year ago for $60 on Ebay. Great ink and I have about half left.
Most Canon printers do duplex printing, ie print on both sides of the paper and come with an adapter to print on CDs and DVDs.
Current equivalent to my IP3000 is the IP4500, or if you want a multi-function MP610 or MP810.
I used to run a HP printer, but retired it before it sent me broke, those HP cartrdiges are the biggest rip-off out.

 

[TellicoTurning]

I'm an Epson fan... I've ran Epsons as my business printers when I was still working... we had a bank of about 5 all set up with different document forms, double print heads, etc... 'course they ran about $2000 each. The smaller for home use printers are more cost friendly, I think I paid under $100 for my C84 which has been running for 4 1/2 years todate without a glitch. Not a fan of the all in one machines, but to each his own there.

My son had a laser printer that he bought in Korea when he was stationed there about 12 or 13 years ago.. he just retired it last year because he needed color printing for his job and his wife's job. It was still running and still on it's original cartridge.

 

[Russianwolf]

For those recommending laser based units, are they only B&W units, or color? I ask as the cheapest Laser Color unit I've found was nearly $1000 when I last looked, and the color representation asn't that great (I wouldn't print pics with it as I do on my Canon Ink based).

 

[railrider1920]

A lot to digest. I guess I'll have to take a closer look at what I really want it to do and then go from there.

I'm also curious about the color laser printers.

Thank you all for your thoughts on the subject.

 

[ed4copies]

Rob,

If you want to stay around $100, there are dozens of choices. TRY to find out the cost per copy (Staples website shows the toners and approx yields, look at the ink for the ones you are considering).

Remember, copiers used to be $7000, what do you expect for $100?? But, they will all work for your application for a couple years, then replace.

I agree it's nice to have 4 toner cartridges and the color you CAN get is remarkable. We have a couple Lexmarks, my tech uses one at home to make pictures of his kids, they look like processed photos (on special paper).

You can't go too far wrong, just try to keep cost per copy down. Also, you can do a search for compatible toner (before you buy) to see what options you will have.

I would recommend avoiding Dell as they have "tied up" their toner, pretty well. I can't find it.

FWIW
Oh, I sell copiers, all day, every day. For 35 years.

 

[DocStram]

I'm with the Canon guys. Our needs for a printer included color printing, scanning, copying, and faxing. Cost was big factor. The Canon Pixma has served us well for the last year.

 

[leehljp]

I have an Epson 6 color and a Canon 6 color. The Epson does slightly better and brighter tones. The Canon inks are a tad cheaper. I have a Brother all in one laser and it does well for B&Ws.

In spite of my Epson being 5 years old, it still prints quality photos slightly better than the 3 year old Canon.

 

[TBone]

I agree with Ed, don't purchase a Dell color laser. They are very good printers and we have almost no problems with them. But the toner cartridges will eat you alive. Printers are like cars. For every person that loves this model, there will be an equal number that hate it. Just look at total cost or cost per page. Laser color in a good machine will be better than inkjet, but also more expensive.

Kodak supposedly has a printer that uses dye instead of ink to print. The ads say much cheaper and doesn't fade like inkjets. But I don't know anyone that has tried it so not sure if it lived up to promises. Anyone have any experience with this?

 

[ed4copies]

Kodak cost per copy is much cheaper BECAUSE THEY BASE THEIR YIELDS ON PHOTO-SIZE!! This is about 1/4 the size of letter paper.

While I don't have "first hand" experience with this, Kodak has NEVER been an innovator in copier technology. I suspect the unit is being made for someone else (Xerox) and relabelled.

Xerox's "ink bar" technology is an electricity hog. They melt the wax to make a copy. Would REALLY be expensive for low volume.

 

[jnelson]

I do not kn ow anything about this particular printer, but here is an example from Dealnews.Com, the web site I posted about yesterday.

http://dealnews.com/Samsung-CLX-316...or-284-after-rebate-free-shipping/242900.html

I have never used Samsung, big fan of HP, but the price looks good.

 

[jrc]

If you get by with non color printer I have a HP laser 1012 printer from Staples, the new model is around $99. I printed with mine all the pens tages and a whole lot more . Went for over 3 years before the toner ran out. I know I would of spent more than $100 on ink in that time.

 

[ed4copies]

I needed ink for my Canon Pixma (at home) today. Went on-line, got 10 cartridges for $20 --- it AIN'T GONNA GET no cheaper than that.

The pixma printer was FREE with my computer about 2 years ago.

IP3000 - functional, nice color, cheap.

FWIW

 

[Gary Max]

Yup my Canon is 5 years old---I bought a dozen carts online---Like Ed said
It sure hard to beat.

 

[CSue]

"All-in-One" Printers

If your not going to do prints in color, go for a laser "all-in-one."
If you want to use a scanner with the same machine, go Epson! You can't get a better "all-in-one" unit with a decent scanner any better than Epson.
You need to ask yourself if it's primary purpose is for
-Printing? Scanning?, Copying? or faxing?
-Color or black & white?
-fine digital scanning for larger than 4"x6" prints" or just flyer or small print quality scanning?

Different companies lean on best quality in ONE of the 4 jobs of an "all-in-one." Epson's entire line is geared to moving consumers up to their professional quality printers and scanners - for "professional prints."

Canon is a good printer. Scanner is okay. But customer service hasn't been their long suit as far as I've dealt with them. HP is okay if you aren't going to be using it much. My cousin is still using the original printer from her first computer (a decade ago.) She's on her second cartridge.

 

[ldb2000]

I have a Samsung CLP600 and love it . I use it for photos and I print my catalogs with . The toner carts are avg in price and they say you can get over 2000 pgs per cart (I have printed several hundred full color pages on the carts that came with the printer)
If you don't need color I also have an HP 1018 B/W laser here in the shop and use it for instructions and invoices and other gen B/W printing needs and I love it also the toner seems to last forever and refilled carts are about $20 on ebay .

 

[Wolfdancer]

Hey Rob
I agree Get the laser printer. I also have a brother MFC-7420 and my ink is 65.00 dollars but I get around 3000 to 3500 pages out of it. And its super fast. It also has a scanner and a fax on mine. The only cost in the 250.00 dollar range unless you want color then there big bucks.