Epson or HP?

CyberGhost

Hey, I want to buy a printer, have around 150-ish to spend

I came down to 2 printers,

HP Deskjet 3845


and

Epson Epson Stylus R220/300/320



I was going to buy HP, from elara, but looks like they don't have it

So basically it's Epson then, I've never owned any Epson printer, how are they? is software any good? and what about cartridges? are they more expensive then HP's?

and the last, does anyone know what's the difference between R220, R300 and R320? I looked at the specs and they look the same

GoneShootin

Personally, HP over Epson every time - but that's a biased view from problems after problems with Epson in the past

BigEejit

I would rate the HP printers as better that Epson as well. But as with all medium priced home printers you pay a lot for those replacement cartridges. I was buying my HP cartridges from MX2 so it wasnt quite as painful.......

Mac daddy

hp printers are quite good the only thing is the cost of the replacement cartridges they cost a bomb, thats how they all make there money not of the hardware but of the consumables for it...

the_syco

For photo's, etc, Epson.

For documents, etc, HP.

Its not which one looks nicer, its what will you use it for?

mp3guy

HP are definately the way to go. I've got an old 930c and it still works great, photo prints look excellent on glossy paper. The newer model, i can't think of its number, prints a full photo quality A4 page in 14 seconds flat, and can do 2 black and white draft text pages per second

djmarkus

mp3guy wrote:

HP are definately the way to go. I've got an old 930c and it still works great, photo prints look excellent on glossy paper. The newer model, i can't think of its number, prints a full photo quality A4 page in 14 seconds flat, and can do 2 black and white draft text pages per second

And the cartridges are €40!

Epson consumables are ALOT cheaper.

mad m

Happen to aquire a HP5650 from boards F/S section well over a year and half ago and the ink is now only beginning to empty.Now I have two kids who put that printer through its paces....

I'd go with HP again if I was buying.

CyberGhost

djmarkus wrote:

And the cartridges are €40!

Epson consumables are ALOT cheaper.

But doesn't Epson need like 6 cartridges? and it's cartridges are small compared to HP?

and syco, I need documents, don't really need photos

djmarkus

my r200 takes 6 cartridges, and a full set of 6 is ~€25 off svp.co.uk and they aint that small.

mad m

Also while I think of it CyberGhost,the other day I had an Epson C64 I was doing a refill with a kit I bought in tesco and found out that most of those Epsons need the chip to be reset so printer knows cartridges are full again,otherwise it wont print.

The HP I was talking about I found those easier to refill than the Epson cartridges plus the HP didnt need to be re-set.I'd look into this also when making your final decision.

CyberGhost

Mad, I don't really do refills, I just buy new cartridges, cause I did a refill once and ink is not of the same quality and it dries slower too, I don't know maybe it was just me, but anyway I still buy new cartridges.

Markus, hmm that cheap price is intriguing, how many pages do you usually get with a black ink cartridge?

Oh and another thing, whoever owned a R220 and R300, is there much difference between them expect that little LCD screen on R300? the specs are the same but maybe they aren't listing all the functions? R300 must have something to cost 30 euro more right?

CyberGhost

Update: hey everyone, Thanks for all your suggestions, I went with HP, I print text mostly, it's very rear that I print photos, and HP's cartridge looks bigger and many people said Epsons run out faster than HP.

the_syco

CyberGhost wrote:

Update: hey everyone, Thanks for all your suggestions, I went with HP, I print text mostly, it's very rear that I print photos, and HP's cartridge looks bigger and many people said Epsons run out faster than HP.

Its "rare"

Also, as for cost, shop around, and keep your cartridges, as some places refill them for about half the price! If you think thats "odd", look @ your Coca Cola. 1.5L is €1.79, and your 2L is €1.89. Its the casing that costs, and the ink is not that dear, so it would seem.

CyberGhost

lol oops sorry, typo

Yep I'll deffo keep the cartridges.

Thank You!