Can anyone recommend a good printer?

varney

We've been going around in circles trying to find a good printer for the family this last few weeks! We need an all in one which will print mainly documents with the odd photo every now and then....

It seems HP are one of the better brands which everyone leans towards as all their cartridges are refillable ( as opposed to our Lexmark which is why we're looking for a new printer). Ideally it would need to be wireless, only require two cartridges which we can upgrade to XL size and be compatible with Windows 7 ( two netbooks running on this OS which are the family machines).

Anything fitting the bill which we've found here in Sligo gets really bad reviews online...

Can anyone recommend something which will suit?

Thanks!
Michael

Firblog

Don't know of any HP Printers that have 2 inks, using 3 seperate ones makes more sense IMO, check out this

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/uk/en/sm/WF06b/18972-18972-238444-410635-410635-4021933-4134811.html

or failing that try the 4500 / 6500 / 8500 all-in-ones; the 8500 takes a cartridge that prints 2000+ pages for roughly €30, brilliant value.

I wouldn't print any photos on a home printer, go to a photoshop/chemist, should be better value for high volumes...

Stinicker

Firblog wrote: »

Don't know of any HP Printers that have 2 inks, using 3 seperate ones makes more sense IMO, check out this

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/uk/en/sm/WF06b/18972-18972-238444-410635-410635-4021933-4134811.html

or failing that try the 4500 / 6500 / 8500 all-in-ones; the 8500 takes a cartridge that prints 2000+ pages for roughly €30, brilliant value.

I wouldn't print any photos on a home printer, go to a photoshop/chemist, should be better value for high volumes...

It also works out cheaper and is better quality than printing at home, I have an older HP Photosmart C3180 which I bought in 2007 and it works a dream, perfect for documents and the odd photo too, I can get the cartridges refilled for €12 and it takes just colour and blank ink, the best thing is that the cartridge contains the printhead so everytime I buy a new cartridge I get a new print head.

My last two printers before this were an OKI and Canon both of which had a permanent print head and took four ink tanks, they used to cost a fortune both for new tanks and to refill, and in both cases eventually the printhead went and a new printhead would cost €150+, 11 months after buying the Canon in 2006 that cost €280 the print head went and a new one was €150 and the warranty wouldn't cover it! Screw Canon and any printer with a permanent ink head.

Get a HP and full disposable cartridges with the head built in, the printer then will live as long as you can buy cartridges for it and like my OKI which I was since 1998 I eventually couldn't get ink tanks and when the head dried out it was curtains.

varney

Thanks to both of ye...

Great to get any kind of advice from people on this frustrating subject. Anyone I talk to seems to either have an old printer which works well or have gone through several of the newer ones and are in the same boat as me.

From what I can see the older technology printers were sold at full price but gave good results and weren't ink hogs. Seems the printer manufacturers have all circled the wagons and the object of the exercise now is to milk the customer for every penny then can on ink.

The fact that they keep re-chipping the cartridges to try and put the little ink refill places out of business is testament to this practice.

Thanks,
Michael.

In The Sticks

varney wrote: »

We've been going around in circles trying to find a good printer for the family this last few weeks! We need an all in one which will print mainly documents with the odd photo every now and then....

It seems HP are one of the better brands which everyone leans towards as all their cartridges are refillable ( as opposed to our Lexmark which is why we're looking for a new printer). Ideally it would need to be wireless, only require two cartridges which we can upgrade to XL size and be compatible with Windows 7 ( two netbooks running on this OS which are the family machines).

Anything fitting the bill which we've found here in Sligo gets really bad reviews online...

Just be very careful with the 'refil's' if you are going to print photo's, quality is never the same as the orginial ink, I recently got a 'Canon MP610' in PC World, 100% picture quality, text documents top class, It also has a photocopier and scanner.

TheMart

I was in the same situation but a friend of mine had told me of a deal that Cartridge Green are doing where you get a wireless printer and all of your ink for a year for about €169 (I think there was an option of a wired printer for less but can't remember) All I have to do now is take my cartridges in when they are empty and they just fill them. I have tried printing photos (among other things) and they seem perfectly fine to me, probably not as good as you would get from a photo lab but my untrained eye can't tell the difference. Here's a link to the website so you can see for yourself. www.cartridgegreen.ie. Hope this is as useful to you as it was for me.

Kgrant1

I would advise you to go with something by either Epson or HP.
It is true that most newer printers use 3 separate colour inks whereas before they used just one. This is better value in the long run as it means individual colours can be changed as they run out. Before you purchase, it is a good idea to find out what ink your potential printer will use, and price this online-you should have the printer for several years so the replacement ink is the true cost!