Good cheapish multifunction printer

JohnK

Anyone know of a good standalone multifunction printer in the €100-ish region? I need something for my parents who'd need the scanning/copying ability but at the same time it wouldnt be used all that much. Ideally though it'd be handy to print off the odd photo as well so I dont want something too cheap.

Any suggestions?

thanks

yoyo

Cheap Epson Here In Argos. There are cheaper MFPs ones in Argos, but with this one you can replace the full set of inks for €14 here. Its wireless too.

Nick

JohnK

Thanks yoyo, I'll take a look at that one

The Toff

They've fine ones in Eason's upstairs of all places. I got an Epson scanner/printer/copier for 30 euro, with ink included. It is perfect. Works better than the 60 euro Canon printer I had last year. Text recognition on scanned documents is great, really nice scanner.

yoyo

The Toff wrote: »

They've fine ones in Eason's upstairs of all places. I got an Epson scanner/printer/copier for 30 euro, with ink included. It is perfect. Works better than the 60 euro Canon printer I had last year. Text recognition on scanned documents is great, really nice scanner.

I agree the Epsons are pritty good, also the trick is to buy a model where you can pick up remanufactured ink cheap enough, some of the newer models have no compatibles atm so will cost a fortune replacing with original Epson carts

Nick

The Toff

yoyo wrote: »

I agree the Epsons are pritty good, also the trick is to buy a model where you can pick up remanufactured ink cheap enough, some of the newer models have no compatibles atm so will cost a fortune replacing with original Epson carts

Nick

I used to refill the ink on Canon cartridges myself, until a software update wouldn't accept cartridges that had been refilled. That sucked.

Cork24

yoyo wrote: »

Cheap Epson Here In Argos. There are cheaper MFPs ones in Argos, but with this one you can replace the full set of inks for €14 here. Its wireless too.

Nick

Please note Epson have a Count down Timer on their Printers which when you hit a number of pages it will give off an Error asking you to get it a services all you need is a free Driver which will reset the Timer on the dam thing

yoyo

Cork24 wrote: »

Please note Epson have a Count down Timer on their Printers which when you hit a number of pages it will give off an Error asking you to get it a services all you need is a free Driver which will reset the Timer on the dam thing

Never come accross this

Nick

sdanseo

Not a fan of Epsons - any I've used have seemed cheap and had reliability issues.

Always used a HP as my printer/scanner crowd, although avoid the very cheap ones - have a C4480 multifunction here which was reduced to €39.99 in PCW and only the scanner works 2 years later.

The new wireless range of HP multifunction machines seem to get very good reviews though, a mate of mine got one for around €79, wifi printing, copier, scanner, printer etc.

Cork24

yoyo wrote: »

Cork24 wrote: »

Please note Epson have a Count down Timer on their Printers which when you hit a number of pages it will give off an Error asking you to get it a services all you need is a free Driver which will reset the Timer on the dam thing

Never come accross this

Nick

I have have a Epson photo. Also a canon which I just love few people asked me to fix there Epson with the same issue Google it

evilmonkee

+1 on the epson.

you can usually buy cheaper printers but when you take into account the price of ink, epson usually works out well.

However, most cartridge refill places don't/cant refill epson ink cartridge, but they are quite cheap to buy.

Just be careful as some epson's require you to have software installed to change the cartridge and such. They give you the software but its not much use if your running an unsupported OS (and don't want to / know how to run a VM) or if you lose the disk and don't want to have to find and download the software.

MrFrisp

JohnK wrote: »

Thanks yoyo, I'll take a look at that one

As far as I know,SoundStore are doing a HP 3-in-1 for just under €50.

Third one down on the link,,and it's wireless...

http://www.soundstore.ie/computers-printers.html

Might be worth looking at.





.

JohnK

Thanks everyone, plenty to look at there

iGenius

Do not buy an Epson printer! Cartridges are NOT cheap, they are some of the most expensive on the market and the page yields are very low. 200-300 pages Black and Colour for €40 quid.. Compatible cartridges are available but can be problematic. Epson are very pro-active in developing software which makes third party cartridges a pain in the arse. 'Cartridge not recognised' messages etc. If you're patient they will eventually work, but not worth the hassle in my opinion. Quality is also an issue. Compatibles do not deliver ink to the printhead in the same complex way as the patented original cartridge. Epson haven't made a good printer for about 5 years. Unless you like buying ink cartridges, avoid at all costs.

Look at the Canon MG5150 - It's not wireless, but wifi printers can be problematic - particularly for elderly people or technophobes! Canon make some of the best inkjet printers out there. Compatibles are available and are a lot more reliable than Epson. (Buy online) They can also be refilled. You can do it yourself, just buy a PGI-525/526 resetter online. FAR superior to any Epson printer out there. They're around €100

The HP Photosmart Wifi printer is great value, but cartridges will be more expensive than the Canon. Compatibles with a functioning chip are not available at the moment.. The chip should be cracked soon though.

You should note that all of the above printers use touchscreens to copy/scan etc. They can be tricky things for people to figure out (particularly elderly people). Also, printers are designed to be used. Leaving them sitting for long periods of time will cause printhead issues.

If you want info on printers without touchscreens, give me a shout..

MrFrisp

Off the top of My head,,it's €23.00 or so for the colour ink for the HP Photosmart.

It's €17.00 for the black ones.

We have the older type F380,,not wireless,,but I re-fill the ink Myself....Saves a small fortune over the years that you have it..

Fantastic advice,iGenius.. :cool:





.

yoyo

iGenius wrote: »

Do not buy an Epson printer! Cartridges are NOT cheap, they are some of the most expensive on the market and the page yields are very low. 200-300 pages Black and Colour for €40 quid.. Compatible cartridges are available but can be problematic. Epson are very pro-active in developing software which makes third party cartridges a pain in the arse. 'Cartridge not recognised' messages etc. If you're patient they will eventually work, but not worth the hassle in my opinion. Quality is also an issue. Compatibles do not deliver ink to the printhead in the same complex way as the patented original cartridge. Epson haven't made a good printer for about 5 years. Unless you like buying ink cartridges, avoid at all costs.

Agreed but new generations of Epson compatibles are constantly being made to combat this issue. Thats why I linked to a Epson aio which has compatibles available. You can't beat epson for cheap ink, my R360 which is old now I can pick up a full set of ink for €6, usually with compatibles cartridge not recognised means to replace that ink, its no big deal.

I have have a Epson photo. Also a canon which I just love few people asked me to fix there Epson with the same issue Google it

I have an Epson photo R360 for years and never had any such issue. Have had relatives who had problems with Canons in the past, no printer is perfect but Epsons are cheap and re manufactured ink are cheap, and get cheaper the older the printer is.
Fwiw its worth I've had a R200, R360 and my parents have a SX525W I think it is, no issues with countdown timers, my guess is its something to do with the waste ink tray getting full, which can happen if you run too many cleaning procedures at once, but like I said never been an issue for me, and I use the printer fairly regularly, plus used it to print my thesis out 3 times

Nick