Printer choice

[AstralTraveller]

I'm wondering about what printer/scanner to buy. We have an old inkjet printer that we find a bit expensive to run. At the same time our scanner has died, so it seems logical to buy a printer scanner combo. The printer only need to be B&W as plain text is 90%++ of our printing and we still have the colour inkjet if needed.

I had though I'd get a laser as they are supposed to be cheaper to run but when I got to the store things weren't that simple. First prices ranged from <$100 to >$400 with the lasers towards the upper end (of course). You can buy a bit of ink for $300. Then there is the claim by some inkjet makers that their products are actually cheaper to run than laser printers.

Rather than wade through a mire of market research I though some of the good folk on IIS may already know the facts.

thanks,
David

[MrB]

I went laser, nothing fancy, just one of those that goes for $89 when the sales are on.
It is a Xerox, got it from DSE about two years ago. Doesn't have a scanner tho.
Dunno how many prints I've got from it so far(I'm a light user) but I'm still going on the original toner cartridge supplied.
Xerox claims the cartridge is good for ~5000 pages of average print density(text)... try doing that with a bubblejet on the supplied ink!
When it runs out I'm just going to buy a new printer.
(and strip the old one for parts ;) )

[DavidU]

I find if you take a few zeros off the claimed cartridge life it is more accurate

[MrB]

A few zero's?
I'm way beyond 50 already, more like a few hundred. Even with one zero removed it'll do better than any ink printer I've ever had.
But then I do only print text(datasheets mainly), and the occasional PCB layout, never print pictures, cheap lasers are pretty useless for that anyway.

[RAJAH235]

David....
Hardly Normal's? @ Warrawong did have a Canon multi (3) unit on sale for $49.00 a week ago.
May still have them?
Not sure if bubble jet or ?

[Barrykgerdes]

I use a HP C5280 as it is the cheapest printer that will print on CD's and I can use the scanner as a backup to my old Genius scanner. Cost works out at about 50 cents per disk for ink but photo printing can be about 10 times the price of the local print shops. I very seldom use it for normal document printing. I also found that rarely used inkjets tend to deliver only about 1/10 of their listed capacity. The reason for this is the head cleaning operation that occurs after the printer has been idle for some time uses an immense amount of ink.

I use a Minolta Magicolor laser for normal printing. The cost of supplies and depreciation on the laser printer works out at 12.5 cents per page. I print out manuals on the the laser and bind them with heavy duty staples. I am on my third set of cartridges after about 10000 sheets. A set of cartridges cost around $300 from the discounters (7 cents per sheet). The drum supposedly does 45000 copies but mine ran out at about 10000. I discovered the drum usage also includes warm up operations which with intermitent operation will greatly reduce its listed life. The default print setting is colour. If you are only printing in B/W make sure you set it to B/W. It prints quicker, saves colour toner and drum life and of course prints much quicker.

HOWEVER when my drum passed its use by number the printer would not work at all. Most annoying because I was in the middle of a print run with no spare drum. Preliminary inspection of the drum showed nothing obvious as a counting device but closer inspection revealed a small fuse under a couple of contacts. It was O/C. I exchanged it for a new one out of my fuse box and I now have a fully operational printer again with no degradation in quality.

My laser printer cost $1000 when I bought it. You can now get colour lasers for less than $200.

Here is a sample of the manuals I print (50 years out of copyright)

Barry

[GTB_an_Owl]

i've been using brother printers for a while, simply because they have individual cartridges and the cartridges are not "chipped" which allows you to use substitutes like calidad cartridges

geoff

[GeoffW1]

Hi,

This Geoff does too. It must be a Geoff thing. Never had any problem with the generic ink.

Is there any other brand which will take them now?

Cheers

[GTB_an_Owl]

not off the top of my head Geoff

but calidad are now able to supply some "chipped" cartridges

geoff

[Ian Robinson]

I'm running a Epsun Stylus CX6500, it's a printer combo and has served me very well for several years (about 8 years) .
The scanner part has finally packed it in but it still works OK as a printer.
I found it very economical to run - getting several hundred pages of text from the black ink cartridges and the colours seem to last ages.
I've a policy to use only original replacement ink cartridges ... the results are better.

I'm seriously considering buying a new printer combo. I like this printer combo as my most likely replacement ... https://www.epson.com.au/products/multifunctional/StylusPhotoTX710W_specs.asp
just not sure about running costs 6 cartridge colour printing cf 4 cartrdge colour printing.

I've used Canon printers and are not impressed with them , same with HP (even less impressed) , never owned a Canon or HP printer.

[Alderney]

Hi Guys.
I have an older Epson Photo R210 and do quite a bit photo printing, this was costing me a fortune in ink cartridges so I did a web search for a cheaper solution and found Rihac Digital Solutions in Ascot Vale Victoria.
Their web site is http://www.rihac.com.au/
This is a continuous ink supply system. They support Epson, Canon, Brother and HP printers. For me the initial set up was a few dollars more than buying a set of Epson cartridges, but the amount of ink you get is about the same as buying 60 cartridges instead of 6. As to the quality of the printing, my daughter has just purchased the same printer that Ian is looking at, and its a beauty Ian. We both printed the same picture of my grandaughter and side by side there was no difference.
So if any of you are looking to save a heap on ink have a look at the Rihac site.
Needless to say, I have nothing to do with Rihac. I like the product and the money it is saving me.

[gman]

I use 2 printers.

I have a HP C5280 for any and all colour printing.
Use it for the one off photo that my wife needed an hour ago.
As Barry mentioned, it has a scanner built into it.
To tell the truth, this does not get used all that much due to the cost of the ink catridges.

I also use a Brother HL-2142 for just about all our printing needs.
As I have a son at Uni doing accounting, this little machine gets a constant workout.

I also have a Brother 8360P Fax that I can use to easily copy anything

[mithrandir]

I have a Canon colour laser. We picked it because the price was right, it duplexes, and a full set of high capacity cartridges are only about the same price as the printer. It may not produce photo images as good as a high end inkjet on gloss paper, but it does produce an A4 photo at 600dpi in about a minute.

The only complaint is the Ethernet card for it is several hundred dollars.

[Robh]

I won't use a laser printer for the reason that the jury is still out on whether airborne toner particles are genotoxic.
I don't like combos because there is more likelihood something will make the unit inoperable. Stand-alone printers and scanners are relatively cheap these days.
I've used Canon, Epson and HPs on two computers at home and found the Canon the most reliable with the cheapest replacement cartridges overall.
Also, I don't think its worth printing your own photos when its so cheap to use one of the big store photo-processing stations.

Regards, Rob

[Glenhuon]

I'll second Dave on the Rihac continuous feed system. Just bought one for my Canon MP630 and it works a treat. Cost was $160 but considering that a set of cartridges with only 10ml in each is $115 locally, it should save me a lot since I do a fair bit of colour printing.

Bill