What printer to buy?

[Carl Fimble 11,697]

Our printer died a few weeks ago and I've got stuff to print.

No idea what to buy, looking for cheap, with cheap ink, mostly just black and white but some colour printing but not fancy photo printing. 

Not too bothered by fanciness, and I'm working on the idea that it'll die within 2-5 years, so want cheap upfront, don't do loads of printing so ink cost isn't so much of an issue, any questions just let me know.

Cheers!

 

Edited October 30, 2020 by Carl Fimble
Sp

[MrPin 20,595]

I've had luck with the Canon printers. Check you have an ink well for each colour, so you get five. Cheap to replace the ink.

[nirvana 2,945]

All ink printers are shite cos they block up when you haven't used em for a few months... complete PITA when you come to need em

I'd look for a second hand laser printer...

Actually this one doesn't look too expensive @£70 https://www.argos.co.uk/product/7833146

 

[Carl Fimble 11,697]

17 minutes ago, MrPin said:

I've had luck with the Canon printers. Check you have an ink well for each colour, so you get five. Cheap to replace the ink.

Just read a post from @The Masked Tulip where he was recommending a Canon, I looked it up and it seems it's unavailable, or £100+. I like the separate colour inks though, that sounds a better idea than the separate black and all in one colour cartridges. 

[MrPin 20,595]

I don't know what's available now @Carl Fimble. This old Canon rocks, and can even print on white label CD's/DVD's if you need that?

[Carl Fimble 11,697]

5 minutes ago, MrPin said:

I don't know what's available now @Carl Fimble. This old Canon rocks, and can even print on white label CD's/DVD's if you need that?

Nah, it's just for invoices and things really, and printing copies of things I've taken photos of- driving licences and such like. We probably only print, god knows- 10-30 sheets a month.

The more features the better, but it doesn't need a scanner, photocopier or disc printing, WiFi would be handy but I'd be alright about plugging it in.

[MrPin 20,595]

A photocopier is a handy thing, and seems to get included for nothing. I agree with @The Masked Tulip. Canon do the job.

[onlyme 12,049]

Bought a colour HP laserjet -100  M175 s/h, scanner facility, been very reliable and under £100, small format as toner cartridges are on carousel, cartridges are cheap too. Replaced  Brother inkjet with crappy build that kept on having paper feed issues. Will never buy another consumer grade pile of junk again.

[The Masked Tulip 57,113]

1 hour ago, Carl Fimble said:

Just read a post from @The Masked Tulip where he was recommending a Canon, I looked it up and it seems it's unavailable, or £100+. I like the separate colour inks though, that sounds a better idea than the separate black and all in one colour cartridges. 

 

I think Cannon has gone down the route of 2 cartridges again - 1 for black, 1 for colours as that is the money earner for them. You can still find that printer out there, or slightly newer models which usually just have a slightly higher model number, but they are getting rare.

Currys, Argos and Tesco used to alternate selling them for £50 as opposed for £100ish. You could try Currys ebay store. Or you might pick one up in a big Tesco.

 

[Democorruptcy 10,714]

I have a Canon Pixma but will never buy another. When I turn it on, it's whirring away for ages and seems to be emptying the 2 print cartridges just thinking about printing something. I suppose it's partly because I don't use it much so the print heads need some juice.

 

[Rave 2,088]

I like Epsons personally; the print head is attached to the printer, and so the cartridges are just small tanks of ink which makes knockoff ones dirt cheap on ebay, often less than a pound each. It is often possible to refill the cartridges that have the print head built in, as per Canon, HP, Lexmark etc., but it's usually a messy job.

As with all other inkjets the Epsons gum up if you don't use them; I had to regularly attack my old one with wads of kitchen roll soaked in nail polish remover, and eventually even that didn't work. My newer one has only needed that treatment once so far, though I think it now needs it again. I've had it for well over 5 years though, and it still prints black absolutely fine, just does a poor job of colours.

[Lipid 927]

I only print things very occasionally.  I have owned three inkjet printers over the last 25 odd years - an HP and two Epsons. They all printed OK, but if not used for a long time, it would take ages and use loads of ink to unblock the nozzles.  In the end, I couldn't unblock the nozzles of my last printer, so I chucked it out and printed stuff at work.

Eventually, I wanted my own printer again, and remembering the curse of blocked nozzles, I took the plunge and bought a colour laser printer (a Brother HL-3150CDW) for 110 quid off Amazon.

I made the right decision.  Four years later, I'm still using the toner cartridges supplied with it.  It sits under a dust cover for weeks at a time waiting for something to print, and when it does, it just works.  No more blocked nozzles to clean.  It's wireless, so the only cable going in to it is the mains power cable.

When the toner cartridges finally run out, I'll just buy a new colour laser printer as it will work out cheaper.   I'll never buy another inkjet printer.

It appears that the cheapest colour laser printers on Amazon at the moment are about 140 quid, but if you only want it for occasionaly printing, don't even consider an inkjet printer - buy a laser printer instead.

[Snark 1,496]

23 hours ago, Carl Fimble said:

Just read a post from @The Masked Tulip where he was recommending a Canon, I looked it up and it seems it's unavailable, or £100+. I like the separate colour inks though, that sounds a better idea than the separate black and all in one colour cartridges. 

Well yes, because when you print black (to save your colour cartridge), the printers add cyan to the print, so that the colour cartridge also gets used up. It's not uncommon to find colour cartridges which are "empty" only on the cyan, and yet you have to replace it or the printer refuses to work.

Also

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHX6tHdQGiQ
 

Edited October 31, 2020 by Snark

[Democorruptcy 10,714]

13 hours ago, Rave said:

I like Epsons personally; the print head is attached to the printer, and so the cartridges are just small tanks of ink which makes knockoff ones dirt cheap on ebay, often less than a pound each. It is often possible to refill the cartridges that have the print head built in, as per Canon, HP, Lexmark etc., but it's usually a messy job.

As with all other inkjets the Epsons gum up if you don't use them; I had to regularly attack my old one with wads of kitchen roll soaked in nail polish remover, and eventually even that didn't work. My newer one has only needed that treatment once so far, though I think it now needs it again. I've had it for well over 5 years though, and it still prints black absolutely fine, just does a poor job of colours.

With my Canon I bought some cheap cartridges but then messed about putting the chips in them from the original cartridges to make the printer think they were from Canon. I didn't bother last time so now I get nagged with warnings about the ink being non-Canon and I think it uses more as a punishment.

[Libspero 14,685]

Another vote for canon..  but to be honest I think most are much of a muchness.  I've had mine 5 years or so,  no issues with blocked jets,  knock off cartridges cheap as chips (literally,  got a box of about 20 of each colour on amazon the other day for a grand total of £20.

[Rare Bear 2,490]

On 30/10/2020 at 23:12, Lipid said:

I only print things very occasionally.  I have owned three inkjet printers over the last 25 odd years - an HP and two Epsons. They all printed OK, but if not used for a long time, it would take ages and use loads of ink to unblock the nozzles.  In the end, I couldn't unblock the nozzles of my last printer, so I chucked it out and printed stuff at work.

Eventually, I wanted my own printer again, and remembering the curse of blocked nozzles, I took the plunge and bought a colour laser printer (a Brother HL-3150CDW) for 110 quid off Amazon.

I made the right decision.  Four years later, I'm still using the toner cartridges supplied with it.  It sits under a dust cover for weeks at a time waiting for something to print, and when it does, it just works.  No more blocked nozzles to clean.  It's wireless, so the only cable going in to it is the mains power cable.

When the toner cartridges finally run out, I'll just buy a new colour laser printer as it will work out cheaper.   I'll never buy another inkjet printer.

It appears that the cheapest colour laser printers on Amazon at the moment are about 140 quid, but if you only want it for occasionaly printing, don't even consider an inkjet printer - buy a laser printer instead.

Same as that. I generally print very little so that ink jets get dried up. My monitor decided to die just before Christmas in 2001. Naturally I waited until the January sales to buy a new one. Went to PC world. I was amazed to get a flat screen monitor for £200. You'd consider it crap now but that was a bargain. Picked up another few bits and pieces and then spotted  Brother laser printer for £200. Took that too, seemed another real bargain.

Squeezed the whole lot into the Elise, had to drive all the way home in second gear.

The printer, a mono, is still working fine, has worked on all versions on Windows up to and including 7 and is now happily running on a Linux box. I've just bought it's third cartridge. That is it came with one and I've bought two more from on line refillers. Bets £200 I've ever spent on anything computer related. If I ever have to replace it I'll look for a Brother colour laser.