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Home printers rank pretty much as my most hated item of equipment known to man, however I need one.
Requires a scanner of some description.
Doesn't have to do duplex.
Would like ease of connection from any device.
Doesn't have to be super cheap, but would like reasonably priced ink - are these ones with the refillable tanks any good?
They are never going to be an ideal solution for photo printing, but I would like to be able to print a half decent pic occasionally.
Can't be huge, as it sits on the breakfast bar.
Ta
I wouldn't usually post, but as it's been nearly an hour without reply I thought OP could do with a bump, even if it's just people telling me I'm wrong.
It's part of my job to recommend IT equipment to people, anything from a mouse to a completely new network.
We will not, ever, not once - recommend or sell a printer.
They are all crap, they all break, the ink will always cost a fortune, you’ll never buy more than 2 sets because by then it will be broken. Buy whatever is on special offer, or find a way to do away with physical documents if you can.
In my office we use about the best of a bad bunch – it’s a Xerox ColorQube solid ink printer it too big for home use. It takes an age to warm up for the first print, but after that it’s very quick, makes excellent quality prints quickly and efficiently – the solid ink comes in blocks of wax, not cartridges which massively reduces waste. They’re expensive to buy, but cheap to run and should have taken the market by storm – but the market seems see the cost of everything and the value of nothing so buy cheap machines that are expensive to run and break down a lot, so they’re not popular. The printer only version is £400ish, a 3-1 is thousands.
They are all crap, they all break, the ink will always cost a fortune, you’ll never buy more than 2 sets because by then it will be broken.
Sorry, but in my experience, for home use, this isn't true. My current HP has lasted several years and still works well.
Personally, I rate Brother printers, and next time I get one I'll definitely be getting a WiFi / Bluetooth model.
Had a HP Envy 4520 for about a year now and it has not missed a beat yet.
Wireless so simple to set up and can connect most stuff in seconds, including phones tabs and cameras (photo printing is pretty good too).
Can scan to an email address, email the printer documents from afar,
it's like magic compared to the old Epson that it replaced!
Also, the full capacity ink carts last a good while and always seem to be on offer somewhere when I need them.
Edit, the printer was only fifty quid,too.
Just been in the same boat and after reading about a million reviews I bought an Epson Expression Premium XP-530. Seemed the lesser evil of all options with most modern features and sub £70, so I can print from my phone and scan in old photos etc. But the ink refils are eye wateringly expensive, but then again aren't they all!
The HP uses all in one colour cartridges - separate ones would be better
P-Jay - Membereven if it's just people telling me I'm wrong.
Told you.
I acquired an ex-office HP LaserJet off someone on here for nothing (apart from going to collect it) about five years ago. What a simple life I have printer-wise versus the bad old days of expensive inkjet cartridges that dry out if you don't use them. I wouldn't go back now, even if it is only monochrome.
Work was chucking out some colour laser printers recently, I had one of those for the mother-in-law, it didn't do duplex and I need that. She is very happy with it.
+1 for a laser printer. Much cheaper running costs, and more reliable than inkjet.
Though they are usually rather big. And not exactly great photo quality, but cheap enough to get photos printed elsewhere as required.
I don't know about you guys, but the reliability of inkjets has come on a bit since 10 years ago. I'm not sure about the running costs of laserjets being cheap either, but I haven't looked for 10+ years. Show me where you can get a colour laser for £50-70 with refills being £20-£30 and I'll buy one.
I bought a HP Envy for my mother and it is really good! Ink's don't dry out and are relatively cheap, Airprints, scans, etc. I have been tempted to buy one myself, but I think I only really need to print things about once a year.
Show me where you can get a colour laser for £50-70 with refills being £20-£30 and I'll buy one.
It's not as eye-watering as you might think. HP do a colour LaserJet for about £130. Toner isn't cheap, but you'll get thousands of pages out of a cartridge.
I tend to buy Canon and they've lasted years.
I have separate photo printers and scanners though, so can't recommend a particular model.
I buy whichever has cheap replacement cartridges available from 7dayshop.
There are a few canon models that come with XL capacity ink cartridges too, which makes changes less frequent.
Love mine.
I have a £35 pixma of some sort from Tesco, it's been grand tbh. Pictures aren't that great, you wouldn't really want to put one on your wall, but tbh, I just didn't think it was worth spending money for photo printing since it's cheaper to just get one done by an actual photo place, when I want one. Wireless turned out to be unexpectedly useful, the scanner is decent enough, and the ink is fairly reasonable. All I wanted.
All printers are arseholes though when it gets right down to it
Another laser fan here. Brother from John Lewis for £100. 2 year warranty. Refills are more expensive but unless you are a heavy user you won't need one for a couple of years. Use a camera for scanning and pop down to boots if you want a photo printed
Agree most are crap that have had in the past. Asked same question a couple of years back and got a Canon MG5500 via lots recommending here, which has been okay, only played silly buggers once and it was because I forgot to re-sync it with a new router we had, fine again once done. Bought bulk copy cartridges off ebay cheap which work fine too.
Another Brother fan here. If you really need inkjet colourquality then I would look at hp instant ink to control costs otherwise colour laser ftw
Epson L355 Had it a couple of years, uses refillable tanks, ink lasts about 2 years without refill, I haven't had to touch mine from new, but I don't print an awful lot. Still working well, or I wouldn't recommend.
Every consumer level inkjet printer I've ever had has broken not long after the warranty has expired Epson, HP, Cannon, Lexmark etc. They were all in competition of seeing who could get the least amount of ink in their cartridges for the highest price!
If we are brand whoring, at consumer level, I'd say Brother seem to be the best of a bad lot at the moment.
Commercial, laser goes without saying, Oki.
Definitely get a laser printer.
I used to have a huge HP color laser printer with a 250 sheet feed tray. Sounded like a tumble dryer as it turned the toner cartridges. Brilliant work horse for many years at home. Made the mistake of buying a non-brand cartridge that tore off some of the mounting lugs in a toner caddy. Replaced it with a £60 Dell colour LED 'laser' printer from Tesco a few years ago. Pretty good. Not as fast but good for home use. And a lot smaller and quieter.
I bought an Epson inkjet/scanner for the scanner side. Used the printer side once for a photo. OK. Next time the ink had dried out and I'd rather just get a professional photo print and keep using the Dell laser for printing duties.