printer for home use

AKBill

AKBill

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AKBill
Hi everyone, I'm very disgusted with my home printer. It's an HP1510 laser jet. Don't get me wrong it prints fine but the cost of ink is crazy. I think its over $60 to replace the color and black cartridges. Probably bought ink so far that totals 3 or 4 times the new cost of the printer.

What printer should I look at that does not require the use of expensive ink cartridges.

Thanks
 
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If you aren’t tied to using color, a Brother or other laser printer might be a good option. Toner cartridges last a long time for the price.
 
Matthew said:
If you aren’t tied to using color, a Brother or other laser printer might be a good option. Toner cartridges last a long time for the price.
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Second, a Brother laser printer. Got sick of buying colored ink we rarely used and having to constantly clean the printer head before getting a decent result. Bought a Brother laser printer and would highly recommend one. I never was overly impressed with the colors from an inkjet and 99.9% of our printing was black and white anyway.
 
Witmo said:
Second, a Brother laser printer. Got sick of buying colored ink we rarely used and having to constantly clean the printer head before getting a decent result. Bought a Brother laser printer and would highly recommend one. I never was overly impressed with the colors from an inkjet and 99.9% of our printing was black and white anyway.
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Likewise. I've had a Canon B&W laser printer for six years now and it's been reliable and efficient.
 
I love my Brother HL-L6200DW laser printer (B&W). Printer cost is ~ $300.
Toner is way cheaper than ink.
 
AKBill said:
Hi everyone, I'm very disgusted with my home printer. It's an HP1510 laser jet. Don't get me wrong it prints fine but the cost of ink is crazy. I think its over $60 to replace the color and black cartilages. Probably bought ink so far that totals 3 or 4 times the new cost of the printer.

What printer should I look at that does not require the use of expensive ink cartilages.

Thanks
Click to expand...

You have a laser printer that uses ink cartridges? :confused2:
 
AKBill said:
Hi everyone, I'm very disgusted with my home printer. It's an HP1510 laser jet. Don't get me wrong it prints fine but the cost of ink is crazy. I think its over $60 to replace the color and black cartilages. Probably bought ink so far that totals 3 or 4 times the new cost of the printer.

What printer should I look at that does not require the use of expensive ink cartilages.

Thanks
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I got some new cartilages for my knee and insurance covered it all.:rofl: Couldn't resist. I got no useful answer to your question so I'll just exit stage right
 
AKBill said:
Hi everyone, I'm very disgusted with my home printer. It's an HP1510 laser jet. Don't get me wrong it prints fine but the cost of ink is crazy. I think its over $60 to replace the color and black cartilages. Probably bought ink so far that totals 3 or 4 times the new cost of the printer.

What printer should I look at that does not require the use of expensive ink cartilages.

Thanks
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That's an inkjet printer. I use an HP laserjet laser printer. It has been reliable and the toner cartridges last a long time and don't dry out, either. The toner run around $60 each color, but I bought them a couple of years ago.
 
Another vote for a Brother laser printer. B&W.

Color laser printers would be twice as much. But it appears that color toner doesn't dry up quite as quickly as the color ink on an ink-jet printer.

Edit: at Church, we have an HP color laser printer (HP Color Laser Jet MFP M281fdw) that performs quite nicely. Might be overkill for home use.
 
Bob Noel said:
Another vote for a Brother laser printer. B&W.

Color laser printers would be twice as much. But it appears that color toner doesn't dry up quite as quickly as the color ink on an ink-jet printer.
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Color toner doesn't dry up at all, which is one reason I went to laser printing. It's always ready.
 
I really don't need a color printer most everything I print is black and white
 
I have a brother inkjet ("Inkvestment" -- cheap cartridges that last awhile) and a Brother black and white laser. Both have been fine, both are cheap as chips to run, and haven't given any trouble. They "just work"

The inkjet is a J985dw, the laser is a 2395dw; I think both are about 4 generations behind now, and they keep soldiering on.

If you don't need color, get a brother laser printer and have done.
 
AKBill said:
Hi everyone, I'm very disgusted with my home printer. It's an HP1510 laser jet. Don't get me wrong it prints fine but the cost of ink is crazy. I think its over $60 to replace the color and black cartridges. Probably bought ink so far that totals 3 or 4 times the new cost of the printer.

What printer should I look at that does not require the use of expensive ink cartridges.

Thanks
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Buy anything but HP. I'm in a similar boat... I paid for HP Instant Ink subscription for the last 1.5 years (cost me over 100$). During that time they sent me 4 sets of replacement cartridges that I never used since I print about 1 page per month. I cancelled Instant Ink service and discovered the printer now rejects any instant ink cartridge if your subscription is no longer active. The one I was using plus the 4 sets they mailed me are now unusable. It's absolutely absurd.

FWIW, my brother is an absolute techno-geek-freak and he advises buying Brother printers b/c they're basic, reliable and don't have any kind of weird pricing shenanigan's like HP.

Short story: No HP products :mad:
 
AKBill said:
I really don't need a color printer most everything I print is black and white
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I can't remember the Brother model I have (HL-L2380DW, I just looked it up). It's one of those all-in-one copier and scanner printers. Does double-sided printing very well. Next one I get will probably have a feeder for the scanner, right now it's a one page at a time deal.

The toner cartridges aren't very expensive and last a long time. It connects to my home network wirelessly, which means I can use it from my phone if I pull up a PDF I want to print.

No problems in all the years I've had it.
 
You want a Brother laser wireless printer capable of double sided printing as a minimum, after that it’s just bells and whistles.
 
I'm using an old Cannon (MG 2520) inkjet printer. When the color cartridge ran out I set it to only print using the black cartridge. Printer & cartridges are inexpensive, available at Walmart or the net, and last a good amount of time as I don't do a lot of printing.

If I need a color page I just Wi-Fi over to the printer in the boss's office ...
 
Another vote for Brother, though my experience is only with the inkjets. And the specific models I've used over the years are no longer made, so only speaking to brands...

My first multifunction inkjet was an Epson. It ran the automatic cleaning cycle so frequently that ink cartridges only lasted two months or so, and if I was going through a period without much to print, it would sometimes run out WHEN I HADN'T PRINTED A SINGLE PAGE. This was the first functional printer I threw out. I couldn't bring myself to sell or donate it and saddle someone else with the problem.

My second multifunction inkjet was an HP, it was extremely noisy, both when it decided to run an automatic cleaning cycle, but also at random times when it just decided to start up and make loud machine noises for a few minutes. It lived in a home office that was an alcove off of the master bedroom, and since it woke us up several times a week, it became the second functional printer I threw out.

I've had the Brother for at least 5 years. Decent cartridge life, reasonably quiet, doesn't wake us up sounding like there is a garbage truck picking up steel trash cans right there in the alcove.

It can print two sided, has a document feeder, can scan, can accept both standard and high capacity ink cartridges, it's wireless...all features I use with some regularity.
 
Brothers are fine, but I vote for HP. I have a multifunction color laser with a scanner feed tray. I need to scan as much, if not more, than I need to print.
 
ArrowFlyer86 said:
Buy anything but HP. I'm in a similar boat... I paid for HP Instant Ink subscription for the last 1.5 years (cost me over 100$). During that time they sent me 4 sets of replacement cartridges that I never used since I print about 1 page per month. I cancelled Instant Ink service and discovered the printer now rejects any instant ink cartridge if your subscription is no longer active. The one I was using plus the 4 sets they mailed me are now unusable. It's absolutely absurd....
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:eek2: That sounds ripe for a class action lawsuit.
 
Same boat - need a printer, but don't use it frequent enough to keep the ink from clogging the head. Went with Brother color laser (HL-3140CW) several years ago and haven't had any problems. I keep a set of toner cartridges on hand in case I actually run one empty, but I have yet to have to replace one because it was gummed up.
 
Bill, they're right on. I have a brother LASER multi function. I can print cheap (the off brand toner is like $15 for thousands of pages) and it has a scanner/etc when I'm dealing with contracts and forms and saves me trips to town. they are way under $300, especially if you pick one up here in the mainland.
 
If you don't need to print pictures, a laser is always the better answer. I have a black and white Brother laser, and it's cheap, fast, and reliable. Yes the toner cartridges seem spendy at ~$60, but at ~3000 pages they last a long time (at my print volume).
 
I have a Brother 2170W wireless laser as a home network printer that works great. Off brand toner cartridges are like $40 for a 2 pack from Amazon, but they work fine. If I need a good color graphic, I just shoot a file to the local UPS store for very little $.
 
Downside of HP (and I have 4 but no more) HP has hardware/software that will reject 3rd party ink/toner. You're forced to use HP. My new printer is Brother. Which is why it's so difficult to find one these days.
 
There is a place in my area called “ Rapid Refill” which is descriptive.

It costs about 1/2 of Brand Name price.

I have a Canon portable copier for multiple b/w.

VERY slow but uses toner and is instantly ready where there is 110v.
 
Chip Sylverne said:
I have a Brother 2170W wireless laser as a home network printer that works great. Off brand toner cartridges are like $40 for a 2 pack from Amazon, but they work fine. If I need a good color graphic, I just shoot a file to the local UPS store for very little $.
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Me too.
 
Chip Sylverne said:
I have a Brother 2170W wireless laser as a home network printer that works great. Off brand toner cartridges are like $40 for a 2 pack from Amazon, but they work fine. If I need a good color graphic, I just shoot a file to the local UPS store for very little $.
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UPS? The brown truck shipping company does printing, I didn’t know that.
 
AKBill said:
What printer should I look at that does not require the use of expensive ink cartridges.
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As others have said, laser printers can be a good option because toner doesn't dry out (it's already dry) and clog. However, the price of toner cartridges can get expensive (the smaller the cartridge, the higher the price per page). And the drum is also an expensive wear item with a finite lifespan. Those two factors combined can make it more expensive than inkjets.

But, laser printers are not your only alternative. They make inkjet printers that use tanks instead of cartridges. When a tank runs low, you simply refill that color by pouring from an inexpensive bottle of ink. The Epson EcoTank series is the pioneer in this field, but I believe Canon and others also make tank-style inkjet printers now.
 
asicer said:
However, the price of toner cartridges can get expensive (the smaller the cartridge, the higher the price per page). And the drum is also an expensive wear item with a finite lifespan. Those two factors combined can make it more expensive than inkjets.
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Respectfully, that may be misleading.

@AKBill - I suggest compute your own price per printed page and draw your own conclusions regarding cost. If one can figure total cost per hour to operate an aircraft than one can surely compute total cost per printed page.
 
we have a canon and several brother lasers. some color and some just black
Laser is the way to go except we don't get great photo quality from them
 
I've had a Brother monochrome laser all in one also for six years. Only changed the toner once.
 
Epson EcoTank printers. Out IT team just did an evaluation on them for our remote office employees... After a year, they were the cheapest to keep with regards to the consumables and trouble free with great color reproduction.
 
I have a Canon TS5320. I hate buying the cartridges for the thing, and it's slower than I like, but man can it print beautiful photos. I might dedicate it to that and add on a B&W printer, but if I do I want something that can handle B-size sheets (11x17) for the occasional engineering documents I want to print.
 
AKBill said:
So the key is getting a printer that uses toner not ink?
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Yes. What everyone has said. Toner is a dry powder, plastic on the outside, that melts to the paper as part of the fusing process. Laser printers use toner.

Inkjet printers use ink, which is a liquid, and it eventually dries out and can cause the nozzles to jam.

Overall, per page, laser printers are cheaper, and they're much more tolerant of intermittent use.

Laser printers are more expensive overall, and the cost to buy toner and other consumables is higher, usually. Color laser printers are particularly expensive for the toner...I wouldn't be surprised if per page color laser could exceed per page color inkjet.

Laser printers have some disadvantages. They're not really portable. Moving them after the toner has been installed isn't a great idea. They're also not great in dusty environments, especially if the dust is conductive. They're pretty crappy for photos, generally speaking.

Old HP laserjets, 4 or earlier, are great, but I don't know if anyone still makes consumables for them. I wouldn't buy a newer HP. I did buy a new color Xerox, and so far it's been great. My last inkjet was a Canon, and it was great. Color photos were beautiful.
 
I ditched my HP after 10 years and last week bought an Epson ecotank series printer. So far so good. Much larger ink reservoir.

That said, you can buy much cheaper 3rd party ink for most printers on Amazon.
 
asicer said:
However, the price of toner cartridges can get expensive (the smaller the cartridge, the higher the price per page). And the drum is also an expensive wear item with a finite lifespan. Those two factors combined can make it more expensive than inkjets.
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Mongoose Aviator said:
Respectfully, that may be misleading.
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HP 141 laser toner cartridge: $50 for 950 pages
https://www.hp.com/us-en/shop/pdp/hp-141a-black-original-laserjet-toner-cartridge
HP 952XL inkjet cartridge: $50 for 2000 pages
https://www.hp.com/us-en/shop/pdp/hp-952xl-high-yield-black-original-ink-cartridge
 
I have never in my life used an inkjet printer that I thought was good- and I used a lot of them. In my experience the typical home user who only uses their printer occasionally is always going to be better off with the laser. Why? The ink dries out over time, often clogging the nozzle. You usually find out about this when you have some really important document that needs printed right now and you don't have any spare ink cartridges. This pretty much negates any argument about pages/cartridge... and aside from that you probably would like to be able to actually print on demand.

I've had two Samsung laser printers, one I bought in college and it lasted me over a decade. When it died I bought a Samsung color laser which has been going for maybe 8-ish years so far and still working. Infinitely better experience than any inkjets I ever used.

And that's not even getting into the borderline scam of ink cartridges. Seriously, there's a class-action lawsuit cooking against HP over an ink subscription scheme they were running. Go laser and never look back!
 
Thanks for all the information, I picked up on what to look for. We have a Fred Meyer, Costco and an Office Max here in Juneau, I'll start my search there.
 
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