Which printer?

top_drawer_2

hello,

I am looking at buying a new printer as mine has packed up... I went to Staples today and got chatting to a Sales Asst who suggested buying a all in one instead as these are apparently more cost-effective

The ones they had in store which were in my price range (around £100 absolute max) were EPSON DX8400, DX7400 and HP F2180. I am trying to be wary as I was stung last time with the price of ink carteridges.

Does anyone have any opinions on these models?

Jen

penrhyn

Tesco Direct were selling the HP C1820 for £49.95, it uses individual colour cartridges.
http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.200-2558.aspx

Sadly out of stock at the moment.

sho_me_da_money

Go for the Epson RX560

Amazon £92.00 but out of stock.

Very good printer and reviews are top. I researched this before buying one for our office last year.

The cartridges are expensive but if you look on eBay there is someone selling the legit Epson ones (contains all 6 required cartridges) for £23.00ish inc delivery

smileyjohn

We've just bought a canon Pixma 610 which I have to say is fabulous. You can print directly from memory card using the printers own display to crop and zoom and all sorts. The actual print quality is fabulous and the amount of control you have from the front panel, without using a PC is really useful.

Dabs are advertising them at about £105, but no stock. I've just bought compatible cartridges from Stinkyink for under £30 we were all delighted with the output. It took 1.4 minutes for a full A4 Photo - which we thought was good timing. Ordinary text printed quickly and good solid black.

We've got an Epson D120 which uses the same cartridges as the Epson all in ones, and I have to say I've been disapointed with the output, there are lines across the black and that is using original Epson Cartirdges, we're not very impressed with that. Add to that all their ink prices went up today by about 20%.

If you don't need the all in one capability of the MP610 have a look at the Pixma IP4500, it's the same print engine and cartridges, but at about £60 from Amazon

Good Luck

top_drawer_2

Hi all,

Thanks everyone!!

I think I need to do even more research into this .... any ideas of any sites for reviews on this type of things - Amazon isnt always well balanced.

Jen

sho_me_da_money

Can i just add, if you do buiy a printer, try to stay away from compatible/re-fillable ink-cartridges.

I've heard many horror stories and it's not worth the hassle.

Make sure you read up on the Epson RX560 - does everything you want - copy, print on DVDs, scanner, AIO. It is a top edge printer. Google some reviews on it.

smileyjohn

Hi Jen,

Have a look at http://www.trustedreviews.com/printers/ they are really up to date and independent of any manufacturer

PZH

sho_me_da_money wrote: »

Can i just add, if you do buiy a printer, try to stay away from compatible/re-fillable ink-cartridges.

I've heard many horror stories and it's not worth the hassle.

Not entirely true. I have a Cannon Pixma IP3000 and use compatable ink from CartridgeMonkey and have never had a problem.

wanye

do you *really* need an all-in-one unit? or is it just a printer you want? remember, its just another part that could break after your 12 month warranty runs out.

next up, ask yourself what you will be printing mostly.

i have an old epson r300. individual ink tanks that can be refilled (or knockoff refills cost a couple of quid each) that does me fine. it lets me print on CDRs, do the odd photo and the odd normal printout... but if i were to buy a new one, i would probably go for a cheap laser printer.

use the laser for documents and stuff (colour isnt really important to me for this stuff) then use online photo places for photo prints (snapfish and co do free trial prints like 100 for £1.. just keep trying our all the different sites) and just not bother printing on CDRs (using a pen instead)

a cheap B&W laser will set you back approx £50-100 but will cost infinitely less to run per page. just make sure you get one with cheap/refillable toner carts. colour lasers start at £100ish but youll need to a bit more digging on them.

HTH

spakkker

Cost effective must mean refillable or css system. Canon cli-8 cartridges are easy to refill.

timbim_2

If you only want to print text, go for a mono laser. Use online picture printing, as it's better quality and more cost effective.