Any experience of colour laser printers?

itm2

Due to only occasional needs to print in colour, I have decided to stop buying colour inkjets. Every one that I've bought has been virtually worthless, as if I don't print anything in colour for a few months the ink cartridges dry up and need to be replaced. This has meant that I've needed to buy new cartridges almost every time I needed to print. For this reason I'm thinking of a colour LASER all-in-1 device, on the grounds that they wouldn't suffer from the same problems.

I'd mainly be using it for maps and business stuff, rather than photos, but may print the odd CD sleeve or photo from time to time.

If anyone has a colour laser, could they please let me know:
- can they survive for a few months without the colour cartridges being used?
- how good is the photo quality? (I know it's nowhere near inkjet quality, but can't find any local shops who can show me sample output)
- Does anyone have the Canon 8180, and can offer feedback on it?

TIA for any feedback
Ian

John_Gray

I doubt you can get a colour laser all-in-one for less than about £400. I saw the Canon MF8180C Multifunction Fax Machine on sale for £657!

Seems a lot of money for occasional use?

John

itm2

Yes the best price I've seen is £603. It is indeed very expensive but will see alot of use as a B&W printer/copier, scanner and fax machine. It's only the colour printing that will be occasional. I intend to use it to replace my colour inkjet all-in-1 plus an ancient B&W Laserjet which are cluttering up the office.

I just can't think of any other way of having a colour printer ready and waiting when I need it. I've probably spent well over £200 over the last 3-4 years in replacing colour ink cartridges and printheads which I only used half a dozen times. My current colour all-in-1, an HP D145, has separate ink cartridges and printheads. I thought that this would cut the cost of my ink usage, but the're still £25 per cartridge (x4), and I've already needed to replace the printheads anyway (another £75).

To add insult to injury, the printer is now telling me that my black cartridge has "expired". It's not empty, but "expired". Nice earner for HP eh, forcing customers to replace ink cartridges while there's still perfectly good ink in them....

John_Gray

I don't think there's a guarantee that the laser toner cartridges won't 'expire' as well...

Can your D145 work without the colour cartridges being installed? In which case you could try replacing the pieces of sticky-tape you took off them originally, and putting them away until required. In any case, try non-original cartridges for a cheaper price and less likelihood of expiration.

John

itm2

It's not the expiry problem that I'm so concerned about - it's the fact that the colour cartridges dry up after a few months of not being used. This is why I wanted to explore colour laser.

Anyone out there who's tried one?

Astaroth

We have several but I cannot answer your question as they are used heavily every day.

Certainly our colour printers are not that great at producing photos but I suspect that this is mainly because they are always printed on plain paper. You can get photo paper for laser printers but have to say that I have never knowingly seen it used to be able to comment on the results.

I am however surprised on your comments about injet drying up. My personal injet printer only gets used every 4-6 months and whilst this does mean I have to waste some ink doing nossle cleaning and testing I have only recently had to replace any of the cartridges after having the printer for almost 3 years (when I do use it it tends to be to print 50-100 photos)

A_Nice_Englishman

I have a dozen or so colour laser printers at work and they don't appear to be affected by being unused during the school holidays.


The cheapest solution would probably be to keep your old Laserjet (they were built like tanks and should last 'forever' in a home office) and your colour inkjet and print something in colour every day or two to stop the cartridges drying up.

CAT-THE-FIFTH

We use this printer at work and it is great:

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/uk/en/ho/WF05a/5043-5047-5051-5051-5063-12096450.html?jumpid=in_rm_r135_uk_en_h2_hho_is-ov2-2600n

You should be able to buy a decent flatbed scanner for uner 100 pounds too!!

ManAtHome

I have a Samsung 500 laser - not as good as an inkjet for photos, but quite passable for A4 framed prints on the wall (a bit more 'posterish' than inkjet). Biggest problem is that I get a slight 'banding' across areas of solid colour - sky with no cloud etc.

However, toner doesn't seem to 'dry out' - I probably only use it 3 or 4 days a month these days. Very good for business-type duties (reports, graphs etc), has duplex built in, and you can get network versions (although the 'upgrade' network card is VERY expensive).

itm2

CAT-THE-FIFTH wrote:

We use this printer at work and it is great:

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/uk/en/ho/WF05a/5043-5047-5051-5051-5063-12096450.html?jumpid=in_rm_r135_uk_en_h2_hho_is-ov2-2600n

You should be able to buy a decent flatbed scanner for uner 100 pounds too!!

I also wanted copying & faxing, and want to save space in a cramped study, so an all-in-1 would be perfect.

Reluctant_spender

My office has moved over to Laser printers and very good they appear to be. The problem that has surfaced so far relates to duplex printing - we have found that cheap paper is jams the machine but single side printing does not.