Printer recommendation please

santer_2

interstellaflyer wrote: »

the Canon is much more servicable and user friendly

" Then when you come to put the cartridges in the machine you have to partially deconstruct the machine - no simple flap like the Epson "

http://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R1Z2AQLL4J8T4D/ref=cm_cr_pr_viewpnt#R1Z2AQLL4J8T4D

interstellaflyer

santer wrote: »

" Then when you come to put the cartridges in the machine you have to partially deconstruct the machine - no simple flap like the Epson "

http://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R1Z2AQLL4J8T4D/ref=cm_cr_pr_viewpnt#R1Z2AQLL4J8T4D

Rubbish, all you do is lift the lid, the cariadge automaticaly comes over and you lift out the cartridges, unlike epson where you have to push a button and wait for the cariadge to make up it's mind where it wants to stop. And let's get some perspective here, out of 91 reviews 80 gave 4 or more stars, infact 57 gave 5 stars.

robmar0se

Having a Canon myself I have to agree with Interstellaflyer in regard to the process of changing cartridges - it really is very very simple' Lift the lid, and the cartridges move into the middle automatically so you can just lift the old one(s) out, and insert new; close the lid and away you go.

Good luck, and let us know what you decide.........

marms

interstellaflyer wrote: »

I work in the industry, the biggest complaints, moans and negative comments from our customers generaly relate to Kodak and new series Epson printers, especialy the low end ones, however, the biggest praise generaly goes to Canon machines and yes I have owned recent Epson machines, they drink ink, and are extremely tempramental when using non original cartridges, the print heads are buried in the machine, that means should they clogg which often happens when using cheap ink then you just have to keep running cleaning cycles until they clear, on the otherhand, the Canon is much more servicable and user friendly, the print head is accessable meaning an over night soak in distilled water is normally all that's needed to clear any blockage, much cheaper than running countless cleaning cycles, also the Canon cartridges are easy to refill your self although the machine will not complain bitterly if you use compatibles. Not to mention, the build quality of the Canon machines is far better than the cheap tacky plastic Epson use.

I'd have to disagree, it may be possible to soak the canon print heads in water overnight to clean them but the canon i had IP5300 got blocked print heads so often that you'd need to put the print heads in water every night.
It also had a lot of problems with not recognising cartridges, even the originals, sometimes having to remove then reinsert a cartridge just for it not to recognise another one, after a few years it just decided i should buy a new one so refused to print any more, just flashing the lights when i tried to print.
I've now replaced it with a Epson STYLUS PHOTO PX720WD and can't recommend it highly enough.

robmar0se

marms wrote: »

I'd have to disagree, it may be possible to soak the canon print heads in water overnight to clean them but the canon i had IP5300 got blocked print heads so often that you'd need to put the print heads in water every night.
It also had a lot of problems with not recognising cartridges, even the originals, sometimes having to remove then reinsert a cartridge just for it not to recognise another one, after a few years it just decided i should buy a new one so refused to print any more, just flashing the lights when i tried to print.
I've now replaced it with a Epson STYLUS PHOTO PX720WD and can't recommend it highly enough.

If you use cheap generic cartridges this will happen with all printers; if it goes too far then even the original cartridges will have problems. All print head nozzles are very fine, and ink like paint dries, the cheaper the ink the quicker it dries, and also it is not as "fine". - so eventually the nozzles become blocked, hence soaking overnight won't remove the old stuff. I generally recommend to clients (i) not to use cheap generics (use better quality ones), but if you do, ensure you alternate them with originals.

This is true for all manyfacturers, including Epson (in my experience with clients more likely with the latter).

grizzly1911

robmar0se wrote: »

I generally recommend to clients (i) not to use cheap generics (use better quality ones), but if you do, ensure you alternate them with originals.

This is true for all manyfacturers, including Epson (in my experience with clients more likely with the latter).

I must have been lucky with my Cannon because I use cheap and cheerful all the time and have had no problems.:T

interstellaflyer

robmar0se wrote: »

If you use cheap generic cartridges this will happen with all printers; if it goes too far then even the original cartridges will have problems. All print head nozzles are very fine, and ink like paint dries, the cheaper the ink the quicker it dries, and also it is not as "fine". - so eventually the nozzles become blocked, hence soaking overnight won't remove the old stuff. I generally recommend to clients (i) not to use cheap generics (use better quality ones), but if you do, ensure you alternate them with originals.

This is true for all manyfacturers, including Epson (in my experience with clients more likely with the latter).

I have to agree, some people are lucky and get away with it, however the vast majority don't, we see this on a daily basis, it's less likely to happen if the machine is in constant use but go on holiday for 2 weeks and you'll come back to problems. The good thing abaout the Canon machines is the fact that the print head will lift out without taking the machine apart, this means we can clean them easy using proper head cleaning chemicals, Di-ionised water and by atomising the head (blasting with compressed air/Di-ionised water) we do this for our customers FOC, unfortunately this is not possible with Epson machines so all you can do is keep firing ink through and hope for the best.

SuperHan

PC World have the HP Photosmart e-All-in-One Wireless on offer at the minute, which meets all your criteria. Also very good on ink! I'm a student and I'm using a very similar printer. HP printers are fantastic, and the e-All-in-Ones also mean you can print while away from home! Your printer has an email address and you can e-mail documents to the printer and they will print at home, no matter where you are.

I'd recommend this over the canon for students, just because the inks can be very expensive for Canon. Difficult to afford for students!

Only £39 at the minute from PC World too - Phenomenal deal if you ask me!

interstellaflyer

SuperHan wrote: »

PC World have the HP Photosmart e-All-in-One Wireless on offer at the minute, which meets all your criteria. Also very good on ink! I'm a student and I'm using a very similar printer. HP printers are fantastic, and the e-All-in-Ones also mean you can print while away from home! Your printer has an email address and you can e-mail documents to the printer and they will print at home, no matter where you are.

I'd recommend this over the canon for students, just because the inks can be very expensive for Canon. Difficult to afford for students!

Only £39 at the minute from PC World too - Phenomenal deal if you ask me!

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/hp-photosmart-e-all-in-one-wireless-multifunction-printer-07374406-pdt.html


Noooo, the cartridge capacities are not very good, students need to print a lot of stuff, this printer will cost a lot to run, yes the OEM carts seem cheap but that's because they have very little ink in them, you are falling into the cheap printer expensive in the long term trap. The Canon machine mentioned is considerably cheaper to run than the machine you've just recomended, it's the printer that takes the 364 series cartridges and you need to upgrade to the XL cartridges to get anywhere near the Canon cartridge capacities and at OEM prices of £18 x 4 for the XLs compaired to £13 for the Canon, there's no contest, also there are plenty of places selling cheap compatible carts for the Canon and these work reliably, at the moment there are no reliable compatible cartridges for that HP machine as there are no replacement chips available, you have to use the chip of the old cartridge, you can have them refilled but they are a lot of hassle, they go back in as empty cartridges and you have to overide to low ink warning, also if you accept a firmware update from HP it will stop you doing this as the update prevents you from overiding the empty cartridge warning.

That printer is a very bad machine.