Printer

Erosgirl

I want to buy a new printer. The deciding factor will be the cost of replacing the ink cartridges. Which is the cheapest printer to run? I currently own two Lexmark printers that are in perfect working order, but the inks are so expensive. I have been buying the compatible ones, but it seems a false economy as they don't seem to last as long as the originals. I have been looking at Kodak and Epson printers. I'd welcome your comments and suggestions. Thank you for reading.

santer_2

Epson printer usually have the better availability of compatible inks

Check the ink capacity here, but most have 19ml of ink per cartridge against the more usual 13ml of ink in compatible cartridges. They are cheaper if bought in sets

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/REXTRAS-LTD/COMPATIBLE-CARTRIDGE-FOR-EPSON-/_i.html?_fsub=1441199014&_sc=1&_sid=859856154&_sop=15&_trksid=p4634.c0.m322

Is the ink capacity listed on the ones you have which do not last as long?

Are you looking for an all in one or something for photos?

Erosgirl

Thanks for the reply and link, Santer. I'm looking for an all in one printer. It will be used mainly to print documents, but occasionally need a scanner. I have no idea of the ink capacity on the compatibles I have tried, but they seem to dry up. I get some extra mileage out of them by running them under hot water and gently drying them.

santer_2

This is good value at the moment IMO

http://www.epson.co.uk/Printers-and-All-In-Ones/Inkjet/Epson-Stylus-SX415

Available here at £34

http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Search?storeId=10001&catalogId=1500002901&langId=-1&searchTerms=SX415

Ink here at £3 a set delivered. They look to be the best value as the delivery is either £1 or free and they have 19ml of ink per cartridge, whereas a lot of comaptibles have 13ml of ink

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/REXTRAS-LTD/_i.html?_nkw=sx415&_arm=1&_armi=Replace+forT0807+%28Hummingbird%29&_armm=351&_ruu=http%3A%2F%2Fstores.ebay.co.uk%2FREXTRAS-LTD%2FReplace-forT0807-Hummingbird-%2F_i.html%3F_nkw%3Dsx415%26_arr%3D1%26_fsub%3D1443312014%26_sc%3D1%26_sid%3D859856154%26_sop%3D15&_sc=1&_sid=859856154&_sop=15&_rdc=1

You will see the Epson SX130 cheaper but the compatibles are £8 a set and the scanner is not as good as the SX415. The SX415 also has an LCD screen and will print from some memory cards.

Genuine inks have an anti clog agent which some compatibles do not, so best to print a nozzle check each week, you can use the same piece of paper a few times for that, print the nozzle check more often if it shows cleaning required.

Head cleaning will use a lot of ink, and can become the most expensive part of running a printer, the next one being switching the printer off as it will run a warm up routine whenever it is switched on.

You can get reasonably priced photo, presentation and craft type papers here if you use those, though check for other prices

http://www.photopaperdirect.com/

jaks111

try the new kodak one my dd has just bought one as the ink is cheap

Erosgirl

Thank you Jaks 111. The Kodak printer was one model I was considering.

Santer that Epson SX415 seems to be a good bargain. One more question: My netbook does not have a dvd drive how would I install the printer?

santer_2

I expect it applies to most printers, you can usually download the software, and in some cases that is the better option as you get the latest versions

If you do get the SX415, the link is here

http://www.epson.co.uk/Printers-and-All-In-Ones/Inkjet/Epson-Stylus-SX415/Drivers-Support

The printer stays off until the installer asks for it to be switched on

Start with the driver

Then Epson Scan

Then the creativity suite which includes easy photo print, with this one, if you get a custom option, you can choose that to only install the bits you will use, if you miss anything you can download it again.

Another way to get software on to a netbook, is to use a laptop / desktop computer with a CD ROM Drive to copy the entire contents of a software CD to a folder, then copy it to a USB stick, then load it on to the netbook.

I have a couple of Epson SX415 and they run well, the only genuine ink they see is from the ones which are in the box, then they run on compatibles

I have a number of Epson photo printers, (saves me getting up to change the paper size ), and even using genuine inks in one and compatibles in another to print the same image with the same settings and paper type, no one has been able to tell the difference. With the A3 printer, a lot do not believe the inks used were compatibles

moneysavingkitten

Erosgirl wrote: »

Thank you Jaks 111. The Kodak printer was one model I was considering.

Santer that Epson SX415 seems to be a good bargain. One more question: My netbook does not have a dvd drive how would I install the printer?

A friend of mine works in a computer shop, he said that the ink on the Kodak printers is cheap, but they are built horribly, so they are the brand that is being returned the most at the moment.

Erosgirl

Thanks Santer you have been very helpful. Looks like it's going to be the SX145. Don't know what I would have done without you.

Also thanks for your comment moneysavingkitten. You definitely helped me make up my mind.