Colour printer for occasional use only

pealy

Is it just me or do printers stop working properly if you don't use them regularly?

I like to print photo's and the occasional document but probably only about once a month. I've just thrown away my second Epson photo printer in a year after failing to get a decent print even with a whole new set of genuine Epson inks and the support of Epson. Both printers were fabulous when new but I'm convinced they dry up if they're not used, my documents and photo's get horizontal lines through them and no amount of nozzle cleaning will fix it.

Are some printers/brands better than others? I can't imagine I'll buy another Epson unless someone has a *very* convincing argument and I'm not looking for anything expensive, £50 is probably my budget.

Any thoughts?

moonrakerz

I'm afraid that most of the ink jet printers on the market are little more than money printers for the manufacturers of ink cartridges.

In your case, infrequent use will cause the ink on the print head to dry out. If it gets too dry and clogged up, you are st***** !

I have a small Canon printer, cartridges are over £35 for a pair of black/colour ! I now refill them myself with a refill kit. At each refilling I stand the cartridge head in a pool of cartridge flushing liquid for about an hour which seems to keep it clear.

I would say buy the cheapest one you can find for which you can buy cheap compatible cartridges.

pealy

Thanks for the confirmation,

I'm tempted to just not bother and get my photo's printed on-line but that leaves me without the ability to print the odd map or email when I need to. Maybe I could pick up a cheap laser printer? Are they okay if you leave them for weeks on end or will I have the same problem?

cattie

How about a Brother printer? The quality is good & the printer periodically cleans the cartridges to minimise clogging when the printer isn't used so much.

You have to leave the printer plugged in for this to occur, but the power button can be off. I don't use my printer an awful lot, but have never had trouble with the cartridges drying out.

Also cartridges are cheap for the printer as it also has the seperate cartridge arrangement so you only need to replace the colour that has run out. Brother printers tend to be all in ones, but are nice & compact.

I paid £50 including delivery for mine after reading recommendations about it on this site, but that offer has long finished. Have a look at Comet & PC world to see if they have any other models on offer.

pealy

cattie wrote:

How about a Brother printer? The quality is good & the printer periodically cleans the cartridges to minimise clogging when the printer isn't used so much.

Interesting idea, I had no idea they could clean themselves! I'll certainly look at the Brother products, are they the only printers which do this?

moonrakerz

To clean itself, it uses ink !

Quote from an Amazon review of a Brother printer:-

"The horrible part is the ink usage. Even while off and not in use, the printer seems to clean itself obsessively. This cleaning uses ink, so after a couple of months of no printing, you are out of ink!"

pealy

moonrakerz wrote:

To clean itself, it uses ink !

You've gotta hand it to Brother, printers that use ink even when you're not printing is a fab idea for selling even more replacement carts.. I guess that's not a great solution for me then.

Little_John

It is a problem with all inkjet printers that the heads clog if they arnt used. epson suffer worse as the print heads are fixed, they can be replaced but it is alot of hassle. most HP printers use a combined print head and cartridge the plus side is that you can just replace the carts and your blockage is gone, the downside is that the carts cost more to build in the cost of the print head even compats/refilled are more expensive as the refilling process is more complicated then epson.

Buying a laser would be ok but the problem is that the toner can settle in the cartridge and you end up with sections that dont print, it is solveable by removing the cart and giving it a shake to distribute the toner. so not quite as bad.

Jem8472

why not go for a colour laser? Might cost a bit more but you dont have to worry about it drying out.
Or just get photos printed online (which I think is the best idea anyway) and buy a £80 black and white laser!