New printer down to 3 choices

katies_mum

Hi
I`ve been reading all about printers for the last couple of days. My Hp is now on its last legs and I don`t want to buy any more ink for it. I print a lot of stuff for work (photos occasionally but this isn`t priority) My choices are:

Epson SX525WD in Argos £109`ish I`ve read that ink is really cheap which is great. But will I have any problems using cheap ink in this printer (my hp doesn`t like cheap ink..and never stops telling me) also does it like wiondows 7 ( I know some printers take ages to connect wi fi) Unfortunately can`t find it any cheaper, Comet are out of stock.

Epson SX535WD which I understand is the newer model this is £99 on amazon and £149 everywhere else. I`m not sure about cheap ink though - wondered if it would be better as its a newer model.

Canon MG5250 - not sure about price, reviews are good. Don`t think its as cheap on ink but maybe someone could advise!

I need reasonable quality printing, easy to set up, (most of you know I`m not good at technical stuff) need it to be wireless, cheap to run and good colours (sent back the new Kodak 7.1 hero to QVC as its colours were rubbish)

Any adviced would be brilliant and much appreciated as always. Many thanks

neilwoods

The canon does look a really good printer, there is another thread on here, with that canon MG5250.

http://www.bestbuy.co.uk/product/1000139861/canon-pixma-mg5250-all-in-one-wireless-printer.aspx

Has individual colours, no idea on price for compatible inks.

santer_2

One option for compatibles for the Canon

http://www.refreshcartridges.co.uk/Canon+Pixma+MG5250-c-22_451_4881.html

Others

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Compatible-Printer-Cartridges-Canon-MG5250/dp/B004V9TTOY

katies_mum

Thank you for replying. I`ve got a Epson SX525WD reserved at Argos £109 but the Canon is a brilliant price at £49.98 and its only £3.99 to have it delivered on Saturday. (non in stock at the nearest store) so think I`m going to order one of those as well. The canon is highly rated but so is the Epson just don`t know if its worth an extra £59.

Don`t suppose anyone has tried both? Both are makes I`ve never used before but have also been scared by the rubbish Kodak one I bought a couple of weeks ago, I`m frightened incase all other printing comes out like that.

Wondering if they both print reasonable photo`s? and are reliable when wireless. (this Hp slimline 3months old doesn`t seem to like wifi printers and doesn`t recognise them!)

Any more advice would be really great. Thanks

santer_2

They both use four inks so the output should be similar, though not sure why the epson is rated as lab quality photo output when it only has four inks, would have though six inks at least for lab quality

The T1295 compatible set are more expensive than compatible sets for other epsons

If you print a lot of photos, see what you think to the paper here

http://www.photopaperdirect.com/

The_Biff

Which Computing? tested printers in it's latest issue. The Canon was rated highly apart from the cost of printing (colour & text). I'll see if I can find my copy & post up the results.
I think you can subscribe to the online which? for 1 month for £1.

basill

£109 sounds a little too much as I think the SX525Wd is about to be replaced with a newer model.

I recently bought an Epson BX525WD from Comet, its £59.99 there. They also had the SX525WD for the same price.

I did a bit of research as the two printers spec. seemed identical. The obvious difference is different software is included. The other difference according to some forum posts is the ink cartridges included. Mine, the BX (business?) has a set of the high capacity "Stag" cartridges. The SX apparently comes with the smaller "Apple" cartridges. Both printers use either Stag or Apple carts.

The printer is a little plasticy, but document printing seems fine and so far after about 100 pages there seems to be loads of ink left....

I Cant comment on Photo printing as have not tried yet but I am happy with the printer so far.

B

closed

Could get a laser printer in that price range

katies_mum

Good morning, thank you all for replying.
basisl, they are out of stock at comet have just checked again (and also others close by). Hubby is picking up the Epson from Argos (as only 2 left) but at we have an Argos over the road it can go back no problem I agree its a bit pricey but its still cheaper than the leaking HP C7280 I have sitting next to me (over £150 3 years ago). I`ve also ordered the Canon MG5250 for delivery tomorrow at the brilliant price of £49.98 thanks to neilwoods posting above.

The_Biff, if you find your review about the Canon it would be great. Santer, sorry to say I don`t really buy posh paper! I have a stack of photo paper I have aquired which is used very rarely and I tend to use cheap printer paper from Tesco or Staples as I seem to go thru it so fast, the HP printing and brilliant colour has worked fine on this. (but saying that I tried the posh Kodak printer paper with the Kodak hero 7.1 and it was still rubbish!)

If anyone thinks of any other models to look at I`m still open to suggestions as I suppose want the best for the cheapest price (but not HP).

I did read on some reviews that some have had a problem with the Canon and drivers to get it to work on windows 7 (help!! I have windows 7...should I be worried?)

Closed I don`t know much about laser printers - thought they were more for offices.

Thanks all, please keep the suggesions / advice coming - hope to make a decision by tomorrow. (good link for ink above but any more would be appreciated, I have tended to use internet ink.co.uk for the past few years compatable ink as prices of real ones is scary)

mart44

I've had a couple of quite expensive Epsons (one after the other) a few years back. The print heads were always blocking on them. I believe this wouldn't have happened if I'd used them regularly. Not using them much meant that the ink was always drying out in the heads. I think more ink was used in cleaning cycles than was used in printing.

After that I got a Canon (about £220-00) and that broke mechanically. I swore I'd never buy an expensive printer again after that. I buy inexpensive Brother printer/scanner/copiers now and find them very good. No problems with clogged print heads or anything else.

I don't think they are so good with printing photos but we have a dye-sublimation (dye-sub) printer for that. This seems a better type of printer for photographs. Always very clear. Perhaps do some research on them.

katies_mum

I don`t know much about Brother machines, they don`t seem to advertise like the other companies do, I`ll have a look. Do like to print the odd photo now and then but its straighforward printing I need and also duplex that works, my HP is meant to do double sided printing but it never worked. I think £49.95 is quite cheap for the Canon - am off to investigate prices of ink.