I need a new printer has anyone seen any good deals

toadhall99

Hi folks my old colour laserjet Dell has just packed up,I'm going to have to buy an inkjet printer as I'm living on  a very small budget as I have to survive on carers allowance,I have a budget of £50 and would like one that is decent quality and can use compatible inks if anyone has seen or bought one themselves recently could you advise please.

I won't be using it often and it doesn't matter if its just uses black ink,it will be to print some important letters

forgotmyname

Decent quality, not anymore it seems. All appear to be made of cheese these days.  Used to be a great source for solid stainless bars a
excellent stepper motors. Now they are cheapo standard motors and thin walled mild steel tube with a very thin coating to harden them.

Add in the fact they all scream printer killer at you for even thinking of using non genuine carts and even genuine ones get rejected
as not detected it seems.

[Deleted User]

I purchased an Epson as my last ink jet printer. It was a workforce model printer using durabrite ink and whilst the printer is excellent the cost of replacing inks has well exceeded what I paid for the printer. I don't print regularly either and if its not used within a week or regularly the print heads clog up and you have to do a clean which zaps the ink. I had read this prior to purchasing and saw it was a common issue with some Epson models but didn't realise literally 1 week or more of no use would do this. I had always used HP or Samsung prior to this with no issues. For your purposes I would suggest a Samsung mono laser printer. I know you mention ink jet but you can buy compatible laser toners for 10.00 and these last ages compared to ink jet cartridges. If your using for photos or design work then I'd suggest ink jet but for the sole purpose of letters laser is the best way in my opinion. 

toadhall99

forgotmyname said:

Decent quality, not anymore it seems. All appear to be made of cheese these days.  Used to be a great source for solid stainless bars a
excellent stepper motors. Now they are cheapo standard motors and thin walled mild steel tube with a very thin coating to harden them.

Add in the fact they all scream printer killer at you for even thinking of using non genuine carts and even genuine ones get rejected
as not detected it seems.

That's the way of the world these days I suppose everything made on the cheap

toadhall99

Daveym79 said:

I purchased an Epson as my last ink jet printer. It was a workforce model printer using durabrite ink and whilst the printer is excellent the cost of replacing inks has well exceeded what I paid for the printer. I don't print regularly either and if its not used within a week or regularly the print heads clog up and you have to do a clean which zaps the ink. I had read this prior to purchasing and saw it was a common issue with some Epson models but didn't realise literally 1 week or more of no use would do this. I had always used HP or Samsung prior to this with no issues. For your purposes I would suggest a Samsung mono laser printer. I know you mention ink jet but you can buy compatible laser toners for 10.00 and these last ages compared to ink jet cartridges. If your using for photos or design work then I'd suggest ink jet but for the sole purpose of letters laser is the best way in my opinion. 

Hi thanks,yes I've had a couple of laser jets,I shall have to look for one at a good price

Belenus

toadhall99 said:

Hi folks my old colour laserjet Dell has just packed up,I'm going to have to buy an inkjet printer as I'm living on  a very small budget as I have to survive on carers allowance,I have a budget of £50 and would like one that is decent quality and can use compatible inks if anyone has seen or bought one themselves recently could you advise please.

I won't be using it often and it doesn't matter if its just uses black ink,it will be to print some important letters

A laser printer is better for occasional use. If you don't use an ink jet regularly it will clog up and fail.

I got fed up spending £10 or £12 for an ink jet cartridge and it failing after just a few months as I rarely used my printer.

I bought a small laser printer second hand a few years ago on eBay for £4, yes four pounds only, that came with two spare cartridges. It hasn't let me down yet.

With the current lock down buying secondhand on eBay is not so straightforward as normal but it might be worth having a look to see what is available.

forgotmyname

Been given an Epson WF printer, it wont feed the paper to print. Gives a no paper error then leave it a couple of minutes and
it feeds some paper through but does not print.

HP printer, Prints with a brand new cartridge then leave it a few days and it prints a very faded partial image like the inks out.
Refit the old cartridge and it prints normally until you power it off then you can swap to the newer cartridge. Keep swapping
fom one to the other and cross your fingers on a bluemoon its 50/50 whether you get a print.

Another Epson SX425 which worked well has now decided not to recognise the cartridges.

Do i punish myself further and get an Epson EcoTank?  Or maybe its time for a laser printer? Downsides to a
laser printer?

toadhall99

forgotmyname said:

Been given an Epson WF printer, it wont feed the paper to print. Gives a no paper error then leave it a couple of minutes and
it feeds some paper through but does not print.

HP printer, Prints with a brand new cartridge then leave it a few days and it prints a very faded partial image like the inks out.
Refit the old cartridge and it prints normally until you power it off then you can swap to the newer cartridge. Keep swapping
fom one to the other and cross your fingers on a bluemoon its 50/50 whether you get a print.

Another Epson SX425 which worked well has now decided not to recognise the cartridges.

Do i punish myself further and get an Epson EcoTank?  Or maybe its time for a laser printer? Downsides to a
laser printer?

I had a laser printer and it was great until it packed up yesterday

Neil_Jones

On printers that feed the paper through the back, if they don't feed properly it's almost always because something has fallen down the back where the paper feeds, usually something small and insignificant like a pen top.  Resolution is the etch-a-sketch fix - turn it upside down and shake it

Inkjet printers that print faded are usually because they're blocked; one of the issues with inkjet printers is that if you don't use them regularly the ink dries up.

Re: The SX425, these printers spontaneously decide they don't recognise the cartridge because they think they're out of ink, but the printer is expecting a certain amount of ink to flow (from the genuine), the compatibles don't have that amount in so its more the case the printer is expecting the ink to be out, they're not so it's default resolution is to say not recognised.  Putting new ink in tends to clear it.

The Ecotank is probably only cheaper if you will use it, they cost more money in the first place.

Re: Laser printers, only real downside is they get bulky pretty quickly and they're more expensive to get toners for and have more parts to break (drums, fusers, belts, etc) but the print quality is better (inkjets have caught up a lot in this department).

toadhall99

Belenus said:

toadhall99 said:

Hi folks my old colour laserjet Dell has just packed up,I'm going to have to buy an inkjet printer as I'm living on  a very small budget as I have to survive on carers allowance,I have a budget of £50 and would like one that is decent quality and can use compatible inks if anyone has seen or bought one themselves recently could you advise please.

I won't be using it often and it doesn't matter if its just uses black ink,it will be to print some important letters

A laser printer is better for occasional use. If you don't use an ink jet regularly it will clog up and fail.

I got fed up spending £10 or £12 for an ink jet cartridge and it failing after just a few months as I rarely used my printer.

I bought a small laser printer second hand a few years ago on eBay for £4, yes four pounds only, that came with two spare cartridges. It hasn't let me down yet.

With the current lock down buying secondhand on eBay is not so straightforward as normal but it might be worth having a look to see what is available.

That's interesting about buying second hand,I'm at times cynical about buying things like that as I worry about unscrupulous people of loading items that don't work or have an intermittent problem,it worked for you though so I will have a look,do you know how Ebay is operating now when people sell stuff,I wonder how they send items

[Deleted User]

When I was doing serious print work that required about 100 prints a day which included basic designs and text I used a Samsung Mono laser printer and got through 1 printer every 2 months or so. Instead of buying refurbished toner I just purchased a band new machine and it still lasted thousands of prints so approx £35 every 2 months. 1 genuine black toner at the time was about £45 although it had a higher print ratio than a toner that came free with a machine. However it still worked out more convenient buying a new machine and if required you can always sell one on ebay and get a few pounds back or a car boot where printers always sell well.