Help Please! - Which Printer?

organic_wanabe

I currently have a Dell printer for home use, so it's not overly overworked, but it costs a lot to replace the single ink cartridge (one of those that doesn't have separate black and colour ones). I was thinking that the Epson DX7400 for £59 from Amazon seemed a good deal and the cartridges for that seem fairly reasonable. There is also a Epson DX4400 in John Lewis for £39.95 and I could get an extended 3 year warranty for an extra £30. Or there is a Canon Pixma MP210 for £49.95 but the ink for this seems a bit more expensive. Anyone any thoughts on what might prove the best solution for my printing needs or has anyone any feedback on any of these models. Any comments gratefully received.

fwor

In order to estimate the cost per page printed, you need to consider the yield, as well as the cost per cartridge, as it varies a lot.

I have an Epson (not the model you quote, though) and I find that the cartridges don't last particularly long.

Which? regularly do reports which test real printers and estimate print costs. I haven't looked for many months but last time I did, Canon inkjets came consistently high in the ratings for cost and quality. You can check in your local library for the most up to date Which? report.

BillScarab

We got a Canon MP210 last month and are very happy with it. Luckily we got it while they were doing the £25 cashback offer so it only cost us £25.

I used to have an Epson and one of the problems was that the inkljet nozzles were in the printer not the cartridge. This made for good quality printing and cheap cartridges but if you didn't use the printer much they clogged up with dried ink and were a pain to clean. If the nozzles are in the cartridge you can always just replace the cartridge to fix it if they clog up and can't be easily cleaned..

TOBRUK

organic_wanabe wrote: »

Anyone any thoughts on what might prove the best solution for my printing needs

Hi organic wanabe, what exactly are your printing needs? Do you print a lot of photos? Bothered about resolution? Do you want to print cd's?

The models you are looking at - epson DX7400 or DX4400 are all rounders as you say and both have 4 ink cartridges, other models which are more for photos etc have 6 ink cartridges - I suppose giving more quality images for photos - giving you 2 blues - light cyan and cyan, 2 pink - magenta and light magenta. I have an Epson R300 (6 ink cartridges) which I have had for about 3 years now (also had a similar model previous) and have found it a great printer.

I use it for documents, photos, cd's etc. I always use genuine epson ink although many people use compatible ink which is a lot cheaper, however I do not want to compromise on photo quality or use cheap ink that may clog up the heads of the printer etc. I do find that I can get genuine epson ink cheaper through ebay.

You say you can get the Epson DX4400 in John Lewis for £39.95 and could get an extended 3 year warranty for an extra £30 - do you need the extended warranty?? The printer costs 39.99 and you are covered for a year, after that a new printer won't cost you more than the price it costs for extended warranty!