La Texican Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 This question probably gets asked often enough to be a sticky note. What printer is cheap, reliable, low cost per page, cheap refills, sold online, and mom-tested? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TraceyS/FL Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 There have been a couple in the last couple of weeks! :D For me, my HP OfficeJet 7580 (? 75 something - it is in the other room), with a duplex attachment has been awesome. The cartridges in their XL form last at least 2500 on the black, and 1200 on the color - I get way more than that because I normally print in draft. I had been buying HP versions because they were "cheap" - but the price jumped so I finally broke down and ordered a highly rated refurb set on Amazon. I got 2 complete sets for $4 less than the one HP! I had to put the first one in today, and it recognized it just fine and away I went!!! I replaced a Brother laser that I really liked. BUT, it needed a drum replacement and wouldn't always stay closed. The drum part was going to be $80+ at the time and the kids were missing printing in color (as was I), so I went to Consumer Reports and started looking at the cheapest inkjets to run. The HPs were just as cheap as the Brother, and I gained a network printer, coupled with a network scanner with a document feeder! I wasn't concerned with photo quality - I have a special photo printer, but it used pigment ink vs dye and so the prints should last awhile. I would do the same thing when/if I had to replace this one - take into consideration everyones advice, but check CR or elsewhere for price per page. First determine if you can live with B&W or need color, do you need network access, and decide how you feel about running refurbed cartridges in it during the warrant period (will void it). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 My printer is a Canon Pixma MP350, IIRC; it does fax, scan, copy, and print. It is about eight years old and missing a few pieces (namely, the output tray, so we put something under it), but it still works beautifully, even with small people messing with it (why do they like to put Legos in the output area??). About a year or so ago, I got tired of buying expensive refills and decided that since it was seven or so years old, there wasn't a warranty on it, so if super cheap ink screwed up the printer, well, I'd gotten more than my money's worth from it already. So I tried the super cheap (I'm talking 15 cartridges for $12 cheap) cartridges in it -- and they've been great. No problems at all, and they last for a reasonably long time -- maybe not quite as long as the expensive Canon ones, but not discernibly shorter in length either. I tend to print sporadically, like a page or two here and there and then a ton all at once; I printed a lot of stuff (lots of it in color) recently to prepare for schoolwork next year, a few hundred pages, I'd say, and it didn't use even a full cartridge for each color. It does double-sided printing and is fairly fast, too. All in all, I'd say thumbs up to Canon. If/when this one dies, I will probably look for another Canon, although I'd want a wireless option, which this doesn't have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
La Texican Posted June 23, 2013 Author Share Posted June 23, 2013 I'm really thinking about something for cheap worksheets and pdfs. in bulk, color is nice sometimes. I'd consider a printer/scanner/fax pretty nice, but cheap black and white prints takes priority. I've only had a couple printers, they've been cheap. New cartridges cost as much for those as a new printer. I'd estimate the cheap printers gave me two pdf books plus some random pages before needing new cartridges. I would guess 2500 is double that. I have a little time before I buy a printer so please posters, keep posting. Thank you for the detailed post. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
La Texican Posted June 23, 2013 Author Share Posted June 23, 2013 Where do you find 15 cartridges for $12?!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 Where do you find 15 cartridges for $12?!!! Amazon! They're not available for many cartridges, though, and the deals do vary. Here's a similar deal, for instance: http://www.amazon.com/PGI-225-CLI-226-compatible-cartridges-printers/dp/B004W5NHV8/ref=sr_1_2?s=office-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1372031855&sr=1-2&keywords=canon+compatible+printer+ink I've had no problems with the three or four sets I've ordered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TraceyS/FL Posted June 24, 2013 Share Posted June 24, 2013 Oh another thing I thought of what that I am used to printing in draft, I had almost always done it at work on our HP lasers and well, I just use the heck out of draft. My Brother struggled to produce legible text on the draft setting I wanted to use. Which meant I wasn't getting what I wanted out of the toner cartridges. Same on the grey scale stuff on that setting - just wasn't working like an HP on that setting for me. I read an article awhile back that talked about "cheap printers" and how in the long run you don't save money on them. I didn't save it or I'd link to it. Everyone definitely has their printing favorites and such, we tend to print "a lot" - and I expect with child 3 being at home that will go up again. I need a printer I don't care if the kids are copying the Dover horse coloring page for the 25th time (because, I can count them hanging up all over :lol: ), and I rarely ration color unless i'm about out of ink in one of them and broke at the same time! :p Having worked in the computer room and purchased/deployed/maintained printers that were on a maintenance contract - I tend to be pickier and more into the "long term" stats. I look at the monthly duty cycle - if it has a higher rating, I know that the printer is built to last a bit longer. Will I still end up with a dud? I'm sure of it! But knowing i'm going to print at least 3,000 pages a year gives me a starting point for operating costs. When i could do that for about $65 with the HP cartridges I was ok with that price per year. If the ones i bought last at all I should be at 1/2 that, but even if they don't i'm still around that for the year..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TraceyS/FL Posted June 24, 2013 Share Posted June 24, 2013 I bought this brand for mine - it was cheaper to buy 2 sets than 1, and I think I could have gotten it cheaper still by buying more - BUT, i didn't want them sitting around that long. I knew I had some major printing coming up so I did the 2 sets. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0041OVDG6/ref=oh_details_o05_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I really only *needed* yellow right now - but figured what the heck! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
La Texican Posted June 24, 2013 Author Share Posted June 24, 2013 Now I'm looking at toner prices on Amazon. I saw one on sale for $15 so I have to ask, why don't you want it sitting around? Does it go bad? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alessandra Posted June 24, 2013 Share Posted June 24, 2013 I went with two printers: Canon Pixma MX 892 with duplex printing, scan, copy, fax, document feeder; I can load a bunch of papers in the feeder, auto scan both sides and then put them into one pdf, or several pdfs. But the ink costs a fortune. So I also have the WTM recommended Brother 2270DW, a laser with duplex printing, fast and economical; it is frequently on sale at Amazon for around $85. I love the color and quality of the Canon, but the Brother has probably paid for itself doing day-to-day workhorse printing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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