Need a New Printer

[TrvlBug]

We bought a Canon color laser printer when our b&W laser printer crapped out. Donated the color inkjet along with 5 sets of newly purchased cartridges to a local school. Very, very happy with the color laserjet. It's a 4 in 1 with all the bells & whistles including touch screen and was on sale for about $320 at Best Buy a year ago.

You might also check your local Costco as I saw some laser printers the last time I was there. They used to carry only inkjet.

 

[Another Reader]

You can often find the Brother 2320D for $50 on sale. Those things last forever. We have several. No wi-fi, but for basic black and white printing, nothing beats the price or durability.

 

[omni550]

I thought there was a thread within the last six months of printer recommendations, sorry, but I can't find it. I'm tired of the high cost of ink for my Canon printer. I'm thinking there were recommendations for a Brother printer folks were ordering from Amazon for under $100. I can do without color printing, black is fine.

I am an avid fan of Brother B&W laser printers. I have two (Model 2360-DW* https://www.amazon.com/Brother-HL-L2360DW-Wireless-Networking-Replenishment/dp/B00LEA5EJM here in Florida and a slightly older similar model at my northern home.) My sis & BIL have two similar Brother printers also. (We have one each at our northern and snowbird residences).

I like the WIFI and duplex (2-sided printing) capabilities. It's a workhorse.

I can print from my Android smartphone, too.

We never have any issues, even when these units sit idle/turned off for months at a time. The first page printed after a long shut-down is flawless.

We buy the high-yield Brother toner cartridges for about $55-60, and they last 'forever'. Clean, crisp prints with no smudging. Their built-in software gives you a head-up when the toner cartridge is starting to run low. I shake the cartridge at that point, which lets it another 50-100 or so pages.

*I picked this one up for $88 on an Amazon sale 3 years ago. I see that Best Buy, Staples, and Office Max have it for $99.99.


Here's one old thread where Brothers were discussed. http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/clogged-hp-ink-cartridges-89617.html



omni

 

[USGrant1962]

I too would recommend a laser. I've always had a laser printer in the house going back to the HP Laserjet III that I paid like $1600 for in 1990 - it lasted over a decade. My current day-to-day printer is a Dell multi-function network laser (not color). I buy generic toner cartridges for it.

I also have an old cannon inkjet for occasional color jobs, and buy generic ink for it. It is pretty good about not drying out and clogging up.

 

[Aerides]

Have you tried cheap cartridges? I get the non-OEM types from amazon, and pay far far less than canon for ink, yes even for canon-compatible. Just plop your printer type into amazon and you might be surprised. I typically get a full set of ink refills for $12-ish.

I use a Canon TS6000 printer. I use these cartridges for it:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0733M7FQX/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

work just fine. Maybe not as great as the $40 per slot ones canon sells, but good enough for me and I print a ton of B&W.

 

[harley]

On Walt's recommendation I bought a Dell E525w AiO color laser printer a year or so ago. I've been really happy with it. I went through the first set of intro cartridges fairly quickly (we print a fair amount), but the real cartridges are lasting forever. You can find them on sale for well under $200, closer to $100. I like the color, scan and copy capability.

For our house in FL I bought a Samsung C480FW AiO color laser printer. I got it on sale for something like $110. It's not quite as user friendly as the Dell, but close. I've been very happy with it too.

I recommend getting color and all in one capability. They aren't that much more expensive anymore, although there's the expense of the colored cartridges. But unless you absolutely never print anything in color, it gives you a lot more flexibility. And definitely get the AiO. I can't tell you how many forms I've had to print out and sign, then scan back in and email back to whoever (banks, insurance companies, etc.). I actually signed a blank piece of paper, scanned it in, and now I cut and paste that into the forms so I don't have to bother to print it unless I want to keep a copy.

I did have a Brother color laser printer at one point. It was pretty decent, but I like the Dell better.

 

[easysurfer]

My first laser printer was an old Samsung that was similar in design to the old Apple Stylewriters in that the paper feed was on the top, angled down. I really liked this printer as the paper rarely ever got jammed. I ended up giving away to Goodwill as I upgraded to a Samsung multi-functional (printer,scanner, copier, fax) black, not color. Had thought the multi-functional was ready for the trash bin as it was jamming frequently, but found via youtube that I could rejuvenate the paper rollers. Did that and now the printer hardly jams.

Still, I miss the Stylewriter like printer and wished I would have kept.

 

[gcgang]

I have TWO HP color printers in my garage if you want them. I hate them.

Brother was cheap and actually works without all the indecipherable error messages the HP spewed out.

 

[Jerry1]

We started with a black printing only Brother and like it a lot. But we missed the color of an inkjet so we go an HP multi-function color printer. We like it too. It says it's not photo quality, but for the little bit we print photos, it's fine. I don't know if we're just lucky, but we just bought low end units that had the specs we wanted with good reviews and we've been happy. Also, we don't print that much so it's not like we run the machine hard. We are much happier with the lasers than we were with the inkjets. Totally recommend wireless units. We can put them anywhere in the office (or house) and they work fine. DW can print from he easy chair in the living room when she wants to. Take the plunge.

 

[bw5972]

Also, if you want an inkjet, Epson now has inkjets with large ink tanks. Don't know much about them as they were just coming out when I bought my Brother printer.

I bought one of those a couple of years ago. Expensive upfront but came with enough ink included for over 11,000 pages. (Yes, that’s right. 11,000 )

 

[RunningBum]

I bought one of those a couple of years ago. Expensive upfront but came with enough ink included for over 11,000 pages. (Yes, that’s right. 11,000 )

How much you print is a big factor. I'm pretty certain I haven't printed 100 pages in the last year. Probably not 50. No need to pay a larger upfront fee to print many times more than I'll ever print in a lifetime. That's why I like the inkjet with very low-cost, low-volume cartridges. But for a heavy printer, the upfront cost is not a big deal.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

This is timely as I recently had to replace an older HP laserjet (I bought it used back in 2012 and had used the same toner over the course of 10000+ pages printed) when it started to jam. Research on the problem indicated that it was probably caused by flat rollers, so I chucked it up as "junk".

So...I have a BRAND NEW Brother HL-2300D laserjet I got off of Amazon. It was $135 but that included a 3500 page toner. I haven't used it too much, but set up was very easy and it prints very nicely...I would recommend.

We also had a Dell multi-purpose that was "laying around" that I tried to get up and running, but it would NOT cooperate with Windows 10. Dell used to make some great stuff...but I haven't had too much luck in recent years with them.

Speaking of old printers...anyone know of a good way to get rid of them? I am not sure if they can be used for parts or not and I know they can be recycled, but hey...if I can make a few $ off of them...then sign me up!

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

How much you print is a big factor. I'm pretty certain I haven't printed 100 pages in the last year. Probably not 50. No need to pay a larger upfront fee to print many times more than I'll ever print in a lifetime. That's why I like the inkjet with very low-cost, low-volume cartridges. But for a heavy printer, the upfront cost is not a big deal.

You can find laserjet printers (and replacement toners) very cheap these days. If you don't have a need for color, then a laserjet is probably the way to go. The old HP I had (actually had two of them) were much older than 10 years and I had printed 3000+ pages on at least one of them since 2012. I paid about $125 for each of them (with a replacement toner) refurbished.

I will print out a "usage sheet" and figure out how much it cost me over the years.

Edit: WOW! I printed quite a bit more than I thought. Both were bought used in 2011...one of them we printed 10,190 sheets (2087 remain on toner) and the other one printed 2,006 sheets (16,230 remaining). Both were HP 2420dn printers. Up until recently, we had ZERO issues with them. I can only hope the new Brother will be as dependable.

Second Edit: I was able to find the receipt for the one that has 10,000 pages printed. With the toner, it cost me $81.49. I would say I got my money's worth!

 

[gerntz]

I print a lot & often color.

 

[RunningBum]

You can find laserjet printers (and replacement toners) very cheap these days. If you don't have a need for color, then a laserjet is probably the way to go. The old HP I had (actually had two of them) were much older than 10 years and I had printed 3000+ pages on at least one of them since 2012. I paid about $125 for each of them (with a replacement toner) refurbished.

I will print out a "usage sheet" and figure out how much it cost me over the years.

Edit: WOW! I printed quite a bit more than I thought. Both were bought used in 2011...one of them we printed 10,190 sheets (2087 remain on toner) and the other one printed 2,006 sheets (16,230 remaining). Both were HP 2420dn printers. Up until recently, we had ZERO issues with them. I can only hope the new Brother will be as dependable.

Second Edit: I was able to find the receipt for the one that has 10,000 pages printed. With the toner, it cost me $81.49. I would say I got my money's worth!

I paid $70 for my Brother MFCJ265W in 2011, and $31 for ink cartridges since then. $101 total, and I have a good stockpile of cartridges so no new orders for a couple years at least. I could get could a newer model for the same price now (new, not refurb) and the cartridges are about the same price. Just like you are saying that laser printing costs have come down, so have inkjet cartridges if you get the right printer. I'm not fussing around with refilling cartridges or anything like that.

I still think the biggest factor is how much you print. Even with my cheap cartridge, my cost would go up at your quantity, and I'd be frustrated by the slower speed. For the 1-2 pages at a time that I usually print, it's usually finished printing by the time I walk to the printer in my study.

Color printing is not that big of a factor for me, but it is nice considering at my printing rate I can get a color inkjet a bit cheaper than mono laser. I know the laser printing is sharper, but I'm not really worried about quality either.

In 2011 I really liked the scanner/copier capability, and even the fax, but I could probably live with "scanning" with my cell phone camera now.

 

[IMATERP]

Another vote for cheap Brother laser printers.

I have the older HL-5470DW and it has served me very well for years.

The current models include:

Brother HLL2350DW for $99 and Brother HLL2300D for $90

The extra $10 gets you WiFi and lets you locate the printer anywhere you want, not only attached to wired ethernet or USB which the other one requires.

I leave my turned on all the time and I measured the power usage when it's I sleeping, but available - it was like 2 or 3 watts. Worth it for the convenience of never having to think about turning it on or off.

Fine products.

+1 oh Brother!

Bought my brother laser printer 6 months ago at Walmart.com. I think it was $74. A replacement cartridge was not very expensive and provides a lot of pages. I have no scanner or copier with my Printer.

 

[Walt34]

We're still happy with the Dell E525w AiO color laser printer. Shop around for that one, I just took a quick look and found prices from $129 (eBay) to $329 (Best Buy). DW prints a fair amount and me once in a while. We've gone through ~two sets of toner cartridges with no issues so far.

For photos I have a Cannon Pro-100 photo printer, normally $400 but I stumbled across them once with a $300 rebate debit card and sprung for that. Ink cartridges (there are eight of them) are pricey, but I buy the Cannon brand ones since I'm fussy about photos, it's worth it to me to be sure the colors are dead on. Although it is a bit slow it prints gallery-quality photos, and I don't print very many photos with it now so I'm happy with it. The printer has not yet clogged.

 

[gauss]

I thought there was a thread within the last six months of printer recommendations, sorry, but I can't find it. I'm tired of the high cost of ink for my Canon printer. I'm thinking there were recommendations for a Brother printer folks were ordering from Amazon for under $100. I can do without color printing, black is fine.

I bought my MIL a used HP4000n laserjet series of printer a few years back on ebay for ~$50 shipped.

I have been using one of these since 1990 back when the cost was $1,000 new.

It takes a new toner cartridge about once every 3-5 years at a cost of about $25 on ebay.

Nice solid office printer.

Remember, if you buy someone's NEW printer very cheap, then their business model might be to make it up on the consumables.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

I bought a home office grade laser printer back in 1993 and paid something like $750 for it then. It lasted about 15 years and I probably replaced the toner cartridge twice. It gave up the ghost and I got an inkjet that ate ink cartridges like others have said.

My latest printer is an hp and I subscribe to the "instant ink" program. For $3 a month I can print up to 50 sheets in color or b&w, and unused sheets roll over. Around tax season my printing needs increase so I up the plan to the 100 sheet per month version for $5. The cartridges automagically arrive in the mail before the old ones are used up, and the cartridges they use as part of the plan hold much more ink than the ones you buy in the store.

I like having the option of color printing (which I can use just as freely as grayscale) and I like being able to scan or photocopy.

 

[calico1597]

Thanks for all the input. We will be leaving our snowbird home in a few weeks. I have the laser Brother HL-L2395DW in my Amazon shopping cart for our Illinois home. It will print, copy & scan for $130.00. It has 4.5 star rating. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0764NWFP8/ref=ask_ql_qh_dp_hza

Any cheaper deals out there I'll see what Walmart has to offer before ordering.

 

[aja8888]

I bought my MIL a used HP4000n laserjet series of printer a few years back on ebay for ~$50 shipped.

I have been using one of these since 1990 back when the cost was $1,000 new.

It takes a new toner cartridge about once every 3-5 years at a cost of about $25 on ebay.

Nice solid office printer.

Remember, if you buy someone's NEW printer very cheap, then their business model might be to make it up on the consumables.

We have the same unit. Bought it used and picked up a $35 roller replacement kit from eBay. Installed those parts and the printer has been working flawlessly for several years now.

 

[gauss]

We have the same unit. Bought it used and picked up a $35 roller replacement kit from eBay. Installed those parts and the printer has been working flawlessly for several years now.

Thanks - It is a workhouse IMHO.

 

[sengsational]

I bought my MIL a used HP4000n laserjet series of printer a few years back on ebay for ~$50 shipped.
It takes a new toner cartridge about once every 3-5 years at a cost of about $25 on ebay.

We have the same unit. Bought it used and picked up a $35 roller replacement kit from eBay. Installed those parts and the printer has been working flawlessly for several years now.

Thanks - It is a workhouse IMHO.

I bought an HP LaserJet 5 from my old employer for $40 in 2003, so 15 years ago. It came with a JetDirect 300X (allows it to be accessible to any computer on my network without going through another computer). I think I'm on my third cartridge, and yes, those cartridges are cheap on eBay, and it's a new photoconductor drum each time. My price per sheet can't be beat!

 

[TimeMeasure]

Just a short collective thank you to everyone who posted thoughts on this thread. All the commentary (laser vs. inkjest, Brother printer recommendations, etc.) was very helpful color and cut down a great deal on sifting of Amazon reviews.

Settled on the Brother DCPL25502DW as a good medium between cost and functionality. Wireless printing has been a revelation!

(Yes, still easily amazed by technology. Who was it who said that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic...)

 

[W2R]

Just a short collective thank you to everyone who posted thoughts on this thread. All the commentary (laser vs. inkjest, Brother printer recommendations, etc.) was very helpful color and cut down a great deal on sifting of Amazon reviews.

Settled on the Brother DCPL25502DW as a good medium between cost and functionality. Wireless printing has been a revelation!

(Yes, still easily amazed by technology. Who was it who said that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic...)

Good choice! That's the one I have my eye on, for my next printer (at some point).