Cheap Printer or Cheap Ink?

[imoldernu]

Now, am down to printing very few pages... maybe a total of 100/year. I don't care about quality or color... price is the objective.
So... two years ago, I bought a refurbished Cannon 2200 at Big Lots for $40 and only now am running out of the small ink cartridges. the printer works well... no problems. The ink replacements cost $55.

I do need to scan, even though not so much print. Walmart low end HP is $59.

My old HP lasted for 15 years... same cartridges that I refilled for about $3 each. Easy...always worked. Since that time, maybe 5 different printers. Despite instructions online to reset the cartridges for a refill at home, never seems to work. I still have enough ink to refill about ten large cartridges.

So, yes... spring for the $59 bucks or buy 24 cents worth of ink for $54.95.
Just makes me mad. How did we allow this to happen? Even the on-line ink sellers want an arm and a leg for refilled cartridges.

When despoilment is inevitable, relax and enjoy it!

end of rant...

So here's my new project... refill the "#60/61 HP cartridges for my last wireless HP printer. "put tape over 1 copper terminal, put into printer... run... take out cartridge, tape over two other copper terminals... put into computer... take out an do another taping and removal... resets cartridge".... between this and doing the syringe fill... about a half hour of trying to outwit the ink companies. Will letcha know

Frugality has its' own rewards... the joy of conquering the ink moguls.

 

[ERD50]

Neither.

maybe a total of 100/year. I don't care about ... color.

I've purchased a number of Brother laser printers for family, one for myself. All working flawlessly for years. Less than $100 for the printer, the (starter) toner lasted over 700 pages. I got 1043 pages from it by using the 'toner saver' mode, and only replaced it when DD was over and wanted to print some hi-quality stuff.

The replacement cart was cheap, < $20, and is rated for 2600 pages.

Looks like it's discontinued? Prices are higher now:


http://www.amazon.com/Brother-HL-22...=1433620799&sr=1-1&keywords=Brother+HL-2270DW


Here's the replacement, but check reviews against the old model:

Amazon.com: Brother HL-L2340DW Compact Laser Printer with Duplex Printing and Wireless Networking: Electronics

The toner I bought ($8.14 !):

Amazon.com: Cool Toner Compatible with Brother TN450/420 Toner Cartridge HL 2240D, 2270DW High Yield Toner (2,600 Yield) - Black: Electronics

But the new toner is cheap as well:

http://www.amazon.com/E-Z-Ink-Repla...sim_229_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=0A2RP3W9JYHYW6GQ3JWB

Never need to worry about dry/clogged ink carts again. Just print. It's been fantastic.

-ERD50

 

[ERhoosier]

No doubt inkjets are marketed like the old Polaroid cameras. They priced the cameras at a loss but the film was $$$$.
I keep an eye out for great deals on brand name inkjets (mainly rebates, closeouts, refurbs, etc.). My last 4 printers (Canon, Epson, and discontinued Lexmark) have each cost me LESS than the price of a full set of inkjet cartridges alone.
I gave up on trying to refill my own cartridges. There are a number of sites that sell remanufactured cartridges at much less than the cost of new.
BTW- I now avoid Epson because in every one I've had if only 1 ink cartridge ran out the whole unit wouldn't work. REALLY upset me when I ran out of magenta ink but could not print black only... or even scan.

 

[mpeirce]

I've purchased a number of Brother laser printers for family,

+1

I've switch to recommending the cheap Brother laser printers to everyone. They work great. I find paying for the WiFi option is worth it. Then folks can place the printer anywhere in their house.

The printers are completely quiet when "sleeping" but leap into action when something is sent to them over the network. They even support AirPrint now so printing from your phone is easy.

As to scanning, iPhone (or Android) apps do a great job of this for most scanning jobs. Check into Scanner Pro or Scannable or any of a bunch of others. They make it easy - just aim the camera at the document and they identify the edges and make a nice rectangular "scan" of the page. Then you can either print the doc, save it to iCloud, Drop Box, etc. or whatever.

I have a nice scanner, but use the apps more often.

 

[Nunthewiser]

Brother inkjet all-in-ones are as good as anyone's, and the generic ink is cheap . I just bought one and even the chipped generic cartridges are less than $2. Their printers can be had for $50-$60 in you look for them.

 

[TrvlBug]

Neither.



I've purchased a number of Brother laser printers for family, one for myself. All working flawlessly for years. Less than $100 for the printer, the (starter) toner lasted over 700 pages. I got 1043 pages from it by using the 'toner saver' mode, and only replaced it when DD was over and wanted to print some hi-quality stuff.

The replacement cart was cheap, < $20, and is rated for 2600 pages.

Looks like it's discontinued? Prices are higher now:


http://www.amazon.com/Brother-HL-22...=1433620799&sr=1-1&keywords=Brother+HL-2270DW


Here's the replacement, but check reviews against the old model:

Amazon.com: Brother HL-L2340DW Compact Laser Printer with Duplex Printing and Wireless Networking: Electronics

The toner I bought ($8.14 !):

Amazon.com: Cool Toner Compatible with Brother TN450/420 Toner Cartridge HL 2240D, 2270DW High Yield Toner (2,600 Yield) - Black: Electronics

But the new toner is cheap as well:

Amazon.com: E-Z Ink (TM) Compatible Toner Cartridge Replacement for Brother TN630 TN660 High Yield (1 Black Toner) Compatible With DCP-L2520DW DCP-L2540DW HL-L2300D HL-L2360DW HL-L2320D HL-L2380DW HL-L2340DW MFC-L2700DW MFC-L2720DW MFC-L2740DW Printe

Never need to worry about dry/clogged ink carts again. Just print. It's been fantastic.

-ERD50

What he said. I have both, a color all in one for occasional color printing and a cheap b&w Brother laser for all my other printing. I buy 3rd party ink thru Amazon for both. A cheap Brother with starter toner cartridge should last you forever w/o worry of ink cart clogs as is common with the ink jets unless you print a lot.

 

[ERD50]

...

As to scanning, iPhone (or Android) apps do a great job of this for most scanning jobs. Check into Scanner Pro or Scannable or any of a bunch of others. They make it easy - just aim the camera at the document and they identify the edges and make a nice rectangular "scan" of the page. Then you can either print the doc, save it to iCloud, Drop Box, etc. or whatever.

I have a nice scanner, but use the apps more often.

+1 on that as well.

I use CamScannerHD, maybe because my 'real' scanner is so old and has old software, but the tablet/phone scanner software is way more user friendly and quick and versatile.

For when it really counts (rarely), I get better quality with the real scanner, but for most things the tablet/phone scanner software is more than good enough. Depends on your device camera though. With DW's iPad, it's great, and while my very cheap ($125) year old android tablet has a bunch of features the iPad doesn't, but the camera is marginal for scanning - that's where they cut corners.

-ERD50

 

[daylatedollarshort]

I would like to get a laser printer. In the meantime I don't like having printers in the house where I can't buy $2 or less ink cartridges off Amazon. My favorite is Sophia Global brand.

We got a printer for "free" but the ink cartridges are tricolor and very expensive, even the off brands. DH is reluctant to ditch such a nice printer, but don't want to pay that much for ink. So, like Harry Potter, the expensive ink printer is now tucked away in the cupboard under the stairs while DH tests out one of my bargain ink printers.

 

[Lakewood90712]

Family has 3 cheap cannon laser multi-function , ( 2 house, and one office) print a lot of black and white. been using them for years, no breakdowns, just cartridge refils/replacements. Aftermarket laser cart $15 - oem $95

Any color prints I take to walgreens or office depot , and pay the $

Haven't had to deal with ink for many years, don't miss it, but dont need color much.

 

[easysurfer]

Cheap printer + expensive refills = bait and switch

Not really, but feels like that.

I only print (laser) when really needed. Otherwise, store stuff on PDF via scanning or printing to PDF.

 

[rbmrtn]

I rarely print paper anymore, just print to PDF for archive/backup. Cheap laser printer for B&W printing ( +1 on the Brothers, can usually find for ~$50 ). A cheap inkjet All-In-One for scanning/copying to PC then print on laser