Page 1 of Advice? re Printers.

I need a new printer.

I currently have a white elephant in the corner of a room, an HP Envy 5020, which developed a cute trick of not putting any black on the page, yet emptying the black ink cartridges (in software not reality), prompting a new ink cartridge be installed after a dozen or so pages.

The HP all in one before that at least worked, even if I spent more time cleaning its innards than printing anything.

I miss my HP Deskjet 690c, which was a clicky-clacky rube goldberg contraption, but it was a workhorse that printed everything I needed for years, even if the print quality got dodgy by the end. The cartridges were cheap and lasted for ages and the printer worked until it wore out.

But now it seems that inkjets are all firmwared up to the gills, the cartridges are chipped, they're designed to become obsolete within months, not years, and printer ink is more expensive than perfume. I saw an HP Envy in a supermarket the other day, and on the side it said "genuine HP inks only", and in small print beneath it, "older genuine HP ink cartridges not guaranteed to work in this printer".

So F*** inkjets, and double-f*** HP.

And then I fell down a rabbit hole trying to figure out which laser printer to buy, hoping for economic printing costs and uncorrupted consumables. But reading around it, it seems the inkjet problems have transferred to laser as well, designed obsolecence through firmware, and chipped consumables. I had a Brother 1612-W on order at Amazon for the last 4 months before they gave up trying to source it and cancelled the order.

Now I'm thinking of a Xerox B225 all in one mono printer, but the more I read about printers, the more I'm sure that I'll be buying another one in 12 months and 1 day.

Right now, this is the only printer I feel comfortable spending money on...



Any advice at this point would be good...



===========================
Jitendar Canth

Quote:
"I thought what I`d do was, I`d pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes."

Site Reviewer at DVD Reviewer & MyReviewer

Carving out a niche with a pneumatic drill at Anime @ MyReviewer.com

what do you want to print, and how often?

i've got a cheap black and white samsung lazer I've had for years, and before that I had a brother which lasted years, 2 printers in about 23 years! the samsung must be 10-15 years old I think, when ink runs out i can buy a cheap kit on ebay where you pour ink powder in the drum and get a replacement fuse cartridge thing which makes it believe you've bought a proper one :)

if I want to print photos which is v rare, i just print in Tesco or boots at a machine if one or two, if loads use photobox, but i generally only use that when making a nice album etc for my parents which i couldn't do at  home anyway.

if you really need colour at home, then I think HP subscriptions seem to be the way to go, a work mate did one a while ago and seems happy with it.

https://admars32.wordpress.com/
https://mobro.co/admars?mc=1

Will just be using it for mono printing and photocopying (scanning's just a bonus). I print maybe one document a week at most; when the printer was working I could go a month or two without turning it on.

A couple times a year, I'd need a PDF printed out when I change insurance companies, and by far the most imperative are the retailer returns which want a printed authorisation form. I can get around that by calling them on the phone or something but it's a big hassle.

Ironically the last time that happened was with Amazon, and the rep, typically not listening to what I said, suggested I just print it out. I told him to look in my order history, and when he saw the printer that had been on back order for three months at that point, finally got it.

But I'd say I'm a lighter than light user, which is why I'm so reluctant to shell out on something that might not work the second time I turn it on.

===========================
Jitendar Canth

Quote:
"I thought what I`d do was, I`d pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes."

Site Reviewer at DVD Reviewer & MyReviewer

Carving out a niche with a pneumatic drill at Anime @ MyReviewer.com

I have an Epson XP245 worked reasonably well but now used to infrequently so the heads clog up to much for a cleaning cycle to be any use.
Mostly used for scanning though TBH last time I needed something I just photo'd it with my phone.
It won't be replaced as pretty well everything now you can do without hard copy.
As far as non genuine cartridges that's why it was Epson. I was told the cartridges were far easier to reverse engineer so were easier/cheaper to obtain.
Used to get all my cartridges from a shop that did practically nothing but and was in walking distance.
Covid's seen them off so no idea where I'd go now.

Snaps

This item was edited on Thursday, 13th January 2022, 19:29

Might be a good time to buy Canon!

https://hackaday.com/2022/01/13/canon-temporarily-abandons-smart-ink-cartridges/


Editor
MYREVIEWER.COM

My Flickr Photostream

Quote:
Robee J Shepherd says...
"Might be a good time to buy Canon!"
Only if you're German

Quote:
For now, this announcement applies to German customers, and covers the Canon imageRunner family of multi-function printers (the complete list is in the company announcement above).


Snaps

Quote:
Here's how to hack our printers! Only do it if you are German, ok?
Sure! We totally won't use the knowledge you are giving us to unlock all of them!


Editor
MYREVIEWER.COM

My Flickr Photostream

I'm the same as Snapswith the Epson, I use it very lightly then about once a year have to go crazy printing off reams! The print heads clog up and no amount of onboard head cleaning will bring it back so I have to stuff it full of tissues and squirt solvent down the ink feeds. A couple of weeks ago I needed to print some vouchers off..........No joy, no amount of solvent worked. 

I've now bought a Canon Pixma G2520 with big ink tanks you fill from a bottle so we'll see how that goes..............wish me luck 

Forza Ferrari, Sebastian & Kimi !!

Go Vale Go.....The Doctor....G.O.A.T. !!

Quote:
Snaps says...
"Used to get all my cartridges from a shop that did practically nothing but and was in walking distance.
Covid's seen them off so no idea where I'd go now."I find myself in need of cartridges.
Mrs Snaps has retired which means the posh Canon lump she had has gone back to the company.
Bought some head cleaner which is currently soaking through the heads on my Epson XP245, successfully I hope.

Will need new carts for it so just wondering where you lot get them from.
Seems to be a million and one companies but no way to tell who does a reasonable product for a reasonable price.


EDIT: Ordered a set off Amazon.
They just make it so easy.
Even when you think 'Oh I'll just pick up ****** while I'm out'

 


Snaps

This item was edited on Saturday, 18th June 2022, 10:19

Quote:
Snaps says...
"Will need new carts for it so just wondering where you lot get them from.
Seems to be a million and one companies but no way to tell who does a reasonable product for a reasonable price."
I've used the likes of IJT, Prindo, Amazon, etc. The one I've found the most reliable (often next day delivery, the cartridges work - not always the case and reasonable prices*) is cartridgepeople.com. It might well depend on which printer you have, but I've found that even Amazon can be a bit limited and aren't necessarily that cheap.

*none of them are actually what I'd call cheap