Good printers? Do they really exist? And how much?

[Fat Tony]

Ok, i've had nothing but "package" printers that have just come with computer packages in the past, and of course they're all terrible. I've never had a printer that did anything but mess up, and alas, I now need one. I'm looking for something that's got print/scan/copy ~$150 can be higher though. I just need one that i know is going to be reliable and isn't going to take 3 hours and 318598173987 installs of the software to get it working.

Thanks ahead for any help

F|T

[gothika]

I do alot of work in the graphics and publishing field and have used most of the major printer on the market with varying degrees of grief or success.
Unless you want to deal with constant operational malfunctions stay away from Epsons. They produce excellent work when running properly but tend to clog and band way to much.(I have a closet full of older Epsons that I just gave up on after wasting to much ink, paper and time trying to get production out of them.)
Canon does produce some models that work well for general use. Just be sure to check the specs, if they match the specs found on Epsons(1440x720, 1440x1440 etc..) then stay away from them they're actually running Epson print engines under the hood.
I'm currently using Lexmark printers and am fairly happy with the output quality and lack of overall print hassles and malfunctions.
They don't like refills on the cartridges as much as the canons and HP's.(I have about a 70% success rate on cartridge refilling.)
I an recommend the Z series anything above the Z42 for photo-quality and speed.
They produce really stunning picks when using the optional photo cartridge and photo paper..(Turns the printer into a 6 color photo grade printer.)

[El_Brio]

I feel the same way. I got sick of buying $50 dollar printers that look like **** after a month or so and need ink every month.

I got smart.

I realized I didn't really need color printing. Most people don't. I bought a samsung ml-1430 laser printer (like $150) and couldn't be happier. Laser printers print like 3000pgs per toner cart (about 60 dollars). With ink you get like 500pgs per a $30 cart.

It is also alot faster, doesn't smear and needs no cleaning or maintenance.

I will NEVER go back to ink!!! I hear you can even refill toner carts. hmmmm.....

Reguardless, the new low-cost laser printers (like 3 I think under $200) rock the boat. Better print quality to boot!

el_brio

[gothika]

I have a few laser printers but the cost per page is prohibitive.
Even on my lowes cost machine and refilling my on cartridges with toner the cost per page is around 17 cents. That's with my buying high bulk toner at wholesale price.
You forgot to mention the added cost of fusion rollers and corona wires, those burn out fairly quick at any kind of volume level.
With my best laser printer I get about 3,000 pages at best out of a fusion roller, with the cost of a roller running about 150 buck the last time I bought one.(wholesale)
My small office laser, which I use for just text and forms(600 dpi) the cost per sheet is a whoping 35 cents! (fusion roler and toner cartridge are integrated. I have to buy a special thermal resistor that burns out every time the toner runs out or it reachs a print count of 1,000. It shuts the fuser down and stops work for the day.)
I like lasers, but they really aren't cheaper compared to the plotters I have that I use for final output.
I can output a letter size sheet with 80% coverage for about 4 cents, that's with an alchohol base ink with archival pigment. I can even use a gloss or puff additive for raised print or that laser look.(Most of my customers think the glossy output is laser.)
I do wish they'd make a cost effective high output laser, the closest I've gotten is when I tried leasing a big 4-color laser copier with a firewire interface. The cost per sheet for it was about 20 cents for black and 30 cents for color.
Ultimately the copier company wouldn't honor the service contract when I stopped buying their high priced toner.(The legal costs to extract myself from the annual lease contract killed my profit for the next quarter.0
One way to get around the drawbacks of inkjet(smear and ink spread) is to use a coated paper and run the output through a thermal dryer.
(Motorized steel rollers very similar to what is used by a laser.)
If you fast dry the ink is stops the ink spread rendering a much sharper print.
I built my dryer out of a fuser from an old xerox copier.
You can use a hair dryer or a low temp heat gun if on a budget.

[El_Brio]

Dude I don't know what you are smoking but I want some! It is a well established fact that a laser printer is alot cheaper per page than ink. Shoot, I got my printer for $180 (Samsung ml-1430) and the "starter" toner cart that it came with cranked out like 2000 pages b4 I needed to replace it. That's like .09 a page including cost of printer. Since a replacement cart costs $60 and has about a 3000 page output with toner save on its around .02 a page!!


Cost per sheet is .35?? You must have some crazy printer. Check out the new economical laser printers.

How the heck could your printer cost .35 a page? That's ridiculous(sp). Go to Kinko's dude. It's only .10 a copy.

[gothika]

Not smoking anything "Dude".
The printer in question is made by xerox, which I agree is a **** brand. It came as part of a lease package. The reason I keep it is because I investe alot in it.
As for not knowing the facts.
I've workinged in the publishing and printing industry for over thirty years, very likely longer than you've been around.
The printers you quote are low end machines that would overheat and fry out day one under a real production load.
BTW how many pages does your machine output in a given day.
Commercial machines cost more upfront and more for toner/print drums/fusion rollers/corona wires.
I'll go through a drum in a 7-10 day period period, toner cartridge about every 4-5 hours.
What brand of printer are you running?
Consumer grade Okidata's(****)
When I worked for the Government print Bureau we got stuck with Oki's and would get about 3-4 hours before they'd fry.
While there are a fair number of decent(For consumer volume output) laser's on the retail market most wouldn't last a week in commercial use.
How would that be economical, having to buy a whole new printer every few days? Not to mention the down time where employees sit around waiting for replacement printers or service techs to fix them.
I have a storage room full of laser printers that couldn't cut the grade.
Most given to me from the manufacturers to try and secure the wining bid for my business printer needs.
Let me ask you dude, have you even ever used a printer enough to have to change out printer drum?
Do you even know how to do it?
Doubt it?
Here's a news flash. The printer stats put out by the manufacturers are usually grosly overblown espcially when it comes to cost per page.
They figure toner cost on 4-8% coverage.
In my business I've never printed a page with less than 20 percent coverage. Kinda blows their figure out of the water.
They also don't tell you about component replacement cost(Fusion roller,drums,wires motors, sensors and circuit cards.)Of course most don't even offer those parts, your just supposed to toss it and buy their latest model. Either that or tack it to a service center and prepare to get bent over.
Then if you have a real laser machine and not an LED printer posing as a laser there's the actual laser that can go at any time.
Have you ever replaced and aligned a laser?
Not likely.
Regular over the counter machine promise alot.
Haven't seen one yet that could deliver.
Certainly not at the output cost quoted by the maker.

[El_Brio]

For the low output home user who doesn't require color printing a laser printer is the cheapest per page printing solution. I think we are comparing apples to oranges here. This guy isn't looking for a commercial printer. He wants a home user printer to print out a few pages a day. For him (and for most people) buying a commercial grade printer would be a massive waste of money. We are all very impressed with your knowledge of commercial printing economics however it doesn't apply here.

[onewave4me]

found a printer in the trash in Newport 4 yrs ago-- a hp870 cse and it is still running on its original cartridges now!? I have refilled them a couple of times and go thru a ream a month of reg paper and 10 or more sheets of photos per month and have refilled the ink cartridges very few times but like the everready battery it keeps going and going.....guess it was a fairly good printer???!

[Hemond]

I've had good luck with the following cheap printers:


HP 825c - $39 OfficeMax after rebate - used 2 of them now.
Canon BJC 3000 - about $29 AR - forgot where I got it
Xerox xj6c - about $29 - discontinued from Staples
Epson C42UX -$29 Compugeeks - newest one -prints nicely but will it last?


These printers have been in service for over a year now. I've given them away to relatives and have them set up at my Dads house as well as my three setups at my house.

The Hp has no problems whatsoever. The Canon has slight ink clogging problems which I fix with a wet cloth. The Xerox is built like iron and withstands the abuse my 10yo nephew gives it.

None of these printers gets heavy use, normal personal use which is light duty. My Epson is too new to judge how well it will stand up but the print quality is fine at the moment.

I once had a Lexmark [5000 ?] It was expensive for me - $180. It worked quietly and smoothly but was so delicately made that only someone gentle could use it without breaking it. It finally failed after 16 months and I tossed it as too much trouble.

[elroy]

I've been using a CHEAP Epson 480sxu for over a year and have been very happy with it. Mostly I print invoices or occasionally something off the web. It cost me $22 on sale with a rebate and I use generic ink cartridges that cost $3-4 each. I'll admit it probably isn't the best photo printer around but it does a good all around job and you would be hard pressed to get the job done any cheaper. When it dies I'll be happy to go to town and spend another $22 for a new one.

[SLX]

I just bought a Cannon i550, its 4200x2400 dpi, Ive printed about 200 pages and 20 photos and still have like 98% ink full. This model uses the newly designed ink jet cartages that are seperate.

Borderless photos, and spits out text page in like 3 seconds.

Flaws are, only prints fast with usb2.0 connection. The paper accept tray and deposit tray are foldable, thus easier to move aropund but weaker. 20 second warm up when first power on.

Goods. Auto on and off when you set it up in control panel. only 150 dollars not including 30 dollar rebate at staples. Cheap ink, overall nice printer for costs.