EntropySink

Technical & Scientific => Hardware => Topic started by: ober on December 30, 2014, 02:35:11 PM

Title: Need a new printer
Post by: ober on December 30, 2014, 02:35:11 PM
We have a wireless Canon that I have kind of hated since we bought it ... 3? years ago.  The other day, it just stopped printing red.  Just red.  I did all the cleaning cycles and everything but nothing will change it.  I'm looking at a bunch on Amazon and narrowing it down but I'm curious if you guys have any suggestions beyond these:

Epson 310 (http://www.amazon.com/Epson-XP-310-Wireless-Printer-Scanner/dp/B00FTG73SC/ref=sr_1_1?s=office-electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1419963850&sr=1-1&keywords=printer)
Canon MG5520, similar to what I have now (http://www.amazon.com/Canon-MG5520-Wireless-All-In-One-Printing/dp/B00EHDZMGI/ref=sr_1_6?s=office-electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1419967840&sr=1-6&keywords=printer)

Requirements:

1) Needs to be relatively small
2) Needs to be wireless
3) Needs to have a scanner
4) Needs to print accurate colors
Title: Re: Need a new printer
Post by: micah on December 30, 2014, 02:57:15 PM
I recommend not having a printer.  Ours ran out of yellow ink and won't let you do shit until you buy more ink.  You'd think it would let you print in grey scale or even just use the scanner but nope.  F that.  Anyway, I haven't even plugged mine in for the last 3 years.  How much do you really print?  Every once in a while I'll print something at work if I need to.  We send photo's we want printed to walgreens and pick them up in 30 minutes for pennies each.  Save the trees and your money.
Title: Re: Need a new printer
Post by: ober on December 30, 2014, 03:10:59 PM
My wife is heavily involved in the PTA and the kid's classrooms and has to print random stuff for that.  She also needs to print things in exact colors for other projects that she is working on.  Also, I work from home at least 1 day/week and I often have to print and wet-sign/scan items.

So yeah, kinda need a printer.
Title: Re: Need a new printer
Post by: Mike on December 30, 2014, 03:44:20 PM
I don't hate my HP LaserJet Pro CM1415fnw.  Had it for awhile now (4 years?) and 3 moves and it has held up well.
Title: Re: Need a new printer
Post by: KnuckleBuckett on December 30, 2014, 09:00:15 PM
HP has printers with subscription ink.  May be worth a look.
Title: Re: Need a new printer
Post by: JaWiB on December 31, 2014, 12:24:21 AM
I've always had good experiences with HP printers too. My friend did an internship at HP this last summer, and apparently they do a huge amount of R&D to develop their ink. Only problem is the business model where the printers are subsidized by the ink sales, so people try to refill with third party ink which generally does not work so well. Not to mention the fact that there's got to be some residue left behind in an empty cartridge, even if you could refill with HP ink
Title: Re: Need a new printer
Post by: Mike on December 31, 2014, 12:27:33 AM
I'm at the point where I replace the printer when the ink goes out.  Tends to be cheaper especially if it isn't just one color.
Title: Re: Need a new printer
Post by: Jake on December 31, 2014, 09:31:50 AM
I think that if I needed to print any significant volume in color these days I would invest in a color laser. The ink for the current inkjets is just too damn expensive. That is why I will hold on to my 10+ year old HP 952C. It uses the large 45 and 78 HP cartridges which easily yield 2000 sheets. We use our printer a few times a month.

I also have a pretty decent Epson photo printer but have not used it in a few years.

Other than that, I can't suggest anything else since I've been out of that field for a while.
Title: Re: Need a new printer
Post by: KnuckleBuckett on January 01, 2015, 01:22:57 AM
The downside of color laser it that photos look like crap.
Title: Re: Need a new printer
Post by: kermi3 on January 01, 2015, 03:27:24 AM
If you need to do pictures, use shutterfly. Get something cheap. Use it as little as possible
Title: Re: Need a new printer
Post by: ober on January 02, 2015, 11:26:37 AM
You guys are so far from helpful.  :p

My wife is doing graphic design and has to print out her work and take pictures of it.  So it all has to look nice.  And all of that can require multiple attempts to get sizes right and so on.

Long story short, I bought a Canon Pixma MG7120 (in red): http://www.amazon.com/Canon-MG7120-Wireless-All-In-One-Printing/dp/B00EHDZMAY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420208354&sr=8-1&keywords=canon+7120
Title: Re: Need a new printer
Post by: ober on January 02, 2015, 11:30:51 AM
I've always had good experiences with HP printers too. My friend did an internship at HP this last summer, and apparently they do a huge amount of R&D to develop their ink. Only problem is the business model where the printers are subsidized by the ink sales, so people try to refill with third party ink which generally does not work so well. Not to mention the fact that there's got to be some residue left behind in an empty cartridge, even if you could refill with HP ink
I looked at a couple HPs and I wasn't satisfied with the features on them.  Plus the reviews weren't what I was hoping.  I've had 3 Canons and they last a reasonably long time and the features seem to be unmatched from what I have seen in my recent dive.  I didn't like some of the downsides of Epsons and I never really liked their printers anyways.  I looked at a Brother model too but there were some lacking features on it as well.

The Canon I currently have that sort of stopped working is going on 3 years which is decent for a printer.  The one I had before that lasted 5 and we mainly replaced it because the scanner broke (although we tried scanning a few thousand pictures in about 3 days... so maybe we worked it to death?).
Title: Re: Need a new printer
Post by: charlie on January 02, 2015, 03:17:44 PM
When you find a home printer that can print on thick cover stock, let me know. Presumably one with a flat rear feeder would work, but when we searched a year or two ago we came up empty.
Title: Re: Need a new printer
Post by: Mike on January 02, 2015, 03:25:20 PM
How thick are you talking?  I've used 110 lb on my printer.
Title: Re: Need a new printer
Post by: charlie on January 02, 2015, 03:34:15 PM
I forget the numbers... I'm not the designer. :p

Edit: Much thicker than index cards or manila folders, more like cover stock used for flat cards or invitations. So maybe 100lb cover (which is thicker than 110lb index).