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View Full Version : New inkjet printer : Just 2 ink cartridges ???



Clarence Martin
07-31-2013, 9:29 AM
Looking for a new inkjet printer to replace the old Epson. Does anyone make a printer that has just a Black and a color cartridge ? It used to be that way with Lexmark, but getting hard to find a printer like that now. Don't like the printers that have the individual color cartridges for each color.

Matt Meiser
07-31-2013, 9:54 AM
Why? They aren't any necessarily any more expensive for a full refill and you can change out just the cartridge that's empty which might even save money. Full sets of high capacity cartridges for our Epson 837 are $76 at Amazon. If changing out individuals gets too far out of sync, individual standard capacity color cartridges are $11. We only use it when we need color, mostly photo printing so we don't go through much black, but black refills are available separate for about $16.

David Weaver
07-31-2013, 10:52 AM
Laser color, reman or generic ink. Get off of the inkjet train and get away from buying OEM ink from HP or anyone else. The business model is set up to rip you off, and you can work around it without any issue.

Back when HP used to sell printers for what they cost, 2000 text sheets worth of ink cost me a little more than a penny a sheet. Now it's about 4 cents, and the ink and toner for black laser is about the same. Generic ink and toner (which hasn't caused me a problem in 6 years) is half a cent per page.

My parents have an oki color laser that does a nice job and is reasonable, and another relative has a color laser brother that he likes a lot (and uses heavily).

George Bokros
07-31-2013, 11:42 AM
Matt,

What is your opinion of the Epson 837? I have an HP that is giving me some problems. It will not recognize a new color cartridge. HP wants me to buy another cartridge to see if the cartridge is defective or if I have a printer problem. If it is the printer then I will have two cartridges I will never be able to use.

Every review you read about a printer there are always plenty of negative reviews.

Thanks

George

Matt Meiser
07-31-2013, 12:27 PM
We like it. I think we've had it about a year. We've also got access to a laser that we use for everyday printing but the Epson does a great job on color, which for us mostly means photos. We can print to it from our iPhones and iPad directly which is handy (not every printer supports that.) Installation was easy and the software isn't terribly bloated like HP has become. My biggest complaint is that if you close the door on the front, it opens automatically, but the support for paper on the outfeed has to be pulled out manually. The reality is whatever you print falls on the floor but where I've got it right now leaving that support pulled out would likely result in it getting broken. I don't know if anyone has ever used the scanner on it because the laser also has one (Epson's is probably better quality for say a photo, but I rarely need anything beyond a copy or convert paper to electronic.)

Myk Rian
07-31-2013, 3:45 PM
Last year I was looking for one that would also print DVD/CD labels. Got a Canon Pixma from Amazon, and also a bunch of cartridges. Separate colors, and has 2 black in it. I gave up on 2 cartridge printers a long time ago. It does a very good job of printing everything I have thrown at it.
I also bought a cartridge re-setter so I can refill them myself. The best prices for cartridges I found was SophiaGlobal on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html?ie=UTF8&marketplaceID=ATVPDKIKX0DER&me=A2WM1AK3D6WQ63
We also have a Samsung Laser that has been a workhorse.

William Adams
07-31-2013, 7:27 PM
Our Canon Pixma IP6700D has been flawless.

The Epson Workforce WF-7010 occasionally has clogged heads and the wireless and ethernet printing driver stops working from some machines.

Curt Harms
08-01-2013, 7:38 AM
There is one advantage to some if not all 2 cartridge ink systems - they have the ink nozzles built into the cartridge, not 'freestanding'. If an inkjet printhead gets clogged and the built-in cleaning doesn't work, a new printer may well be cheaper than having the printhead repaired/replaced. If a printer with printhead integrated into the cartridge gets plugged, replace the ink cartridge which also replaces the print head. I think - not certain - that most HP non-photo printers use 2 cartridge systems.

Something else to bear in mind for those inkjet printer shopping. Lexmark is getting out of the inkjet printer business. They'll still making laser printers/ MFDs but they're discontinuing new inkjet printers this year and closing the supplies plant in 2015 according to an article I read.

Rich Engelhardt
08-01-2013, 9:37 AM
My Canon Pixma MG and MX series use two cartridges.
Wall Mart has an online only sale on the MD 2220 right now for $29.99.


It will not recognize a new color cartridge. HP wants me to buy another cartridge to see if the cartridge is defective or if I have a printer problem. If it is the printer then I will have two cartridges I will never be able to use.

That's SOP for HP (and everyone else too for that matter).
Back when I repaired printers for a living, that's the first thing we'd try.
~ 50% of the time it was an old or bad cartridge.

One thing you can try before sticking a new cartridge in...
W/the printer unplugged, take out the color cartridge. Gently swab the gold contacts on both the ink cartridge and the ones in the cartridge carrier in the printer with a Q-tip and alcohol. Do it a couple three times changing Q-tips.
One in a blue moon, the contacts get a film on them and that fixes the problem.
It's a one in a thousand chance - but - what the heck?

IMHO - if that doesn't work, I'd toss the HP and get something else.
HP went from making nearly indestructible laser printers and early ink jet printers (my HP 540 is still going strong & I know several businesses that still use Laser Jet 4 printers) to making cheap toss away stuff that uses ultra expensive cartridges & they change the cartridges just enough so you can't use the old ones in a new printer - you have to buy a new printer and new ink. <-- a bloated run on sentence worthy of the bloated run on HP printer drivers ;).

Brian Elfert
08-01-2013, 10:27 AM
I gave up on inkjet printers and just bought a decent color laser printer. I used to have both a B&W laser and a color inkjet. The inkjet cartridges would go bad from lack of use. I don't print high res photos otherwise I would probably need an inkjet printer. Long term, a color laser printer saves money. I paid around $300 for a clearance Xerox Phaser 6180N.

My main issue now is the initial starter toner cartridges are just about out and new toner cartridges are pricey. Once I spend the big wad of money for toner I won't have to buy toner for a long time and I don't have the issues of inkjet cartridges drying out.

David Weaver
08-01-2013, 10:39 AM
I made the comment above about toner and ink, I didn't realize that there are some printers that don't have good widespread reman options.

A long time ago, I bought an HP1018, an instant on instant print small laser. The cartridge for it is $79 from HP for 2500 pages or whatever, or 3 for $38 shipped from an amazon maker of generic toner. The generic cartridges have been excellent, though I've heard other people say they aren't. At three for half the price of one HP (and each generic does more pages than one of HPs), there's not a lot to lose trying them.

What I'm getting at is if price is ultimately important, as it is to me, it's probably good to go out to amazon and ebay and do an inventory of good OE spec generic ink and toner, and then read reviews of printers that have cheap ink and toner available.

Canon's pixma for me was the last straw years ago. After getting an HP printer that lasted a year and swearing them off (having about $60 of ink left), I had a pixma printer that had the five or six cartridges and it stopped recognizing anything placed in cyan and refused to print because of it, so I had the pleasure of not only having all of the cartridges left, but also buying an extra cyan cartridge to make sure tht one wasn't defective.

The laser has been smooth sailing since, never fails to make a crisp print job immediately with good dry ink, even though in my case it is only B&W. I do understand that HP has decreased the quality (and weight, etc) of the small printers. They may not have any interest at this point in making a small laser printer that lasts a long time (or maybe more specifically, they may have an interest in intentionally making a cheap short-life printer) if they think consumers are going toward them.

Brian Elfert
08-01-2013, 1:48 PM
My Xerox color laser has lots of generic options for toner, but the generic cartridges I have tried suck. Xerox has a chip to try to force you to only use Xerox cartridges. The first generic black toner cartridge I got stopped being recognized after maybe 500 pages. I exchanged it under warranty and now the replacement is leaking toner so I have a black streak on every page. I don't know that I am keen on more generic cartridges at this point.