Printer purchase advice

[Tim Elett]

I have a printer that uses the cartridge system and I don't use it a lot,but from time to time I like to make a print of a segmented bowl pattern, and the cartridge has dried, would a laser printer be a better option for me? I don't need color.

[Earl McLain]

When i was working, most of the printing i needed was at the office, and we printed very little at home. Almost every time we did, we needed to change one or more ink cartridges because they had dried out. After retiring last year, i bought a wireless HP "tank" laser (black only, i think the model is 2604?). Came pre-loaded with an estimated 2,500 pages of toner--if that's close to right it might be the rest of my life. Laser toner doesn't dry out--so for those of us who print very little, laser is probably much more economical. I have no hard data on that--but we no longer have to run to a store to buy an inkjet cartridge to print two pages!!

[Lee Schierer]

We don't print a lot of documents. A number of years ago, we tossed our ink cartridge printer for the very reasons you described. We replaced it with a Brother HL-240 series laser printer that has a toner cartridge. It is just a printer, no scanner. It is much faster than an inkjet printer. Our printer will print a complete document each and every time over 500+ times even if we haven't printed anything in a month or more. It has worked for over 15 years and is still going strong.

[Tim Elett]

Thanks for your advice, I already ran my case past the first lady,with no objection. 😉

[Larry Frank]

The Brother Laser printers are great. We have two of them and work without issues.!!

[George Yetka]

I went the other way on this. Again not much printing at home. I buy a $60 printer every 4 years or so.

[dennis thompson]

The Brother Laser printers are great. We have two of them and work without issues.!!

Me too, one color, one black and white, they have been great and are not too expensive

[Dave Fritz]

Brother tn-630 going strong for many years.

[Dwayne Watt]

I would suggest going the multi-function laser printer route. Having that scanner and copier is very useful at times. Whether one goes B/W or color laser is a personal choice but I prefer color. We purchase off-brand toner cartridges with reasonable success. They typically don't have as much toner contained therein but still have overall lower cost. Having wireless capability is even better so you can print from any of your devices (laptop, phone, tablet, etc). A B/W Canon printer with those capabilities is about $200.

[Jim Becker]

I recently switched Professor Dr. SWMBO to a basic Brother monochrome laser printer. "In theory", it should be a lot more reliable than inkjets that have ink drying issues with limited use, etc. For $139, it's surprisingly fast (once it wakes up for the job) and the print quality is excellent. I'd consider one for myself if I ever decide I no longer need color printing and even then, if I needed color (and not photo printing which I rarely do now), I'd still go laser instead of inkjet. Inkjet printers are cheap to buy but expensive to use...'cause the ink business is gamed if cartridges are involved. I use a tank type inkjet which is not affected by that so much, but with limited use, I burn a lot of ink just cleaning the darn thing so it prints well.

[Bill Howatt]

I ditched inkjet printers a long time ago since dry-out is a problem if they aren't used frequently and the ink is relatively expensive.

I have 2 Brother B&W lasers that handle the printing and it is quite intermittent. I also wanted to have a color capability so I bought a Brother 9130 combo color laser printer. Not quite the same as a glossy inkjet but pretty darn good color photo rendition on 32lb paper. It is used very infrequently, I've had it a few years and it is still on the cartridges it came with and it prints every time (and scans with a document feeder too).

Before the color laser, I bought a Canon Selphy which makes 4x6 prints using dye-sublimation, not inkjet. It has a color ribbon cartridge so it doesn't dry out and has been good for producing 4x6 photos but I have to admit I don't print many photos now. I notice the current Selphys have a lot more features on the little printer than mine does.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Another happy Brother laser user checking in.

[Ron Selzer]

I have a printer that uses the cartridge system and I don't use it a lot,but from time to time I like to make a print of a segmented bowl pattern, and the cartridge has dried, would a laser printer be a better option for me? I don't need color.
That was me over 20 years ago. Went to a Dell B/W laser, then a color laser very happy
Ron

[Dave Zellers]

Re the ink jet head drying out issue- I have an Epson that prints up to 13x19 and I don't want to give it up because it is so nice for printing out plans, so I have gotten in the habit of printing a test pattern once a week. That uses almost no ink and keeps all the nozzles clean. Sometimes I might need to do it 2-3 times to get a clean result but I just rotate the paper and still the amount of ink used is tiny. Seems to be a good solution for me.

[Mark Wedel]

I went with laser after having ink drying problems, and my current printer is a MFD (multi function device) - copier, scanner, printer, which can also output double sided pages without me needing to flip them.

Except for the up front cost, laser printers are likely to be more cost effective - you are not needing to replace dried up ink cartridges if you print infrequently, and if you print a lot, the toner is almost certainly going to be cheaper than ink.

[Jim Becker]

Mark, the thing is that "today", the cost of consumer laser printers is way down and IMHO, pretty competitive with the "better" inkjets, especially when you consider disposables cost. Back in the day, lasers were quite expensive, but no longer.

[Zachary Hoyt]

I bought an HP DeskJet 1010 in 2014 or 2015 for $20 on eBay. I mostly use it to print shipping labels or occasionally for things like tax returns,etc. Because I ship stuff very often (more than 100 packages a year for sure) the ink does not dry out. I go through a couple of ink tanks a year, and only buy HP genuine ink. The color side dried up years ago, but I don't care. It's been a great machine, very reliable. It only has one button, on top, so it doesn't get too stuck on itself and require me to go through menus and things like some multi function printers I've been around.

[Cameron Wood]

Brother black only laser printer. It's on the first or second full size toner cartridge after years of use.

No more of that ****ing ink cartridge racket.

[Jerome Stanek]

I got a Pantum laser from Micro center that they had bundled with a laptop that I was buying It has been running for about 4 years now on the same cartridge prints every time

[James Tibbetts]

I have used HP laser jets since the mid 80's and have never had problems with any of them. Currently I'm using a 15 year old 2035 that I bought from FleaBay. Net-workable and since I don't do wireless anything, other than my phone, there's no issue with the lack of it in a printer. If need color I can go to Staples.
A cartridge that lasts me 5 years or more is $20; so about 8 cents a week for toner. I can live with that.

[Lee DeRaud]

I've had three Brother lasers over the years. Current one is duplex, multifunction with doc feeder, WIFI: $140 in 2020. I think I'm on maybe the third cartridge now.

Just FYI, never had one fail. Bought the second one because I wanted duplex, bought the current one when my ancient scanner died. Gave away the first two, as far as I know, they're still running.

[Brian Tymchak]

Yet another happy Brother laser owner. Color, wifi. The wifi is very handy. Love printing from the phone. Would have preferred to have a copy/scan feature but I was lucky to get any Brother printer during the covid shutdown.

[Alan Rutherford]

Happy with our Brother HL-2270 B&W laser printer. It was passed down to us several years ago when wife's son upgraded. We're now on about our third no-name-brand cartridge from Amazon at a small fraction of the cost of genuine Brother and no complaints there either.

[Bill George]

The Brother Laser printers are great. We have two of them and work without issues.!!

Ditto and you can purchase toner cartridges at Amazon cheap and they are very good.

[Ken Burner]

I am also very happy with my Brother duplex monochrome laser printer/color scanner, after years of frustration with inkjet printers. I recommend avoiding HP, due to their anti-owner tendencies: https://boingboing.net/2024/03/04/hp-wants-you-to-pay-up-to-36-a-month-to-rent-a-printer-you-never-own.html

Ken

[Jim McCue]

I am on my second brother b/w laser printer after 20 years. I've replaced the toner 3-4 times in that span. I have the kind with scanner/copier. It does not have wifi but when hardwired into the router can be shared with everything on the network. I'm pretty sure newer ones come with wifi. For printing color pictures or artwork I upload pictures and print to CVS/walgreens/walmart and pickup in a day or so. I just learned my local library will print large pictures for similar prices but haven't tried them yet.

Inkjet printing was a scam 20 years ago and it's frustrating that it's still going on.
https://pluralistic.net/2021/02/18/ink-stained-wretches/#hache-pe

[Michael Schuch]

I have a printer that uses the cartridge system and I don't use it a lot,but from time to time I like to make a print of a segmented bowl pattern, and the cartridge has dried, would a laser printer be a better option for me? I don't need color.

A laser printer can sit for a year (or longer, a lot longer) covered (to keep the dust out!) and be ready to print in under 30 seconds. The only place they fall short of inkjet printers is in printing photographs.

I would NEVER go back to an inkjet. I just print my photos at Costco.

I have a Canon all in one laser (printer, scanner, copier, fax [haha]) that has been running for over a decade with no issues. I stay away from the very cheapest laser printers from any manufacture. In my experience they generally don't last as long and are more problematic. Moving up to a small business class laser printer will have a much longer life span with a lot less problems. $300 - $400 ($250 if you are a good shopper) can buy a tank of a printer that will last for a decade or longer.

The toner used as ink in laser printers is thermally bonded to the paper. You can put a laser printed page print side down on a surface (like a piece of wood), go over it with a clothes iron and transfer the image to the surface (piece of wood). This is really handy for transferring intricate patterns to the wood for scroll sawing or similar. To remove the toner from your project you have to sand it off.

P.S. HP makes some decent laser printers but their driver and control software leave a lot to be desired... as in the software is so bad and buggy I hate their printers.

[Lee DeRaud]

I would NEVER go back to an inkjet. I just print my photos at Costco.

Um, tried that lately? Costco removed the physical printers from the stores and outsourced all their photo printing to Shutterfly a year or so back. Going through the Costco photo site gets you a hefty discount over Shutterfly's normal prices, but there's now a multi-day delay in getting the prints.

[Jim Braun]

I have a printer that uses the cartridge system and I don't use it a lot,but from time to time I like to make a print of a segmented bowl pattern, and the cartridge has dried, would a laser printer be a better option for me? I don't need color.

https://www.costco.com/hp-laserjet-pro-m283cdw-wireless-color-printer.product.100652793.html

Color Laserjet also scans. I know you say you don't need color but once you have it you will find applications for it. I have also found the scanning capability to come in handy. My version is 8+ years old (M277) and still going strong

[Jim Becker]

Jim, lots of printers are multifunction and provide scanning. But what a lot of us are saying is that inkjet printers have gotten to be a pain when it comes to ink cost and life and we've found a preference for current generation laser printers that have come down significantly in price. They can also be had with the multifunction design with scanning and copying. In fact, I'd personally want/need that, while for Professor Dr. SWMBO, the basic print only box was perfect for her needs now that she no longer is teaching.

[Mark Wedel]

One other advantage of laser printers is that the printouts don't smear when wet - this usually isn't a problem, but back when I had an inkjet, if that printout got wet, the ink (water soluable) would smear, making that printout potentially useless.

[Jim Braun]

Jim, lots of printers are multifunction and provide scanning. But what a lot of us are saying is that inkjet printers have gotten to be a pain when it comes to ink cost and life and we've found a preference for current generation laser printers that have come down significantly in price. They can also be had with the multifunction design with scanning and copying. In fact, I'd personally want/need that, while for Professor Dr. SWMBO, the basic print only box was perfect for her needs now that she no longer is teaching.

Jim,
HP calls their Laser printers LaserJets, somewhat confusing since "Jet" makes one think of InkJet.

[Brian Elfert]

Inkjet printing was a scam 20 years ago and it's frustrating that it's still going on.
https://pluralistic.net/2021/02/18/ink-stained-wretches/#hache-pe

The first HP Deskjet printers became available in 1988. They were intended to provide higher print quality than dot matrix at a lower price than laser printers of the day. I started college in 1990 and ended up buying an HP Deskjet printer my second semester. The college computer lab offered no cost dot matrix printing, but the laser printer cost five cents per page.

[Lee DeRaud]

Jim,
HP calls their Laser printers LaserJets, somewhat confusing since "Jet" makes one think of InkJet.
Same as it ever was. Back in 1989, I bought one of the very first inkjet printers: an HP DeskJet. They were already on the second or third generation of LaserJets at the time. And I seem to recall that their Ethernet-to-parallel network adapters had a 'Jet' in the name as well.

[Lee DeRaud]

The complaints about inkjet ink costs reminds me of a well-known hack for the early-'80s Epson dot-matrix printers.
When the printing started to fade, you could open up the ribbon cartridge and spray WD40 into it to extend another week or so of life. :)

[Jim Becker]

Jim,
HP calls their Laser printers LaserJets, somewhat confusing since "Jet" makes one think of InkJet.
Yes, that's true...and I'm sorry if I missed the wording. When I think of "LaserJet", my mind still goes to the old time "tanks" that were the market leaders years ago. :)

[Warren Lake]

way back used laser jet 6. They had a feed roll issue. It could be solved with an additional foam thing. I never heard about it. that finally died someone had given me another one and carried on. Next got the HP laser jet pro M402dn and now many years on it its been flawless. Cartridges cost and when they get weak I take them out and shake them and then I get more printing till I get out to get a cartridge. Ive weighed old and new and the difference is small. Pretty sure a smart person could figure out where to drill and put ink back in. saw this done with a cheap printer where they did tests on how many pages and it was pathetic. He did careful testing in different ways and the cost to keep buying cartridges. He drilled and filled and it worked great. Ink sucked out of bottles.

Have an Epson 1270 a friend made a living on for years. I got it and it did great colour work. Eventually no more cartridges available though maybe some aftermarket. What I like is it weighs a ton. Pretty guys took bottles and ran hoses to them and carried on. Reading one day about colour printers there were advantages to Ink Jet and to Laser if memory is working said Laswer was more conducive to brochures and promo work and ink jet did higher quality. Didnt put much time into it.

For the black M402 or others has anyone drilled and filled their old cartridges?

[Patty Hann]

https://www.costco.com/hp-laserjet-pro-m283cdw-wireless-color-printer.product.100652793.html

Color Laserjet also scans. I know you say you don't need color but once you have it you will find applications for it. I have also found the scanning capability to come in handy. My version is 8+ years old (M277) and still going strong

How is the color "made"?
Straight B/W laser printers (I have one...HP 2015) use a toner cartridge.
What do they use to get colors?

[Jerome Stanek]

https://www.costco.com/hp-laserjet-pro-m283cdw-wireless-color-printer.product.100652793.html

Color Laserjet also scans. I know you say you don't need color but once you have it you will find applications for it. I have also found the scanning capability to come in handy. My version is 8+ years old (M277) and still going strong

I had one similar but got rid of it when I had to keep buying cartridges because they are chipped and would not print after a certain date. It was more expensive than an inkjet printer for printing. I got a dell color all in one that has cheaper cartridges and is not chipped. I have had this one for 12 years now

[Ted Calver]

The nozzels on inkjet cartriges can often be revitalized by cleaning with a Q-tip and some rubbing alcohol,

[Bill Howatt]

How is the color "made"?
Straight B/W laser printers (I have one...HP 2015) use a toner cartridge.
What do they use to get colors?

They produce colors the typical way. They have 4 colored toner cartridges. The colors are Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and a Black cartridge. There are different physical ways of achieving the final product but it typically involves "printing" with each color individually although you don't really see that happening. By adjusting the amounts of each, the spectrum of all colors can be produced.

[Jim Becker]

They produce colors the typical way. They have 4 colored toner cartridges. The colors are Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and a Black cartridge. There are different physical ways of achieving the final product but it typically involves "printing" with each color individually although you don't really see that happening. By adjusting the amounts of each, the spectrum of all colors can be produced.
Which is essentially the same way that inkjets produce colors. The difference is the method of transfer of the individual spots of color. Laser toner is "dry"; inkjet ink is "wet" (until it isn't...)

[Lee DeRaud]

Which is essentially the same way that inkjets produce colors. The difference is the method of transfer of the individual spots of color. Laser toner is "dry"; inkjet ink is "wet" (until it isn't...)
It's roughly similar to the difference between painting and powder-coating, if that helps.

[Patty Hann]

OK... Thanks Jim and Lee (good analogy, Lee) ...now I sees it. :)

[Jerome Stanek]

A laser printer might be a better option for you since they typically have toner cartridges that don't dry out like ink does. Laser printers are generally more reliable for occasional printing needs, especially if you don't require color. Plus, they often produce sharper text and images. However, keep in mind that laser printers usually have a higher upfront cost compared to inkjet printers. It's worth considering your printing frequency and budget before making a decision.

But they have a lower print per page price

[Curt Harms]

I'll be the oddball (again:o). I had a Brother monochrome multifunction that had a pretty short life. It printed fine but had paper feed issues. I tried everything I read about and even replaced the paper tray. It printed single sheets fine but would jam when feeding from the tray. I became a Brother guy because they supported simple reliable Linux printing. I had a Brother Ledger size inkjet for 10+ years and it was working fine when I gave it away. It was able to use refillable ink cartridges so my per page cost was insignificant. The reason I gave it away is because I could never get it to print envelopes well at all.

[Curt Harms]

.................................
P.S. HP makes some decent laser printers but their driver and control software leave a lot to be desired... as in the software is so bad and buggy I hate their printers.

Here's a bit of trivia I learned recently. Who made the print engines for the legendary early HP Laserjets that made HP's reputation in desktop printers? HP? Nope, Canon. I don't know about the paper feed mechanism and electronics but the print engines were from Canon.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Same as it ever was. Back in 1989, I bought one of the very first inkjet printers: an HP DeskJet. They were already on the second or third generation of LaserJets at the time. And I seem to recall that their Ethernet-to-parallel network adapters had a 'Jet' in the name as well.
Yep - the good old JetDirect. Man the struggles I had with those nasty little things.

Here's one of the originators of the HP laser line telling some of their story.

https://www.hpmemoryproject.org/timeline/jim_hall/laserjet_page_00.htm

[Bill George]

I am thinking of buying a color printer to do decals with, the Epson uses a ink jet bottles and I think the ink jet does a better job than color laser. I would rather have a laser but now all the schemes to prevent using aftermarket ink and toner is putting me off.

[Bill Howatt]

If you want to print then you have go with the system.
I haven't heard anything about laser toner cartridges having chips, expiry time, etc (other than they tell you the recommended shelf life is 2 years typically). My experience with chips was with inkjet cartridges and an aftermarket company I used to deal with had cartridges that were chipped or unchipped so you could use them instead of the OEM products.
My suggestion is that if you want to use a certain printer, reach out to the aftermarket companies and inquire about replacement ink concerns.
BTW, one of the reasons for the time-sensitive cartridges is consumers would have expired, gummy ink and it wouldn't work properly and they bad-mouthed the printer.

[Brian Elfert]

Laser printers definitely have chips too. I had a chip fail in a generic cartridge in my Xerox color laser printer. The cartridge manufacturer replaced the cartridge, but the second cartridge failed in some other way and I went back to OEM cartridges.

[Jerome Stanek]

I'll be the oddball (again:o). I had a Brother monochrome multifunction that had a pretty short life. It printed fine but had paper feed issues. I tried everything I read about and even replaced the paper tray. It printed single sheets fine but would jam when feeding from the tray. I became a Brother guy because they supported simple reliable Linux printing. I had a Brother Ledger size inkjet for 10+ years and it was working fine when I gave it away. It was able to use refillable ink cartridges so my per page cost was insignificant. The reason I gave it away is because I could never get it to print envelopes well at all.

My Brother didn't last as long as I would have liked I also had the paper feed problem. Then I went HP but didn't like replacing Toner cartridgages when they were only half empty put the chip said no more printing. So now I have a Dell color all in one laser

[Brian Elfert]

The good news for me is the Xerox chipped toner cartridges seem to print until the toner actually runs out. One or two of my toner cartridges are from when the printer was new over a dozen years ago and still going strong. Luckily, I can still get drivers for this printer.

[Bill George]

All of the newer laser printers Brother and HP have chips to read in the OEM toner cartridges. When your printer is online WiFi it calls home and gets the firmware updated and then it checks your toner. If you have printed so many pages or for so long it decides you need a New one whether or not its still printing good. The Epson ink jet with the large tanks prints forever on the factory ink and its not outrageous in price. But I am I not sure about the print head clogging issues they Used to have??

[Jim Becker]

All of the newer laser printers Brother and HP have chips to read in the OEM toner cartridges. When your printer is online WiFi it calls home and gets the firmware updated and then it checks your toner. If you have printed so many pages or for so long it decides you need a New one whether or not its still printing good. The Epson ink jet with the large tanks prints forever on the factory ink and its not outrageous in price. But I am I not sure about the print head clogging issues they Used to have??
The new Brother mono laser I recently bought for Professor Dr SWMBO does not have that "feature" as far as I can tell. The HP InkJet that we returned (after two years...) did and that's what did it in because it refused to print until it authenticated to HP's servers even with new cartridges installed. HP lost our business because of that.

[Dave Zellers]

The HP InkJet that we returned (after two years...) did and that's what did it in because it refused to print until it authenticated to HP's servers even with new cartridges installed. HP lost our business because of that.

We had the exact same experience with our Cannon. It was working perfectly fine one day, then the next, refused to print. Man, was I angry.

[Lee DeRaud]

My current Brother laser works fine with cheap third-party toner cartridges. That's the good news.
The bad news is, the cheap cartridge that's in it now throws random blotches and the toner doesn't stick that well to the paper. It's ok for printing the daily crossword and sudoku, but if I need it for a "keeper" doc, I'll toss the current cartridge (and the unused cartridge of the "two-pack") and get a real one. Just not that expensive in the overall scheme of things.

[Curt Harms]

The new Brother mono laser I recently bought for Professor Dr SWMBO does not have that "feature" as far as I can tell. The HP InkJet that we returned (after two years...) did and that's what did it in because it refused to print until it authenticated to HP's servers even with new cartridges installed. HP lost our business because of that.

HP is taking a different tack when it comes to printing. They seem to be trying to "sell printing as a service". You pay so much per page, we supply printer, ink/toner, and maybe paper. Certainly not to my taste, perhaps businesses will find it to their taste, they'll likely pay less per page and I would.

https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/07/hp_ink_addicts/?td=rt-4a

[Bill Howatt]

For the lower package at $6.99 for 20 pages and a $1 for 10-15 more if over, doesn't seem like a real bad option for a lot of people. I'm trying to be realistic given the anguish many have with their own printing setups.
My feeling is that many, many young people don't print anything, they just keep it on their phones. I gave my stepson and older HP laser and he doesn't even use it or any other printer. Even I, as an old, now octogenarian, don't see the need to print as much although I wouldn't want to be without a printer. In my case, everything is handled on my desktop/cloud rather than a phone.

[Jim Becker]

HP is taking a different tack when it comes to printing. They seem to be trying to "sell printing as a service". You pay so much per page, we supply printer, ink/toner, and maybe paper. Certainly not to my taste, perhaps businesses will find it to their taste, they'll likely pay less per page and I would.

I have no issue with subscriptions for certain software products I use because I like things to stay up to date, but no way would I embrace that model for something like printing. It might be a different situation for a business, particularly one without IT support, but not for me as an individual.

[Bill Howatt]

Being somewhat computer literate, it wouldn't be for me either, but there are lots of people who want to print, are not in a business environment, and are not the least bit computer savvy, could see this service as a good thing.

[Jerome Stanek]

For the lower package at $6.99 for 20 pages and a $1 for 10-15 more if over, doesn't seem like a real bad option for a lot of people. I'm trying to be realistic given the anguish many have with their own printing setups.
My feeling is that many, many young people don't print anything, they just keep it on their phones. I gave my stepson and older HP laser and he doesn't even use it or any other printer. Even I, as an old, now octogenarian, don't see the need to print as much although I wouldn't want to be without a printer. In my case, everything is handled on my desktop/cloud rather than a phone.

That would cost me a fortune as my grandson wants a lot of stuff printed out to color or cut out. He is only 5 and last year we went through a ream and a half of paper

[glenn bradley]

LaserJet dry toner cartridges last for many years without use. Not true for ink jet cartridges. My Canon runs Canon and generic toner cartridges without issue. Generics will not report sophisticated diagnostics and status to the printer's software on your computer like the factory brand but I don't really care. I don't print much and like having a system that will print reliably after months of non-use.

[Tom M King]

We actually use and like that HP Instant Ink deal. I don't do much printing at all, but my Wife does a fair amount with the dog business. Puppy buyers get a small book that Pam prints out with pedigrees and pictures of the parents along with all sorts of training stuff and recommendations about flea and tick treatments, heartworm, etc., etc. that probably totals between 20 and 30 pages. With a few over 40 puppies a years that adds up, but usually just in spurts for that.

Plus she gets 1 to 3 emails a day, on average, about puppies, and prints out the emails from anyone who qualifies to be on the waiting list, so that adds up too. It's a simple system for the waiting list using this method. She has an upside down stack of printed out emails that the newest one gets put on top, so when she's ready to breed a female, she just turns the stack over and contacts the first several in.

She also prints out invoices for everything she buys online.

I don't know how many pages a year we print, but the second cheapest service is more than enough. It's about 10 bucks a month. The boxes of ink cartridges are piles up in a cubby over the printer with four unopened boxes that I see right now. We've never run out under this service, which for me is a lot better than Pam telling me that she's run out of ink and needs to print puppy books.

Just like the yearly service for automatic updates from Microsoft, it's been completely painless, hands off, and everything always works. I don't think it really costs any more than buying retail ink cartridges. The fee is easily worth the lack of hassle.

[Bill George]

The Epson EcoTank models use refillable tanks that last forever, and the ink is cheap. The printer is easily converted for sublimation or decal printing. Look on FB marketplace and Craigslist, people are dumping the cartridge based old Epson printers as fast as they can!!

[Jim Becker]

The Epson EcoTank models use refillable tanks that last forever, and the ink is cheap. The printer is easily converted for sublimation or decal printing. Look on FB marketplace and Craigslist, people are dumping the cartridge based old Epson printers as fast as they can!!
I own one. It works nice and yes, it's convenient to not be bound by cartridges. BUT...as a low volume printer user, I'm constantly having to run multiple head cleaning processes in order to keep it printing clearly when I do want something on paper. Sometimes it takes four or five iterations to get things clear. And that consumes ink. Which goes into a removable reservoir they don't mention all that clearly and when it's full, you're down hard until you have another one to install. That requires tools, too. That said, I'm on my "second year" ink at this point, three plus years after buying the printer. I doubt I'll buy more ink and when it's empty, I'll probably opt for a mono laser with a scanner. I sometimes use the scanner more than I print, honestly.

[Bill George]

Maintenace Box is less than $20 on Amazon cheap enough to keep on hand.

[Jim Becker]

Maintenace Box is less than $20 on Amazon cheap enough to keep on hand.
Sure...once you know you need it...

[Bill George]

Jim you did everyone a big favor by posting that!!!

[Tim Elett]

Just getting back to post, I needed a printer and purchased a Cannon scanner and printer lazer.
Easy to set up and use,thanks for the replys and suggestions.

[Brian Elfert]

I have no issue with subscriptions for certain software products I use because I like things to stay up to date, but no way would I embrace that model for something like printing. It might be a different situation for a business, particularly one without IT support, but not for me as an individual.

It is very common for businesses to pay by the page for printing. That has been a thing since copiers got popular. Businesses can buy the equipment and pay a fee for toner and maintenance for each page printed, or just lease the equipment and everything is is covered under a higher per page cost except paper. My employer has large combo printer/scanner/copier machines that we purchased, but we pay a per page fee for toner and maintenance. We have a repair person in the building at least once a month for fifteen printers. We have employees who will complain when a printer is broken even though we have two or three printers next to each other and more printers within a short walk. A user's print job can be printed on any printer using their badge.

I rarely print anything at work. If I hit a dozen pages in a year that is a lot.

[Curt Harms]

The nozzels on inkjet cartriges can often be revitalized by cleaning with a Q-tip and some rubbing alcohol,

There's another trick I read about and used. I don't exactly remember the sequence, it's been a while. I think I started a print job, unplugged the printer so the print head assembly could move freely left to right. Take a sheet of paper towel, fold it multiple times until it was narrow enough to fit in the area under the print head. Soak it with rubbing alcohol, work it under the print head assembly and move the print head assembly over the folded paper towel several times. Remove the paper towel and repeat if necessary. Then run a normal cleaning process.