My HP Photsmart printer has been acting up. I replaced all of the ink cartridges and now it is printing pictures and photos in full color.
You guys might want to check on one. You can buy photo paper to print on and it is ready to frame.
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My HP Photsmart printer has been acting up. I replaced all of the ink cartridges and now it is printing pictures and photos in full color.
You guys might want to check on one. You can buy photo paper to print on and it is ready to frame.
Pretty much the same as any small inkjet printer today.....
I moved away from HP ink jet printers in the past year and went to an Epson with the "EcoTank" system. I got tired of buying cartridges over and over and having them "time out" before they were actually used or failing without getting anywhere close to the number of expected pages. Even using "refurb/refilled" was still costing more money than I wanted. The Epson has been a stellar performer and the one I have is also photo capable with the extra photo-black.
My concern with the 'mega tank' inkjets is the print heads. I've had a couple inkjets in the distant past where the print heads clogged due to lack of use and I could not get them fully cleared. Are modern print heads clog resistant? One benefit of the print head as part of the cartridge was replacing the head every time you replaced the cartridge so ink drying out was not as much of an issue. Do any modern inkjets use that style of combination print head/cartridge? Or has inkjet technology improved to the point that clogging is no longer an issue?
My old Photosmart finally quit printing so I bought an HP Envy 5055 WiFi printer for about $80 at OfficeMax. Printing photos never compared to the ease and low cost of sending them electronically to Walgreen's where they are printed on a pro machine with paper that won't curl. The killer is of course was the cost of ink cartridges. My old Photosmart had five cartridges which were expensive and always expired before running out of ink. The new printer came with just two cartridges and an option for their "Instant Ink" program. For $2.99 per month I get to print 50 pages per month, unused pages roll over and the first three trial months you get 300 pages per month before the monthly charge starts. They keep track of my cartridge status and when nearing empty, they mail a special high capacity cartridge (either black or multi-color). Being WiFi the printer connects when low on ink and communicates with HP to send out a new cartridge. They have five different plans all the way up to 700 pages per month for $19.99. We chose the occasional use plan. If we exceed the 50 pages per month, they charge a buck for ten additional pages. So if we don't use more than a ream of paper in ten months, our ink cost will be about the cost of one cartridge, way better than previously.
My problem with a HP Officejet 6500 proved to me just how bad their customer service is.
It stopped printing and the screen didn't indicate the problem. The printer was not yet 3 years old at the time. The 'teck sport' person was a bit rude and could be heard flipping through pages. Her second suggestion was to purchase a new printer.
After wasting close to a half hour my choice was to figure it out myself. My research indicated an empty yellow cartridge didn't always register in the software but the machine will not print without the yellow cartridge because it is used to print a code on pages that can be used to track the printer used to print a page. It is a DHS/FBI/CIA or any other alphabet soup agency's thing.
The printer is now about a decade old and still going. One of my daily habits was playing sudoku. This would have me printing a page of eight puzzles everyday. Gave up on that and now do not print as much.
jtk
I have a $60 Canon inkjet/scanner I got for Xmas about 10 years ago. It has skinny black, yellow, magenta and cyan cartridges, plus a fat black cartridge. I was spending $14 per skinny cartridge about once or twice a month for the thing. Hardly used it because it was costing so much to buy ink!
I ended up on Amazon, found a place selling their own- not refilled- cartridges, 5 of each color for like $13 total, free shipping. I bought another set of 25 about 2 years ago, still have about half of them left. Not only is 25 cartridges for $13 dirt cheap, they come filled with WAY more ink than Canon cartridges. I spent more in the first 2 years on ink than the last 8 years, and I still have about 2 years worth of ink left! And only 1 cartridge so far, a yellow, has failed.
Now if someone could come up with some decent cheap laserjet toner. Cheap they have, but decent, no...
I had clogging challenges with several HP printers, so I know what you are speaking about. I've not had any issue with the Epson EcoTank printer to-date and it seems to do some regular print head maintenance/cleaning automagically.Quote:
Originally Posted by Curt Harms
I have an Epson Stylus Photo R260, bought it 13 years ago. Only use it for photos and I might use it 3 or 4 times a year, I've never had a problem with glogging, knock wood.;)
I have an Epson EcoTank, also, the ET-4750 model. I've had it for maybe a year - don't remember exactly - and no problems. It is a bit louder while printing than the HP that it replaced but I don't use it enough to see that as a problem. Every now and then, the Epson sends me a message to check and make sure I don't run out of ink in any of the containers so I just fill them up whenever I get that message. The ink is a whole lot less expensive than the HP cartridges for the same number of printed pages.
I'd certainly recommend it.
Mike
Any prints we want we upload to Costco. We have an HPSmart and do use it but primarily to print boarding passes, etc. none of which need to be in color.
Other printer manufacturers have jumped on board the 'supersized ink tank' train. Canon & Brother that I know of.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike Henderson
Mine is the ET7700 because I wanted the improved photo printing. Mine is actually quieter than the HP I used previously. I also highly recommend. Curt is correct that other brands are now offering "tank" type setups for ink.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike Henderson
This what i do i need to have some color prints...just go to staples less than 2 miles from me. Otherwise i have an in expensive Brother black and white laser printer used to do occasional printing such as a boarding pass. :D And I used a very inexpensive refill kit for the cartridge....costing maybe $20. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Ken Fitzgerald
I just picked up the updated version of that printer, the ET-4760. Went to staples because they had the best price on the 4750 and they didn't have one in stock. They had the 4760 in stock for $100 more. But the guy helping me said if I turned in my old printer for recycling I could get another $50 off. Since my Work Force printer had a severe head clog that I couldn't remove it was better than throwing it away. So I got the 4760 for $350. Set it up in about 1/2 hour. Reading the instructions, inserting the ink, waiting the 10 minutes for it to configure and then going through the alignment process were all pretty simple and straight forward.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike Henderson
I had my misgivings because the 4750 said it was Photo capable and the 4760 was not. I asked the guy about that and he said that it would print about as good as my old WorkForce. Well, I was always happy with how it printed pictures so that was enough to sell me.
I tried printing a few pictures and I thought it did a great job. Did it on a 4x6 semigloss photo paper, borderless.
It's not as quick as my old WorkForce per page, but it's a trade off I'll deal with for the longevity of the ink and also the much less expensive ink.