Best printer for occasional use (cheap!)
- Thread starter Rimjob
- Start date
spin cycle
Member
- Location
- north norfolk
lesson i learnt was look at ink prices before buying...the just go to argos
- Location
- Near Beeston Castle
I bought a Samsung ML1665 Mono Laser Printer for £50 off ebay. It came with enough toner for 7500 sheets of print.
Best printer I have ever owned, no good for photos as it only does b&w but just go to the supermarket if you want a photo printed. I shan't have an inkjet ever again.
Best printer I have ever owned, no good for photos as it only does b&w but just go to the supermarket if you want a photo printed. I shan't have an inkjet ever again.
- Location
- Hammerwich
I've had an HP Deskjet 3050 for about 4 years now. Scans and copies as well. Doesn't get loads of use, but was about £40 and printer cartridges are about £15 for two. Print the occasional photo on it on photo paper and the quality is good enough to put in a frame. I'd buy one again in a heartbeat if this one died.
Cowabunga
Member
- Location
- Ceredigion,Wales
Have a Kodak Hero 9, which is brilliant but Kodak printers are no longer made.
For photos it has to be a photo-printer. For the stated use, buy a cheap photo printer at Tesco or curry's and don't worry about ink cost. Only worry about ink cost if you are a more intensive user, because two ink cartridges can cost as much as the printer itself. So it doesn't take all that much printing to make it worthwhile to put ink cost up the priority list compared to the purchase price of the printer.
For what it's worth, I had an Epsom which cost an arm and a leg in ink compared to my current Kodak.
For photos it has to be a photo-printer. For the stated use, buy a cheap photo printer at Tesco or curry's and don't worry about ink cost. Only worry about ink cost if you are a more intensive user, because two ink cartridges can cost as much as the printer itself. So it doesn't take all that much printing to make it worthwhile to put ink cost up the priority list compared to the purchase price of the printer.
For what it's worth, I had an Epsom which cost an arm and a leg in ink compared to my current Kodak.
- Location
- Near Beeston Castle
Best cartridge I found for my Epson was an Eley #6
Cowabunga
Member
- Location
- Ceredigion,Wales
Was in John Lewis today and noticed this £45 printer/scanner/copier and a new monthly page plan for ink which might interest the OP.
http://www.johnlewis.com/hp-envy-4500-all-in-one-wireless-printer-hp-instant-ink-compatible/p797067
http://www.johnlewis.com/hp-envy-4500-all-in-one-wireless-printer-hp-instant-ink-compatible/p797067
fermerboy
Member
- Location
- Banffshire
Just got a HP Envy 5532 printer/scanner from Currys.
Mrs is a teacher and always printing worksheets etc, and we have two little ones in the house too so took it on the 100page a month Instant Ink plan for £3.49/month. The unused pages roll over till next month.
Not sure if it works out less than buying the cartridges, but the row that happens when there is important stuff needing printed and there is no ink its got to be worth it. We have Tesco and Asda within 10miles and if you are lucky they might have cartridges otherwise its a 25mile each way trip.
One thing to note is that one single full stop on a page counts the same as a full A4 colour print, so if you do a lot of photos big colour printouts you will be better off, if you just do a few lines of black text a page you might be better with buying cartridges. You can buy extra pages over the 100 at a cost(can't remember just now)
Printer is wireless, connected to router/internet, it tells HP when its getting low and the cartridges appear in the post.
Before this I had an Epson which was £50 for a set of 4 cartridges if you could find any localy stocked, buying off internet or non genuine off internet was a bit better.
Too early to tell if I'm better off yet though.
Mrs is a teacher and always printing worksheets etc, and we have two little ones in the house too so took it on the 100page a month Instant Ink plan for £3.49/month. The unused pages roll over till next month.
Not sure if it works out less than buying the cartridges, but the row that happens when there is important stuff needing printed and there is no ink its got to be worth it. We have Tesco and Asda within 10miles and if you are lucky they might have cartridges otherwise its a 25mile each way trip.
One thing to note is that one single full stop on a page counts the same as a full A4 colour print, so if you do a lot of photos big colour printouts you will be better off, if you just do a few lines of black text a page you might be better with buying cartridges. You can buy extra pages over the 100 at a cost(can't remember just now)
Printer is wireless, connected to router/internet, it tells HP when its getting low and the cartridges appear in the post.
Before this I had an Epson which was £50 for a set of 4 cartridges if you could find any localy stocked, buying off internet or non genuine off internet was a bit better.
Too early to tell if I'm better off yet though.
fermerboy
Member
- Location
- Banffshire
Just got a HP Envy 5532 printer/scanner from Currys.
Mrs is a teacher and always printing worksheets etc, and we have two little ones in the house too so took it on the 100page a month Instant Ink plan for £3.49/month. The unused pages roll over till next month.
Not sure if it works out less than buying the cartridges, but the row that happens when there is important stuff needing printed and there is no ink its got to be worth it. We have Tesco and Asda within 10miles and if you are lucky they might have cartridges otherwise its a 25mile each way trip.
One thing to note is that one single full stop on a page counts the same as a full A4 colour print, so if you do a lot of photos big colour printouts you will be better off, if you just do a few lines of black text a page you might be better with buying cartridges. You can buy extra pages over the 100 at a cost(can't remember just now)
Printer is wireless, connected to router/internet, it tells HP when its getting low and the cartridges appear in the post.
Before this I had an Epson which was £50 for a set of 4 cartridges if you could find any localy stocked, buying off internet or non genuine off internet was a bit better.
Too early to tell if I'm better off yet though.
- Location
- Wiltshire
I have an Epson and it really does not like fake ink. The cartridge starts ok after a while the printer won't recognise it even though it's not empty. Will try another make when this one packs up.
Bg
- Location
- Near Beeston Castle
Worst printer I have ever had and will never have another.
Besides the fake ink issue, and the refusing to print in b&w simply because the yellow had run out issues it was the most complicatedly long winded thing to setup I have ever come across. A printer in 2015 should just plug in and work, not require 5 hours + trying to set it up. This laser printer I have now is an absolute revelation.
So we're not much further on with an answer to the OP! Canon or HP perhaps? My Kodak Hero 7.1 has just expired.Think it's the printhead is the problem so washed it in soapy water and blasted it through with an airline! Made no difference. Not worth fixing as a new printer can be had for the price of a new printhead! But which one???????
Y Fan Wen
Member
- Location
- N W Snowdonia
I got a s/h hp lj6l for 40.00 which just works. I've put one new toner in it. I have a Lexmark 4 in 1 for the other work but the ink price is eye watering. I must have fax so 4 in 1 is a necessity.
Cowabunga
Member
- Location
- Ceredigion,Wales
Hold on! Aren't Kodak giving away new printheads just now? Not sure but something tells me that there is some similar offer on, or was on a couple of weeks ago. Check it out.
Cowabunga
Member
- Location
- Ceredigion,Wales
Have had a look around but I can't find the offer just now. The price of the printhead for Hero in the USA is less than $10 though. They want you to keep using their printer and therefore their ink.
Edit
Found it. An email from 23/6/15. Content follows….
Because we appreciate your loyalty for being such a great Kodak customer, you’re automatically a member of our new Ink Loyalty Program.1 You don’t need to do anything to get these great benefits.
Even if your printer is out of warranty, you get:
Edit
Found it. An email from 23/6/15. Content follows….
Because we appreciate your loyalty for being such a great Kodak customer, you’re automatically a member of our new Ink Loyalty Program.1 You don’t need to do anything to get these great benefits.
Even if your printer is out of warranty, you get:
- Free live support with a service agent (telephone charges may apply)
- Free troubleshooting and diagnostic evaluation
- Free printheads and other self-installed service parts while supplies last 2
- Faster diagnostics support if your printer ever needs service
- Location
- East Sussex
Bit late but I thought I'd give my ideas an airing!
Gave up on inkjets ages ago; ink goes off, runs out of date, uses colours to print black to keep the ink fresh ££.
Spend a little more and get a wifi colour laser. Load it with paper and hide it away so you can print while anywhere in the house from phones or iPads etc. Always ready and the ink doesn't go off or use colours for black printing. Starter drums(?) in my brother can be refilled cheap with an after market toner fill and no chips or whatever to mess with.
Can do pictures ok to show people casually and i do online printing for albums etc. also all printing is waterproof which is great for cow records etc by the crush.
Much, much better than a crappy inkjet.
Gave up on inkjets ages ago; ink goes off, runs out of date, uses colours to print black to keep the ink fresh ££.
Spend a little more and get a wifi colour laser. Load it with paper and hide it away so you can print while anywhere in the house from phones or iPads etc. Always ready and the ink doesn't go off or use colours for black printing. Starter drums(?) in my brother can be refilled cheap with an after market toner fill and no chips or whatever to mess with.
Can do pictures ok to show people casually and i do online printing for albums etc. also all printing is waterproof which is great for cow records etc by the crush.
Much, much better than a crappy inkjet.