[OT]Multi-function printer

[Roger Mills]

And if you choose the right printer, you can perfectly good compatible cartridges far cheaper than the 'genuine' ones.

[Roger Mills]

Indeed. You can currently get a complete set of (I think) five compatible cartridges from 7DayShop for about a fiver. I've just bought

3 sets, which should keep my wife's printer going for quite a while.

[Roger Mills]

All together now - "OH YES THEY DO!"

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Think you'll find any common make/model has aftermarket carts available for a fraction of the 'genuine' price. But whether they still will be throughout the life of the printer, dunno.

Every single printer I've had hasn't lasted that well. Including a cheap mono laser. But all have been domestic ones, Cannon, HP and Epsom.

[charles]

My printer - bought second hand came with "compatible cartridges". The magenta one kept leaking toner and the cyan one wasn't the correct colour as far as HP was concerned. I could not get the correct colours on paper. To me that matters.

[Huge]

I have a 5m for that. And a 4m as backup.

And an Epson scanner for, er, scanning.

But wife insists she wants a colour copier. Sigh.

[Mike Tomlinson]

En el artículo , Huge escribió:

That was a long, long time ago. Now they're just a maker of indifferent laptops and expensive printer ink.

[Tim Watts]

Don't bother - get a laser.

My Samsung CLX-4995FW (IIRC) has been very economic and sits nicely on the network (WIFI or wired). Does a decent scan to email as well.

The downsides are:

It's not *that* big but is big enough. And it weighs a ton. And when you do have to feed it new toner you'll weep. However, that is very very infrequently. Overall it is certainly more cost effective and I don't get stripy printouts when it's been left for a month or two.

[Tim Lamb]

Usually a recipe for it going t*ts up:-(

My last Epson continued long after the ink tank full block was reset but died after I purchased 3 sets of compatible carts!

[Capitol]

My Brother DCP9020 colour laser is a delight to use. Doesn't care if it isn't used for a couple of months whilst we're travelling, the Linux system always finds it and it works. Just over £200 from Amazon. Android phone also works it.

[John Rumm]

They are all crap to one extent or another... however some of the Canon ones don't suck quite as bad as the others - ink far cheaper, compatibles available, and head is separate from the ink but also independently replaceable.

Colour multifunction laser is probably the way to go unless you need photo quality colour, in which case a colour multifunction laser AND a cheap inkjet will solve that.

[Chris French]

In message , charles writes

I use compatibles in my Canon iinkjet - the print quality is indistinguishable from the genuine carts and never had leakage problems.

but there are some ropey carts around,

[Huge]

Yeah, I suspect so. I shall start trawling eBay.

No, I gave that up and use Photobox or a local lab, these days.

[charles]

The only time I used a compatible in an inkjet, it gummed up the heads. Since it was rather s good Canon - which had pin feed - quite rare - I had to spend quite a bit to get it going again.

[Huge]

[Looks on ebay]

Blimey, these things are cheaper than I thought. Pity a lot of them only have USB & wireless - I want wired Ethernet, so add another £20 for an Ethernet/USB print server, I suppose.

[Tim Watts]

CLX 4195FW (my error).

Mine's got wired and wireless...

[F Murtz]

Exactly, I use canon, as they are the best to refill, got a set of empty ink tanks with auto reset chips and fill from 250 ml bottles,(which cost me about the same for three colours and 2 blacks,one pigment and one dye)as a full set of canon inks. this lot lasts me for 2 or three years even printing lots of a4 glossy photos. Bit tricky,I fill when it says tank low but does not reset at this point so I wait for ink empty indication and lift the tank and push back down, then it resets.This method makes sure that it always has ink as if you wait for empty sign to fill, the tanks look too empty to me.

[Martin Brown]

If you have the space then separates are advantageous.

And unless you regularly print photos at home machine printed onto Fuji crystal archive paper give higher quality prints that really do last.

The Dell 1320 doesn't do too badly at photoreal for a laser printer. Almost any inkjet will do better on the right media though.

[Brian-Gaff]

No. I gave up on ink jets as they tend to clog, go slow and are messy. Laser printers seem to me to be more reliable in all ways. Brian

[RayL12]

Ink in mfc cartridges estimated to be £3000 per ltr