Reply to: Which small printer?

[TraceRacing]

I bought a Kodak esp3.2 from PC World about 6 months ago... all in one wireless jobby with seperate black / color ink cartridges.

Cost is around £55 and yesterday I bought replacement cartridges for £24.99.

Does everything I need, print / scan / copy and is hooked up to all my devices via wifi.

[doodab]

I have a HP Officejet Pro 5400, which cost about £130 when I bought it. I get at least 2000 pages out of a black "XL" cartridges and they cost about £20 for the proper HP ones. It prints double sided as well. I don't think they make the specific model anymore but I'm sure there is a modern equivalent.

[BolshieBastard]

That seem to be a lot comparing to £5-10 per year for an older Epson's all-in-one inks, but blacks are only £3.80 delivered on eBay which sounds better.

That's because epsom all in one ink tanks have about 3 or 4ml of ink in each chamber while the HP cartridge may have 10 to 20ml.

Ink cartridges cost is based on the amount of ink inside them. Less ink equals less cost.

[quackhandle]

Bought the HP OfficeJet Pro 8600 AIO (wifi) last summer for £220 (but got 70 notes cashback) can't fault it so far.

qh

[Lumiere]

the ink should last 6 months at £52 for a full set of cartridges.

That seem to be a lot comparing to £5-10 per year for an older Epson's all-in-one inks, but blacks are only £3.80 delivered on eBay which sounds better.

[mkhari]

HP Photosmart 7510e, about £155 from Amazon, does exactly what you want.

Wireless printing and scanning, remote printing from your mobile or other computer is easy to set up and at your usage levels, the ink should last 6 months at £52 for a full set of cartridges. Had mine over a year now and I print a lot more than you, have used 2 sets of colour cartridges, 4 sets of Black and a single photo cartridge.

[BolshieBastard]

Yes, it often seems that my biggest problem is not with "we can't do that", so much as with "we don't want you to do that because it doesn't fit with our idea of you as an income stream".

There's just one thing I'm still puzzled about:
You mean they use 2 separate reservoirs?

Erm no. Used to have people come to my retail outlet and ask for a black and white ink cartridge. Lasers and injets dont print 'white.' They only print the black but lots of people think they print using black and white ink \ toner.

[Sysman]

That's a nice device, but £200. My scanner has little usage, - occasionally forwarding HMRC letters to accountant/passport backups/form copies/receipts etc. I was thinking about a hand-held one, seen one in US for like $50, you can do receipts very easily with it, no need to glue them to A4 sheets.

Yes but it does come with decent OCR software to produce searchable PDFs and Word/Excel/Text output and I am happy to pay for that.

I also have a Hyundai hand held scanner that came in at just less than £70 including VAT and required a MicroSDHC card on top. This one seems to be a Hyundai Germany thing but it can do A4 and also comes with decent (Windows only) OCR software which can do PDF or spreadsheet output. It does take a bit of practice to get the alignment right.

Sorry, this Youtube is in German, but you can see it in action here

[Lumiere]

What is your scanner usage?

I recently got a Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300i which is nicely compact, has a sheet feeder and does duplex scanning too.
It sits nicely in front of my laser printer.

That's a nice device, but £200. My scanner has little usage, - occasionally forwarding HMRC letters to accountant/passport backups/form copies/receipts etc. I was thinking about a hand-held one, seen one in US for like $50, you can do receipts very easily with it, no need to glue them to A4 sheets.

[Sysman]

I need one of those too (with a scanner though) !

What is your scanner usage?

I am doing a fair bit of document scanning and you quickly realise that the flatbed that comes with an all in one printer doesn't cut the mustard unless it has a sheet feeder and can do duplex scanning.

I recently got a Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300i which is nicely compact, has a sheet feeder and does duplex scanning too.
It sits nicely in front of my laser printer.

The software which comes with it is far, far superior to the crap that has come with the all-in-one units I have previously owned.

[Ignis Fatuus]

5/6 years ago I got a Brother mono laser and an extra cartridge. I am still on the second cartridge.

It was worth it for the lack of hassle.

1. no more having to fit new cartridges / rush out and buy one so that I could get an invoice in the evening post
2. no more endless whirring and farting noises from the head cleaning cycle every time I wanted to print a page or two
3. instant printing - no more delays doing that head cleaning

Point 3 used to drive me nuts.

For the small amount of colour printing I do nowadays, I slip stuff onto a USB stick and take it to a print shop 2 minutes walk away. I probably spend less time in a year going there and getting served than the time I used to spend waiting for the head cleaning cycle and changing cartridges.

I think that will be my plan for colour. Currently I do have a Samsung mono laser and I agree with your points. However the other member of the household has been suggesting that a physically less imposing item would be an asset to the home; and if I'm getting a new printer I might get a wireless one, since it will not be near the router or a PC, and I might as well get rid of the send-data-over-the-mains dingus.

[Ignis Fatuus]

...
LOL! If I could make and market one of those printers, I might stand a chance of a plan B. Manufacturers spend lots of money to stop re manufacturered or non OEM cartridges being used in their printers despite them all claiming to be 'green' and into re cycling!

Yes, it often seems that my biggest problem is not with "we can't do that", so much as with "we don't want you to do that because it doesn't fit with our idea of you as an income stream".

There's just one thing I'm still puzzled about:

There's no black & white ink btw

You mean they use 2 separate reservoirs?

[Sysman]

Actually it shouldn't be a daunting requirements list. All I want is a small wireless prrinter for B&W, that won't eff me about (by refusing to: print black if yellow has run out; or use a Tesco cartridge; or keep going after a predetermined "obsolescence" page count). I really don't like being taken for a mug.

5/6 years ago I got a Brother mono laser and an extra cartridge. I am still on the second cartridge.

It was worth it for the lack of hassle.

1. no more having to fit new cartridges / rush out and buy one so that I could get an invoice in the evening post
2. no more endless whirring and farting noises from the head cleaning cycle every time I wanted to print a page or two
3. instant printing - no more delays doing that head cleaning

Point 3 used to drive me nuts.

For the small amount of colour printing I do nowadays, I slip stuff onto a USB stick and take it to a print shop 2 minutes walk away. I probably spend less time in a year going there and getting served than the time I used to spend waiting for the head cleaning cycle and changing cartridges.

[BolshieBastard]

Thanks for reading the question! However I will be printing 1 page B&W per day, but not colour. So the colour jets are liable to clog. (Also I do want wireless, which the portable printers tend not to have).

Years ago, canon used to produce small black ink only printers. Im not sure if anyone makes a portable black ink only printer nowadays. If that is the case and only black and colour are available, you'd be recommended to do a colour test print at least once a month to make sure the colour printheads dont clog.

You can buy cleaning cartridges although different people report different success with these.

As for the colour jets, there are a number of possibilities and I should probably just pick one and live with it:
A: overriding decision: do I ever want to print colour, or not? No "occasionally", but either Yes or No.

B: if Yes:
I believe that e.g. HP printers have the head unit with the cartridge, so every time you buy a new cartridge you get a new jet.

Generally, HP have the printhead on the cartridge. Others such as epsom and brother, use ink tanks with fixed printheads in the printer. Either system is just as reliable and the dots per inch determines the print quality not the cartridge system.

Or I could schedule a regular cleaning cycle even if I happen not to print anything in colour that month/week/whatever.

TBH, if using a printer infrequently, Id recommend a cleaning cycle once a month (more if one prints a lot of colour pictures). You shouldnt have any probs with the black (text?) printing. As you say you'd use the colour infrequently, I'd recommend a colour print clean at least once a month though.

If you use HP colour cartridges, you can gently clean the printhead using the steam from a kettle and piece of clean paper kitchen towel. Hold the cartridge printhead in the steam for a few seconds then gently swipe the cartridge down the paper towel in the direction of the printheads so you can see 3 lines of colour. Repeat with steam and swipe if one or more of the colours isnt strong on the towel.

Or I could just replace the printer if it gets clogged up
Or maybe I could force B&W printing to use colour inks??

Portable printers tend to be more expensive so the model of chuck the printer away once the ink runs out isnt a good one! Even when printing in colour, the black ink is used so all cartridges are used. There's no black & white ink btw

if No:
Just let the colour jets clog if they like, and never attempt to do a good colour print. I currently have a mono laser so that's actually No Change.

It is always best not to let printheads clog and quite easy to avoid but yes, that's a possibility.

Actually it shouldn't be a daunting requirements list. All I want is a small wireless prrinter for B&W, that won't eff me about (by refusing to: print black if yellow has run out; or use a Tesco cartridge; or keep going after a predetermined "obsolescence" page count). I really don't like being taken for a mug.

LOL! If I could make and market one of those printers, I might stand a chance of a plan B. Manufacturers spend lots of money to stop re manufacturered or non OEM cartridges being used in their printers despite them all claiming to be 'green' and into re cycling!

[Ignis Fatuus]

That's a hell of a requirements wish list for a small infrequent use printer

Looks like lots of folk have missed you said no laser. Any inkjet printer used infrequently will be liable for the print heads to clog but as you will be printing daily, this shouldnt really happen. Problems tend to occur if you only print once or twice a month and dont follow the printer's cleaning regime.

You could take a look at the Canon Pixma mini260 or HP Officejet 100 Mobile Printer. The perverse thing with mini printers is they tend to be far more expensive to buy than their larger counterparts.

Thanks for reading the question! However I will be printing 1 page B&W per day, but not colour. So the colour jets are liable to clog. (Also I do want wireless, which the portable printers tend not to have).

As for the colour jets, there are a number of possibilities and I should probably just pick one and live with it:
A: overriding decision: do I ever want to print colour, or not? No "occasionally", but either Yes or No.

B: if Yes:
I believe that e.g. HP printers have the head unit with the cartridge, so every time you buy a new cartridge you get a new jet.
Or I could schedule a regular cleaning cycle even if I happen not to print anything in colour that month/week/whatever.
Or I could just replace the printer if it gets clogged up
Or maybe I could force B&W printing to use colour inks??

if No:
Just let the colour jets clog if they like, and never attempt to do a good colour print. I currently have a mono laser so that's actually No Change.



Actually it shouldn't be a daunting requirements list. All I want is a small wireless prrinter for B&W, that won't eff me about (by refusing to: print black if yellow has run out; or use a Tesco cartridge; or keep going after a predetermined "obsolescence" page count). I really don't like being taken for a mug.