Buying an All-In-One Printer - Comments Page 2

I have to say a very good word about Epson printers.
I am retired and on fixed income. I am not a tech nor a geek and will never be one. So, I have to depend on those manufacturers that provide a good product and don't try to poke my eyes out. Epson is the only entry level printer I know of that uses 4 cartriges, 1 each BCYM. I bought a refurbish at the epson on line store, saved a little $. First, I made sure that Ink Sell offered a generic for that model. Refills about $8.00, I bought black on sale, 2 for $12.00. There software is simple to use, you can choose what part you want to load and don't want to.
I had an HP once, there soft ware just loaded everything so every time I went to my computer, they tryed to sell me something, very agravating.
On a 2 cartriage sys, when the C runs out you have to throw away the remaining Y & M. On 1 printer, its very small. On the large scale, they are making a killing, again, very agravating.
If I want to print photos, I'll buy a higher end Epson just for photos.
At my age, I have come to highly value trust and confidence in people and manufacturers. Thats also why I appreciate Bob's site so much

I've had an HP 6500 wireless for over a year, and I'm generally satisfied with it for home office needs, but curious if the HP 8500 has fixed one problem.

It doesn't stop printing when a cartridge runs out of ink. Some might consider this a feature, but I consider it a bug, because it begins warning me of low ink many pages before it actually runs out - and then it inevitably runs out in the middle of a large file, leaving the remaining pages streaked and unreadable. The only way to overcome this without wasting a lot of ink is to print large files 5 pages at a time after the warnings appear.

For me, the ideal fix would be to stop printing when the cartridge runs out and send a message to the screen, allowing me to decide whether to continue printing or not.

Carol:
I understand you viewpoint about the HP 6500 continuing to print when a cartridge runs out of ink. To me, more aggravating is a printer with individual ink cartridges that stops printing when ANY color runs out. I seem to recall this with an epsom and a Kodak. If a color went out, nothing worked--you could not even print in black and white. The printer would not work at all until you replaced an empty cartridge of a color that maybe you are not even using. Most aggravating---especially when you consider that the printer automatically entered into cleaning mode periodically, wasting ink as it cleaned the inkjet nozzles.

Dear Bob
Thanks for this, you make some good points.
~If it interests anyone, as a home office guy I try not to do a lot of printing, though there is the occasional large doc. I have generally been happy with HP all-in ones (PSCs), on the grounds that they are reliable and good quality.Printer cartridge refills from 3rd parties are nowadays pretty good in my neck of the woods (v.rural France)
However: for several years I have been happily using the Photosmart C4580 - reasonably fast, wifi,quiet, never breaks down. I had to get my ex a new printer, and the C4580 is no more, "replaced" by the Photsmart B110. Same reasonable price but: it only comes in an obtrusive shiny black, it is slow, setting up wifi is an impenetrable nightmare which eventually fails every time, it jumps about noisily on the desk when it prints and it is incredibly slow. It also has touch-sensitive buttons which take 3 times as long as the ordinary ones you just press because you have to fight your way through their tortuous logic. So - don't just buy what someone tries to sell you, try it out and make sure it works for you. (My ex has just about forgiven me, since I managed to transfer her Outlook to the new machine I bought her. Maybe I can persuade her to switch to Thunderbird now ...)

For myself, I prefer Canon multi-function printers. I don't need a fax because for the few times I need to fax something, I use a free e-fax service, which works perfectly. I have had several HP printers over the years and while they work great and their ink is a better value, I find the break down too much and too early. Mine have usually broken down after about a year of use and I don't print excessively. Now I buy Canon b/c they are always top-rated, quality is excellent. Yes, the ink is more costly and it runs out quicker, but for me, it's still cheaper over the long run when my Canon lasts for years & years and I don't have to buy a new printer every year b/c another brand kept breaking down.

I've owned a couple of HP multi-function machines and 3 Epsons - HP is the dominant provider, but I'll take the Epson for (in order of importance to me) 1) ease of use - it's really intuitive 2)quality and versatility & 3) price - I'm amazed at what you get for your buck! -- currently using a Workforce 840 and a Workforce 1100

Why would anyone need to use an on-line fax service? If they are using Windows op. sys. it has had a fax console written into it since 98-SE.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Maybe you don't have a fax modem? Or a phone line available?

I've had a Brother MFC8820D laser printer/scanner for a decade or more and the only thing that broke was a hinge when I tried to shut the lid on an overthick book. Replacement toner cartridges cost me $70 for an estimated 7,000 pages. It is still going strong but is B&W only.

I would never willingly go back to an inkjet printer but would like to change out my MFC8820D for a color machine if I could find something as compact, good looking and reliable. I have a home office and don't do much printing now but would prefer something that will last me another decade.

I had an HP psc 2210 for many years but was not satisfiedd with the way it scanned printed copy. I recently bought an HP Officejet 6310 and when I first scanned something, I was amazed at the fact that it scanned everything just the way it was on the paper I had scanned. The old one would put symbols, and numbers and all kinds of junk on the page which made it unreadable. I had to go back and redo a lot of my copy. I would stick with HP All-In-One Printers over any other brand.