Printer Recommendations

[Thropplenoggin]

Our efficacious Canon Pixma MP620 died a death this week and now refuses to power up. It has 5 years on the clock and has served us well, although it drank ink copiously, and the 'official' cartridges were none too cheap. The other downside with it was the fact that it had two black cartridges (one large, one small), and if one became empty, the printer staunchly refused to run on the other one.

We are now in the market for a new printer. It needs to be '3-in-1' i.e. scan, photocopy, print. Wireless would be nice, as the last one wasn't. We print documents more than photos, and the Canon was excellent for this, never jamming. However, one offering cheaper cartridges that runs on 4 not 5 would be a bonus. Less than a £100, ideally.

Any suggestions for a good home-use printer?

[french frank]

Our efficacious Canon Pixma MP620 died a death this week and now refuses to power up. It has 5 years on the clock and has served us well, although it drank ink copiously, and the 'official' cartridges were none too cheap. The other downside with it was the fact that it had two black cartridges (one large, one small), and if one became empty, the printer staunchly refused to run on the other one.

We are now in the market for a new printer. It needs to be '3-in-1' i.e. scan, photocopy, print. Wireless would be nice, as the last one wasn't. We print documents more than photos, and the Canon was excellent for this, never jamming. However, one offering cheaper cartridges and runs on 4 not 5 would be a bonus. Less than a £100, ideally.

Any suggestions for a good home-use printer?

I mainly use an HP laserjet (b/w), but also have an all-in-one Epson for scanning, photocopying and the occasional colour. It was a cheapo - I think about £49 and does the job. It's notionally wireless, but I use the USB connection and it can be temperamental if one of the cartridges is used up. I had a full refill yesterday for just over £19 but had to take it to my shoppie round the corner to solve the 'Cartridges not recognised' mystery after I'd been using it for months.

I wouldn't want to rely on it but it was the SX425W (c 3 years old) which I found printed very well if I bought in the occasional pack of 'semi-coated'. But that is purely a back-up printer as the laserjet if far more economical and reliable for b/w printing. But of course, no scanning or photocopying. Mainly I use it for scanning, though it does print very well.

[eighthobstruction]

The amazing thing is that if you buy the original rec' cartridges....they can actually cost almost as much as the printer....

[Dave2002]

Tricky this. We have currently 4 printers.

Only one of them works - and that is the oldest, an Epson 680U I think, but the print quality is only OKish, and if we print off boarding passes at home the 2D bar codes don't work, and we have to ask for help at airports.

The Canon MP680 (I think that model - can check) is very good, but not working - read on.

We have 2 HPs - both wireless.

The first of these would not work wirelessly for a long while, until eventually HP issued a software upgrade, which fixed the problem. I think it was shutting down after printing.

The Canon was a breeze to install and get running. However a subsequent purchase of another all in one HP which will supposedly work with mobile devices directly - iPads and the like - upset things. Firstly it (HP2) wouldn't always print directly over the wireless LAN. It is also supposed to work with an HP remote print centre, but this seems erratic, and also note that this will export your (secret) files to an external server, so GCHQ and those other guys will know what you print - if they don't already.

OK - so what's the problem with the Canon? The drivers got wiped through no fault of its own, because in an attempt to get the last mentioned HP printer working I followed every troubleshooting step in sequence - none of them working - naturally - until I came to one which said wipe the drivers and reinstall. Thank you HP! I did not realise that at that point the software would not only erase the HP drivers, but actually all the printer drivers, thus making the Canon inoperable.

One other unfortunate problem with the Canon is that if you put in a USB stick to print from it'll think you want to print photos - doesn't seem to realise that it's also possible to have PDFs - which it should print - on a stick.

Things have probably changed yet again. Wireless printers can be a pain to set up - though if they work it's convenient not to have wires. Wired USB connections do, generally, have the merits of simplicity.

Some printer models require separate set up for wired and wireless - not just a simple connection if your wireless LAN goes down!

HPs Print Center will expose you to the outside world, if you use it. If there are problems HP will probably fix them sometime within the lifetime of your printer, perhaps less than a year!

The more expensive Canon models seem to work quite well.

When I have time I'll get all of ours working again. One of the HPs is still useful as a copier. The Canon can still be used for printing photos, and for scanning and copying. It's probably the best, and it has a lot of individual cartridges - they don't usually all go at the same time.

We don't bother with original Epson cartridges for the oldest printer.

For the HPs the XL cartridges which are larger, both black and colour, are very much better value than the basic cartridges.

[french frank]

As far as wireless goes, I have both the HP (laserjet) and Epson (inkjet) connected by USB to my desktop computer. But when I have the laptop/Macbook downstairs that's effectively wireless since the two computers connect wirelessly with each other and the printers are connected to the desktop. So I can print from downstairs. Very useful as I then have to go upstairs to collect the print-outs

[Thropplenoggin]

Thanks, FF and David, for your extremely thorough responses.

[Dave2002]

throps

As I wrote, it's a while since I bought a new printer myself, though I did order one last year for daughter who didn't seem bothered by wireless, and specifically wanted it to be connected by wire. We may have had to buy a slightly longer wire, but it was only a few pounds, and was easy to get going. I think that was a Canon - we got it cheap from Tesco Direct with their points doubling scheme - it perhaps should have been about £80-£100. If you can wait until they have such a doubling period that can be a good way to buy such kit.

ff's suggestion of a laser printer is a good one if you have a requirement for a lot of printouts, particularly if you are not worried about having colour. Colour laser printers are pricier, but printing in b&w is cheap and fast with a laser unit. Most laser printers I have experience of have had a not particularly pleasant smell - usually sited in separate rooms (though might be the concentration of such equipment which makes the problem seem worse), so that might be something to take into account for domestic use. Some may not have that problem.

For occasional use and small print runs ink jet printers are probably the way to go. If I need longer print runs I send pdf files to a local printer who doesn't charge an arm and a leg, and get them run off there. He's very helpful, and can do folding and stapling which I can't do - for example 3 x A3s will produce a 12 page A4 booklet with centre staples.

The 3 in 1 units (sometimes 4 in 1 - does anyone still use fax?) are perhaps more convenient, as they don't normally take up much more space than a printer by itself.

OTOH there are some rather nice portable scanning units which may be neater for using with laptops if printing is otherwise taken care of, and of course some people have requirements for very high quality scanning, which you probably won't get in a multi-function unit. Apropos of which - some MFUs may present a security risk, as some use email to send the scanned result. There is not necessarily any guarantee that scanned files are (a) encrypted and/or (b) won't go outside one's own domain. Think about it!

Maybe you should look at some up to date reviews in a computer mag or two, or look for reviews in online mags. Reviews on amazon are only helpful up to a point as one has to be sure that most of the reviews are 4 or 5 star, and that the 1 or 2 star reviews are not totally damning, or can be explained away as unlikely.

Good luck.

[DracoM]

I have an old [very old?] Dell 946 inkjet. Was fantastic, cartridges very expensive, so bought off other sites for them eventually. Gradually, the printer either as a result of these cartridges, or for some other exasperatingly obscure reason, gets stuck into a 40 sheet run and for absolutely no reason I can fathom suddenly stops midway in mid-sheet. To re-start, I have to switch the whole damned system off, go and bang my head against a wall for half an hour and then come back and switch everything back on and hope. Sometimes, even that doesn't work. When it's working it's terrific, does colour etc and I'm delighted, and at other times, I feel like putting an axe through it.

So this correspondence has been of immense use. Many thanks to Dave and FF.

[Dave2002]

DracoM

Your printer could be getting hot, or may be verging on getting jammed. There's apparently some form of rubber friction finger in these things to move the paper around, and that can result in failures and jams as it wears over the years.

You want to avoid this sort of thing if possible - http://www.flickr.com/photos/48952723@N00/1401611585/ or this http://www.flickr.com/photos/4895272...n/photostream/

If a serious jam occurs you'll never fix it. I tried water, knives, you name it - totally unrescueable!

Try putting shorter runs through, and give the unit time to cool off.

[Mr Pee]

My printer also refused to power up a while ago, and still shows no signs of life. I changed the fuse in the plug, thinking that might have been the problem, but to no avail. It's an HP, pretty basic, but for the amount of times I need it and what I print- just the occasional document- it was fine. So this thread has also been useful to me. There are some remarkably inexspensive printers to be found on Amazon. I'll probably get one from there.

And does anybody know why a printer should suddenly die, like mine and noggin's, after several years sterling service?

[Dave2002]

My printer also refused to power up a while ago, and still shows no signs of life. I changed the fuse in the plug, thinking that might have been the problem, but to no avail. It's an HP, pretty basic, but for the amount of times I need it and what I print- just the occasional document- it was fine. So this thread has also been useful to me. There are some remarkably inexspensive printers to be found on Amazon. I'll probably get one from there.

And does anybody know why a printer should suddenly die, like mine and noggin's, after several years sterling service?

Paper can make a difference - if it's either too thick or too thin. Some may also have dust, which may clog up the works, though it seems unlikely.

Re your specific problem - not quite sure. Do any lights come on at all, or is it really cold/dead? Try bumping it gently, or rocking it about to see if that fixes anything. Seems unlikely to be anything too serious if it was working and wasn't overloaded and didn't stop in midstream, but might still cost more to fix than to buy a new one. Wires loose in the plug maybe - if it's one of those kettle varieties try a new or spare lead. Make sure it's pushed in firmly at the printer end.

Does turning your computer on or off make any difference?

[Anna]

And does anybody know why a printer should suddenly die, like mine and noggin's, after several years sterling service?

Microsoft sub spooler system perhaps? I was getting all these messages re my LexMark, seems you just have to tick a few boxes to enable sub spooler system; But, I ditched the Lexmark for a Canon Pixma (in my ignorance) and the same thing happened, until I ticked the boxes.
The Canon is OK but my goodness, it's noisy, I wish I had not ditched my LexMark. If I had a choice I'd go for what I have at work, a HP laser jet

[Don Petter]

One thing in favour of HP inkjet printers is that the print head is in the cartridge, so you get a new one 'every time'. Some other makes (Epson?) rely on an internal print head for the life of the machine, though the cartridges may be cheaper and/or each colour can be replaced separately.

[Richard Tarleton]

There seems to be a cunning device in my HP inkjet to prevent me using generic cheap cartridges - the printer can spot a fraud a mile off.

[Don Petter]

There seems to be a cunning device in my HP inkjet to prevent me using generic cheap cartridges - the printer can spot a fraud a mile off.

I don't try to use generics, but buy sealed genuine HP (XL) cartridges on eBay for about half shop price. As long as they are still in their unbroken foil I don't care about what the 'use by' date may be, or whether they came originally from elsewhere in the world. Never had any problems yet.