All in One Printers

If you're open to it, you might consider an HP Color Laserjet printer as a replacement.  It costs a little more to get started, but you won't constantly be feeding it ink cartridges on a regular basis (regardless of hom much actual printing you have done, ink cartridges don't like to sit).  With the right decal paper (Sunnyscopa) my color laser printer even eliminated the need to put a protective clearcoat on after the decal is printed.  I can go right from the printer to the model.  Never going back to inkjet for that.

I replaced my HP with this Brother printer.  Nice, smaller footprint.  I don't print much though.

https://www.amazon.com/Brother-MFC-J4335DW-INKvestment-Wireless-Printing/dp/B092YN1JK5

Same boat, switched to the HP laser printer.  

Previously had inkjets, and wasted more ink/money on getting the machine ready to print than actual printed uses because of dried up nozzles.   The breaking point was when my Cannon model locked up just because it had reached a certain number of printed 'sheets', and the machine locks you out as it has been deemed it has run it's functional use.  Thing was, the only full sheets ever printed was for cleaning and testing the printer - insane!

regards,

Jack

jgeratic

The breaking point was when my Cannon model locked up just because it had reached a certain number of printed 'sheets', and the machine locks you out as it has been deemed it has run it's functional use.  Thing was, the only full sheets ever printed was for cleaning and testing the printer - insane!

I've never heard of that before! That's 'planned obsolescence' bordering on the criminal. Would certainly send me away from that manufacturer forever.

jgeratic

The breaking point was when my Cannon model locked up just because it had reached a certain number of printed 'sheets', and the machine locks you out as it has been deemed it has run it's functional use.  Thing was, the only full sheets ever printed was for cleaning and testing the printer - insane!

Wow!  Didn't know that about Canon printers!  I still have mine, just because its about the best thing around for professional-looking photos, but the inkjet thing is such an annoyance.  You spend 120 bucks for a full set of cartridges, and if you only print a photo on it every few weeks, you get maybe 10 sheets printed for that 120 bucks because, like you said, they dry out just sitting there.  Glad to read your Color Laserjet is working out for you.  I've had mine about 3 years now, printed all kinds of things with it, and JUST swapped out the introductory toner cartridges that have nowhere near the capacity of the full cartridges, so it'll probably be another 5 or 6 years before I have to buy more toner.

Well I didn't throw away the Canon IP4300, just sitting in the basement for about a year now.   On a lark decided to plug it in and see what it does.   It gives 5 quick light flashes which supposedly means the print head is defective.   But at least now  the ink tray moves to the center of the machine so they can be removed - back then it would not want to do this.  Maybe giving it the cold shoulder showed them...

I do recall though at the time searching for fixes because of the lock up of the printer.   I did find a supposed fix that involved pressing the start button a number of times and holding it in a set pattern - but it never did a thing.    Maybe the interweb was just pulling my leg?

For a while I was using my MG8100 as just a scanner, but before I could do that I had to do an internet search on getting it to bypass the self-test it does where it checks for good inkjet cartridges before it allows you to do anything.  There was a sequence of button presses for that too, and I remember that it didn't do a thing the first few times I tried it...then it finally worked.  Seems to have a mind of its own.  I think they should have given it a different model number...the HAL9000.

My experience with printers is that all brands have a short lifetimes.  My experience is that inkjets have better resolution (dpi) than an affordable laser.

gregbale

 

 

jgeratic

The breaking point was when my Cannon model locked up just because it had reached a certain number of printed 'sheets', and the machine locks you out as it has been deemed it has run it's functional use.  Thing was, the only full sheets ever printed was for cleaning and testing the printer - insane!

 

 

I've never heard of that before! That's 'planned obsolescence' bordering on the criminal. Would certainly send me away from that manufacturer forever.

 

I've seen this, too!  An old HP Inkjet, one day, posted a 'fuser bar error', or something like that, indicating the bar that heats to dry the ink quicker had an issue.  It went from printing a page to posting the error.  

After some searching online, I discovered that there is a set service life for that part.  When you get that error, you have to replace that part.  Being in a home, it got infrequent use, so, obviously, the printer was long obsolete by the time it gave us the finger.  While I could still get all the HP-branded ink cartridges I wanted, other replacement parts were NLA from HP, or online searches, so in the trash bin it went.  

HP products are no longer allowed in our home.  Her printer got replaced with a Kodak, and the one in the office got replaced with a Canon.  Annoyingly, the Canon eats through color cartridges at quite a rate, in spite of specifically-instructing it to print black and white.  The inkjet printer industry is a freaking racket.  

While you resurrected the thread - I was a big fan of HP, but it was some time around '95, when they were reliable and printed well. Since then I think the word "racket" sums it up well. Tricks like putting an air bag inside the cartridge to prevent filling it - how else would you call that? There is or was a nice solution on the market - there are printers that have ink tanks on the side that you refill from a bottle, and a plastic bottle is a lot cheaper than a specialized cartridge. If you want I can name the company, but I think you can also look it up on the 'net. The cost per page is about one tenth of that the "cartridge" printers give you.

Hope that helps, save paper and have a nice day

Paweł