Recomendations for new printer.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/b...amp;Q=&A=details

Check out the rebate!

This is what I use a lot this time of year for printing 11X17 calendars. Frankly, I used to always use HP, which I thought had a slightly better color rendition, but finally got fed up with the lack of support from those folks. The HP was a wonderful printer but the software wasn't the greatest. I think the slight edge in color was due to the fact that HP uses pigment based ink and the Canon uses dye based inks. 

I've never tried to print any decals but have used this printer on various type of surface including bamboo, cloth and vinyl with good success. Might be worth looking into. One disadvantage is smaller ink tanks than the HP and the total cost of the ink is higher, but not outlandish.

Personally, I have abandoned inkjet printers and I now do strictly laser printers.  I know the arguments that you can get "better" color prints from an inkjet, but all the issues of dried up ink and the expense of continually replacing the cartridges finally pushed me over the edge.  I have a plain-Jane Samsung color laser printer, I can print until the cartridges actually run out of toner instead of throwing away a 3/4 full ink cartridge that no longer functions.  I spend a fraction of the money I used to spend on ink cartridges now that I have the color laser.

For most of my printing I use a Canon MF4570N B/W printer that does double-sided printing, the Samsung CLP-325 is just when I need something in color.

I'm with John....a good laser is well wort it. All my custom decals come from my laser. Does great on photos too. 

For home use, any ink jet printer is going to be fairly expensive to use for photo quality prints, however for typical text they all work pretty well.  When it comes to photo printers I have always preferred canon's ip series, which produces good quality prints at very high speeds compared to competitors.  I'm a little less than impressed with the current generation of these printers, however.  To be fair, I put my printers through more work in one week than most users do in years.  

The main feature I would look for in a printer would be separate cartridges for each color of ink.  While a full set will set you back some bucks, only replacing the colors you actually run out of will save you in the long run.  

You may also want to look into the idea of buying a 'disposable' printer.  There are many low-end models out there that can be bought for less than the cost of a set of ink cartridges for them, though some of these are shipped with 'starter' cartridges that hold half the ink of normal ones.  In either case it can be cost effective to purchase one of these throw-away printers, use it till it dies, than get another one.  

As for a short answer; right now I recommend the iP7220 or MX922 from canon.  these are both built on the framework of the canon printers I've been beating the life out of for the last 10 years, and have a very good print quality.  The ip7220 is a stand-alone printer, where as the MX922 also has scanner/fax/copy capabilities.  The actual printer portion is the same in both.  

JGL

I know one brand of printer to stay away from and that is Lexmark. I had to return my Lexmark because because it was junk! Stay away from the low end or low price printers as they are trouble waiting to happen.

I can't say what is good for your use but do some research before buying a new printer as you can get a good deal online.

Lee Fritz

I want to thank everyone who replied to this...  Some how I got my printer working again but still going to replace it as it seen a lot of abuse and its 7 yrs old.   I currently I am going with the cannon suggestions but also looking at Epson eco printers. Thank you once again.

You may also want to look into the idea of buying a 'disposable' printer.  There are many low-end models out there that can be bought for less than the cost of a set of ink cartridges for them, though some of these are shipped with 'starter' cartridges that hold half the ink of normal ones.  In either case it can be cost effective to purchase one of these throw-away printers, use it till it dies, than get another one. 

I have an Epson wf2530. IT was cheap so my Wife purchased it without research. while the printer for the most part works its the expense of those small cartridges that drive me crazy. Stay away from Epson due to the small ink cartridges that go for a lot of $$.

prrhorseshoecurve posted:

I have an Epson wf2530. IT was cheap so my Wife purchased it without research. while the printer for the most part works its the expense of those small cartridges that drive me crazy. Stay away from Epson due to the small ink cartridges that go for a lot of $$.

Like the kids say, "word."  Bought an Epson last time and it's been the worst printer ever. Not only because of the mentioned ridiculous cartridges but have had all sorts of quality/performance issues. 

My issue with many inkjet printers is the actual print head gets clogged.  One reason I liked the HP inkjet printers was the print head was part of the cartridge, so a new cartridge solves any clogged print nozzles.  OTOH, I hate inkjet printers because of so many issues with the print nozzles getting clogged!

With printers, you can pay a little up front for the printer, and then an 'arm and a leg' for the ink.

Last year we bought an Epson ET-2550 Eco Tank for $250.  Ink for the Eco Tank runs about 1/5 of the price of ink cartridges, as you buy bottles of ink instead of replacement cartridges.

Epson claims 4,000 black and white pages or 6,500 color pages for a set of four ink bottles.  With ink retailing at $13 a bottle, that comes to $52 for a set of four bottles of ink.  This comes out to less than a penny per color page for the ink.

We are very happy with our printer, after a year's use, we still have more than 75% of the ink!

Don't know what the quality would be for decals, but the quality is good for pictures and regular paper.

Jim

I have a small Brother b+w laser which works great, but no color.

It replaced an Epson CX630 which was the worst printer I ever owned. Although it had separate ink tanks, every time you replaced one, it would go through "registering the ink" and use up about 1/4 of the ink in the small cartridges. The cartridges frequently dried out and that required cleaning the print head which burned up more ink. It was ridiculous and I will never buy another Epson product. Adding insult to injury, Epson acknowledged a software issue that caused excessive ink consumption on this model, but made no offer to owners to help them recoup costs. The Eco model mentioned above sounds interesting, but Epson is totally off my list.

If I decide to look at another ink jet for color and scan/copy functions, I'd go with Canon or look at a less expensive color laser.

The ink drying out on ink jets can become a real pain and expensive issue unless the printer is used frequently.

The only printers I have been truly happy with are the Brother 5000 Series B&W Laser printers.  (I print a lot in B&W as I'm a CPA.)  Run like tanks.  Very economical.

I've hated every 4 in 1 ink jet that I've owned.  Lexmark was the worst.  My current Brother units are finicky....but the ink is cheap.  I used to run HP 6100 and 6300 Series Ink Jets....but the cartridges are indeed expensive....and I will bet my left "leg" that they are programmed to find any way to stop working....and make you buy some HP product before they start working again.  (HP has actually been sued a number of times over this.)

Just bought an Epson WF-2760 ($85, Best Buy after tax) this past Monday to replace my WF-500 (10 yrs old I think).  Fast enough for home use, prints good b/w and color.  The 4-cartridge refill kit came to a little over $34 (Best Buy).  It copies, prints, scans, and faxes.

The WF-500 I think is still good actually, I think the cartridges I'm getting (from Epson) are no longer being made and what I'm getting is old and keeps giving me uneven printing.

Printers are cheap these days, ink will quickly over take the cost of the printer if you do a lot of printing, no matter which brand you get.

The WF-2760 works with Win XP, Win 10, and my Ipad.

I have had an Epson ET-2550 for over a year and have yet to buy ink. We print a ton of pictures ( 5 grandkids and my wife has a scrapbook for each). I can get all four refill bottles for $36, so ink cost is way less than cartridges, but the printer costs more to start. No problems and I figure I am way ahead on costs.

At one point, it was HP or nothing.  Not anymore.  I worked for an HP partner for a number of years and it was frowned upon to have anything other than HP.  I bought an HP color laser printer that went out at around the 18 month mark and the company I worked for supplied me with an all-in-one inkjet.  The inkjet still works but as GRJ pointed out, the cartridges clog and with the HP printer, they expire.  And the thing that annoys me most is if one color cartridge expires or runs out of ink, it won't even print black and white.  And of course there is the infamous HP bloatware (software) that comes with their printers.

As of late, I've had the best luck with Brother laser printers.  I purchased an all-in-one for a horse club I belong to and I just a printer myself.  They just work and the toner isn't super expensive like some.

If ink is what you are looking for, Canon and Epson are what I would look at but I have no recent experience with either.

A few additional things to consider.

1. With recycling laws, disposable printers create an issue getting rid of them.
2. Watch out for printers with "starter" cartridges, you will be buying ink sooner than you think
3. If laser will work, it is superior in some respects.  I print mailing labels and ink runs if it gets wet. 

Tony

At some point, companies started almost giving away ink jet printers so that they could gouge you on the ink down the road.

I can remember seeing my HP 6300 on sale for $99.  An HP ink and color cartridge combo would then sell for $63 or so.  And the cartridges they provided with the printer were only partially full.

Berkshire President posted:

At some point, companies started almost giving away ink jet printers so that they could gouge you on the ink down the road.

I can remember seeing my HP 6300 on sale for $99.  An HP ink and color cartridge combo would then sell for $63 or so.  And the cartridges they provided with the printer were only partially full.

Just like razors and razor blades.

I look at this WF-2760 I just bought and marvel at how they can make such a complicated machine and offer it for $80.  I doubt they make more than a hundred thousand of any one model, maybe even less.  The dies or whatever they use to make all the parts with have to be costly, then the electronics in them.

I accept the price of the ink I suppose, it does give me what I want.  It's almost worth getting 2 printers, one for color and one with black ink only.

Heck, I'm still amazed at how cameras and motion pictures work

Did Epson correct their head cleaning issue?  If you do not use the printer for a few days it will use a lot of ink "cleaning" the heads, even with the bulk ink continuous system.

For shipping labels, I use an old school tried and true HP 952c.

I'm going to look into these laser printers as I'm looking for something to print photos and maybe some decals (non-white lettering, Alps is the only one I know of that does that).

I never (?) had a problem with not using the printer then having to clean prior.  The issues I was having with my WF-500 just started a month or so ago, been working fine up to that point.

I got some really fine color prints off the WF-500 using glossy photo paper, better than some I've gotten from the big box stores anyway.

I'll see how long these color inks last in the new WF-2760 soon enough.

I have been selling printing supplies since 1998, that is the most common question we are asked, What Printer should I buy.  I normally do NOT provide a recommendation, because selecting a printer is similar to choosing a spouse, many, many variables.  Over time the I have seen people with issues with all the manufacturers, currently if I were to go and buy a printer, I would do Brother......

I picked up a Brother from Amazon (NEW) for less than $130, including shipping.  This printer is a printer, scanner, copier, has WIFI, fax capability, prints 4x6 up to 11x17, has a document feeder, prints on both sides of paper, and much more.  Most important is extremely inexpensive with ink.

The most important issue is to know what it is going to cost for ink, BEFORE you buy the printer!!!!!   Don't be surprised.

The easiest way to do this is after you have selected a couple of model numbers you are interested in go to a ink selling website, and find out what the cartridges will cost.  The better ones will give you the original cartridge price AND volume or yield, AND what alternatives are available.  Some sites are klassicspecialties.com, or think4ink.com, etc..

Not trying to sell anything, just trying to help.  IF you have any specific questions send me a PM and I can provide more info.  Don't want to deviate too much from the intent of this forum.

I had a Canon Pixma 6000 that was a very good printer. The problem was the ink. $10 cartridges be came $18 then tried refills, what a joke. Best Buy used to carry the ink but stopped. HP is only a second best imo.

Dick

I am not an expert on printer quality or the quality of the output.  However,  my recent experience was that in trying to find ink for 4 different printers I've acquired over the years, the cheapest I found was over $80, just for the black cartridge.  Went to Costco and found this little nugget.  Prints fast and better than anything I've had before.  Replacement ink is about $58 for a pack containing both a color and a black cartridge.  Does photos on photo paper, if that relates to decals.  Modern, easy to use, good software.  

http://www.costcobusinessdeliv...oduct.100105017.html

If you're going for an inkjet then I'd definitely recommend fitting it with a good CISS unit to reign in cost of ink cartridges.

I'm a color laser guy all the way. I have a Brother MFC 9130 and it's beautiful. Up to 2400 dpi and you the cartridges last forever. The only drawback is it like most printers doesn't print white. I'm still waiting for them to come up with a printer that can print white ink or toner.

Adam

  I've only had software become outdated. Never had one die, but have had cartridge's go from $15 to $45 then $60 via ordering only in a year. That was each color too, four total. I bought a $60 Lexmark.

   I've actually had great luck with Lexmark, but it wasn't the best quality of printing, it just always worked.

HP queues made me buy Lexmark again.

While the ink on paper is drying, I wipe my heads after large runs. Running printing presses instilled that 15 seconds to a minute of care in me. Epson was the worst cartridge for clogging....Lexmark again...software became outdated. It still scans to w7 but wont print unless it's a stand alone scan. I haven't used it for a few years now.

I'll add another vote for getting a laser printer. Like others here, I've been very happy with the Brother brand. (Mine is the B&W multi-function—printer, copier, scanner—HL-2280DW.) The initial cost is higher than an inkjet, but the toner cartridges last much, much longer, than inkjet ink & the quality is better.

Sorry to ask this question, but the original question specified "decal" capabilities.  Do all of these recommendations print decals?

Chuck

Lasers afford many advantages, but not for decals.  The fuser unit will literally melt the decal inside the printer.  Which leads to the question which inkjet printer would be best.  Most likely an Epson.  Epson utilizes a Pizoelectric technology which does NOT have any internal heat during printing.  ALL other inkjets are Thermal Bubble Jet technology, which actual heats the ink within the cartridge to near boiling.  This is done via a filment internal to the cartridge that causes a bubble to form within the cartridge, (well area) as the bubble increases in size it forces ink into the nozzle.  When enough ink is in the nozzle and forced out by the increasing bubble, the bubble collapses, creating a small vacuum pulling more ink into the "well" from the resevoir.  Hence, "Thermal Bubble Jet".  The Epson has a small crystal near the nozzle which is excited by the printer driver signal.  As the crystal is excited by the small electrical current it vibrates and actually pumps the ink out of the nozzle.  (piezo electric, being 10 to the neg 12 charge.  Thereby the Epson has a smaller droplet size which generates fewer "satelite"  droplets hitting the media.  The smaller droplet affords less ink for color blending, creating a more photo realistic presentation.  The droplet is as small as 3 or 4 pico liters of ink, compared to 10-18 pico liters with the Thermal Bubble Jet Technology.  The MOST important factor is to make sure the media you select lists your printer on the compatible printer listing!   Hope this helps.

A couple more things to add, some have been mentioned by others and some not.

It will depend a lot on what you are planning to print if you want to go laser or inkjet.  For many things either will work equally well.  Photo quality ink jets tend to produce better photos than consumer grade laser printers when using a proper photo paper, however on plain paper lasers will produce sharper images and text.  Lasers will also print lasting images on pretty much any surface that can be fed through the printer.  Glossy papers, various card stock, and even plastic transparency sheets.  Ink jets, on the other hand, require a porous surface to print.   Fortunately you can find all manner of label stock and other papers designed to work with inkjets in any office supply store or paper warehouse.  It is only if you need to print on plastic or coated stock that a laser is needed.  

Next, with inkjet printers I greatly prefer those with individual cartridges for each color as well as a separate print head.  The cartridges with self-contained print heads are nice in that you get a new head every time you change the cartridge, but you also pay for that new head every time you buy ink.  In addition, for the average person there is nothing that can be done but to replace the cartridge if the head becomes damaged or clogged beyond what the printer's cleaning process can solve.  With the separate head you get a typically much better quality of head.  There are also a number of ways to clean substantial clogs in the head.  Often flushing the head with warm running tap water will do the job. (Note: flush the head at your own risk and remember that it is absolutely imperative that the head be returned to the printer and ink run through if fo at leas a full-page color photo before the water dries in the head. )  Flushing a head can take a while, to insure you get all the ink out of it.   I have a number of printers in service where this has been done dozens of times.  

Another note on the head, if you have a clog, and you are getting lines/striping, or a color is not printing at all, do not use the printer until the clog has been cleared.  this can damage the head as it heats without ink flowing to cool it, and the 'elements' can burn out. (Much like a smoke unit run with no fluid.)

Moving along, most modern inkjet printers are designed to remain powered on at all times.  Most of these do go into a stand-by mode, or auto-shut-down after some amount of time.  These printers will do a cleaning cycle each time they are turned on and off, which is needed to keep the head in good working order, but also consumes a lot of ink over time.  

When you need to do a head cleaning, it is often best to do so from the printer's software on the computer, rather than through the menus on the printer it's self.  This is especially true if, like my Canon printers, the software allows you to choose to clean only the color or only the pigment-black head, as it will not use any ink on the other head.  

Next, not all ink is the same, and this may or may not be important for the use you have in mind.  The manufacturer brand inks are typically a much better quality than store brands and other off-brands.  Many times the colors are just slightly off as well, causing photos to look off.  If you are printing mostly text that will remain out of direct sunlight and out of high humidity, then the off brands could save you some money over time, however if you are intending to print images and/or be sure that the print holds up over time, then factory brand ink is the only way to go for a home consumer.  ( In my business we use an aftermarket ink supplier, using ink bought in 1 gallon bottles and we fill our own cartridges.  You can get great results doing this and the cost of full cartridges is about 10% of the retail prices, but this is only worth the investment of several thousand dollars in ink, empty cartridges, microchip resetters, and the vacuum filling equipment if you need to fill dozens of cartridges each week.  For the typical home user you would never return on the investment. ) As another note, if you do use off-brand ink, if you are not planning on using the printer for a while, store it with factory ink cartridges installed, rather than the off-brand ones.  

For what it's worth at peak season our company will be running around 40 inkjet photo printers , each one printing around 200 8.5x100 photo prints each day.  We beat the **** out of these printers, pushing them far beyond what they were ever expected to do.  A typical home user is unlikely to see a printer error the the waste ink absorber is full, for example, where as for me it a recurring annoyance that signals the end of the road for that printer most of the time.  (The absorber, or 'waste ink tank' is used to soak up ink from head cleanings it is a material very much like what Lionel uses in factory smoke units, and it holds A LOT of ink.) Anyway, the point here is that I have a lot of experience with these sorts of printers.  In out print shop we use a variety commercial grade lasers and inkjets choosing which printer to use based on the job at hand. Even here the inkjets are used more often.  The lasers only see use when the stock requires them, or when the size is too large for the inkjets.  Most of the time, however, for high speed and low cost the inkjet seriously out preforms the laser.  

You may want to investigate the actual ink cartridges the printer you are looking at uses.  Find out how long that style has been on the market, then keep in mind that a particular style/number cartridge will only be used for two or three years before it is replaced.  Most stores will only carry the current generation of cartridges and perhaps one generation before, while larger office supply stores will often carry 2 or maybe 3 previous generations... over all what this means is that ink can become hard to find 5 or 6 years after you buy a printer, so if you are buying a higher quality printer that you plan on keeping for a long time, make sure it uses the newest generation of ink cartridges so you will be able to easily find them.  Often the super blowout deals on printers occur as these cartridges are being changed to a new style.  

Lastly, while most of my experience is with Canon Pixima photo printers, we have recently put half a dozen of Epson's new ecotank printers into service to see how they work out.  so far results are good, and in almost every respect they seem as good as the Canon printers.  They are especially nice in being able to use factory brand ink and nt break the bank, so these might be a great printer for a home user.  The down side is that they are painfully slow when printing photo-quality, taking about six minutes per page... and at that not delivering quite the same quality as the Canon printers which can output the same full-page print in less than one minute.  For a home user, however, the speed may not be an issue. for my business it is cripplingly slow, requiring us to use three of these printers where one Canon had previously been used. 

Hopefully this isn't jumping around too much, just felt like putting the information out there for whoever wants it.  

JGL

Hey John, a great explanation of some basic printing concepts and usage. Thanks for using Canon printers

Paul

Canon Senior Account Rep - Rhode Island

I have a newer Canon laser that my wife spotted on sale for $45, we didn't need it as we have 2 great Canon lasers already, but this new one is a masterpiece of speed, quiet, and performance,  with double sided printing. The carts are common and available quite inexpensively(aftermarket). We have two HP inkjets that I refill the cartridges(until they croak) myself very affordably that have superior paper path handling & scanning ability, but my next color printer will be an Epson EcoTank. It looks like they are going to win the pricing war with a really good print system/technology with a somewhat higher initial cost but a very low overall cost.

I agree with Rob. I still have over a third of the ink left after a year and the four refill bottles are $36, less than one cartridge for most others.