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NFT: Home Printer Recommendations

robbieballs2003 : 12/21/2014 12:16 pm
We are looking for a new home printer. Does anybody have any suggestions? Thanks.
I love Brother printers  
nedhiggins : 12/21/2014 12:30 pm : link
http://www.amazon.com/Brother-HL-L2340DW-Printing-Wireless-Networking/dp/B00LZS5EEI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1419183004&sr=8-1&keywords=brother+hl-2340dw

If color printing is a must, this isn't for you. But this was cheap and easy to set up. I have it setup to print wirelessly with google printing and it works great.
I have an HP all-in-one  
pjcas18 : 12/21/2014 12:38 pm : link
it does everything well. Prints, scans, faxes (though I never fax anything - my wife occasionally does), and copies.

HP Photosmart 7520

black and white and color, plus it prints out flawless pictures.

only complaint is the ink isn't cheap.

I have an Epson XP-400  
Matt M. : 12/21/2014 12:42 pm : link
wireless "small in one" and I don't love it. I don't do heavy printing, so it's not a big deal. But, it is annoying that I regularly have to clean the nozzles and align the heads.
Depending on how much printing you do?  
larryflower37 : 12/21/2014 12:44 pm : link
I own a HP 8600 series.
I have the higher end 8620(got it for free)
But you can get the 8610 for $149.99 on sale and its a workhorse with very low price for page cost.



Hp 8610 - ( New Window )
I currently have the HP Photosmart 5510  
robbieballs2003 : 12/21/2014 12:55 pm : link
Sometimes the wireless doesn't work. I have to restart it. The biggest problem is that sometimes the ink dries up in the screen and we can't use it. Its annoying. Do these other models have that same problem?
Not mine Robbie  
pjcas18 : 12/21/2014 1:04 pm : link
that doesn't happen to me, but maybe others.

the only complaint I have it the price of the ink.

I use it often though, so maybe if I didn't those things would happen.

Mostly scanning and printing.
Picked up a Brother wireless B&W laser for ~$100  
Deej : 12/21/2014 2:15 pm : link
Fantastic printer and isnt the money suck that injets are. Toner is fairly inexpensive per page.

Whatever you get, I strongly recommend getting a wifi printer unless there is no chance you'll want to print from a laptop or tablet over the life of the printer. It is a real pleasure to sit on my couch and print to a printer in another room, rather than going in there and running a hard wire to my laptop.
I have Brother wireless all-in-one  
Gary from The East End : Admin : 12/21/2014 2:22 pm : link
I've had Brother printers for like ten years now and they always seem to just work.

As always, look at cost of consumables before you buy.
go this one  
giantfanboy : 12/21/2014 2:26 pm : link
Epson WorkForce WF-2540
good for home office cause it does everything
and small size


Epson Expression XP-410 - ( New Window )
Epson Printers  
Fred in Atlanta : 12/21/2014 2:44 pm : link
are not recommended if you don't print regularly (at least once every two weeks), the heads clogged up with non-use.
Another vote for the HP all in one  
skifast : 12/21/2014 3:00 pm : link
You can get the ink cartridges refilled at Costco
HP all in one is great  
Jack in MD : 12/21/2014 3:04 pm : link
Have the HP Officejet Pro 8600- great printer.

You should be able to get a great all in one printer in the $160-$180 price range.
I like the Brother printers too  
blue2 : 12/21/2014 4:51 pm : link
very cheap replacement ink cartridges on Amazon for most models.
Most home consumer printers these days are made of cheap plastic  
Reese's Pieces : 12/21/2014 6:21 pm : link
and are inexpensive compared to the early days of home printers in the late eighties and nineties. The day the first personal laser printer was available around 1988 I drove up to New Hampshire (no sales tax) and plunked down $1000 for my HP 2P. It lasted over a decade and I only had to change the toner every two years (I didn't print all that much).

The HP Photosmart 7510 I have now, and the Canon I had before, are cheap and look cheap. HP's greatest accomplishment in printing over the last ten years was to figure out how to sell a black extra-large ink cartridge for $23 that was good for printing two fifty page reports.

Everyone is so angry at the cost of the ink that you would think one company would have tried a different business model. I would pay more for the printer if I didn't have to replace the ink so often.

Color laser printers don't do photos well enough yet, so you're stuck with inkjet, unless you find a good refill solution.

As with most electronics, I would go on Amazon and spend time reading the hundreds of reviews there for every printer.
I have a Canon all in one and I like it, but my real recommendation  
Marty in Albany : 12/21/2014 7:43 pm : link
is that Canon technical support is great and the support personnel are in the USA.
It's very sad what's happened to the HP printer line  
Gary from The East End : Admin : 12/21/2014 7:46 pm : link
Back in the 90's I worked for a direct mail shop that would put 100,000+ impressions through each of their LaserJet III's every month. A little cleaning and some new rollers and they would just print and print. Those things were bulletproof.

Now? I wouldn't buy an HP printer on a bet. They're all cheap junk with ridiculous consumables cost.

As I said, I've had great experience with Brother printers. I have a Brother all-in-one laser printer that I bought in 2006 and is still going strong. I bought a Brother inkjet this year because I wanted to print in color, but I couldn't bear to get rid of the old one, so now I have two.
You may have the best solution.  
Reese's Pieces : 12/21/2014 8:10 pm : link
Get a high quality laser for everyday use, and add a cheap inkjet that specializes in photos.

I'm interested in finding out more about the Cosco refill option. HP would have Cosco on its enemies list.
My  
pjcas18 : 12/21/2014 8:14 pm : link
HP replaced a Brother MFC (I can look up the model), but that was a total piece of garbage. It was around 2009, maybe 2010 when I bought the brother multi-function, but replaced it in 2012 with an HP. Didn't feel like it lasted nearly long enough. It's definitely possible newer brothers are better, but mine sucked.

the HP is like driving a luxury vehicle compared to an economy with the Brother.

the Brother was slow, it has only sheet-fed scanning (not a flat-bed), and was unreliable (clogs happened often and these all-in-one ink under $200 printers are all cheaply but this one seemed worse)).

When I replaced it with the HP it was like making a major leap into the current age of technology.

Everyone has their bias so check amazon or cnet and read the user comments (not editors ratings) to get a good sampling of the problems people have with them both.
RE: It's very sad what's happened to the HP printer line  
santacruzom : 12/25/2014 3:03 pm : link
In comment 12047446 Gary from The East End said:
Quote:
Back in the 90's I worked for a direct mail shop that would put 100,000+ impressions through each of their LaserJet III's every month. A little cleaning and some new rollers and they would just print and print. Those things were bulletproof.

Now? I wouldn't buy an HP printer on a bet. They're all cheap junk with ridiculous consumables cost.



That was my experience over the past decade and a half or so as well, so I am pleasantly surprised by how well our OfficeJet 8600 has performed and held up. Not a single issue in the two+ years we've owned it.
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