Several years ago we bought a Kodak all in one color printer. One of the selling points for this printer at the time was cheap replacement ink cartridges. They were selling color cartridges with some photo paper for something like 10.00.
Now the printer no longer works and the ink cartridges are no longer cheap so I am tasked with picking a new printer for our home. We dont use one much but they do come in handy a few times a month. I fell for the cheap printer ploy one time only to find out the replacement ink was twice what the printer cost. The ink that came with the printer was a teasingly small amount. Also would like to be able to buy cheaper third party ink when needed. Photo quality would be nice but not mandatory.
Any suggestions on models or brands to consider or avoid and any deals out there currently?
Thanks,
Steve
"a few times a month"??
Reads like our usage. A tax form, a UPS shipping label, maybe a copy of a grocery list. Used to print maps and coupons but now just use the images on our cell phones. And the wife prints off the taxes each year, probably 100 pages max. But as far "regular" usage goes, I just had to print a page yesterday for returning an item to Amazon. First page in two months.
Printers are like razors, it's not the device it's the consumables.
I got sick of buying ink cartridges so I found the Epson line of Eco Tank printers. Search for Epson ET - they start at about $200 and go way up to over $1,000. They use 4 ink tanks instead of a cartridge. It comes with ink to fill it up and lasts an average user 2 years. The replacement ink for all 4 colors is only $30 for Epson, even cheaper for generic. I bought the Epson ET 2550 all in one and it has been working beautifully for a year now, hardly any ink usage showing in the tanks. Prints great photos. The ink is so cheap I print in color all the time. Epson is one of the oldest printer companies and have always had good printers from them.
I was once into printing, bought a large format (12" wide) tank printer, didn't use it enough, head dried up.
The Ecotanks are a great idea for those that print a lot, they came out in 2015. The low end 2650 comes with enough ink to print 4,000 pages black, 6,500 pages color. At my usage rate that would probably be my lifetime if I live to 150, especially if I can wean SWMBO from printing the taxes, after all she files electronically.
A while back, I think maybe about 2008, I got fed up with the cost of cartridges and waited until WalMart put their low end All-in-ones on sale for Thanksgiving.
They were like $25@, I bought 5 plus some extra cartridges. We had them scattered, one upstairs in Virginia, one downstairs in Virginia, one in Mississippi and one hot spare in both states.
Occasionally I catch my wife buying replacement cartridges for more than the cost of the printer. Also occasionally one has died, the electronics mess up and it just won't print. I think we've "lost" 3. I've replaced them with similar buys, again from Thanksgiving sales.
If you can hang in there until the Black Friday sale prices hit get an Epson with some extra cartridges, then you know your price up front, but buy a couple because invariably the electronics will die and you may be stuck with cartridges that won't work on a new machine.
