Inkjet Printing - Drying Of Nozzles

I am considering buying a new printer for home use, with a small amount of printing. Major manufacturers (Canon/Epson/HP/Brother) are constantly improving their systems, but I'm mainly interested in drying nozzles. Among other things, the cartridges price, original or compatible. Will anyone share the experience? Or look at a color laser, no photo quality printing?


Does anyone know a good sites/blogs with verified opinions on printers?

Thanks for answers

Peter

 

Everyone has their favorites. All I can say is if you buy a cheap printer - you get a cheap printer.

I will not get into the debate about after market ink. All I will say there is, inks are actually very high tech stuff with precise formulas and manufacturing techniques. The only consistent quality, batch after batch after batch comes with genuine inks and toners from the printer manufactures.

There is NO consistency between different brands of aftermarket inks. So if you decide to go with an aftermarket ink, I recommend sticking with one brand.

But sadly, there is no guarantee of consistency between batches with aftermarket ink within the same brand. So keep your fingers crossed there.

Some users of aftermarket inks have no problems. Others do. I have. I have also seen printing problems clear up just by switching back to genuine inks and that is with HP, Epson, Canon, Brother and other brand printing devices.

As far as cartridges and jet nozzles drying out, the best way to prevent that is to use the printer. So I try to remember to print something, even a test page, at least once a week if I have not printed out something earlier that week - just to keep them from drying out.

Also, it is important to remember that ink jet inks have a shelf-life - even when new and still sealed in the packaging. So it is best not to stock up on extra cartridges. Buy what you need when you need it.

 

sure, that's why I'm asking here.
I don't want a "cheap" printer. Only since I bought the last one has technology advanced. The good old HPlj1300 cost 800usd 20 years ago, I didn't even think about a color laser that time. I also had Epsons of a slightly higher category, Stylus Photo 1270, then nice design piece SP2200, from HP DesignJet 30. I tried alternative refills, returned to the original due to the results.
Now I am looking for the current experience of other demanding users with regard to the price / performance parameter.
Thanks anyway for every feedback.

 

How much do you print, on average, every week? I may go a couple weeks without printing anything. Rarely do I print more than 10 pages per week.

So when Sam's offered the HP PhotoSmart 7525 for $180, I snagged it - though I was worried I had gone too cheap since my previous HP cost ~$400 and lasted 8 years.

And while mine is marketed as a "Photo" printer, I didn't buy it for that. I bought it because it uses 4 separate cartridges (magenta, cyan, yellow and black). Actually 5. It also uses a "Photo" Black. Photo black works best with photos that tend to have different shades of black. Where the traditional black works best with text.

Some printing devices use one cartridge for cyan, yellow and magenta. IMO, that is a big rip off! It means if you do a lot of color printing where yellow, as an example, dominates, you may have to replace the entire cartridge because you ran out of yellow even though the cyan and magenta tanks still have lots of ink left in them.

I have been very happy with this device though it is showing its age (bought it Feb 2013). The top document feeder does not grab very well. So if making copies of a document, I have to push the sheet in a little, or use the flatbed, one page at a time. No big deal as I rarely make copies of multiple page document. Note the blank paper feeder for the printing function still works perfectly.

If I printed (or copied, faxed, or scanned) a lot more than I currently do, I probably would be looking to spend considerably more than that $180.

Are you actually looking for a printer? Or are you looking for an AiO printing device that prints, scans, faxes, and copies? Do you need/want automatic duplex (both sides) printing? This is a nice feature but adds expense and complexity. Duplex can still be done but it is a very manual process where I always mix up and heads and tails.

What about networking support via Ethernet and/or wifi? Network support is an absolute must IMO, if (1) there are more than one users who need (even if rarely) access to the printer and (2), if you ever need access to the copier or fax function.

If networked, there is no need for the printing device to be tethered to a "host" computer. It can be centrally located anywhere in the house where network access (via Ethernet or wifi) is available. That also means there's no need to open up "sharing" (creating potential security issues) on the host computer or for a host computer to be up and running for others to print. Everyone can print at the same time and the printer's print server will sort it all out.

In some case, when you share a printer that is directly connected to your computer and others print a document, it can bog the host computer down until those resources are freed (the print job completes) again.

If you need to make a quick copy of a document, no computer needs to be up and running. You just insert the original and press the copy button. Simple.

Note that some routers support connecting a printing device via USB to make them network printers. They work, but I prefer one that has network support built in. This is because the printing device can then be centrally located and not tethered to your router via USB.

What I am saying is you need to define your needs, and your budget.

 

It's a few pages a week (10-15A4), like your Digerati.
It's always about assessing needs and options.
The basic features are the ones you mention - duplex / lan / wifi. Does anyone still use a fax today?
When I really need great photo quality (+large format), I go to a copy studio.
I'm still considering types with a tank system if it can be ok. What dou you think?
Thanks so much for the feedback. They are valuable to me.

 

Large format (especially laser) is where you'll pay, an engineer at work wanted a tabloid color printer and the price jump from just a regular printer was significant. I even asked out large copy/print provider, wound up with an inkjet. For our small offices we lease HP M479 color laser AIO, I bought one for home and can't complain.

 

Yes, surprisingly. It is still used in the medical community quite often. I had to get lab work done recently and my doc's office wanted the results faxed to them. The lab had no problem doing that, saying it was still a very common method for forwarding test results.

I looked at the tank systems too and they seem great if you print a lot as they really decrease the price per page printing costs. But as I noted before, inkjet ink has a short shelf-life, typically less than 2 years after manufacture. And that aging accelerates as soon as the sealed package is opened. So I went with standard cartridges.

Since bluenite said he goes to a professional copy service for large format printing, that is not a factor here.