[hickey]

So yesterday I went to Microcenter looking for a cheap inkjetprinter. Turns out they had the HP photsmart 7450 on sale for 50 bucks. I don't really need a photoprinter, but their only other cheap inkjet printer was 75 bucks. So i figured why not, I brought it home and set it up and everything, it actually prints really nice photos. I doubt they would like as nice with regular paper, but it came with some photo paper samples. And for 50 bucks I think it's a steal I even got a 2 year protection plan for only 6 dollars.

Just thought I'd share my newest purchase.

[tooki]

There aren't any inkjet printers these days that AREN'T photo printers. But most of them, and all HPs belong to this category, make great all-purpose printers, too. (In fact, of all inkjets, I think HP has the best-looking plain-paper text printing.)

tooki

[Severed Hand of Skywalker]

Great, now see how much ink it goes through and how much it costs.

[ghporter]

Ink is the big issue with any inkjet printer. Many (maybe all) inkjet manufacturers work on the Gillette principal: sell the printer (or razor) for cheap, then make a profit on the ink (or blades). You can avoid some of the problems of this model by carefully following the manufacturer's instructions for storage of ink cartridges, and avoiding the printer's "cleaning" function, which uses ink to clear print heads.

[Severed Hand of Skywalker]

I know epson makes about $10 on the midrange printers, they rape you when it comes to the ink.

It is the smart way to do it as it seemed to work for this guy, he walks into a store, sees a printer for $50, HP makes nothing from the sale, then since it is such a low end printer is only has one inktank (perhaps 2) and when one colour runs out you run to the store and spend $40 on ink.

[itguy05]

Originally Posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker

I know epson makes about $10 on the midrange printers, they rape you when it comes to the ink.

Not really - Staples sells the BCI6 for my old i960 at $13/cartridge. For the R1800 it's $14. They both seem to print about the same per cartridge.

When I had my 875DC, it was $19 for black and $21 for color. About the same as the HP it replaced.

I had an 880 and it was about the same as well, in line with the other printers.

If anything, the cost per page of Epson is in the middle - Canon is typically cheapest, then Epson, then HP and Lexmark at the high end.

[Severed Hand of Skywalker]

Originally Posted by itguy05

Not really - Staples sells the BCI6 for my old i960 at $13/cartridge. For the R1800 it's $14. They both seem to print about the same per cartridge.

When I had my 875DC, it was $19 for black and $21 for color. About the same as the HP it replaced.

I had an 880 and it was about the same as well, in line with the other printers.

If anything, the cost per page of Epson is in the middle - Canon is typically cheapest, then Epson, then HP and Lexmark at the high end.

Tests have shown that HP and lexmark have the highest cost per page. Canon is usually the lowest (another reason I own one).

Epsons ink tests also don't take into account how often you have to clean the heads on them wasting ink. Also if the heads clog it is pretty much garbage when on canons you can easily replace just the head.

[hickey]

yeah I realize ink prices are sometimes more than half the cost of the printer, but I slack off enough so I dont do a whole lot of assignments, so I end up rarely printing large docs. But I've had no complaints with any of the inkets we've had so far, besides the obvious speed advantage of the higher end inkjets and laser printers over the cheapos. It'll suit my needs.

[itguy05]

Originally Posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker

Tests have shown that HP and lexmark have the highest cost per page. Canon is usually the lowest (another reason I own one).

Epsons ink tests also don't take into account how often you have to clean the heads on them wasting ink. Also if the heads clog it is pretty much garbage when on canons you can easily replace just the head.

I've had 3 Epsons:

880 : hardly clogged except when I used the $1.50 generics in it, then it only clogged on cartridge changes (???). Bit the dust with a gringing sound when paper was advanced. The head was still fine.

875DC : Hardly clogged except when I started using the $3 generics in it. Even let it sit for almost a year unused and I had to run one cleaning and all was fine. Still using it today as a general purpose printer.

R1800 : no clogs yet, although I've been printing a lot out of it!

That being said, the clogs tend to depend on the environment. Maybe I've been lucky?

Also, I used to think the replaceable print head on Canon was a great idea. Until I priced them. The printhead for my i960 is something like $100-150. Heck, for $50 more, I can get the latest and greatest printer BRAND NEW. It's even worse for my i560 as that head is $50-75.....

[Severed Hand of Skywalker]

Originally Posted by itguy05

I've had 3 Epsons:

880 : hardly clogged except when I used the $1.50 generics in it, then it only clogged on cartridge changes (???). Bit the dust with a gringing sound when paper was advanced. The head was still fine.

875DC : Hardly clogged except when I started using the $3 generics in it. Even let it sit for almost a year unused and I had to run one cleaning and all was fine. Still using it today as a general purpose printer.

R1800 : no clogs yet, although I've been printing a lot out of it!

That being said, the clogs tend to depend on the environment. Maybe I've been lucky?

Also, I used to think the replaceable print head on Canon was a great idea. Until I priced them. The printhead for my i960 is something like $100-150. Heck, for $50 more, I can get the latest and greatest printer BRAND NEW. It's even worse for my i560 as that head is $50-75.....

Well all 6 Epsons I have owned or used at work have clogged using nothing other than Epson ink.

Actually at my old job they went through 25, yes 25 of them. They had extended warranties so after it would choke after a few months they got a new one.

As for the Canons ink head $100 isn't that bad. With Epson if it is damaged the printer is either garbage or a very expensive repair. HP screws you every time you buy an ink cart because it comes with a new head if you need it or not. Considering HP carts are at LEAST $10 more then Canon ink add that up each time you buy a new one.

I have 2 Canon i950's and a canon MP130. In 2 years and about 500 photo quality 8x10 prints TWO have come out bad because of a dirty head. I did a quick clean and it was solved.

I swear by Canons now.