[cmeisenzahl]

We had a $100 Samsung B&W laser printer for 7-8 years. Worked great. The wife nagged me for a long time to get a color printer for the kids' schoolwork. I explained that color lasers were too expensive, and that InkJets were expensive to use, messy, and finicky.

Well, the laser died in November and for Christmas we got a new Kodak ESP 5250 All-in-One Printer. The WiFi is great, and it was easy to setup. The ink goes pretty fast, and the quality is still below laser, imho. But I soldiered on. ;-)

A couple days back the B&W ink cartridge was used up so I ordered a couple more via Amazon that claim to be fully compatible. Of course it prints terrible now with the new cartridge. So bad it's unreadable. I reseated the cartridge, did the calibration, ran the head-cleaning process. Not much if any better.

So what's the secret with these things? Do you have to buy the official branded ink carts all of the time? What does work? What should work?

Just frustrated.

[iMOTOR]

Step 1: Dismember inkjet printer with baseball bat.

Step 2: Buy another $100 Samsung laser printer

[Big Mac]

I've had similar experiences and don't really trust third party ink cartridges. And you're right, laser is far superior. I keep an AIO around for scanning and occasional color printing, but most of my printing gets done on a cheap black and white laser.

[Shaddim]

Color laser is actually pretty inexpensive now. Nice deal on Newegg, $170 and the toners are cheap compared to what you pay in the long run for ink.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16828112121

[seanc]

Our Canon LBP-5050N colour laser was inexpensive, toners seem to be cheap as well.

[turtle777]

I've been hating inkjet printers forever.

Darn cartridges or nozzles constantly dry up, a lot of ink is wasted on purging and cleaning.
Let alone the quality issues with 3rd party ink you mentioned.

-t

[indigoimac]

I too am done with color inkjets -- just dumped our Epson R320 a couple months back. Kept it around however for the very rare color prints I may need and even rarer direct on CD prints... neither of which a cheap laser will do. I also picked up a CISS for it off ebay for $35... who knows how long it will last buy it was way cheaper than a new ink cart set and since quality isn't exactly relevant for those operations it should do fine. It was replaced by whatever the current cheapest brother is (2240?)

I also dumped a Epson c120 for a brother 2140 at another location... I have been pleased by both.

As for photo prints which were the main reason we got the r320... at this point snapfish is cheaper and on par quality-wise.

[Spheric Harlot]

What you guys are really missing is that the feeling is mutual: Inkjet printers hate us humans.

Just walk into a store and try to find the correct ink cartridges for your particular model on the Wall of Ink.

[angelmb]

Why I Believe Printers Were Sent From Hell To Make Us Miserable

[Spheric Harlot]

Thank you.

[OldManMac]

I haven't used my inkjet in five years! Don't know if it even works, and don't care. I bought a Samsung Laser 8 years ago, and it's still going strong. When I want to share pictures, there are plenty of digital methods (I mostly use Mobile Me).

[Brien]

I went on a rant about inkjets a few months ago: summary, they all suck, get a nicer printer. :/

[residentEvil]

a B&W ink cartridge huh?

[el chupacabra]

I had an inkjet once, the heads dried up after a few times use and I did everything to fix that thing to no avail. Ill nver buy another one, just go to kinkos.

[Love Calm Quiet]

I keep two printers at home networked off my iMac:
1) HP 3300 Multifunction laser (5 years old) for B&W $40 for refill toner*
2) Canon PIXMA iP3300 (3 years old) for color. $8/cartridge(4)*

*If anybody can beat these prices from Printer Ink, Laser Toner, Printer Inkjet Cartridges - 4inkjets I'd love to know about it. [I get an occasional defective item, but at 30%-40% of OEM... ]

[olePigeon]

Originally Posted by Love Calm Quiet 

I keep two printers at home networked off my iMac:
1) HP 3300 Multifunction laser (5 years old) for B&W $40 for refill toner*
2) Canon PIXMA iP3300 (3 years old) for color. $8/cartridge(4)*

*If anybody can beat these prices from Printer Ink, Laser Toner, Printer Inkjet Cartridges - 4inkjets I'd love to know about it. [I get an occasional defective item, but at 30%-40% of OEM... ]

Here you go.

Everyone should bookmark Monoprice. $18 for your toner, by the way.

[Love Calm Quiet]

Their prices sound *awesome*. Thanks, olePigeon!
I'll certainly give it a shot. At those prices I won't feel bad if I get the occasional lemon. Looks like about 10-15% of what I'd pay at OfficeMax/Depot/Staples!

[tooki]

FWIW, if you value your sanity, I do recommend sticking with original inkjet inks. Ink is technologically far more complex than people realize. It's not just dyes dissolved in water. In test after test, most third-party inks fail to achieve the print quality or reliability of the original inks. (And in many cases, the yield is lower, negating the savings but leaving you with the frustration!) The inks not only have to contain dyes or pigments, they need to have the right viscosity, spread/bleeding, evaporation, and cleaning characteristics, etc.

In pure theory, piezo printers (read: Epson) should be more forgiving of inks than thermal ink-jet (everyone else), but in practice, Epson has been the most prone to clogging, even with original inks!


With all that said, I still resent that inkjet ink costs $7000 a liter. Somebody's making a loooottttt of money with that.

If you want to print photos, inkjet is the way to go. If you don't, get a color or B&W laser, depending on your needs.

[Salty]

My Samsung color laser is kinda lousy actually. Prints are fine but it can only do about thirty pages before it gets an error.

[brassplayersrock²]

Makes note to not buy Samsung color laser printer.

[ghporter]

I got sick of dealing with inkjets for quite a while, and did fine with inexpensive lasers for a long time. I wound up with a Canon all-in-one merely because I went out looking for a Mac-compatible scanner and the MX310 was less expensive than any other scanner. Everything I've read about Canon's technology, both their ink and their hardware, made it look like the way to go. So far it's been living up to my expectations, with really affordable cartridges and continuing good print quality.

Long story to back up my impression that Canon's inkjets (with Canon ink) seem to "get it right." Everybody else? Not so much.

Brother has some fairly invitingly priced entry level color lasers. Does anyone have experience with their 3040 and 3070 printers?