Printing Hell

[honeycombz]

Hey, I need an office inkjet printer that is used infrequently and doesn't give me grief everytime I need to print 1 piece of paper. I used to use Epson, those pissed me off... then I switched to HP, had some luck with the photosmart series but those break over time and have problems if you aren't using them regularly. Is there a color inkjet printer out there that I can use infrequently to print and not have to fiddle with cleaning cartridges and print heads and buying new ink everytime I print 1 piece of paper? Tired of this. The new hp officejet printers look cool but can't bring myself to buy another piece of junk for the landfill. Ideally it would be some kind of all-in-one because I use it more for scanning than printing.

 

[Altemose]

Hey, I need an office inkjet printer that is used infrequently and doesn't give me grief everytime I need to print 1 piece of paper. I used to use Epson, those pissed me off... then I switched to HP, had some luck with the photosmart series but those break over time and have problems if you aren't using them regularly. Is there a color inkjet printer out there that I can use infrequently to print and not have to fiddle with cleaning cartridges and print heads and buying new ink everytime I print 1 piece of paper? Tired of this. The new hp officejet printers look cool but can't bring myself to buy another piece of junk for the landfill. Ideally it would be some kind of all-in-one because I use it more for scanning than printing.

I would honestly recommend going laser if you are in an office setting. Brother makes some fantastic printers that I highly recommend but in terms of ink jets I have never had a issue with Canon. When I had one Canon die on me, support had a brand new printer on my door step the next day and even upgraded it to the latest model. Great support, cheap third party cartridges, and fantastic quality is more than I can ask for in a printer and Canon always delivers.

 

[MisterMe]

Hey, I need an office inkjet printer that is used infrequently and doesn't give me grief everytime I need to print 1 piece of paper. ...

You are asking for the impossible. Ink is composed of solid toner particles suspended in liquid. In time, the liquid evaporates leaving leaving progressively muddier residue behind. Eventually, all of the liquid will evaporate from your cartridges leaving dry solid toner behind. Long before your ink is dry, however, it will not have enough liquid to transport the toner through the inkjet nozzles.

You may delude yourself into believing that some ink jet brand other than the one that you are using will magically be better. However, no inkjet printer manufacturer has found a workaround to the laws of physics and chemistry.

If you need to print hard copies only once or twice per year, then you have two choices:

1. Do as Altemose recommended and replace your inkjet with a laser printer. With your usage pattern, you will probably not have to replace your toner cartridges within your lifetime.
2. Print your documents to PDF and them have them printed at FedEx Office (formerly Kinko's), at the printer counter of an office supply store like Office Depot OfficeMax, or on the printer of a friend or colleague who is willing to do you a solid.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Hey, I need an office inkjet printer that is used infrequently and doesn't give me grief everytime I need to print 1 piece of paper. I used to use Epson, those pissed me off... then I switched to HP, had some luck with the photosmart series but those break over time and have problems if you aren't using them regularly. Is there a color inkjet printer out there that I can use infrequently to print and not have to fiddle with cleaning cartridges and print heads and buying new ink everytime I print 1 piece of paper? Tired of this. The new hp officejet printers look cool but can't bring myself to buy another piece of junk for the landfill. Ideally it would be some kind of all-in-one because I use it more for scanning than printing.

I used to have exactly the same issue with me Dell then Epson printer. Infrequent use, followed by forever cleaning nozzles etc.
then I bought a Cannon Pixmar and after a chat with a technician at work, he advised me to leave it switched on all the time. I have never had to clean or realign my heads once.

 

[PsyOpWarlord]

I've never believed in all-in-ones, but for printing here and there I would have to suggest like others

1) a color laser printer. I've been using my HP LaserJet 2600n for the last 8 years or so on the same set of toner cartridges (I don't print much).

2) Another option is a Xerox Solid Ink Printer (works great for photos) like I had at work. It melts color solid ink blocks when in use, and then when idle or off the ink re-solidifies to a solid. So no ink to "dry out" or go bad.
http://www.office.xerox.com/solid-ink/enus.html#_overview
Xerox ColorQube 8580
http://www.office.xerox.com/printers/color-printers/colorqube-8580/enus.html

 

[honeycombz]

the canon pixmas look alright. maybe i will give one of those a whirl. those xerox solid inkers are pricey.

 

[paulrbeers]

the canon pixmas look alright. maybe i will give one of those a whirl. those xerox solid inkers are pricey.

Again, why are you even bothering to look at an Ink Jet? My HP 3050 from 2006? is still printing and copying and I've only replaced the toner once. Unless you need high quality photo prints (to which I question your sanity since you are better off uploading them to websites or taking them to your local walgreens/target/etc since the cost is pennies on the dollar compared to printing them on your ink jet printer).....

I mean you do as you want, but no matter how "good" an inkjet is, you have to print on them at least once a week otherwise it will go bad. This is an issue with inkjets in general and there is no brand that can get around that. I don't care if the "canon prixmas" are better by one person's opinion. Fact is, it's still the same tech as all other inkjet companies and if you are drying out HP's and Epsons, then it will happen with the Canon (unless you know his printing habits are exactly like yours, then his experience isn't going to be yours).

Anyway off soapbox. You do as you like, but you will be back in 6 months asking us about the next inkjet you should buy....

 

[honeycombz]

hahah. maybe we should create a kickstarter where you put your active inkjets in a tupperware container with some liquid or something to keep them from drying out. like a humidor for cigars except ink cartridges.

 

[MisterMe]

the canon pixmas look alright. maybe i will give one of those a whirl. those xerox solid inkers are pricey.

No, they are not--not per page, at any rate. A page printed using an inkjet printer is your most expensive page. You can pretend to joke about placing the cartridges in humidors and such like all you want. The bottom line is that there is no workaround to the fundamentals of physics and chemistry of your printer technology. In the case of inkjets, this means expensive pages and short-lived cartridges.

 

[kschendel]

Hey, I need an office inkjet printer that is used infrequently...

The magic word "infrequently" says that you don't want an inkjet. You want a color laser. Try one of the Brothers, or if you need better color rendering maybe the Canon MF8280. I replaced a cheap and infinitely annoying HP inkjet in my home office with that Canon, and I haven't had to curse frantically at the printer since.

Inkjets like steady use, or they jam up and get all pissy and annoying. (Actually they will do that anyway, but infrequent usage makes it just that much worse.)

 

[thedeske]

Is there a color inkjet printer out there that I can use infrequently to print and not have to fiddle with cleaning cartridges and print heads and buying new ink everytime I print 1 piece of paper?

No - so buy the cheapest one you can get
I'm on Year four with a 30 dollar model that was on special and just bought 3rd party unreliable ink for it at less than half OEM price. I use it once or twice a month at most and it's luck. I have friends who plow through expensive all-in-ones every year and they are a constant pain.

Somewhere in the world there is a shop that can fix a basic printer to work for 10 years on cheap ink, but it's not in the states (I Think)