Very happy with my HP ENVY. It was pretty cheap yet still included a scanner and wireless operation.
I used to have a Canon as I'm normally a big advocate of them, but their ink cartridges are ridiculously small so the running costs of the printer were far too high.
Printers are so cheap nowadays, the bigger consideration is the cost of replacement ink cartridges. There can be a huge difference in prices on that basis.
Very happy with my HP ENVY. It was pretty cheap yet still included a scanner and wireless operation.
I used to have a Canon as I'm normally a big advocate of them, but their ink cartridges are ridiculously small so the running costs of the printer were far too high.
My Canon works well and was cheap. But boy-oh-boy those ink cartridges are so expensive. In fact, just for my own amusement, last time I bought some I did some research and found that you could buy a bottle of Chateau Cheval Blanc 2005 Saint-Emilion Grand Cru Classe and still have £250 left over versus buying 750ml of Canon ink. (The wine is about £750 a bottle, chosen by me for the exercise because that's a nice round £1 per ml and the ink is around £1.31 per ml.)
If you want to print cheaply I would reccomend you get an epson 312, 315, 412 or 415 and then buy cheaper cartridges (non epson from ebay). If you want to save even more money in the long term, you can buy refillable cartridges and ink. The reason I recommend Epson is that they have metal print heads built into the printer whereas others build them into each cartridge which makes the cartridge more expensive.
What you should do is not select updates as the printer companies sell printers cheaply because they want to sting you for ink. Which is what they do - the cartridges I have suggested are full of ink where as the printer's brand ones have sponge in them and the printer actually tells you they need replacing usually before they actually do. You will get the odd message, this is a non standard cartridge, do you wish to use it - and you should always say yes. There is no difference between the inks that anybody would notice. I have had my home printer for over 4 years and it hasn't given me any problems and costs virtually nothing to run. They will try to make it harder for you, but if driver isn't updated and you replace when ink runs out you wont have any issues. Ignore the low ink warnings too - it is a guess - printers don't check the ink and you will have spares anyway when needed.
So, I would look for a xp- 312 - decent qulaity, wi-fi capability, scanner, copy feature as you would expect - it is an older model but you can pick up a reconditioned one or second hand one cheap - if not look for one of the others I have mentioned above. on photographs the red can be a little over rich - solved by lightening it a bit using software - but that is being picky and you will have similar or greater issues with all budget printers. the wifi works but I have a lead I plug into my laptop - it is quicker.
Then you can buy these replaceable cartridges for it. That is 30 cartridges that will last you ages for £11.99. You can get even cheaper - I looked these up quickly.
If you want to refill them yourselves - you can buy this kit. Be careful not to get any ink on the reader chip and make sure the removable plugs are out when you refill - then put them back before you fit to the printer. These are programmed to reset when you take them out and put them back again.
The only think I am not sure about is the I-pad element. I would check the epson site and check the downloadable drivers, but I would imagine there is a driver.
Very happy with my HP ENVY. It was pretty cheap yet still included a scanner and wireless operation.
I used to have a Canon as I'm normally a big advocate of them, but their ink cartridges are ridiculously small so the running costs of the printer were far too high.
My Canon works well and was cheap. But boy-oh-boy those ink cartridges are so expensive. In fact, just for my own amusement, last time I bought some I did some research and found that you could buy a bottle of Chateau Cheval Blanc 2005 Saint-Emilion Grand Cru Classe and still have £250 left over versus buying 750ml of Canon ink. (The wine is about £750 a bottle, chosen by me for the exercise because that's a nice round £1 per ml and the ink is around £1.31 per ml.)
I think you got that comparison from Dave Gorman. Great episode where he talks about the cost of the printer (cheap) to the cost of the ink (expensive). He has an Epson for sale if you want it...
What appeals with the Epson is that if you want to buy cheaper cartridges, you don't want the quality of the head to be compromised. Despite what you may be told by the comapnies, ink is pretty much ink! With the Epson the print heads are part of the printer - not the cartridge. Official ink is a scam! Hope this advice is useful for others - seriously, I print a fair bit at home - not professional printing - but invoices, documents - my son prints his homework etc... and in 4 years it has cost me about £20 in all! And I still have a lot of ink left!
Very happy with my HP ENVY. It was pretty cheap yet still included a scanner and wireless operation.
I used to have a Canon as I'm normally a big advocate of them, but their ink cartridges are ridiculously small so the running costs of the printer were far too high.
My Canon works well and was cheap. But boy-oh-boy those ink cartridges are so expensive. In fact, just for my own amusement, last time I bought some I did some research and found that you could buy a bottle of Chateau Cheval Blanc 2005 Saint-Emilion Grand Cru Classe and still have £250 left over versus buying 750ml of Canon ink. (The wine is about £750 a bottle, chosen by me for the exercise because that's a nice round £1 per ml and the ink is around £1.31 per ml.)
I think you got that comparison from Dave Gorman. Great episode where he talks about the cost of the printer (cheap) to the cost of the ink (expensive). He has an Epson for sale if you want it...
I don't know who Dave Gorman is. Perhaps he got it from me?
The reason I reccommend the 312 is because that is what I have.They make the refillable cartridges for 415 so should be fine. But seeing as this is a scam - a lot of technology goes into stopping you (it is legal to use non- standard cartridges I might add) saving yourself money - actually the more modern printers probably have more technology than the older ones to stop you. I have a spare 312 (bought for £30) for when my one gives up - no signs of that though!
Very happy with my HP ENVY. It was pretty cheap yet still included a scanner and wireless operation.
I used to have a Canon as I'm normally a big advocate of them, but their ink cartridges are ridiculously small so the running costs of the printer were far too high.
Very happy with my HP ENVY. It was pretty cheap yet still included a scanner and wireless operation.
I used to have a Canon as I'm normally a big advocate of them, but their ink cartridges are ridiculously small so the running costs of the printer were far too high.
HP and join the free replacement ink scheme. Great value.
I've also got an HP ENVY (5646 model) and am on the replacement ink scheme. Costs about £3 a month. Works very well.
Even some big cartridges don't have that much ink in them. If you want to use official ink, the replacement ink scheme mentioned sounds good although it still works out more expensive than my suggestion. Generally, the cheaper the printer, the less ink in the cartridges. Really cheap printers are more expensive if you use them even at low levels! Unless you know the way around it which I have shared with you
Simply add the Black, Cyan, Yellow and Magenta together divide the total by the yield (pages) of the colour toner.
I would go HP or Epson.
And bear in mind the yield claims. The “Yield” is based on a standard letter, called the “Slerexe” Letter which has exactly 5% ink content. The printer manufacturers base their yield calculations on the same letter, then the consumer can see which multi-function copier gives the highest “yield” and therefore offers the best value for money. However, the vast majority of documents produced have more than 5% content, and this is where you are duped in to spending more money.
Say a printer is supposed to produce 200 pages (@ 5% coverage). Such a page will cost 6.50 p in ink. But what if your document has more words, pictures and content? A document with 10% content would actually cost you 13 p to print. A document with 20% content would actually cost you 26p. Scarily, a single page with only 40% content would actually cost you 52p to produce and so on.
It is important to understand this as most people think it is costing them a lot less to print a page than it actually is. of course the print companies want you to think this!
Simply add the Black, Cyan, Yellow and Magenta together divide the total by the yield (pages) of the colour toner.
I would go HP or Epson.
And bear in mind the yield claims. The “Yield” is based on a standard letter, called the “Slerexe” Letter which has exactly 5% ink content. The printer manufacturers base their yield calculations on the same letter, then the consumer can see which multi-function copier gives the highest “yield” and therefore offers the best value for money. However, the vast majority of documents produced have more than 5% content, and this is where you are duped in to spending more money.
Say a printer is supposed to produce 200 pages (@ 5% coverage). Such a page will cost 6.50 p in ink. But what if your document has more words, pictures and content? A document with 10% content would actually cost you 13 p to print. A document with 20% content would actually cost you 26p. Scarily, a single page with only 40% content would actually cost you 52p to produce and so on.
It is important to understand this as most people think it is costing them a lot less to print a page than it actually is. of course the print companies want you to think this!
Spot on that Muttley, do you want to come and work for my company?
It may be a bit out of your way and a bit big for what you need, but I have a Samsung colour A4 photocopy laser printer that we are trying to shift, its a decent printer we have just upgraded to an A3 printer.
HP envy 5530 with replacement ink plan for about £3 a month does the job. At the other end of the scale I also have an Epson SureColor P600 with 9 ink cartridges at £25 each, outrageous but amazing A3 prints to be fair, good job I can charge them out.
Simply add the Black, Cyan, Yellow and Magenta together divide the total by the yield (pages) of the colour toner.
I would go HP or Epson.
And bear in mind the yield claims. The “Yield” is based on a standard letter, called the “Slerexe” Letter which has exactly 5% ink content. The printer manufacturers base their yield calculations on the same letter, then the consumer can see which multi-function copier gives the highest “yield” and therefore offers the best value for money. However, the vast majority of documents produced have more than 5% content, and this is where you are duped in to spending more money.
Say a printer is supposed to produce 200 pages (@ 5% coverage). Such a page will cost 6.50 p in ink. But what if your document has more words, pictures and content? A document with 10% content would actually cost you 13 p to print. A document with 20% content would actually cost you 26p. Scarily, a single page with only 40% content would actually cost you 52p to produce and so on.
It is important to understand this as most people think it is costing them a lot less to print a page than it actually is. of course the print companies want you to think this!
Spot on that Muttley, do you want to come and work for my company?
I have my own print company -Novo Print Limited (plug there!) but this advice is for home day to day printing not the professional printing side. Aprt from the cost, you do get good quality from budget printers nowadays. But I do know the area - what I don't know the detail of is how the big companies scam you re-phones, utilities, TV, insurance etc... I know they do of course but can't keep on top of it all. There used to be a culture of looking after customers but there is now sadly a culture of ripping off customers through detail and complexity. There will always be the argument that it is up to consumers to research and get decent deals but if you spend your time researching you won't have time to do anything else.
If I ran the country I would bring in legislation to stop it. In terms of professional printing, you have companies like Vista Print (who are competetive in their prices) but when they advertise a great deal on the TV say for business cards - the ones advertised are business slips of paper - so when you upgrade to something usable it costs a fair bit more. We want our minimum products to be of a good standard so our business cards - with free design don't go lower than 350gsm for the budget ones.
The sad thing is, these are massive companies that have plans to nick money off customers through slight of hand and people just accept it! And when I am recommending Epson, it isn't because they are any different, they still will tell you if you use non Epson ink it will damage your printer etc... It is just they made a mistake when they designed their printers to include print heads in the printer. When you think about the most environmentally friendly way to go, it surely is getting as much ink and use out of one cartridge or using refillable cartridges.
I'd also say, if you print quite a lot and buy official cartridges, it is actually cheaper to keep your printer turned on rather than turn it off and on when you use it. that is because these printers needlessly clean the heads by using ink everytime the printer is switched on! The print companies want you to go through the ink so you can pay liquid gold prices for more! And it is ink, not liquid gold!
What appeals with the Epson is that if you want to buy cheaper cartridges, you don't want the quality of the head to be compromised. Despite what you may be told by the comapnies, ink is pretty much ink! With the Epson the print heads are part of the printer - not the cartridge. Official ink is a scam! Hope this advice is useful for others - seriously, I print a fair bit at home - not professional printing - but invoices, documents - my son prints his homework etc... and in 4 years it has cost me about £20 in all! And I still have a lot of ink left!
I'd also say, if you print quite a lot and buy official cartridges, it is actually cheaper to keep your printer turned on rather than turn it off and on when you use it. that is because these printers needlessly clean the heads by using ink everytime the printer is switched on! The print companies want you to go through the ink so you can pay liquid gold prices for more! And it is ink, not liquid gold!
I've got an Epson SX235W printer that I bought from Asda 5 years ago for £50. I use it daily & is always switched on (even at night). I stopped buying the Epson's own brand ink after I found that Asda were a lot cheaper. It takes the 4 colours mentioned above & with Epson a full 4-pack is around £45. A single colour ink with Asda is £5 or 2 for £8 (although I think they stopped doing this deal now). Recently I had run out of black ink & neither the local Asda's & Sainsbury's had any. I therefore went on-line & ordered it directly with Epson, paying £15. It came the next day & when I fitted it the printer wouldn't work. I rang Epson's customer helpline & after they ran through a few fault finding exercises said that the printer head was knackered & a repair would cost £85. Apart from a brand new printer would cost less than this I said not to bother sending out an engineer, and just in case it was the new ink cartridge could they send me another one. Yes, but for another £15. I said to their customer service dept that seeing as my printer had been working perfectly up until then, and non branded & re-conditioned inks that I have been using for the past few years had all been ok perhaps it was a rogue cartridge & before spending anymore money should I not just try a different black ink cartridge. No problem they said, but it would still cost £15 for a new one. What if I sent this one back & they sent me a replacement - no, still £15. I told them that their customer service stank & slammed the phone down. Went out & trawled various supermarkets & found the usual own brand cartridge. Went home & fitted it - all worked ok & now on my 2nd different black cartridge with no further issues.
Yes, they are all the same - they are crooks. When you think about it, there is absolutely no reason to have chips on the cartridges other than to make it difficult to buy ink other than theirs. Then if you do they scare you by saying the ink will damage your printer - no it won't - not proper printing ink. With official cartridges the printer can stop working and tell you you need a new cartridge even when there is a decent amount of ink still in the cartridge.
What I am guessing is that the official cartridge you had had a faulty chip or the cartridge was faulty in some other way. Of course the cause of the problem they arrived at was the one that costed you the most - when it was their fault for manufacturing a faulty cartridge in the first place!
There is this amazing way of telling when your ink runs out - you look at the print and that colour is missing!! The chips don't measure how much ink is in the cartridge. What I would say is always have a spare cartridge - this is because ink on the head can dry and block so when it runs out you want to put a new cartridge in rather than leave it for any length of time!
If you want to have lots of spares - and save money - buy these:
I've got an HP Envy 5540 all in one printer, i can't remember if i got it in Argos, i think its £1.99 a month ( to print 50 sheets a month) price goes up and down according to useage and they send you a cartridge through the post when you're getting low , can print from an iphone and ipad.
Previously Ink cartridges cost a fortune to buy , particularly when you've got to print kids homework off.
I've got an Epson printer, i think its £1.99 a month ( to print 50 sheets a month) price goes up and down according to useage and they send you a cartridge through the post when you're getting low , can print from an iphone and ipad.
Previously Ink cartridges cost a fortune to buy , particularly when you've got to print kids homework off.
This is more responsible and will work for some, but buying decent unofficial cartridges or if you feel up to it refillable ones is going to be cheaper!
Comments
I used to have a Canon as I'm normally a big advocate of them, but their ink cartridges are ridiculously small so the running costs of the printer were far too high.
What you should do is not select updates as the printer companies sell printers cheaply because they want to sting you for ink. Which is what they do - the cartridges I have suggested are full of ink where as the printer's brand ones have sponge in them and the printer actually tells you they need replacing usually before they actually do. You will get the odd message, this is a non standard cartridge, do you wish to use it - and you should always say yes. There is no difference between the inks that anybody would notice. I have had my home printer for over 4 years and it hasn't given me any problems and costs virtually nothing to run. They will try to make it harder for you, but if driver isn't updated and you replace when ink runs out you wont have any issues. Ignore the low ink warnings too - it is a guess - printers don't check the ink and you will have spares anyway when needed.
So, I would look for a xp- 312 - decent qulaity, wi-fi capability, scanner, copy feature as you would expect - it is an older model but you can pick up a reconditioned one or second hand one cheap - if not look for one of the others I have mentioned above. on photographs the red can be a little over rich - solved by lightening it a bit using software - but that is being picky and you will have similar or greater issues with all budget printers. the wifi works but I have a lead I plug into my laptop - it is quicker.
Then you can buy these replaceable cartridges for it. That is 30 cartridges that will last you ages for £11.99. You can get even cheaper - I looked these up quickly.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/30-XL-INK-CARTRIDGES-FOR-EPSON-XP-412-XP212-XP-215-XP-312-XP-315-XP-415-Printers/322925131390?_trkparms=ao=1&asc=50925&meid=fd2f5327c6a54fb182cc23ce9ed8fd2a&pid=100705&rk=1&rkt=1&&itm=322925131390&_trksid=p2045573.c100705.m4780
If you want to refill them yourselves - you can buy this kit. Be careful not to get any ink on the reader chip and make sure the removable plugs are out when you refill - then put them back before you fit to the printer. These are programmed to reset when you take them out and put them back again.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-REFILLABLE-EMPTY-CARTRIDGES-INK-FOR-EPSON-EXPRESSION-HOME-XP-312-315-402-405/371999243579?hash=item569ce1fd3b:g:8mYAAOSwjk9ZV5UN
The only think I am not sure about is the I-pad element. I would check the epson site and check the downloadable drivers, but I would imagine there is a driver.
Hope this is helpful!
General rule of thumb is the smaller and cheaper the device the more expensive they are to run.
Whatever printer you go for, just work out the cost per page before making a choice.
https://www.compredia.co.uk/index.php
Simply add the Black, Cyan, Yellow and Magenta together divide the total by the yield (pages) of the colour toner.
I would go HP or Epson.
Say a printer is supposed to produce 200 pages (@ 5% coverage). Such a page will cost 6.50 p in ink. But what if your document has more words, pictures and content? A document with 10% content would actually cost you 13 p to print. A document with 20% content would actually cost you 26p. Scarily, a single page with only 40% content would actually cost you 52p to produce and so on.
It is important to understand this as most people think it is costing them a lot less to print a page than it actually is. of course the print companies want you to think this!
If I ran the country I would bring in legislation to stop it. In terms of professional printing, you have companies like Vista Print (who are competetive in their prices) but when they advertise a great deal on the TV say for business cards - the ones advertised are business slips of paper - so when you upgrade to something usable it costs a fair bit more. We want our minimum products to be of a good standard so our business cards - with free design don't go lower than 350gsm for the budget ones.
The sad thing is, these are massive companies that have plans to nick money off customers through slight of hand and people just accept it! And when I am recommending Epson, it isn't because they are any different, they still will tell you if you use non Epson ink it will damage your printer etc... It is just they made a mistake when they designed their printers to include print heads in the printer. When you think about the most environmentally friendly way to go, it surely is getting as much ink and use out of one cartridge or using refillable cartridges.
If you have problems setting up the wi fi printer can you just buy a lead and by pass it ?
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GOLD-USB-2-0-High-Speed-Cable-Printer-Lead-A-to-B-BLACK-2m/382196507315?epid=14012054622&hash=item58fcafe2b3:g:UCkAAOSwO9JaQp0g
Epson = w**kers.
What I am guessing is that the official cartridge you had had a faulty chip or the cartridge was faulty in some other way. Of course the cause of the problem they arrived at was the one that costed you the most - when it was their fault for manufacturing a faulty cartridge in the first place!
There is this amazing way of telling when your ink runs out - you look at the print and that colour is missing!! The chips don't measure how much ink is in the cartridge. What I would say is always have a spare cartridge - this is because ink on the head can dry and block so when it runs out you want to put a new cartridge in rather than leave it for any length of time!
If you want to have lots of spares - and save money - buy these:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/30-Ink-cartridges-for-epson-stylus-S22-SX125-SX130-SX435W-SX235W-BX305FW-Printer/142087492628?hash=item2115131414:g:oqEAAOSwvzRXxn-c
Previously Ink cartridges cost a fortune to buy , particularly when you've got to print kids homework off.
http://www.argos.co.uk/product/4268570