Posts by rustysurfer79

restlessseal58 said:Also, that HP DeskJet mentioned earlier has pretty cheap third-party ink. I actually have an older HP DeskJet, but all the ink colors fit mine perfectly$16(basically black plus those three others)

So, what's the damage for the HP DeskJet? Like, how much does it cost and how many ml are you actually getting for that price? That's really what I'm trying to figure out.

Sam Bailey52 said:Help me out here,

has anyone actually used either of these? Which one should I grab?

The HP DeskJet 1050 a multifunction printer
or
the Epson SX130 multifunction printer😕

thanks

A

Same question, same answer.

These printers have only been on the shelves for maybe 30 to 60 days. Honestly, nobody who's been around long enough can give you any real-world feedback yet.

All we can do is guess at this point.

You're gonna need to be more specific about what you're looking for.

northernraven2 said:So I took it back, and they told me the ink had dried up, then they gave me a different printer to test out right there on the spot.

An Epson where the ink just... dried up?!

I’m starting to think that "expert" at the service center was just winging it.

northernraven2 said:I'll just take it back to Best Buy where I picked it up and file a formal complaint.

Let me know how it goes. I'm sure there's a good story in there, and it'll definitely help out anyone else dealing with this.

Robert Rodriguez2 said:Are there any compatible ink refills (up to $33) for this beast? 😁
http://www.staples.com/printer-ink-refills
or maybe something like this
http://www.bestbuy.com/multifunction-printer

Yeah, they exist, but honestly? Total waste of money.

Why though?

Because those tiny 3.5 ml cartridges will run you about $20—$10. That means you're paying nearly $0.33 per single milliliter. Or, to put it another way, buying four 100 ml bottles would cost you roughly $133. If you decide to go the DIY route and refill the cartridges yourself, those four 100 ml bottles will set you back $40 plus tax and $50 plus the extra fee for permanent refill cartridges.

Basically, you're looking at an upfront investment of $100 + $90 + tax, totaling about $217.

Bottom line: Don't bother.
You're better off just grabbing a $200 Canon Pixma + a CISS setup.

It's way faster, too.
Plus, you can swap out the print heads whenever they give up on you.
And man, it can swallow through 300gsm cardstock like a pro.
Best part? You won't be constantly swapping or refilling some tiny cartridge every time you burn through 3.5 ml.

Just a heads up, you can usually find permanent cartridges for the Epson SX130 and a CISS for the Pixma in the same spot. Do the math yourself and see which makes more sense, because they'll end up costing you about the same anyway.

northernraven2 said:Picked up an Epson Stylus SX 130 yesterday for $100. Got everything hooked up today, but for some reason, it won't recognize the black ink. It sees all the other colors (the four separate ones) just fine, though. If anyone knows how to fix this, please let me know. Otherwise, I'm just gonna swap it out for a different one. Thanks in advance.

Just return it. Or, grab a fresh set of genuine inks and give it another shot. You could also swing by a local print shop and ask if they'll let you run a test with their supplies in your machine.

If that doesn't work, you're out of luck. But hey, you know where to find us if you want to try a free test using Colibri refillable inks for the SX 130.

gentlescout41 said:Is one actually better than those cheap ones that just last a little while before dying on you...
Canon LBP6000 or Samsung ML-1675?

Honestly, I haven't a clue. We won't really know until about 12 months from now, once the warranties on today's new printers expire and they stop being sold, leaving us to see which ones actually end up in the repair shop for diagnostics.

You'd probably have better luck asking a local retailer who deals with the reliability of new gear all day long.

Got it?

copperharbor35 said:Can the SX 130 work like that old BX 300F using just cheap third-party ink?$6.75,
I'm not sure if you have to reset the ink levels now.

rustysurfer79, when you mentioned those permanent ink + color setups, does that mean you can actually reset them
and just keep refilling them constantly? Also, that $40 price—how many colors does that cover?

The SX 130 isn't going to act like a BX 300 for a bunch of reasons.
The chips aren't compatible. We're talking 3.5 vs 5.5 for color, and 5.5 vs 7.5 for black.
Then there's the Colibri permanent cartridges for the BX that basically reset themselves. But for the SX Colibri permanent cartridges, you’ve got to manually reset them with a paperclip, and honestly, you'll end up doing that almost every single time. That's why it's smarter to grab an SX 525, which takes the standard Colibri and XL cartridges. The capacity on the Colibri XL is pretty much the same as the Colibri cartridges used for the BX.

Now, if you go out and buy an SX 525 thinking you're getting a steal, you're gonna realize pretty fast that you got played. Importers make way more money off the standard replacement cartridges than they do on the XL ones. It's simple math because the XL cartridges won't even fit in the SX 130. If you look around, the market is flooded with the SX 130 anyway. Finding XL versions will be super rare or twice the price. So, for anyone here trying to cut corners, you'll probably just end up broke in the end.

Makes sense?
Just a heads up: if you're asking which printer to get while clearly trying to find a loophole to cheat the system, just know people in this industry aren't as clueless as you might think.

Thomas Davis4 said:Which two printers? What are you even talking about? All I said was that trashing Samsung as an incredibly bad printer manufacturer just isn't right. I’ve owned two models—actually, I still have them—and they work fine. I never ripped out a tray, never had print head issues, toner problems, or anything else.

No manufacturer is going to swap out a "bad" product for a "better" one for the same price. That’s kid stuff.

I guess we just have different standards.

Thomas Davis4 said:All my tech gear is just HP & Samsung.. Honestly, I've never had any real issues with either.. I've owned two Samsung printers over the years.. One lasted 3 years, the other 5.. Both still run like they did on day one, except for the older one where they don't even make the ink anymore.. Right now I'm using an Epson SX, but I really want to jump to a laser.. Aside from a ton of guesswork and endless comparisons, I haven't gotten a single solid recommendation.. Just a bunch of vague warnings about "what might break" or "what might jam" with certain models.. Man, it'd be weird if a printer actually worked perfectly.. But whatever..

Anyway, after scouring the web and asking around on other forums to find what fits my needs, I landed on:
1) Epson M1400 Aculaser
2) Canon i-Sensys LBP 6000

Let me ask you something. What were the direct predecessors to those two printers? How long were they actually on the market? And why exactly were they pulled?

You basically have two answers to choose from:

1. Because they turned out to be junk, so the manufacturer replaced them with better, more reliable, and more powerful machines for the same price.

2. Or, the manufacturer couldn't cover production costs and maintain profit margins anymore, or they got squeezed by competition and had to offer something decent at a fair price and quality.

So, which of those two options is the actual truth?

Benjamin King2 said:It’s probably some older 16xx model; the 1675 is actually pretty recent. If you just need it for home use, it's worth it. How much are we talking about printing? Like, monthly volume?

We actually just laid two ML 1510s and 1520s to rest a few days ago because of paper jams. One still had its starter toner left, while the other had already burned through three. These printers were only three years old. That's what I call "quality" from Samsung. Honestly, I bet the newer ones are way worse.

Mark Hill90 said:Honestly, no matter which new printer you pick up, just make sure it comes with a solid warranty. If you buy one of those cheap models and it dies right after a year—assuming it even lasts that long—you might as well just toss it in the trash.

Also, you forgot to mention that the second you swap in a generic toner, your warranty is basically toast. Those companies bake the cost of the warranty right into the price of their official cartridges.

Got it?

Thomas Davis4 said:http://www.verizon.com/details...00-promotion.aspx

http://www.brochures.canon-usa.com/...&languageid=26

Starter toner == 700 pages == 25g of powder
Standard toner == 1600 pages == 55g of powder == $133

The breakdown

Toner for an HP LaserJet Pro == 150g == $67 == roughly 3*55g == about 3* 1600 prints

HP LJ Pro + 3 * 150g = $333 + tax
Canon 6000 + 2*standard toner == 500 + $267 == 135g of powder

GDI vs PCL 5 & PCL 6 & PostScript

5,000 vs 10,000 monthly duty cycle

Benjamin King2 said:http://www.bestbuy.com/printer-details

Look, if you try to pop the front cover on that printer with just one hand, you won't be able to do it. You’ll honestly feel like you’re about to snap the whole thing. You really need two hands for that. Give it 12 months, once the plasticizers in the casing start to dry out or if the room gets a little chilly, and that cover is just going to stay in your hand. I’m genuinely curious which of these printers will even have a working paper tray left after 24 months. And if the tray is that flimsy, you can bet everything else inside was designed with that same cheap logic.

Seriously, do this little stress test at a Best Buy before you pull out your wallet. That is, if you actually plan on using the thing after the warranty expires.

gentlescout41 said:Thanks so much. 🙂

No worries.

Just throw any other alternative out there on the table, and we'll give you a real, solid breakdown of how it stacks up against these options,
sound good?

gentlescout41 said:So, what’s actually worth getting for that kind of cash?

You gotta start from the back end. Look at the cost per print first. This option is hands down the cheapest way to go. Of course, since I can't exactly download the manual directly into your brain, there’s no guarantee you'll get it right on the first try.

Check out this link for more info on the Jet 3420:

Investment Corp cca $100 Looking for a printer? Let me know what you need. $33 Looking for an ink refill kit.

After that...

Canon Pixma with a built-in continuous ink system.
Investment Corp $200

After that...
LaserJet Pro + Colibri bundle
Investment Corp $167

Then some new guy shows up.
I'm looking at an HP Expression Home paired with that Colibri package.
Investment Corp $133 +
$50 + $40 plus sales tax

After that.
Canon Pixma + Ink Refill Bundle

Investment Corp
$250 + $47

After that.

Should I go with the Canon Pixma or the HP DeskJet? Also looking for an ink refill kit.

Investment Corp $100 + $33

Then you get this Brother + Ink Refill pack, which supposedly prints a ton of pages. But honestly? The print quality is pretty garbage. Plus, there's no idea how long the stuff actually lasts before it goes bad.

Investment Corp
$233 + $23

It’s been a minute.

Look, every one of these options has its own set of pros and cons. I've laid them out on a scale from 1 to 10 just to make it easier to digest.

gentlescout41 said:I'm looking for a new printer, but honestly, I don't know the first thing about them... I don't need anything fancy, laser or inkjet, doesn't matter, just something where the ink lasts longer than a week🙄
Budget is around $167. (not expecting miracles at that price point😁)

You aren't going to find anything brand new for that kind of money

Thomas Davis4 said:So what’s the move then? What should I actually be looking for given all that? Basically, I just need something for school—maybe printing up to 1,500 or 2,000 pages a month—and I need the ink refills to not break the bank. I'm not looking for some heavy-duty laser printer for a big corporation or anything; I just need a workhorse for college. You know, presentations, study guides, e-books, and all that junk.

If you go brand new, grab an HP with a print head that has plenty of nozzles, plus those continuous ink tanks and some reliable ink. Once you bundle it all together, you're looking at about $333. You can get the refurbished version for around $267, but the tradeoff is you have to go to the "supply closet" half as often. You won't be refilling tanks nearly as frequently as you would with the newer models.

On the other hand, if you're chasing pure price-to-performance, this option is basically unbeatable. In terms of cost, speed, ease of maintenance, and reliability—it's top tier. Just today, a guy came in needing some diplomas printed on thick 110lb cardstock. This little black beast chewed through it without breaking a sweat. If you don't believe me, check out the request below regarding heavy paper... and the ink didn't even bleed on the cardstock. Honestly, you just can't beat this printer.

Thomas Davis4 said:Hey guys,

My brother's looking to grab a printer for college. He’s got this inkjet sitting around, pretty recent, maybe five years old, but the ink costs are killing him. Between lecture notes, e-books, and presentations, he's printing a ton.
So now I need some advice. He wants a laser printer.

I've honestly never looked into these things before. Here's the deal: it can't be crazy expensive. Maybe around $400-$167... needs black and white, and he'll probably run through about 1500-2000 pages a month.
I saw some running about $300 a month which is just insane, so yeah...

I spotted some Xerox and Samsung models online. Print quality isn't a big deal for him. As long as you can actually read what's on the page, we're good. The main thing is keeping the upfront cost low and making sure refilling isn't a total nightmare.

Regarding refills—is it toner? Roughly how much does a black cartridge run, and how many pages does it actually last?
Thanks for the help. Cheers.

Look, print quality isn't the issue here. The real headache is the paper feed. Honestly, none of those Samsung or Xerox machines make it past year three because of that exact flaw. That's why buying a cheap Samsung isn't worth it; you end up dealing with those annoying chips that you have to swap out twice a year. You'll realize pretty quickly that you're stuck buying only name-brand cartridges.

That starter toner? You can't even refill it, so that $500 $200 turns into an $1100 bill before you know it. $400 For that kind of money, you could get a way better laser printer that comes with 14,000 prints already included. Plus, the paper feeding issues are handled by design on better models, not just something you call a repairman for.

Just use your head.

Thomas Davis4 said:Hey guys,

My brother needs a printer for college. He’s got this relatively new inkjet, maybe five years old, but the running costs are killing him. Between study guides, e-books, and presentations, he's printing a ton.
So now I need some advice. He's looking for a laser printer.

I've honestly never looked into these before. Basically, here's the deal. It shouldn't be crazy expensive... maybe around 400-$167... Needs to do B&W, and he'll probably run through about 1500-2000 pages a month.
I saw some prices hitting $300 a month which is just insane, so yeah..

I found some Xerox and Samsung models. Print quality isn't actually a huge deal. As long as it's legible, we're good. The main thing is keeping the upfront cost low and making sure refills aren't a total nightmare.

Regarding refills, is it toner? How much does black usually run, and how many pages does a cartridge actually last?
Thanks for any info. Cheers.

Look, print quality isn't the issue. The real headache is the paper feed. Most Samsung or Xerox machines won't even make it to their third year because of that one flaw. That's why buying those cheap Samsung models doesn't make sense—you end up dealing with chips that you have to replace twice a year. Pretty soon after buying it, you'll realize you're stuck only using original cartridges.

You can't refill the starter toner, so that initial $500 $200 quickly turns into $1100 - $400. For that kind of money, you could grab a way better laser printer that already includes 14,000 prints in the price. Plus, the paper feed issue is handled as a user fix rather than needing a service call.

Just use your head.