Printer issues?

Thanks

Hey everyone—I can see there are some real pros in here... so I'm looking for some advice on which printer to pick up. Here's what I'm after:

- print, copy, and scan
- monthly volume around 1,000 - 2,000 pages
- wireless connectivity
- an ADF for both printing and scanning
- scanning to PDF or JPG—whatever works

Any recommendations?

That's a tough one. You're basically asking for a machine that covers every single aspect of document processing, and finding one printer that ticks all those boxes is nearly impossible. At this point, I'm not even talking about what's an affordable price—I'm just looking at how to find all those features in one unit.

ADF and duplex printing are usually reserved for pro-grade gear, which typically comes with a wired LAN connection. Wi-Fi is mostly aimed at home users, where if you do get those two features, they're usually just there for show rather than actually being capable of handling any real office workload. The next issue is your print volume; once you move past that, you aren't really in "home user" territory anymore. If you aim for a cheap printer solution, you'll end up with two cartridges (black and tri-color) that are incredibly inefficient. With the volume you're talking about, you'll be broke before you know it...

And if you look at some of the Soha solutions, like an Epson with a CISS (continuous ink supply system) using large tanks for cheap high-volume printing, you won't find duplex or Wi-Fi because that specific combination doesn't exist.

Based on your print volume, you're getting close to the color laser category. Even though the initial toner cost is a bit higher, it offers much cheaper printing per page, and you'll find everything you need there—except for Wi-Fi, which is still considered a "home user" feature...

Complicated? Yeah, tell me about it... 😬

You’re going to have to decide what you're willing to sacrifice and how much cash you want to drop, both upfront and on a monthly basis for the actual printing:

A cheap Canon that looks like it has everything on paper, but you'll end up paying way more for the ink than the printer itself given your monthly volume (as a bonus, you get faxing and direct USB scanning, so you can scan straight to a thumb drive without a computer):

The second option would be something like an Epson for high-volume inkjet printing, but it lacks an ADF and duplexing:

And the third is a color laser with great features and cheap printing that has everything you need except Wi-Fi (it uses a wired network instead):

There are other models out there, but I just wanted to clarify the options and the hierarchy of pricing. Give it some thought...

I need a recommendation for an A3 color laser printer. It needs at least 600x600 dpi resolution, though higher is better. I’m currently stuck using an HP, and frankly, I’m fed up with it—the colors are completely washed out and way too dark. I want vibrant, realistic tones, not this dull mess.

They’re pretty rare and pricey here in the States. One possible solution is this OKI model—you can check out the offer here.

It features networking and duplex printing, uses 4 toner cartridges, and has a max duty cycle of 75,000 pages per month. Generally, it doesn't make sense unless you're printing at least 1,500 pages a month; if you're looking at a steady volume of around 5,000 pages monthly, this thing will last a long time under those conditions. But honestly, it's a beast. You won't have any trouble running it close to its max duty cycle; it can handle it.

The toners yield about 7,500 pages, you swap the drums at 30,000, the belt at 80,000, and the fuser at 100,000 pages. Of course, the actual page count per toner varies depending on how much ink you're putting on each page, and those other parts (especially the drums) tend to last even longer if you aren't feeding it plywood or sheet metal 😬. Basically, OKI builds stuff tough. They've been in the game a long time (alongside Kyocera) and they know how to make a solid printer. My personal favorite would be Xerox, but that's way too expensive...

You can get a rough idea of the pricing here all in one spot.

You can learn more about it here:

http://www.printerland.co.uk/OKI-C822dn-P122996.aspx
http://www.trustedreviews.com/OKI-C8...Printer-review

However, since I don't know how much you know about this topic or what you actually need the printer for, I have to point this out:

Almost certainly, no printer is going to give you great results or color accuracy right out of the box. Color reproduction is a system involving everything in the chain: the scanner, the monitor, and the printer. You have to sync them all up. This synchronization happens through a process called calibration based on the specific standards required for your work. There are software solutions with calibration templates (printing complex patterns, scanning them, measuring them on the monitor, then printing and re-scanning) as well as hardware tools (calibrators), which aren't cheap. You can only expect professional results after a professional calibration is performed. Not to mention, you'll need a decent scanner and a good monitor (usually an IPS panel) to ensure the colors stay true.

A user can handle calibration themselves using software that comes with some equipment (usually a scanner), but you can also hire a pro to do it if you want truly perfect results.

Check out more info on calibration here, and a solid US company specializing in this field is definitely HSM, whom you can contact for professional equipment calibration services. They also offer high-quality scanning solutions.

Hey, I know my way around the basics, though not perfectly. I’ve calibrated my monitor, and when I transfer photos to my phone, the colors match up fine. But when I pull things up through HP Print View, it's clear the output is going to be much darker. It turns purple into deep blue, and cyclamen looks like plain violet. For instance, I had a lime green on my screen, but the printer spat out a dark forest green. 🤦
I honestly don't get it. I don't need high volume every month; I just need the quality to be spot on. I make handmade goods where the printed imagery is the whole point.

darkowl72 said:That's a tough one.

Thanks, darkowl72...

The initial cost isn't really the issue—it doesn't even have to be cheap—but I need the actual printing costs to stay low down the road.

As for Wi-Fi—we're working with two HP Laptops, so we don't want to be tethered by wires just to get something printed.

And an ADF for scanning? Honestly, it's all about speed—when I've got a massive stack of papers to scan, I don't want to be stuck standing there feeding them page by page... I could get a ton of other stuff done in that time.

Right now, I'm using an HP 3510 inkjet, but with my monthly volume, I'm spending nearly $167 on ink alone, which is honestly insane money.

I'd much rather drop $5,000 or $6,000 on a solid printer if it actually gives me what I need.

So, this Epson you linked—it basically has everything except the ADF for scanning, right?
I don't even need duplex...

Yeah, I should've mentioned—and it actually caught me off guard too—that you can't run these Wi-Fi printers on both USB and Wi-Fi at the same time. So if you're dealing with laptops plus a desktop and a local network, you're looking at a bit of a headache.

If that’s your setup—like having a desktop or a stationary laptop in an office connected to a Wi-Fi router (which is pretty much the standard nowadays)—you're better off just getting a printer with an Ethernet port. As long as you have an open port on your router, just plug it in and set it up as a network printer. That way, anyone on the network can print, whether they're hardwired or on Wi-Fi.

In that case, look specifically for a model with a network port; it opens up way more options, including color lasers like these:

That one actually comes with a Wi-Fi option too, but I honestly don't know if both controllers work simultaneously. You'd have to ask.

Here’s what the original toner costs:

Which means your cost per 3,500 A4 pages is roughly $133 and for 2,500 color pages (CMY), it's about $200. Third-party toners are actually decent and even cheaper:

http://moj-toner.com/images/toneri/OKI-C301BKZ.jpg
http://moj-toner.com/toneri/prodaja/...enta-zamjenski

The cost per page is better than those cheap inkjet "spitters," and you won't have to panic about clogged nozzles or dried-up ink. Plus, you get an ADF.😬

Forget about that unknown brand. In my experience, it performed beautifully right out of the box. My main reason for picking it up was its ability to handle oversized paper, specifically those 120 cm sheets. I initially started using third-party toner, and while it held up for a little while, it eventually began misaligning colors in a rather bizarre way. When I reached out, the support response was essentially a condescending question about what I expected from a low-budget machine; frankly, given how well it performed initially, that answer left a bitter taste in my mouth. Regardless, I’m not printing high-end photography—just things like price lists and invitations—so the color issues aren't a dealbreaker for me. On the plus side, the build quality is solid; I've already burned through three sets of toner and it's still chugging along reasonably well.

Carol Price4 said:Hey everyone! I can see there are some real pros in here... so I'm looking for some advice on which printer to grab... here's what I'm looking for:

- print, copy, scan,
- volume of about 1,000 - 2,000 pages per month
- wireless
- ADF for printing and scanning
- scan options - PDF, JPG, whatever

Any recommendations?

darkowl72 gave you some killer advice, honestly—you might have to give up a few features if you want to cover "everything."

I don't know exactly what you're printing or how much color matters to you, but for those specs, I'd personally go with two separate machines:

For color stuff—go with an Epson EcoTank CISS series. The 550 model has wired networking too, and honestly, just avoid WiFi if you can. Connecting to the APs our local ISPs provide is a total nightmare—you'll spend more time fighting with it when it randomly drops than actually using it. An ad hoc network isn't really a real solution, either. Plus, it has an ADF. The MPC is around $733, and a set of four 70ml original ink bottles is $23/each, which lasts for about 10,000 pages.

For black and white—grab an HP with an ADF and networking. They have a wireless version, but the same warning applies regarding the WiFi situation. The MPC is roughly 1500-$533. The toner is 83A, and you can get a compatible one for $50 that does about 1,500 pages.

Hey everyone!

My trusty Canon Pixma IP4000 finally gave up the ghost after what feels like ten solid years of service without ever needing a single repair. Given its age, I highly doubt it’s worth throwing money at a technician right now, so...

I’m officially on the hunt for a successor. It’s just for home use—mostly printing documents and some stuff for faxing—nothing too heavy-duty, but I need to be able to print whatever I need in color whenever the mood strikes. You know how it is. 😁

The main dealbreaker is whether there are affordable third-party ink options available. My second requirement is quality—both in terms of build and print output. I have zero interest in buying some flimsy, rattling, loud piece of junk.
It would also be great if it had Wi-Fi so we don't have to lug it from room to room; being able to trigger a print job from a phone (specifically an iPhone) or a laptop would be ideal.
Budget-wise, I can go up to $333, though I might stretch it if the machine is actually worth the premium. In other words, I want something that will serve me well for the next several years, ideally without constant trips to the repair shop.
So, there you have it. 🙂

Edit: ended up picking up a Canon Pixma IP7250. $200. It checks all my boxes. Hopefully, it proves to be a worthy successor. 😁

Just grab a Pixma LP7250... 😬 🙂

Yeah, honestly... if I hadn't actually written that post, I probably wouldn't have even bothered browsing online to figure out what I needed to buy in the first place 😁

Man, I seriously need to hunt down a new printer. This old piece of junk refuses to work every single time I actually need it—probably because I barely touch it anymore.
If I’m reading the situation right, a laser printer would be way better for me since I’m such an infrequent user; with this ancient thing I've got now, the ink just dries up and clogs everything whenever I try to print.

- Needs to be a color laser
- A scanner would be great too, you know, so I can actually make copies when needed.
- I don't really care about WiFi—as long as I can just plug it directly into my router via LAN, I'm good, though having WiFi wouldn't hurt.

I'll be using it super sporadically—maybe like four or five pages a month tops—but when I do need to print, it actually has to work.

And honestly, I'm rarely ever going to use the color feature.

- Ideally something budget-friendly...

Please, hit me with some solid recommendations because, let's be real, I have absolutely no clue what I'm doing here...

I’ve got a question almost identical to what Raymond Adams48 is asking. Right now, I’m stuck with an Epson Stylus SX600FW multifunction printer. The problem is, I barely ever use it, and apparently, that causes the nozzles to clog up—or so the technicians tell me. I’ve already sent this thing to the repair shop a few times, but even after the service, the print quality is just a disaster. About 30% of the page shows up, and the rest is just blank space.

At this point, paying for repairs is a losing game; it’s like throwing good money after bad. I’d rather just buy a new printer—just the printer itself. I need something small for home use, maybe printing 5 to 20 pages a month, that won't act up or clog constantly (though I have no clue what determines that, or what kind of model I actually need). Ideally, it should be affordable and the ink shouldn't cost a fortune either.

Look, I am a complete novice here, so I don't even know what to search for. Can anyone please help me out with some advice?

Raymond Adams48 and Kate Myers51, look, it’s simple. That’s just the fundamental flaw with inkjet technology. For a decent print, you need tiny droplets created by micron-sized nozzles. Once that ink hits the paper, it needs to dry fast—which means it dries on the nozzle, too. End of story. You can't clean out a hole that small without messing up its shape or size...

If you go with an inkjet, you have to print a color page every few days just to keep things moving. It's a total waste of ink, and let's be honest, ink is ridiculously expensive.

The move is a black and white laser with toner. Since it uses powder, nothing dries up. It melts onto the paper with heat and can sit in the tray for months without any issues. If you actually need something in color, just throw it on a USB drive, head to a local print shop, and pay what it costs. It'll definitely be cheaper than tossing a printer or constantly buying overpriced cartridges...

The catch is that color laser MFPs are pricey, so they don't make sense if you rarely print. You solve this by getting a cheap B&W laser printer and a basic scanner. Honestly, you can probably skip the scanner entirely; everyone has a smartphone these days that takes perfectly fine photos of documents, and getting those files onto your PC is easy enough...

That's why even the most budget-friendly B&W laser printer will do the job. You can find them at Kroger, Walmart, 7-Eleven, or Metro... They often run crazy good deals there, and a printer is a printer—it carries a warranty regardless of where you picked it up...

This Canon is a solid example of a B&W laser MFP that even includes fax. Or you could grab this Canon which skips the fax but adds Wi-Fi. Color MFPs are more of an investment, like this unknown.

You can find B&W MFPs under $100 here:

And standard B&W lasers are:

Samsung printers are among the affordable options:

Since Samsung developed their own printing language called SPL, they don't have to pay royalties for Adobe PostScript or HP PCL. You might also see a GDI label, which stands for Graphics Device Interface—something Microsoft developed that's built into all Windows systems. Basically, GDI printers are cheaper because the computer handles the heavy lifting of processing the print job, so the printer doesn't need its own high-end processor or complex page description language. Anyway, I'm just answering the question "What's the difference between SPL and GDI?" before someone inevitably asks...

I should also mention Epson so they don't feel left out 😬

There are also Kyocera, Xerox, Brother, Lexmark... and others. All of them are great for light workloads.

http://www.nabava.net/pisaci__110?&se=1698

Which one should you grab? If you're splurging on a high-end machine, just hunt around on sites like Amazon to find the absolute best deal. But if you're looking for something budget-friendly, honestly, just pick it up at a local shop like Best Buy or Walmart. You don't want to waste money on shipping for something as fragile as a printer. Also, do yourself a favor: check what the toner costs at your local stores or repair shops first. You don't want to get ripped off by some overpriced $333 cartridges later. Definitely ask if there are any third-party toners available that are cheaper than the originals but still decent quality. If there’s a specialized toner shop nearby, great. If not, you might have to choose your printer based on how easy it is to actually find toner for it...

Most places carry third-party toners, though some big retailers won't sell them because of those annoying exclusive contracts they have with the manufacturers. That's why specialty shops exist:

https://www.google.com/search?client...UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

And before I forget, if anyone is looking for a scanner, you can find basic ones starting around $40-$$167. For just scanning an occasional document or receipt, any cheap one will do fine. If you need to do more heavy-duty scanning, we'd need to look at your specific requirements to pick the right model.

http://www.nabava.net/skeneri__450?&se=12394

Hey everyone,

I'm looking for some advice on picking up a new printer. I’m pulling about 200 pages a month, though some months might hit a bit higher than that. While I was digging around online, I stumbled across these few options:

1. Epson M200dn (laser, cartridge capacity is 2,500 pages, refills run me about $67), and the unit itself is $167
2. Epson M105 ITS (B&W inkjet, toner yields 6,500 pages, but I can't find where to buy the ink bottles—not even on Amazon)$200
3. Samsung ML-2851ND (laser, cartridge capacity is 5,000 pages, refills cost roughly $67), and I can grab a used one for $167

So, what do you think? Should I pull the trigger on one of these, or is there something else out there I should be looking at before $200? My main priority is keeping the cost per page low; I don't strictly need extra bells and whistles like a scanner or copier, though they wouldn't hurt if the price stays right.

Big thanks to darkowl72 for breaking everything down and helping me out here

So, since I barely ever use my gear, I finally bit the bullet and picked up a black and white laser printer with a built-in scanner—figured it’d save me the massive headache of dealing with dried-up ink cartridges every single time I actually need to print something.

@ swiftowl14:

Buying used printers is a gamble; you never know how many thousands of pages they’ve already choked through. Modern printers—even copiers—are basically junk because they're packed with cheap plastic components specifically engineered to fail. I’ve seen dozens of machines rendered useless just because some tiny plastic gear stripped, the paper rollers got worn down, or a rubber belt stretched out. Honestly, I’ve personally tossed three of my own printers in the trash because they were beyond saving...

And when you put laser versus inkjet head-to-head, it gets ugly. Laser tech has become dirt cheap, while inkjets have tried to stay relevant by using those massive refillable ink tanks. If you're only printing small batches—say 200, 300, or even up to 1,000 pages a month—don't obsess over the cost per page of toner or ink. That math only matters when you're printing massive volumes where a fraction of a cent makes a difference. For your volume, focus on other stuff: reliability, connectivity, duplexing, etc...

If you go a week or two without printing anything, an inkjet is begging to have its nozzles clog, whereas lasers don't deal with that headache. Also, if you're using a wireless router like most people do today, a laser is usually the better bet since it has a proper network interface. You can set it up as a network printer and print from pretty much anything, wired or wireless. These inkjets usually just have USB and Wi-Fi, meaning you're mostly stuck printing from one computer or relying on the Wi-Fi connection. Often, you can't even use both interfaces at once.

Bottom line: for your workload, I suggest option number one.

As for the ink, you're looking in the wrong places. It's available here in the States if you actually look, and obviously, Amazon and eBay are loaded with it:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from...son+m105&rt=nc
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_no...ack+epson+m105
http://www.staples.com/ink-for-epson...-black-original

@ darkowl72

Thanks for the reply.
I totally forgot to mention that for this used one, there’s a test page included showing it's already clocked in at 45,000 pages.
Honestly, I'm leaning toward a laser printer myself just to dodge those constant inkjet nozzle clogs, so I'll probably just grab that Epson you recommended.