All-in-one printer/scanner recommendations?

I’m on the hunt for a printer that actually includes a scanner, and I need to keep the price somewhat reasonable. I'm not looking for anything professional grade here. Just something that lets me print out a drawing or a photo on decent photo paper every once in a while. And the scanner? It needs to actually work—you know, produce something that looks like an actual image and not just digital noise.

Mainly, I'll be printing pictures. (I've already got a laser printer for my black and white stuff.)
Think family vacation snaps or maybe some "art" I whip up in Photoshop or Illustrator.

But here’s the real kicker, the absolute dealbreaker: it has to have cheap third-party ink or refill kits available. Honestly, I don't mind getting my hands a little dirty. It would be amazing if there's a model where I can just buy ink bottles and refill it myself. I refuse to deal with that feeling of watching my money vanish into thin air every single time I hit "print."

If you could suggest a model and maybe drop a (link) for where to grab the ink, that would be huge. I need to run the numbers and see if this actually makes sense...

Thanks 🙏

Thomas Gonzalez32 said:I’m on the hunt for a printer that actually includes a scanner, and I need to keep the price somewhat reasonable. I'm not looking for anything professional grade here. Just something that lets me print out a drawing or a photo on decent photo paper every once in a while. And the scanner? It needs to actually work—you know, produce something that looks like an actual image and not just digital noise.

Mainly, I'll be printing pictures. (I've already got a laser printer for my black and white stuff.)
Think family vacation snaps or maybe some "art" I whip up in Photoshop or Illustrator.

But here’s the real kicker, the absolute dealbreaker: it has to have cheap third-party ink or refill kits available. Honestly, I don't mind getting my hands a little dirty. It would be amazing if there's a model where I can just buy ink bottles and refill it myself. I refuse to deal with that feeling of watching my money vanish into thin air every single time I hit "print."

If you could suggest a model and maybe drop a (link) for where to grab the ink, that would be huge. I need to run the numbers and see if this actually makes sense...

Thanks 🙏

For the HP DeskJet, you can find Hummingbird replacements for about $30 - $40 per refill.

Is this what you mean:

?

I see they have options for the HP Envy series too.

From what I can gather, the HP Envy series and the HP DeskJet series are pretty much in the same league when it comes to price and performance. Which one would you suggest if my main concern is how easy it is to refill the ink?

And could you walk me through that part about tossing a printer even when there’s still ink left in it? What does that actually mean in practice? Like, after how many refills do you start seeing a massive drop in print quality? Wouldn't it be way easier to just buy the official ink cartridges and then refill those instead?

Thanks

Thomas Gonzalez32 said:Is this what you mean:

?

I see they have options for the HP Envy series too.

From what I can gather, the HP Envy series and the HP DeskJet series are pretty much in the same league when it comes to price and performance. Which one would you suggest if my main concern is how easy it is to refill the ink?

And could you walk me through that part about tossing a printer even when there’s still ink left in it? What does that actually mean in practice? Like, after how many refills do you start seeing a massive drop in print quality? Wouldn't it be way easier to just buy the official ink cartridges and then refill those instead?

Thanks

We're actually testing an HP Envy series with an Ink Tank System right now—just printing receipts. We also have an HP OfficeJet series, which is basically the same as the HP DeskJet series regarding ink, using ARC cartridges.

So, here's the deal: the HP Envy series isn't nearly as easy to refill as the Epson HP DeskJet series with those ARC cartridges.

The Ink Tank System versions work incredibly well, though. It’s a tough call. My gut feeling is
that while the Canon offers faster prints for the same quality, the Epson is way easier to refill. The ink cost is identical. With the Epson, you grab the ARC cartridges plus the refill ink for 80 refills, which is roughly $83
.
With the Canon, you'll find yourself swapping out original cartridges every once in a while. You're looking at an investment of about $83 every second or third refill.

To me, it looks like the Epson wins out. If you eventually get tired of the print quality and want a new Epson, you can just move your ARC cartridges and refill ink over to the new machine. With the Canon, you're stuck buying new cartridges every time, so it feels like a bit of a waste.

But honestly, it really just comes down to how much effort you want to put in.

Do you guys ship Colibri ink to the US via mail?

Carol Castillo10 said:Do you guys ship Colibri ink to the US via mail?

Yeah, I'd just do a money order through HP Express.