Home printer suggestions

[Junglepeanut]

I have had the absolute worst luck finding a home printer that works. My wife has been completely adamant on having an HP but we have had three in the last year or so and all were nothing but problems so I get to pick now. I don't need anything fancy, mainly for kids homework but needs to print color on occasion, be reliable and not break the bank buying ink....... Any suggestions? I don't want to spend a ton but i really want something that actually prints when I hit the silly print button...

[BigRed]

I'm waiting to see replies to this too. We've tried HP, Canon and Lexmark. I feel like if somebody made a printer that just worked each time you select print then they would be the richest person going!

Anybody have experience with Shaq's Epson Ecotank?

[Grendel]

Currently we have been using Epson (last 4 years) and it works okay, goes through cartridges pretty quickly but we do not print much anymore. Ours is a Epson W-3520.

[William the Third]

Spend the extra money upfront and get a color laser/LED printer. I've been very happy with my OKI MC561 color LED printer for the past decade.

[Hellion360]

If you can get away without color I have had excellent luck with my Brother HL-2240
It has been serving me for about 8 years and prints thousands of sheets a year. It is uncomplicated and inexpensive to feed.

If I need things printed in color (which I do from time to time) I have them printed elsewhere.

[rawbutter]

I'll second a Brother printer. Get something that uses toner, not ink. We bought a black and white laser printer about eight years ago, and while it was definitely more up front (almost double, if I recall), the cheap cost of toner has more than made up for it. Plus toner doesn't expire like ink does, so you never have to throw it away.

Black and white is much cheaper than color too. We thought we would miss color, but we really never need it anymore. And if I do want something printed in color, I can go to Staples or CVS or Walmart or so many other places. I'd much rather have the hassle once or twice a year compared to having a hassle every time I print.

[ford]

Echoing everyone here, go with a laser printer.

I recently upgraded from a Samsung laser printer that was still working… probably 15 years old.

I changed the toner twice in that time and it got my wife through law school.

I upgraded to a Brother with features like Wi-Fi printing duplex printing and a scanner.

really happy with my choice. Good luck.

[RAZRBAKK]

Echoing what's here, use case is important.

Unless you absolutely need to be printing in colour on a regular basis, a cheap monochrome laser printer will feel like a God send. Brother makes a few very affordable monochrome printers which are more expensive initially than an ink-jet, but the cost per print is substantially lower.

And the odd time you need to print something in colour just go to Staples and get a nice print.

[Junglepeanut]

Thank you all so far for the info. I was leaning towards a Brother from research. I will definitely go with a Laserjet as well. Unfortunately wife is adamant on color so I will start researching options

[Tracker]

laser uses toner, which a dry electrostatically charged polymer/powder it doesn't dry out and it doesn't go bad... always go laser

we use a color brother laser.. MFC-L3770CDW (Color, Duplex, Wireless) and we've had it for a few years, and we moved the color laser that it replaced to her office.

the two main printers i have the most experience in both a personal and professional environments, have been Brothers and HP
HP toner costs more, for HP reasons, and for the fact each unit also has its own developer drum attached..
Brothers allow you to only replace the toner units which makes the cost of replacement cheaper, but, you will have to change the developer unit every 100k pages or so, and thats where the money you saved goes

HP toner "expires" on some models, avoid those

[Painthappy]

I will sing the praises of laser printers also. Well worth the extra money

[Siress]

I bought a cheap laser B&W (Brother HL-L2350DW, $120 in 2020) and have only one complaint - when it wakes from sleep it causes a power surge that has tripped the breaker on occasion. It's plugged into the same outlets as my other office equipment (go figure...) and so I had to move it to a lesser-used circuit. Even now, it causes the lights to dim on the circuit it's on... they really cut corners with the power control.

That said, it has been printing the occasional page flawlessly for 3 years straight with no maintenance. It did sit dormant for ~a year once (which is why I cannot use inkjets) before having an incomplete print. The next page was fine though.

It'd be great if it was in color so I could print the occasional photo, but for the difference in price I can order as many life-size photos online.

[RAZRBAKK]

Commercial practice is to have a laser printer on it's own circuit and it's recommended for at home as well.

[flyweightnate]

I've got a Brother 2540 - hasn't tripped breakers, but I can check that a print went through by waiting for the lights to flicker.

I've used it reliably since 2017, and only replaced the toner once, for $50. So much cheaper than my old HP ink jet.

[Tarsun2]

if its like us where we dont need it for most of the year, and then all of a sudden need to use the crap outta it; then yes, buy a color laser.
there is an inkjet for sale at costco that uses ink tanks that you can simply refill. no more cartridges.
so that might be something to look into.

injets always use little bits on ink to keep the jets from drying out. they are better with regular use and dont sit in storage or idle well.
no matter what inkjet you get, its either going to use allot of ink or the ink carts will be bigger and expensive or it will dry out.
(again the costco printer that uses ink wells might be better but ive never used it).
"Epson EcoTank"

laser toner cartridges will last forever and they even come in color. if youre just using it for school work and home work, its probably fine. if youre using it for your photography classes, you might want to pass. lol

at work, the full size printers have to be on their own circuit as well. (or at least should be). they can mess with the medical equipment. but these are full size monsters. dont know if the home models draw the same currents.

[flyweightnate]

I'll mention one issue I've had with a laser - I bought adhesive labels, and would try to print on one, then keep the half- used sheet for later. The printer did not like that. The heat curls the page ever so slightly, combined with the change in texture and it wouldn't feed.

Yeah, it's an edge case. But, if you print lots of labels, a dedicated thermal printer or an ink jet will be more reliable.

I'm probably going to buy a little thermal printer before I even think of going back to ink jet.

[jokers]