Looking for a budget printer/scanner combo

[T2urtle]

I'm going to be doing a lot of color and black and white printing weekly. And well i'll be needing an all-in-one combo printer scanner with really cheap ink. I have my Canon IP3000 and i love it mainly because ink is like $6 for black and $10 for color. Too bad i gave that to my brother who does more printing then myself.

I was looking around for a canon all in one. With the cheaper ink, and i found that MP130 was right up my alley. its just i don't seem to be able to locate one. Compusa.com has them but none are avaible online.

Can anyone suggest me another printer/scanner combo with cheap ink?



I was thinking of going the stand alone scanner $50 and buying those budget printers for $40 and just using them untill the ink is out and buying a new one. Not too sure on that method because i dont have a source of cheap printers.


I don't need photo quailty printing, Just as long as it readable thats about all i need. I dont need fast printing or anything like that.

 

[Zepper]

Canon 7x0 series from last year. Uses same tanks as iP3k or 4k from last year. By far the lowest ink costs out there. The iP3k/4k/5k are pretty much out of the retail channel (may find one on clearance at a backwater Staples - my closest one had a few 4ks until the last week or so. The 1x0 series uses the BCi24 series of tanks which don't hold much ink and can be had for $2. and less from cloners. The 7x0 series uses the 3e and 6 series of tanks which hold a lot more ink. It's getting hard to find them now too.

May be used or eBay will be your best bet now. Hope they clone those new tanks soon!

.bh.

 

[T2urtle]

i really enjoyed my ip3k. cant find another one of them out there.

I found a couple mp130's on ebay.

the mp170 is on a diffrent ink tanks. Pg-40 and they are a more pricy.


Are there another brands of printers with cheaper ink tanks out there?

 

[brshoemak]

i'm not sure about cheaper ink but if you want an inexpensive decent all-in-one you can get an Epson CX3810 at Staples for $30 after rebates. All Epsons come with full ink cartridges (unlike those cheap HP bastards ) so that helps from the start.

Link: http://www.fatwallet.com/t/18/580280/

If I remember right Epson ink is fairly inexpensive, although not as inexpensive as Canon ink. You can get generics off Ebay or various sites if absolute quality is not necessa ry. From what I understand it's not the quickest but you said that wasn't a priority.

 

[T2urtle]

^ i might looking into that one.

Like i said. As long as it scans and prints and the ink is cheap thats all i need. I dont need speed or anything like that. its just i do a lot of personal printing and i normally so mass copies of it.

 

[Lemon law]

Anything based on the Canon ip1500 printer engine is not especially cheap on consumable costs using OEM cartridges. But BCI-24 pre-filled cartridges can be found as low as a buck a pop on the internet---------making a MP130. MP370, and MP390 viable options as they are all in ones----some can be found on ebay.---but you sure don't want their chipped sucessors.
Unless you just love getting hosed on cartridge costs.

But you are in super luck-----just saw an ad today that Fry's electronics still has a few MP780's left for $200 cash and carry.
And here I thought the last of those were flushed out of the retail chains. Uses the same cartridge line as the ip3000 except it has one extra cartridge--a BCI-6 photoblack. You get a scanner, a fax, and the ip4000 printer engine-----and in my personal opinion the best options on printing economy of any brand multifunctional with options to go pre-filled for a up to 7x savings over OEM---or refill your own to get up to a 15x savings over OEM.

Hate to bad mouth a manufacter but many people who get Epsons have problems with printhead clogging even if Epson and Canon cartridges do share about equaivalent low initial purchases prices. If Epson could solve the printhead clogging problems----they would be better choices-----but in the Epson vs. Canon debate the Canon is the clear winner on troublefree printheads.

On ink savings alone you will recoup your investment fast even if $200 is a pretty penny-----but thats a lot of machine for the money----and non-chipped to boot----brand new with full factory warranty.------I have a refurbished MP730 which is basically a one generation back 780 and I love it. But I'd trade it for a MP780 in a heart beat.

 

[Zepper]

My nearby Staples still has a couple of 780s but IDK what they're asking for them.

.bh.

 

[T2urtle]

if only i read the info on the 780 earlier. i just picked up a brand new sealed mp130 for 109 shipped off ebay. Hopefully it will be something close to what my ip3000 was. But for the price i'm not going to complain.

thanks guys for all your input. I might have to go to Fry's just to check it out. And maybe give my mp130 to my parents. Save them some cash in the long run and pick up a MP780 myself. I saw them and just loved it.

 

[Lemon law]

Your next task may be to find a good supplier for prefilled cartridges.

To give you just one vendor of prefilled cartridges---you might check out www.bulkinkjetcarts.com
Their web site also has a toll free telephone number. But there are a plethora of good and not so good bulk cartridge vendors out there and this place got good reviews on the nifty stuff forums and also offers very low prices. I did place an oder with them--got 18 BCI-3 and 6 cartridges from them for about thirty four bucks shipped---and they preformed well for me---but you should beware of any one person touting a brand--they could be a hired poster for that brand and hence biased---so gets lots of input---and also look for posters who said I ordered from a given vendor and got burned. Or go to the nifty stuff forums or Steves digicams where you are more likely to find more extensive posts on vendors of third party prefilled cartridges. Also look into refilling your own for greater savings---but in my opinion the MP130 is not a good printer for that-----and the MP780 is.

There is also a 50+ responce thread on other cartridge vendors that now has to be some pages back on the peripherals section here.-------but your next task may be searching for good prefilled cartridges for either the MP130 or MP780.----the vendor I recommended is just one choice and you want to have multiple choices and then pare those choices down.

But just one tip----nearly all these vendors are mail order----and the shipping costs will kill you on small orders. So buy in bulk in which case the shipping costs don't go up but the unit cost sure does
go down. So you have to have a lot of faith in your vendor before you order.

In a more ideal world you would be able to order a few cartridges from each vendor on your short list and then compare on a results basis. If you do a lot of photoprinting, very close to OEM color balance is required. For anything else, that factor is far less critical

 

[T2urtle]

^thanks a lot. Well locally i have a mircocenter in my area that has carries some. They aren't the cheapest. But they are very local. I last saw them for $3.25 each black or color. I guess i'll pick up a set to see how they go. and then move on.

Just going research on the printer i found a whole load of sites selling ink for cheap. Almost as low as 1.25 each for black. if i buy 10+ . but yea i'm very aware of the scams people have. Refilling ink isn't something i like to do. It does get messy at times. I rather pay the buck or 2 for it done.

 

[Lemon law]

I did try refilling in past on Lexmark and HP cartridges. Made a total mess and at the end of the raindow the cartridges didn't work. Canons are much much easier. No muss, no mess. Still a small learning curve involved.---yes I confess---I spurned the vendor I touted--not because I was unhappy with them but because I wanted to try refilling my own.---filled nine cartridges inside of an hour--first pop out of the box. I could easily quarter that time when I get good.

But lots of charm to using prefilled cartridges. Just pop in in and go. Lots of really cheap and good vendors out there.--and some bad ones. I really recommend the nifty stuff forums for users experiences with various vendors. Why buy a pig in the poke when others experiences can point the way---and price is no predictor of quality in that market. But also a huge charm for a local vendor too---no damn shipping.