Need an inkjet printer recommendation

[pyonir]

This is for my parents. They have an HP Officejet 6500 with a bad printer head. Rather than buy a new head from HP for ~$85 (including shipping), I'm going to recommend they get a new printer. How many models can have the same issue (printer head issue) before the customers stop buying their printers? Anyway:

Requirements:
-Wireless capability
-Scan, copy ability
-NOT made by HP

They would be looking to spend ~$150 or less (hopefully). Cheaper ink would be a plus (than the HP ink) as would duplex printing.

Here's an example of what I'm thinking would be best after doing a bit of my own research: http://www.brother-usa.com/MFC/ModelDetail/4/MFCJ835DW/Overview

Would appreciate suggestions.

 

[gipper53]

This is for my parents. They have an HP Officejet 6500 with a bad printer head. Rather than buy a new head from HP for ~$85 (including shipping), I'm going to recommend they get a new printer. How many models can have the same issue (printer head issue) before the customers stop buying their printers? Anyway:

Requirements:
-Wireless capability
-Scan, copy ability
-NOT made by HP

They would be looking to spend ~$150 or less (hopefully). Cheaper ink would be a plus (than the HP ink) as would duplex printing.

Here's an example of what I'm thinking would be best after doing a bit of my own research: http://www.brother-usa.com/MFC/ModelDetail/4/MFCJ835DW/Overview

Would appreciate suggestions.

What typically kills inkjet printers is lack of use. If ANY inkjet sits unused for weeks or months at a time the printhead can clog and give long term problems. This goes for $50 or $5,000 printers, it's just a fact of life with inkjets. I'm a photo nut and most of the guys buying multi-thousand dollar inkjet printers are religous about printing something every few days to avoid this issue.

Also avoid cheap off-brand ink replacements. They are usually crap quality and can kill a printhead quickly.

I'm not familiar with Brother inkjets but if photo printing is on the list I would look for something else, they are not considered one of the better brands in this department. For color documents and such I'm sure it will be fine. It has 4 separate ink cartridges which is good, avoid any "multi color cartridge" models like the plague, they waste a ton of ink as you toss it when one color runs out.

Canon printers offer very good photo print quality and are renowned for frugal ink consumption and clog resistance. The Canon also uses much higher quality ink than Brother so photos won't fade in a just a few months. Epsons are the gold standard in photo printing but they are notorious for wasting ink and having clogged print heads if not used regularly.

If you don't care about printing photos, all of this is probably moot. For general office use this Brother looks like a fine choice. We have a Brother mono-laser in the house and it works great.

For $150 this would be my first choice (placing photo quality as a priority):

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...One_Color.html

Canon has some cheaper all in ones that are very fine also.

 

[pyonir]

The printer does get use frequently (at least once a week). They were also using HP branded ink, so the ink wasn't the issue either. This is the third HP printer owned by family members this has happened to (where the printer head was "bad"). The HP forums are full of users having these issues.

Anyway, photos isn't a priority. My mom uses a separate printer for photos most of the time, or she uses Costco. Thank you for the note about Brother not being a good brand for photos though. I do like that the Canon has 6 individual color tanks. The HP had 3 color and one black. Looks like the ink for the Canon is a bit cheaper too. The Canon is a good starting point for comparison, so thank you.

Thanks for the tips. More suggestions are welcome, decision won't be made for at least a few days.

 

[gipper53]

The printer does get use frequently (at least once a week). They were also using HP branded ink, so the ink wasn't the issue either. This is the third HP printer owned by family members this has happened to (where the printer head was "bad"). The HP forums are full of users having these issues.

Anyway, photos isn't a priority. My mom uses a separate printer for photos most of the time, or she uses Costco. Thank you for the note about Brother not being a good brand for photos though. I do like that the Canon has 6 individual color tanks. The HP had 3 color and one black. Looks like the ink for the Canon is a bit cheaper too. The Canon is a good starting point for comparison, so thank you.

Thanks for the tips. More suggestions are welcome, decision won't be made for at least a few days.

My pleasure. If they are not using it for photos it might be worth considering a color laser printer. It will cost more up front but you'll recoup the cost in ink savings. As I'm sure you know, ink is expensive. The math on what that stuff costs per gallon is downright scary! Laser toner goes a long way and you won't have to worry about dead print heads.

It sucks the HPs have given you such problems, but I've heard plenty of horror stories from all inkjet makers. Such as life with products that have evaporating liquid pumping through them.

 

[Mixolydian]

FWIW I have never had a decent inkjet printer, regardless of brand or price point. they are all shit. I recently got a color laser AIO and will never look back.

 

[NutBucket]

No need for blanket statements. I have a few hp inkjets from the mid 90's that work perfectly. They just don't build them like they used to. Of course, back then an inkjet printer was $200 for a fairly basic one.

 

[gipper53]

FWIW I have never had a decent inkjet printer, regardless of brand or price point. they are all shit. I recently got a color laser AIO and will never look back.

They can be tempermental beasts, but if you buy a good one they will reward you with stunning image output. NOTHING rivals top end inkjet for high quality imaging (art gallery level prints), and the best ones make prints that will last a lifetime. Your average $200 all-in-one is not representative of the best of the breed. The $500-600 range can get you into entry level pigment printers capable of professional results to 13"x19", and prices go up from there. I would kill for a 24" wide Epson, but don't have a spare $2.5K lying around :| $800 for set of ink cartridges is a bit rich for my blood too.

But keeping one running healthy for years requires a committment to regular usage and some periodic maintenance. These days a color laser makes more sense if you're not into photo printing, even then they are less economical than Costco or places like Mpix unless you print over 8x10 on a regular basis or need fine-art level output.

 

[lagokc]

If they use a seperate printer for photos then how important is color to them? I bought my wireless Samsung black and white laserprinter for $50 on a newegg shellshocker the other year and it's worked perfectly.

 

[pyonir]

Color is something they want.

Thanks for all the feedback everyone. Going to start doing some comparisons. Appreciate it.

 

[pyonir]

They went with the Brother MFC-J825dw that I actually linked in the first post. There was a deal going through Monday for 89.99 (got it through Costco, B&H ran out of stock).

Thanks for the suggestions and help everyone. I know next to nothing about printers, so it was helpful.

 

[Scooby Doo]

They can be tempermental beasts, but if you buy a good one they will reward you with stunning image output. NOTHING rivals top end inkjet for high quality imaging (art gallery level prints), and the best ones make prints that will last a lifetime. Your average $200 all-in-one is not representative of the best of the breed. The $500-600 range can get you into entry level pigment printers capable of professional results to 13"x19", and prices go up from there. I would kill for a 24" wide Epson, but don't have a spare $2.5K lying around :| $800 for set of ink cartridges is a bit rich for my blood too.

But keeping one running healthy for years requires a committment to regular usage and some periodic maintenance. These days a color laser makes more sense if you're not into photo printing, even then they are less economical than Costco or places like Mpix unless you print over 8x10 on a regular basis or need fine-art level output.

If you want to do photo-printing die-sublimation printers are also very good.
LOL.. you could always go wax printers UGH.

 

[BuffaloChuck]

I still push HP Inkjets on low/seldom-use customers. The 55xx series has printheads with each cartridge - this is the $100 model. For the sub-$75 models, HP has moved to the Canon-Epson-Lexmark design and embedded a printhead which invariably clogs from infrequent use.

If they are infrequent users, HP's $100 models are the wise choice. I've got HP Deskjet 720s and 970s from the 1990s that may only print once a month, but those are still doing excellent tasks. I haven't seen any Canon or Epson that stands for more than 2 months without much use that doesn't need most of its cartridges used for 'head cleaning'. No matter how cheap of clone-cartridge I buy, spending an hour doing endless head-cleanings is quickly a much higher 'cost' overall.

I'm a huge fan of the Epson R, RX, Artisan and now Impression series because those are excellent direct-on-disc printers for CDs, DVDs and BluRay ink-jet printable discs. But those too need frequent (daily? 4 days a week?) printing or I'm wasting half my cartridges' ink in 'cleaning'.

I understand the recent sentiment against HP's clogging, but that was from a cheaper model. And I understand the argument against their expensive ink cartridges (boy, do I!) - but replacing whole sets of Canon-Epson cheaper-cartridges AND spending so much time doing head-cleanings is the trade-off. Then, to discover that even 15 or 20 cycles doesn't work - jeez... it's tough for me to argue against the higher-cost HPs at that point.

One brand that doesn't get mentioned is Kodak with their famously-excellent $5 cartridges. I've always wanted to try those but never have.

 

[wags69]

I recently got the Brother MFC-J835DW. I am VERY happy with it so far, compared to my POS HP.

After doing some homework, the MFC-JDW825 and the MFC-J835DW are the same except for a decorative cover. The ink cartridges can be had at most any office supply box for a reasonable amount.

The 835 is currently on sale for $99 at best buy(recommended a family member to get one to replace their dying HP).

 

[pyonir]

Got the J825dw today and set it up for them. Print quality looks good (on paper, didn't try photos) and it's much, much quieter and faster than the HP.

Thanks again for the help and suggestions all.