Decent home printer

[kenw]

you're excused.....

the last Epson i purchased still works. I've bought and tossed 2 other non-Epsons since then. It (re-read my post) was purchased when the ONLY decent photo printer was Epson. Lexmark hadn't been spun off from IBM at that point. This was probably before your time...

My Epson Stylus Color (no number, just Stylus Color) did a true 720x720dpi when 300 was really a big deal. Paid about $500 for it, too. It did die, but the Epson that I bought to replace it still works but I hardly ever use it. Ink's probably shot anyway.

My mother uses a $29 (clearance at Target) Lexmark and has been for 3-4 years. Like the 486/75 notebook it's hooked to, it gets the job done.

 

[kenw]

"Compatable with what?"

the computers they are hooked to. HP used to built bullet-proof printers but their printer drivers stunk and weren't compatible with much of anything. Much of that has changed now. Now their printers are far from bullet-proof but they do have fairly compatible drivers. Competition.

In my early days of photo printing I always recommended Epson for quality and compatibility. It's been a few years and that opinion is somewhat dated.

 

[Mamala Bay]

Ever occur tech advances and printers are better made today. I had HP and Epson and they both didn't last for some unknow reason. The newer Cannon has outlasted both in productivity but then again, that might be of technology...better made today. I was going to buy the Samsung laser printer but cheap made, it didn't seem it was going to last..

 

[Yuk]

I agree with Jon and kenw.

I am a pro photographer and own four Epson printers. Three 1.5 year old Stylus Photo 2200s and one 6 year old Stylus Photo EX. I do a lot of photo printing, about 200 images/week, ranging from 1x1 to 13x19 inches. I have never had any reliability issues with any of the printers.

My assessment is.... you get what you pay for. Don't expect a $50-100 printer to last more then a year or two. If you want basic colour printing and 100 photos/year, buy an inexpensive Epson.

 

[Jelly]

quote:

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Originally posted by Toy4x4:
Which brand printers should I consider or stay away from? I'm looking for one in the price range of $125-200, color/b&w, and fax/scan/copy. Having one that has a memory card insert or an LCD viewer isn't a must.

Your thoughts?

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To help a friend of mine out a earlier this year, I did the research on the multifunction models and the HP PSC 1350 was the standout performance wise as well as the standout price wise...a very rare combo indeed!

Don't know if it's still available, but you should take a look at it. She's very happy, with the only downside I know of is that it takes quite awhile to print photos out, but the end result is very good quality.

Edit - BestBuy has it for $129.99

[ October 30, 2004, 05:03 AM: Message edited by: Jelly ]

 

[Pablo]

My two Epsons died completely in warranty. One striped plastic gear teeth during warranty the other had some sensor or microswitch break during warranty. Neither problem was easily resolved, but the second Epson printer (different model) was a replacement for the first. Both were the filthiest, most clog prone, need to repower every 5 minutes, printer head couldn't find the home.........If you guys have good luck with them. more power to you. Mine were not the cheapest models, above mid line.

My HP is 2+ year old and going strong.

Your mileage may vary.

 

[1sttruck]

I'll second some other suggestions on considering a b/w laser, especially if you have kids. OEM inkjet cartridges are expensive, like when you daughter says 'Daddy, daddy, look at the big green dragon with the green frog on green grass, I made pictures for my friends. Daddy, can you make the printer work again ?" You look to see if you have another $40 cartridge that might last another hour. We have an older HP inkjet and I quit buying color cartridges as the kids had too much fun printing all sorts of pictures. Even the b/w cartridges are expensive, and with the wife and kids, ok me too, printing stuff for homework, work, etc., we still go thru quite a few b/w cartridges.

A couple of friends with lots of disposable income who are into digital photography as amateurs have Canon printers and pro/semi-pro Canon cameras. They went thru a couple of Canon and Nikon cameras and Epson printers, but ended up with Canon.

 

[brianl703]

I have an HP LaserJet II made in July 1989 which is still working to this day. Before I pulled the motherboard out of it to upgrade it to a LaserJet III motherboard (also added 4MB of RAM at the same time), I checked the page count--it had done about 130,000 pages.

That's reliability!

 

[SSDude]

The Brother 210C. It will print in color/b&w, scan, copy, and fax. The total cost after rebates $78.

 

[SteveD2]

quote:

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Originally posted by brianl703:
I have an HP LaserJet II made in July 1989 which is still working to this day. Before I pulled the motherboard out of it to upgrade it to a LaserJet III motherboard (also added 4MB of RAM at the same time), I checked the page count--it had done about 130,000 pages.

That's reliability!

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I have an HP something-or-other in my garage with over a million pages on it.

It's designed for 150,000 pages a month. I'd put it up on ebay if I could figure out how to ship it...thing's the size of a washing machine!