This is an interesting observation that doesn't align with my experience at all. I bought my ET-3800 in May 2021 and have NEVER once run a head cleaning cycle or had any clogged nozzles. Maybe that is due to the fact that I print 1 to 5 pages daily (both color and B+W), if averaged over the course of a year.
Need a new inkjet
- Thread starter y_p_w
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No more inkjets for me. I had 2 HP's an Epson and 2 Canon's. The original HP still works but is only in B&W and I have to refill cart because they are no longer available. It was the first inkjet I bought when I got rid of the dot matrix. Now its a Brother Laser. I dont do much printing anymore, sometimes it will be months between print jobs and the Laser just works every time I need it unlike the inkjets that even though the ink was full the head was clogged and I fought with them for half a day just to print out a tax form. I can see the benefits of a good color inkjet if you really need color. When I switched from film to digital photography it was nice being able to see an image on paper but it was expensive and the moment you let them sit unused for awhile it was cheaper to by a new printer than refill the old one.
4wd
$50 site donor 2026
I buy the cheapest or the next cheapest HP in 2’s - then when one hits the bin I’m not stuck with too many cartridges that cost more than the printers …
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After buying many, many. many printers that I have used from everything from my time as a REALTOR to my time as a Graphic Art Student printing everything from black and white Contracts to Award winning color photos, I got some thoughts about buying printers!
IMO, the average person "thinks" he or she needs a color printer but when it comes down to it most folks would do better with black and white laser printer that uses toner NOT ink...
Most people buy an inexpensive inkjet. IMO it don't matter if you find a hack to save money with re-filling the ink or whatever, The problem is Grandma may use the printer for a project and print 30 pages but then it sits unused and when a inkjet sits the heads dry up and then stop working and it ends up in the trash!
I have purchased SO many inkjets all now in the trash. However I purchased a Laser black only printer about 23 years ago.
It was actually a HP multi function with fax ( yes fax but its 23+ years old now ) I usd that printer to do my Realestate contracts and general business , kids school papers these last 23 years without a hitch! Print looks as good now as it did when new!
My kids and wife will buy a inkjet at the start of the school year but then in a few months I hear "DAD I need you to print something for me as I the last 23 years am the ONLY one who always has a working printer!
Who truly need color as if you want to print a pic go to Walmart with a memory stick and use Walmarts photo grade printers in the photo shop / electronics.
When I purchased my laser printer 23+ years ago the toner would last about 3,000 prints, could sit a year and never dry up, yes the toner cartridge was expensive at first but once the printer got some age on it I could buy remanufactured toner cartridges for $12.95 shipped to my door and was good for at least 3,000 more prints. I have NEVER had an issue with remanufactured Toner cartridges and are ONLY $12 or less once the printer gets old and $12 will do me a good year now that the kids are out of school.
Also the deciding factor for me way back when was inkjet ink printers don't actually do that well printing black on copy paper as its ink and the edge of each letter, the ink runs a tiny but making the print, well look like it was printed on a home inkjet printer and not sharp text! With a Laser printer that uses toner not ink to print the black text its SHARP, dark black text like a pro printing shop printed it!
I say ALWAYS buy a Laser printer and take your Color photo printing to Walmart or CVS and let them worry about color ink prices and, ink drying up and damaged, non working printer heads from non use!
My Laser is 23+ years old and all I have ever done to it is hit print on my Mac or PC, Its old, not wireless, uses a USB buy thats the beauty, IT always works!
MY 2 cents! NEVER buy a inkjet but thats what everyone always does thinking I need color! Do you actually need Color or a black printer that you know will work when you press print?
IMO, the average person "thinks" he or she needs a color printer but when it comes down to it most folks would do better with black and white laser printer that uses toner NOT ink...
Most people buy an inexpensive inkjet. IMO it don't matter if you find a hack to save money with re-filling the ink or whatever, The problem is Grandma may use the printer for a project and print 30 pages but then it sits unused and when a inkjet sits the heads dry up and then stop working and it ends up in the trash!
I have purchased SO many inkjets all now in the trash. However I purchased a Laser black only printer about 23 years ago.
It was actually a HP multi function with fax ( yes fax but its 23+ years old now ) I usd that printer to do my Realestate contracts and general business , kids school papers these last 23 years without a hitch! Print looks as good now as it did when new!
My kids and wife will buy a inkjet at the start of the school year but then in a few months I hear "DAD I need you to print something for me as I the last 23 years am the ONLY one who always has a working printer!
Who truly need color as if you want to print a pic go to Walmart with a memory stick and use Walmarts photo grade printers in the photo shop / electronics.
When I purchased my laser printer 23+ years ago the toner would last about 3,000 prints, could sit a year and never dry up, yes the toner cartridge was expensive at first but once the printer got some age on it I could buy remanufactured toner cartridges for $12.95 shipped to my door and was good for at least 3,000 more prints. I have NEVER had an issue with remanufactured Toner cartridges and are ONLY $12 or less once the printer gets old and $12 will do me a good year now that the kids are out of school.
Also the deciding factor for me way back when was inkjet ink printers don't actually do that well printing black on copy paper as its ink and the edge of each letter, the ink runs a tiny but making the print, well look like it was printed on a home inkjet printer and not sharp text! With a Laser printer that uses toner not ink to print the black text its SHARP, dark black text like a pro printing shop printed it!
I say ALWAYS buy a Laser printer and take your Color photo printing to Walmart or CVS and let them worry about color ink prices and, ink drying up and damaged, non working printer heads from non use!
My Laser is 23+ years old and all I have ever done to it is hit print on my Mac or PC, Its old, not wireless, uses a USB buy thats the beauty, IT always works!
MY 2 cents! NEVER buy a inkjet but thats what everyone always does thinking I need color! Do you actually need Color or a black printer that you know will work when you press print?
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Same here. I use my Brother Color Laser printer maybe once or twice a year....but every year when I do try to print something...IT WORKS !!
My Brother B&W Laser gets used daily. Great machines.
If you like HP, you probably would also love a Jaguar or Land Rover as your go to vehicle
My Brother B&W Laser gets used daily. Great machines.
If you like HP, you probably would also love a Jaguar or Land Rover as your go to vehicle
4wd
$50 site donor 2026
Or you can command the largest market share unlike those vehicles …Same here. I use my Brother Color Laser printer maybe once or twice a year....but every year when I do try to print something...IT WORKS !!
My Brother B&W Laser gets used daily. Great machines.
If you like HP, you probably would also love a Jaguar or Land Rover as your go to vehicle
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Yeah, but when you got there by ripping millions of ppl a new one (like HP did).......is that something to be proud of?
Does HP still have the largest market share of printers?
If so that speaks as much, sadly, for the target audience as the company management imo.
Americans are doing some REALLY illogical things these days.
Well you DO print color frequently. Print one color job every month and get back to me.
4wd
$50 site donor 2026
Uh-huh - it’s a crisis unfolding before our
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I haven't bothered with an inkjet now in a long time.
Does the print on pages still run if water drips on the paper? Laser printers don't.
another thing I like better about Laser printers.
I could be wrong but I read somewhere that ink for inkjet printers is more expensive than Gold, even at the current price per ounce.
Common sense would dictate that you REALLY need to think about that before you buy the stuff.
I’m not sure. All I know is my wife has printed 1000’s of sheets of paper on our Epson and we barely ever top the ink off. $30 of ink has lasted her 3 years of printing for her classroom.
Depends on the quality of the ink and paper. Most ink is water based dye so by default the ink will will run when in contact with water. New ink pigment technology is out though that do resist or stop run. One of the biggest feature of our Canon ink LFP is that we can bring plots out to the field and they will not smudge. It also comes with ink agitation and will periodically maintain itself automatically. This is a $15,000 plotter though so it's definitely not a feature on consumer models.
The image quality of ink is still unmatched though. There's just no comparison so far if the accuracy is needed. But these reasons above are specific uses cases that consumers will almost never need.
Toner does last longer with infrequent use; plus B/W prints usually do not require accuracy so the cost per page is usually lower but they still require periodic maintenance or replacement of the drum (although after thousands of prints.) Needing to periodically remove/clean out the waste toner box can be a extreme mess though, as I had a little bit of cyan toner spill on the tiles at work once and that was a complete mess to clean up.
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That's incredible.
Incredibly hard to believe too.
IIRC, I would go through $30 of inkjet ink with about 5 pages it seemed back when I still had one (LONG ago).
And if I didn't use it for a week...fuggedaboudit. Clogged nozzles.
Maybe they've drastically improved.
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I bought a Espon 2800 early this year and so far I like it , my only issue is the wireless function stopped working a few months ago , tired a handful 'remdies" I found online and nothing worked to restore it. At this point I can not see myself ever going back to a printer that used ink cartridges( unless its to a laser printer).
Absolutely.
We do have an old HP DesignJet 4000 that was used once a year, so every time somebody had to use it, I had to order new $200 printheads (x2, because there was two printheads per color) and ink cartridges. When we move offices, I'm leaving it lol.
They’re the way to go for most people. Highly cost effective. Nothing else even comes close that I’m aware of.
The refillable tank inkjet printers are a game-changer when it comes to ink cost per page. For example, for the EPSON EcoTank printers, you get 127ml of black ink for $25, while a HP61 cartridge only contains 4ml for $28 (based on current Amazon pricing). The EPSON ink is even more cost effective than laser printer toner. Here is a recent comparison of cost effective home printers by highly respected RTINGS.com.
Comparing two well reviewed models, the cost per printed page for an EPSON EcoTank printer is ~10% of a Brother Laser printer.
Black-Only Printing Cost
EPSON ET-3950: 0.004 US$/print
Brother MFC-L8905CDW: 0.028 US$/print
Color Printing Cost
EPSON ET-3950: 0.014 US$/print
Brother MFC-L8905CDW: 0.151 US$/print
And the generic ink from Amazon has worked well for us with the Epson. Super cheap.
