Tough finding an inexpensive wireless all-in one printer/scanner/FAX

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Back in 2019 I bought a Canon MF247dw which I got at Staples for maybe $117. I got it because their price was something like $125 sold directly from Amazon, but Staples had a 110% price match guarantee and it was about $200 there. It was working great until one day where it just started clicking and clicking and the printer portion stopped working after about 9 months. I called in to Canon, let them hear it, and was told if I could find the receipt showing that it was still within the 1 year warranty they would send a new one. But I had misplaced the receipt so no go on the replacement. But it still works as a wireless scanner with sheet feeder. But with the printer portion malfunctioning I can't use it as a copier or printer.

Since then my parents gave me back the Canon MF4150 that I bought for them over a decade ago since they use a different printer/scanner. It's been slowly dying and I figure it's probably not going to last much longer. The sheet feeder tray is horrible on that - always skewed.

But right now I can't seem to find any of the era of Canon all-in-ones. Something like an MF269dw. A few third party sellers on Amazon might have something like that for maybe $400. Canon is still listing these models but the big retailers don't seem to have them any more. All I can seem to find is the MF236n, which doesn't even have Wi-Fi. I could make do with USB or wired to my router, but obviously that's not as convenient as WiFi. I used to put that wireless Canon machine in another room.

So what happened to these other than maybe there's an issue with manufacturing?
 
I hardly ever buy anything in-store these days, and make a PDF backup receipt of the online purchase.

What is your fixation on canon? I'd get a brother, it's been a happy experience for me. The original toner "starte" cart needs a reset gear to refill fully, but I got that in a kit 3rd party, refill inexpensively and bob's yer uncle.

If you can string the wire, wired ethernet network printer seems great. That's what I use on my brother even though it has wifi. Besides, my wifi router has better reception than the printer itself, so greater range for wifi client use.

Yes there may be a manufacturing issues, covid or whatever, supplies of things are less than they used to be.

However I am not a fan of the lowest tier of printers. I'd suggest one tier up from that and I accept if you want to reject that. Their rating for pages per month isn't really about pages per month, it's about how well they are built to withstand # of pages per month until the warranty ends. For long term use, I couldn't see paying less than $250 on sale, for a replacement AIO.
 
I don't have any big Canon fixation other than I've seen good results. When mine messed up there was just that one sudden failure and I'm not one to swear off a manufacturer based on one random failure. Others were my fault, like yanking on the USB cable and ripping out most of the USB port (that was a Canon MF4350). That one actually kept on working for about 6 more years until the USB pins bent. Or just one that slowly died after about 12 years. Before these I had a Brother all-in-one - circa 2001 or 2002. It was the kind with a drum and separate toner cartridges. The original drum unit was supposed to be good for up to 20,000 pages but it died early and I got a replacement for about $150. But I think the printer itself was about $450. It didn't even have full duplex, but the printer driver had a double-siding feature where it printed the even pages on a first pass had a second to print the odd pages by inserting the pages back in the tray.

I'm kind of wondering why the Canon MF236n is the only one that seems to be available at Best Buy, Staples, Office Depot, etc. It's got wired ethernet and USB, but lacks something as basic as Wi-Fi, even when $60 inkjets have Wi-Fi. It seems that whoever has those models I'm hoping to get are selling them at highly inflated prices. I am thinking that perhaps Canon is dealing with a shortage of Wi-Fi components.

Originally when I got the MF247dw I thought that maybe Wi-Fi was a gimmick, but it became a really nice feature. I usually use my personal laptop in the living room in front of the TV, but it was nice to just print (or scan) in another room. I've been dealing with the older wired units in the living room and it's kind of awkward. But I guess wired ethernet won't be too bad as long as it works when my Wi-Fi devices connected to the same Wi-Fi router can access the printer.
 
Brother multi function laser have been pretty reliable.
Bought a Brother MFC-L2710DW for around $250 a few months back at Staples. Works great, cost effective, and it's not an HP (overinflated ink / toner pricing). Samsung lasers are rebranded HP's BTW. I bought the warranty as well because, you know, everything breaks nowadays, and I'm sure in 3 years it's going to be toast.

 
another vote for brother I had 20+ in service at one time and no issues.

not 2010 prices but 170$ at walmart.

Duplex printing, and the automatic sheet feeder scanner are nice. Includes wireless network connectivity (and usb).

Edit: I missed fax.. but amazingly it has fax. limited availability @y_p_w 3 out of 7 walmart near me have it.
 
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I wouldn't let the lack of wifi deter me from a printer I like. My guess is Canon not wanting to spend the R&D in the declining all in one market by tagging on something that will push the price too high (R&D ROI and part cost). You can always buy those powerline ethernet thingy to attach to your printer or use an old router in client mode.
 
I wouldn't let the lack of wifi deter me from a printer I like. My guess is Canon not wanting to spend the R&D in the declining all in one market by tagging on something that will push the price too high (R&D ROI and part cost). You can always buy those powerline ethernet thingy to attach to your printer or use an old router in client mode.

Canon is still listing the Wi-Fi enabled versions. For instance, Office Depot lists both the MF236n and the MF264dw at the same $199 price. As far as I can tell, "dw" stands for double-sided, wireless. But that's not available in stores, although delivery seems to be faster. But I needed it pronto and ended up getting the MF236n. When I got it home it worked kind of weird. I could connect it to my network through an ethernet cable, but for a while it wasn't always seen as connected. I use a Mac and can see it when I open up Image Capture as a networked scanner. And when I try to start a print job it may take a while. I don't know if it's because it has fairly low memory or something else. Also I figured that it doesn't do duplex double-sided printing and the driver doesn't seem to have any double-sided feature (like I remember with my Brother printer).


Still it works pretty well and I always got tired of double siding since most requirements for things like applications want single sided these days. I would often forget that the default was double sided and I wasted a bit of paper.. If I really need to double side, I guess I can manually do it by printing one side at a time. The other thing is that I was able to reuse the cartridge from my dead printer. I'd barely used it for about 2+ years but at least toner doesn't dry up like inkjet cartridges.
 
Back in 2019 I bought a Canon MF247dw which I got at Staples for maybe $117. I got it because their price was something like $125 sold directly from ...
Maybe two to 3 years ago at most, I bought the Canon mf445dw ... grabbing at straws what I paid but got a great deal on it like you did for your model. Maybe it cost me $179 or so... I see it at Staples and Office Depot now for $349. Ahhh... I just clicked on the link from Canon who linked to the two stores above, says discontinued.

Amazon and a few others still have it but Amazons price is $369 - Its an awesome black and white printer, would never go back to inkjet printers.
In fact just last this week I replaced the first ever toner cartridge, for years it was still the original that came with the printer. No hassles for al that time, no clogged inkjets, everything always prints perfect.

 
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Brother for cost and bang for $. Brother has some odd software stuff. And eventually have something go south, but I'm 3+ years on one and 2+ on another, and given they were the lowest prices vs comp, pfft......easy.

Get the models with the super tanker cartridges. Finally someone figured it out.
 
Other than the several thousand dollar workhorse printers at work I universally hate all consumer-level printers. They're always cheaply built, they are engineered for planned obsolescence and to be thrown away should anything break, and they are always costly with consumables.
 
Other than the several thousand dollar workhorse printers at work I universally hate all consumer-level printers. They're always cheaply built, they are engineered for planned obsolescence and to be thrown away should anything break, and they are always costly with consumables.
OK so you spend $2000+ for wife's printer or the kid's printer or even YOUR small office printer?

I am sure this is not what you meant, but I think somehow Brother pushed these limits a bit.
 
printing and faxing? This all sounds so previous millenium. I think in business dealings I scan docs into .pdf format and emailed it.

Crazy that banks take uploaded digital photos of checks now, they seemed permanently tethered to the stoneage facsimilie machine.

My last real estate transaction 7 years ago was done on DocusSign, though closing was in person.

I have acheap HP officejet gathering much dust just to the far right of me on my desk. Carts are expensive, but you get a new print head built into each cartridge so print quality doesn't degrade much other than those caused by paper indexing issues.
 
Good point. Don't think I have faxed since 1998
Now I recall I used the Fax at my last workplace a couple times for something. Maybe sending some rental agreement for a co worker. It was a secure place that knows to pull and destroy the hard drive before recycling the unit or returning the lease.

Emergency 10c fax at the Drug store? Just don't do it with sensitive documents containing P.I.
 
printing and faxing? This all sounds so previous millenium. I think in business dealings I scan docs into .pdf format and emailed it.

Crazy that banks take uploaded digital photos of checks now, they seemed permanently tethered to the stoneage facsimilie machine.

My last real estate transaction 7 years ago was done on DocusSign, though closing was in person.

A lot of places still require a paper copy even if the rest is done online. For a US passport application, they actually will store everything on their server, but there's still a requirement to sent a printout of the application, if only because the submitted photo has to be stapled to the form.

When I use e-tickets, I prefer to have a paper copy even if it's just to put in my back pocket. I've had electronic devices die on me, or at the very least a battery gave out.
 
OK so you spend $2000+ for wife's printer or the kid's printer or even YOUR small office printer?

I am sure this is not what you meant, but I think somehow Brother pushed these limits a bit.
I mean just be prepared to be disappointed unless you're willing to drop a couple thousand. I WILL NOT drop a couple thousand on a printer forhome and so I live in a constant state of printer disappointment.
 
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