Recommendations - Printer/Scanner

[aliwade]

Hi, everyone

We are looking for one of those All-In-One Printer/Scanner 'thingies'. I will be using it for printing stuff for cardmaking and scanning in piccies of cards, and hubby will use it for general document printing. The main thing is that it must be economical with printer cartridges (we have a Lexmark at the moment and the cartridges are really expensive). I am looking at one of the Brother machines in our Viking catalogue (we have a business account, so hubby can pay for it through the farm!) and that looks good.

Any recommendations?

Ali xx

[Ifor-Jones]

I have always used Epson and find them good for printing photographic things. My current model is a over a year old, but is a scanner, copier and printer and cost £69. Toners can be bought more cheaply if you look around, but I am afraid that is always the expensive bit - that's why they can sell the printers so cheaply.

[sewtobed]

We have a HP and its good and simple to use

[mandamoo]

re

would highly recommend epsom have used them for years with no problems.
we invested in a ink feeding system which you just top up with ink when it gets low cost about £30 got it from computer fair have had it a year now and still got loads of ink left and use the printer nearly every day.
just a suggestion
but yeah epsom are cool

[Ian Beckerton]

To print or not to scan -that is the question!

Personally I wouldn’t entertain a printer scanner as they tend not to do anything well and they can be quite large and clumsy.

Epson, HP and Canon are the market leaders and all three are capable of producing images of very high quality.

I..

[Fluffy Squirrel]

I have a Hewlett Packard Photosmart C3180 scanner and printer.

http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Search?storeId=10001&catalogId=1500001151&langId=-1&searchTerms=C3180

I've been using this printer for everything from scanning and copying to printing documents and verses/decoupage as well as all other aspects of cardmaking. I have not experienced and problems with deterioration of quality in either scanning or printing using this product.

My last printer was an Epson photo printer and looking at items from both printers it's hard to tell which was which.

I tend to buy my ink cartridges for the C3180 from Argos and they are:

Twin pack of black ink cartridges - £27.99

Twin pack of colour ink cartridges - £32.99


I know there are now a couple of manufacturers who are selling HP compatible ink cartridges at lower prices but I've not tried those, we tend to stick to manufacturer cartridges after a faulty 'fake' ruined our last printer.

Hope this helps.

[Pink Giraffe]

Some of the all-in-one printers are capable of printing just as good quality as stand alone printers can. The earlier ones on the market weren't as good but Epson (not Epsom!) are always improving their product range.

I only use Epson printers and Epson ink. I wouldn't even bother looking at cheaper compatible inks as they just don't have the quality I am looking for (I'm a photographer ).

It depends how much quality you want from your print offs. I have the following set-up;

Epson R1800 - Prints A3+ excellent quality photographs but uses 8 ink cartridges and is has now been replaced by newer models. I use it for best photographs that I don't want to send to a professional lab.
Epson RX620 - All-in-one printer scanner etc. great for the Photo proofs, graphics and text docs. The copy facility is rubbish though, but like I said, newer models are getting better all the time.
Epson D92 - cheap and quick and ideal for text docs and some graphics. Although I still only use genuine Epson ink in it.

The reason genuine ink is expensive is because companies like Epson invest thousands on product research every year. That is why their products are more expensive, they are better quality. If you are not bothered about quality or how long your print will last (cheaper inks fade very quickly compared to genuine) then cheap copies might be ok for you. You will need to change your printer more often though because copy inks can block up the printer heads.

I hope this and the other responses have been of use to you. If I sound like an Epson rep then I apologise, I am not, I just find that Epson have been the best for the kind of work I do.

Good luck in finding a good printer.

[silvermaid]

I have a HP photosmart C4180 - I think there's a new version out now. It cost around £60 and it's brilliant, a lot of features can be used direct from the printer, just one button to press for scanning - either B&W or colour and it has all the slots for memory cards so you can print photo's direct as well.
It's very fast and the photo's are brilliant even with ordinary ink. The photo paper goes in a little holder ( which is stored in the side of the printer) and slid into the paper feeder so it's really easy.
Scanning is clear as well and it has a tiny screen so it's easy to check what it's doing.
The ink is about £13 to £16 but they are quite a good size and last ages.

Melanie

[wobble]

We use Epson’s for card making, you can create and save up to 30 custom paper sizes, which is great with the software we use. We have a R800 and two DX6000, the R800 as 8 cartridges and cost other a £100 for all 8, the DX6000 printer/scanner as 4 cartridges that cost about £25, we only use genuine Epson cartridges.

[shiner]

For printing on cardstock Epsom is the best choice. my fiancee spent ages researching and the pick up and paper feed on most printers cant handle too much card without causing damage to the rubber wheels but because Epsoms paper delivery system doesn't have to bend the card back on itself as much it can tolerate card much easier, and as for an all in one if you look at the printing specs a dedicated printer has much higher dpi (dots per inch) than a combi

[GonetoEarth]

Printer thingies

Hi

I use an HP officejet dl55xl. There are newer models now. I print all kinds of images from it and to all kinds of paper, card and fabric. I've always been pleased with it. It's fairly economic with the old print cartridges - but if you want to print good, clear images then you need good cartridges. Refilliable ones are rumoured to have a tendancy to 'blob'. Unless they've improved dramatically recently.

One thing to think about carefully as you wade through thousands of possibilities is what exactly do you want to do with it. Few printer/scanners will do everything well! If you want gallery quality prints of photo's then you might want to consider printers with that in mind - expensive. If you're seeking just good quality images then you should be able to find a reasonably priced printer which does the job well enough. Good luck - it's always a difficult decision.