New printer recommendation

[sam_gordon]

Looks like our printer has finally died. First we started having problems with wireless connectivity. We'd have to reboot the router for any computer to connect to it. I finally got tired of that and hooked it up by USB. Now that's no longer connecting.

I really liked this printer (Epson WorkForce 845), but don't print as much as we used to. Use it probably as much for scanning as we do for printing. It does have a document feeder for scanning which has come in very handy, as well as the occasional double sided printing.

So, anyone have any suggestions?

Requirements:
* Wireless
* Scanner (with document feeder preferable)
* Color
* Speed (~>10ppm color)

And as it is most of the time, price is a factor also.

TIA.

 

[Kooks and Bay Bay]

CHEAP is what I recommend.
Got mine for $50 on sale on Amazon.
Right now it appears to be $80.
HP Deskjet 4255e.

 

[kdonnel]

I recommend Brother color lasers.

Their duplex printing works great and is a feature I didn't know I needed until I had it.

This is the lowest entry level printer I recommend:
https://www.brother-usa.com/products/mfcl3720cdw

I have great success with third party toner
https://trueimagetech.com/collections/brother-mfc-l3780cdw

A full set is less than the price of just one of the Brother branded cartridges.

One reason to consider laser over inkjet is if you don't print often, inkjet will often end up clogged and require burning time and ink with a cleaning cycle. Your laser printer can sit for weeks without being used and print perfect.

 

[Dan Murphy]

I recommend Brother color lasers.

Their duplex printing works great and is a feature I didn't know I needed until I had it.

This is the lowest entry level printer I recommend:
https://www.brother-usa.com/products/mfcl3720cdw

I have great success with third party toner
https://trueimagetech.com/collections/brother-mfc-l3780cdw

A full set is less than the price of just one of the Brother branded cartridges.

One reason to consider laser over inkjet is if you don't print often, inkjet will often end up clogged and require burning time and ink with a cleaning cycle. Your laser printer can sit for weeks without being used and print perfect.

I agree. Brother color lasers are great. On on my third, over about 20 years. I've always purchased whatever was their top of the line, a small amount of additional money for good additions. As said above 2-sided printing, copying and scanning is great. I have the default set to mono as color is generally not needed, less costly printing. But if color is a appropriate or desired, a one second selection. My current model is Mfc-L8900. It is certainly not low cost but you get what you pay for. I'm dyre the one linked above is a good unit also. Brother makes good equipment and support is US based.

 

[Imzadi]

Have you tried doing a hard reset on the printer to see if it may be a software issue? Also check & see if you can reset it and reinstall the latest software update, if it had one.

As for a new printer, if you live in or near a college or university, keep checking the local Freecycle site and Buy Nothing site near the college. Many students are graduating and moving back home, especially now at the end of the month. They often leave their printers behind. I nabbed a great wireless HP All-In-One scanner/color printer/fax for free that is in photo printing quality condition. I don't print a lot anymore either. So, it was nice getting one for free.

 

[MillauFr]

CHEAP is what I recommend.
Got mine for $50 on sale on Amazon.
Right now it appears to be $80.
HP Deskjet 4255e.

Yes. Buying refills for the cartridges cost more than the printer.

 

[Kooks and Bay Bay]

Yes. Buying refills for the cartridges cost more than the printer.

True but I've also bought a $650 printer twice and both times they did something funky and were unrepairable.
If you don't print all that much and just make sure you're printing a page a week even if its just a test page the ink lasts for a long time.
I've had my current ink for like 5 months and its still going strong when I do need to print something.
Doesn't sound like OP needs anything too fancy and expensive as they only scan a few things or print a few things here and there.

 

[sam_gordon]

Have you tried doing a hard reset on the printer to see if it may be a software issue? Also check & see if you can reset it and reinstall the latest software update, if it had one.

As for a new printer, if you live in or near a college or university, keep checking the local Freecycle site and Buy Nothing site near the college. Many students are graduating and moving back home, especially now at the end of the month. They often leave their printers behind. I nabbed a great wireless HP All-In-One scanner/color printer/fax for free that is in photo printing quality condition. I don't print a lot anymore either. So, it was nice getting one for free.

In a college town, but kids just returned to campus. No idea what a Freecycle or Buy Nothing sites are. Are they websites?

 

[Imzadi]

Yes. Buying refills for the cartridges cost more than the printer.

Yes, I think it's called after market sales. The manufacturers sell the printers so cheap, hooking the buyer in, then making the rest of the money off the very expensive ink cartridges. AND they tell the buyer that the printers warranty is void the moment they use any other brand of ink. So, one really has to do the research that another brand can successfully be used. As one is on their own after they put in generic or cheaper brands of inks.

 

[MillauFr]

Yes, I think it's called after market sales. The manufacturers sell the printers so cheap, hooking the buyer in, then making the rest of the money off the very expensive ink cartridges. AND they tell the buyer that the printers warranty is void the moment they use any other brand of ink. So, one really has to do the research that another brand can successfully be used. As one is on their own after they put in generic or cheaper brands of inks.

Why would you need a warranty on a $50 printer? If it breaks just throw it and buy another one.

 

[unrequited23]

For our needs, we went with a black only laser printer with a scanner. Since we need to print in color so infrequently, we send the jobs we need to the local library that's 5 mins from our house. It's $.25/page.

 

[_19disnA]

I bought a B&W laser printer a few years ago to replace my older color inkjet printer and have been very pleased. As others mentioned, if you don't frequently use your inkjet printer, it tends to clog. Laser printer uses a dry ink powder (looks like very fine powder sugar) and doesn't clog even if you only print infrequently. I gave up on color printing at home since the pricey inks just aren't worth it and the quality was never very good. Many online print sites if you want to print color photos that are far more economical. I have no need for color on any type of printed documents. Mine prints on both sides of the page which is a good feature. No idea of the speed, but honestly, unless you are printing hundreds of pages it doesn't matter. Just queue up your print job and go do something else while it prints. How long it takes to print has never been an issue for me.

Occasionally, some sort of PC software update seems to mess up the printer. Usually I just reload the printer software and everything works fine again. My printer is supposedly wireless, but have never gotten that to work, so I just use the USB cable when printing. Printer setup give some cryptic error message that is useless when trying to get wireless to work so I just gave up on that.

Warranty on any type of printer is a waste of money. Whatever standard warranty comes with any product is all you really need. Stores always want to push these add-ons as a money maker for them. When I went to buy some other product they kept pushing the warranty. I finally told them if the product was of such poor quality that I needed a warranty, I wasn't going to buy it. They stopped pushing the warranty at that point.................LOL.