a3 printer and scanner All-in-one

[ik9000]

Having real trouble finding an all-in-one printer and scanner for home office use. Can anyone recommend one, or a place that has done a group test. Manufacturers' own sites search functions are useless, and google keeps pumping out either A3 printers, or A4 all-in-ones, but NOT A3 all-in-ones.

Needs to be suitable for home/small office use.

A4 duplex print (ideally)
A3 single side print
A3 scan (native, no stitching)
A3 colour photocopy function
preferably a mutli-sheet feeder for copy/scan

Good diagram print and scan quality
average or better photo print quality
good text print quality

A3 and A4 paper trays

Best we have found is Epson workforce WF-7525, but it has the amazing design flaw that you can't tell it which tray to use when you photocopy, so it will only print using the top paper feed, irrespective of size.

[Funkstar]

I'd recommend Brother, every time.

http://www.brother.co.uk/g3v1/g3.cfm...product_tool/1

Not cheap, but does everything you want. And street price seems to be more like £250.

They also do colour lasers that look more like photocopiers.

I have an old Brother MFC that I picked up ex-display in Tesco about 5 years ago. It just keeps going and going. No idea how many thousands of scanned pages it's done. Not a vast amount of printing, but it is used regularly by the family. The software isn't the most cutting edge, but it works reliably and isn't a massive hog or pain in the arse like some I've used. I only use 3rd party ink in it and haven't found any issues, ink is usually about £1 per cartridge.

I wouldn't hesitate getting another Brother, in fact the one I linked above would be very handy in our house at times. I can see a reason to have an A3 printer and scanner at times.

[ik9000]

yeah we looked at brother, but the Epson seems to get better reviews online. Supposed to have much better print quality. We just ordered one to pick up later in the week. Not much of a cost difference. Epson offering £50 cashback on purchases from PCWorld which makes the Epson £220. Bargain!

[Funkstar]

Print quality isn't Brothers strong point, but I do think they focus on reliability more than others.

That being said, it depends on what your expectations are on print quality. I have to admit that mine are not high for this kind of device, but they few times I have loaded it up with Fuji photo paper and set it to it's highest quality, it's performed well enough for me to be surprised each time. I'm sure others would pick holes, but if I want really good quality photo prints, I get a professional outfit to do them for me.

[ik9000]

not worried about photo printing with this - it's office use and graphic (scale lineweight) work that matters. Need to be able to print + rescan without losing definition.

[ik9000]

woo-hoo. It's here. And it says it can do photo printing (obviously) and has all sorts of built-in photo editing functions etc etc. It only uses c-y-m-b cartridges, so won't be amazing colour reproduction, but should be fine for our immediate needs. And if we find we need more photo quality we can pick up a cheap A4 photo printer far more easily than an A4 all-in-one machine or A3 photo grade all-in-one (which I don't even think exist SFAIK)

[Saracen]

I'm not aware of any A3 all-in-ones, but then, I haven't looked recently. I use separates. Epson GT-12000 (IIRC) for A3 flatbed scanning (but no sheet feeder), HP 5590 (IIRC) for A4 sheet-feeding, and duplex scanning, Epson V700 for photos, a couple of other oldish but decent flatbeds, three film scanners, Epson A2, A3 and A4 photo Inkjets, Olympus A4 dye-sub, Alps A4 microdry (3 of them) .... and various lasers, mainly HP, and Brother.

Seeing as it's all in a home office, I OUGHT to look at all-in-one, I guess.

[ik9000]

then try this link: http://www.epson.co.uk/gb/en/viewcon.../support/11172

available here: http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/printe...84628-pdt.html

[Saracen]

Not noticed that, before. Thanks.

Most of my inkjets are photo grade, though, not business. I could do with reclaiming some office space, but it'd be nice to replace a venerable old Epson Stylus Pro 900, a perfectly functional but elderly (and SCSI) A4 flatbed, and a mono laser. But I think if I was to do it, I'd go MF but colour laser. I just don't like what it'd cost, come cartridge replacement time. Or the up-front cost for that matter.

Besides, the old stuff's worth next to nothing, and I hate ditching gear that works. If it packs up, though ....

[ik9000]

Not noticed that, before. Thanks.

Most of my inkjets are photo grade, though, not business. I could do with reclaiming some office space, but it'd be nice to replace a venerable old Epson Stylus Pro 900, a perfectly functional but elderly (and SCSI) A4 flatbed, and a mono laser. But I think if I was to do it, I'd go MF but colour laser. I just don't like what it'd cost, come cartridge replacement time. Or the up-front cost for that matter.

Besides, the old stuff's worth next to nothing, and I hate ditching gear that works. If it packs up, though ....

Well if either of us win the lottery we can each help the other with that dream photo studio

[Saracen]

Well if either of us win the lottery we can each help the other with that dream photo studio

Sounds like a good idea .... even if I did go just half a tad off-topic with that post.

[ik9000]

Sounds like a good idea .... even if I did go just half a tad off-topic with that post.

no worries, as the OP I can safely say this thread is kind of moot - it's here and sat in our house running away as we speak/type. Can't get the TWAIN scan to work over wifi though. It will scan to a memory card, but not scan to the PC, nor does the PC detect the scanner. It will print just fine, and they ping each other merrily. GRRR

[Saracen]

no worries, as the OP I can safely say this thread is kind of moot - it's here and sat in our house running away as we speak/type. Can't get the TWAIN scan to work over wifi though. It will scan to a memory card, but not scan to the PC, nor does the PC detect the scanner. It will print just fine, and they ping each other merrily. GRRR

I meant the ring thread with the dream studio stuff, though.

As for Twain, it does seem to have a mind of it's own. Good luck.

[ik9000]

solved it. If anyone else is struggling update the firmware when it offers during install. Or if you opted not to like I did, go and do it. Your life will be much simpler for it and the bundled software will spring to life.

[Saracen]

Glad you sorted it.

[ik9000]

you doing the night shift too?