Help me choose a printer!!

[SilentDeath]

Im after a new printer. Im most interested in cost, reliability and print quality, so that means no epsons!

What are cannons like? Ive heard a few good things about them (mostly the ink is cheap and good print quality), and the IT bloke @ work thinks they make the best inkjets.

Currently Ive got a epson 600, which is now b0rked after several years of crappy printing, for some reson when it prints, no ink comes out atall.

I also have a lexmark which are incredibly costly to run, with the cartridges costing about £20 each,however my mum is the only one that uses it (we get shouted at if we go near it) and she claims back the ink cost for that. Apart from cost, and a few issues with the software (when trying to get the printer shared) im quite impressed with the lexmark.

I suppose niose is also an issue, as my dad can choose some resonably inconsiderate times to print, i.e when im asleep.

We dont print much so Id like to keep the cost low, not more than £80 for the printer itself if possible.

[ajbrun]

I got a canon MP360 about a month ago, for a little over £80 (£86.99 inc delivery). The cartridges are very cheap, although I haven't brought any yet. See the 2 links below for the price of ink and more info on the printer.

As far as I can see, there are only 2 things wrong with this printer:

1. It's quite noisy
2. It take a while before it decides to print, but when it does, it goes quite fast

I should also point out that this is a multifunctional printer, and therefore you'll get a scanner too .

Canon MP360

Cheap Ink

You'll also need to buy a USB 2.0 cable as well.

[Rabs]

Epson R200, 6 ink tanks so top notch photos - currently £99.99 list price at Argos - price at till £84.99 (check this at the till before saying yes)

http://www.ukdvdr.co.uk for inks for it dirt cheap...

[Kumagoro]

I have a MP360 too and im annoyed by how much the ink costs... ok it maybe cheap but there isnt much in it, i have to change them all the time even though they are always on draft. In a PC format review of printers it came out worst for cost per print. the 850i uses different carts i think which work out cheaper it seems. stay away from bci 24 ones.

[ajbrun]

OK, as I said above, I haven't had to change to cartridges yet, but that's only because I don't use it much. The cartridges don't look too big, so you're probably right about the fact you need to change them often, but since you can get both a black and a colour for just over £10 I'm not complaining.

[Flibb]

I have a Canon IP400 and its great. Combines photo quality and is a good text only printer. Includes duplexer and CD print facility. Has replaceable print head so if you need to save money you can use 3rd party inks without the worry if having to chuck the printer if the head blocks. Out of the people I know using Epsom's with 3rd party inks only one hasn't had head failure, 3 people have binned their printers. I have recently used epson, canon and HP printers recently. Out of them all the HP was the best but the ink just cost a fortune so went canon with a very old laser for bulk text jobs, might even dump that as the canon is that good with the duples facility.

[dpm]

I'm also a fan of the Canon ip4000 - cd printing is great, and its a fair bit quieter than I'm used to.

If you don't want to go above £80, then I've heard good reviews of the Epson r200, but not got to try it out myself. I do know that you can get cheap clone cartridges for it, but epsons can be funny about clones - the heads get clogged up a lot

[Howard]

I have a Canon i850... Superb bit of machinery. Discontinued now But the newer ones are all as good. Hehe

[SilentDeath]

what about this?
http://www.lowestonweb.com/Products/...D-7A618A21AC8D
cannon pixma1500
Out of stock atm, and I dunno which cartridges it takes...

[weebroonieuk]

i helped releive the stock of those pixma's from there , its great

honestly though its a really good printer makes printable cd's and dvd's look like the real thing ! and printing pages looks great and its really fast
and is probably the best looking printer out especially when u fold the trays in so theyre all hidden !

[SilentDeath]

Not really bothered about cd printing. What cartides does it take and how much are they?

[weebroonieuk]

i dunno mate only had it 2 weeks but printed of a pile of cds and quite a few a4 sheets and seems basically what it was although i havent used it on its highest qualitys as the normal quality is very good !

remember it uses 1 pico drops or something like that when other printers use 2 which means better resolution and id say probably a bit more efficient with its ink
its a 5 cartridge system u load into it i cant see them being too expensive and for the price to spec ratio its a great priner , i spent around a month looking at various all roound printers and this one got great reviews everywhere
plus it looks great

[Byron]

I've recently bought a Epson CX3200 all-in-one (scanner, printer and photocopier...) really satisfied with it, good prints and all... for just 65£ Worth to have a look at it if you haven't been put off by your Epson already

[ed^chigliak]

I use printrite branded cartridges on 3 canon printers which cost just under £2 each. Print head stoped working on the oldest of the three priners but I got almost 3 years use before this happened. The print head replacement was quite expensive but it's fixed good as new again. Just recently tried some other brand of compatible ink and finding I need to run nozzle cleaning and deep cleaning cycles more often. Gone back to printrite brand of cheap ink. Printers are in constant use Mon-Fri so I don't know if you are more likely to get blocked nozzles with low usage. The black ink cartridges are quite large and lasts a good while - colour are about half the size but you replace each colour seperately so ink is not waste.

[weebroonieuk]

how much are the official cannon ones i think to keep things nice an working the way they are i will stick with the original stuff

[SilentDeath]

ebuyer have em for £5 each, and clarks stationers is £7 that way you save £5 on postage

my dads just went out to buy the £25 lexmark