New Printer... Which One?

[melbat]

I need to buy a new printer but to be honest I'm sick of paying way over the top for ink cartridge that only last 5 mins. I know the printers are produced cheap and they get their money back by selling ink.. but I still think it's a rip off. So which printer is best to buy where I can refill myself or at least use c**y cartridge's. I know the manufacturers now control the printer with software so it's getting more difficult to use c**y or refill.. but I hope there is still a printer out there that can use refill or c**y.

[basjke]

Canon,brother and epson,and probably some more brands can be fitted with those ink tanks for about 1000 baht included 1 filling and can be refilled any time.Stay away as far as possible from any lexmark product.

[silverhawk_usa]

I can understand your frustration for sure. I have a relatively new Canon Pixma ip4500. Overall a very nice printer. Yesterday I bought a set of ink cartridges, 3,050 baht.

[basjke]

I can understand your frustration for sure. I have a relatively new Canon Pixma ip4500. Overall a very nice printer. Yesterday I bought a set of ink cartridges, 3,050 baht.

Why you don't fit it with those ink tanks,can be done on a canon pixma.Job can be done for 1000 baht at any IT centre with full tanks.

[lopburi3]

Because the ink sucks? Photo print hung on wall will be white paper in six months. For low volume home use I am willing to pay the premium for better quality ink. For high volume of course I would not - but then I might choise something other than an ink jet printer.

[Pez]

You may wish to consider a different approach to printing - if most of the stuff is taken for info from the NET ie pages why not consider a B&W Laser printer 3000Bht 1000's of pages per cart. Plenty of brands on offer. Cannon and HP use the same engine but different software. I have a Cannon worked fine for 2 years.

For colour prints again Lasers can now produce very good quality prints on common photo copy paper, there is no evidence of strips or lines I have a Cannon 5100 Colour Laser - very fast. The consumables are expensive but last a long time depends on what you print. You can save 1000Bht by buying the cards in Pan-tip Plaza. There are more basic models that tend to be slower and lack 2 sided function. I did try some dedicated laser print paper but concluded bog standard print paper was better ie 90g circa 100+g - plain paper is the best.

For the ultimate colour printing try the Cannon P9000/9500 - A3 size 100year ink but 8 Cart I think 9 in the 9500 each one 550Bht. But it is the ultimate in colour printing.

Cheers

[Gary A]

I have a Canon i70. The printer must not be very popular because I always had to order ink tanks. I ran out the black ink tank and needed to print some documents. I went ahead and bought a refill kit. It appeared to work great and I printed my documents. The next time I wanted to use the printer, it gave me a fault and wouldn't work. The local computer shop told me I needed a new 2,500 baht print head. I went ahead and paid 2,500 baht for a new HP F 4280 all in one printer. I'm satisfied to pay the 500 baht for a new ink cartridge simply to avoid the hassle. I don't use the printer a lot so the original cartridge lasted a year.

[Digitalbanana]

I have a newish HP F4200 printer in office. It was cheap but the ink refills cost about 1300B a time and prints only about 30 pages before needing more ink as the cartridges are so small. A joke really. Glad I wasn't the one who authorized its purchase! I will never buy an HP printer.

[Beacher]

I agree with the opinion that says you should decide if you really need a color printer. I got tired of wasting ink and money with unreliable ink jet printers, which I think describes them all, so I bought a cheap B&W laser printer a couple of years ago for about 2200 baht. It came with a half-full cartridge that is just now staring to fade and will require refilling soon. Unlike ink jet printers, I can leave it sitting unused for weeks or even months, and it will work perfectly first and all copies. About the only thing I really need color for is photos, and there are enough shops that can do those cheaply. I would never go back to an ink jet printer at home.

[Lost in LOS]

i have a brother mfc-290c has scanner, printer etc. i fitted the bulk ink set up and it works like a champ. good color and ink cheap. fixed all the problems i had before.

[Jimmyd]

I have the canon ix4000 with ink tanks. My prints have been on my wall for a year now, no fading yet.

[JUDAS]

Yesterday I bought a Canon Pixma MP145 with ink tanks fitted for 2690 Baht. Also bought 2x100ml black ink refills at 90 Baht each. I won't be using this printer for photos etc, purely for printing B&W rental agreement documents. Tried it out last night by printing off around 300 double sided A4 pages and estimate the black ink use at about 30 Baht.

[hansnl]

I need to buy a new printer but to be honest I'm sick of paying way over the top for ink cartridge that only last 5 mins. I know the printers are produced cheap and they get their money back by selling ink.. but I still think it's a rip off. So which printer is best to buy where I can refill myself or at least use c**y cartridge's. I know the manufacturers now control the printer with software so it's getting more difficult to use c**y or refill.. but I hope there is still a printer out there that can use refill or c**y.

Depends on what quality you want to print

Reasonable to good; Brother with Inkman inktanks, not expensive and problemfree.

Good to better: Canon, Inkman ink tanks very much possible. even foto's if not hung on the wall.

6-tank configuration gives splendid results, for foto's

Brother with Innobella cartridges.

Better to best: Canon with original cartridges, 6-tank configuration.

Mind: the inktanks and refills for the cartridges make certain thet the ink you buy is geared for the printer you use.

It must say so on the bottles!

HP nice to prime results, however, very expensive expendables, tanks are always including printheads.nozzles

Canon printhead, from most printers, can be changed

Epson has hard/software in the printer that makes refill or tanks ratehr problematic.

Although that function can be switched off.

Lexmark is a very good printer, fantastic results, but impossibly expensive to run and nearly impossible to modify.

I use Brother all the time, the service is fantastic, the printers are cheap, the printing results are reasonable.

With inktanks the printers go on and go on.

I use canon for foto's and A3 prints.

However just bought a Brother MFC A3 scanner/printer/fax.

Not really cheap, 9500 Baht, very big, but wireless and wired network, USB, it is all there.

Not yet changed to inktanks, but the results are on par with Canon.

If you have no need for Quality Everlasting fotoprinting, go for Brother.

Can always make another copy of the same picture.

[Gary A]

I have a newish HP F4200 printer in office. It was cheap but the ink refills cost about 1300B a time and prints only about 30 pages before needing more ink as the cartridges are so small. A joke really. Glad I wasn't the one who authorized its purchase! I will never buy an HP printer.

I have no idea what you are printing. The black cartridge says on the box that it will print about 200 pages. I would guess, judging from experience, that is a conservative number. The cost of just the black cartridge is about 500 baht.

[tominbkk]

I have the Brother HL-2140, actually have bought two of them for the house. Work great, long lasting cartridges, no problems in their use over the past year. About 3200 Baht. Highly recommended!

[melbat]

I need to buy a new printer but to be honest I'm sick of paying way over the top for ink cartridge that only last 5 mins. I know the printers are produced cheap and they get their money back by selling ink.. but I still think it's a rip off. So which printer is best to buy where I can refill myself or at least use c**y cartridge's. I know the manufacturers now control the printer with software so it's getting more difficult to use c**y or refill.. but I hope there is still a printer out there that can use refill or c**y.

Thanks everyone for your contributions to my question. I have bought today a Brother DCP 165C. Cost 3700 baht inc ink refill system fitted and working. I hope all works out well. Thanks again... Best wishes from Phuket