edcayton Posted November 30, 2012 Share Posted November 30, 2012 I have a Canon Pixma printer/scanner/copier which is really excellent. I've had it nearly 3 years now and the inks are running low. To buy new inks will cost anything up to £40 depending on where and whether I buy genuine or "re-manufactured" cartridges. I can buy a new printer with guarantee etc for £30-40. Is this the no-brainer it seems? Any thoughts? Ed Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold 30801 Posted November 30, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 30, 2012 That new £30-£40 printer will only have about 5ml of ink in it so you'll very quickly be facing the same dilema. If you're happy with the Cannon stick with it. Otherwise look at the cost of ink before shelling out on a new printer. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Joseph_Pestell Posted November 30, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 30, 2012 It's all about the price of cartridges. The "cheap" printers usually have the most expensive cartridges. Only reason to take the course you are suggesting is if you print very little. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Joseph_Pestell Posted November 30, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 30, 2012 PS: If you decide to chuck out the Canon, see what you may be able to find by way of useful bits inside e.g. 12v motor. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Belgian Posted November 30, 2012 Share Posted November 30, 2012 Keep the printer but get cheap 'compatible' cartridges. I've had Epsom printers for years working on cartridges which currently cost approx 64pence each. There are thousands of them on e-bay. Don't believe the printer manufacturers' blurb that says you must use their own brand ones - that's just the biggest con out. JE Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewC Posted November 30, 2012 Share Posted November 30, 2012 Then again you could always look at converting the printer to a continuous ink system. http://www.cityinkexpress.co.uk/blog/post/Canon-Pixma-IP4850-Ciss-continuous-ink-system-video.aspx Looks like there are a few versions out there for that model. Google is your friend. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ohmisterporter Posted November 30, 2012 Share Posted November 30, 2012 I have also been using HP compatible cartridges for some years now. But when I fitted the latest ones the language in the print section of my computer changed from English to Spanish! I don't know how to change it back, so I bought a cheap Spanish dictionary at a car boot sale and refer to that if I get stuck. The main thing is my printer is still working. with inks at a quarter of the HP price. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Brinkly Posted November 30, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 30, 2012 It’s a regular dilemma that I have! I have a HP photo 3-in-1 printer, which cost about £30 for a set of ink cartages. I just bite the bullet and pay the prince. Usually it is on offer and I just shop around. (Although I must confess to using the colour photocopier every so often, although I always put some pennies in the honesty pot.) When I had my track plan blown up to A1 the copy shop charge £0.10 for a colour A4 document, which I didn't think was too bad, I don't know if my printer can print for that price. Regards, Nick Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzie Posted November 30, 2012 Share Posted November 30, 2012 If you are happy with the printer and it does a good job, buy the ink and keep going. If you are happy but the printing cost is uneconomical try some alternative cheaper sources of ink. It may well be fine. If looking at a new printer examine the running costs before you start. they all tend to be pretty expensive to run and they only come with partly filled cartridges. You can get caught out . When I bought my shiny new £400 colour duplex laser printer I checked to cost of replacement ink, about £200 for a full set that should last me a year, a year later I went to buy some and it is now £400! A jolly nice printer, get one free with every pack of ink! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
R A Watson Posted November 30, 2012 Share Posted November 30, 2012 A long time ago I bought a printer specifically because it uses seperate ink tanks and a single print head so you only have to pay for the ink each time and not workings. After about five years the print head seized up so I asked the I T chap the firm retains if he could get me a new print head, but he could not and I bought another cheap printer which uses the same ink tanks as I still had stocks which I was loath to throw away. One day on the Internet I found a firm who stocked the print heads for the old machine which I duly purchased and resurected the old (and in my opinion better) machine. The newer printer was then sold on (less inks) to another member of the club for slightly more than it cost me and helped to cover the cost of repairing the old one. Moral of the story - think before you leap - there is probably a better way out in the long run. Wally Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady_Ava_Hay Posted November 30, 2012 Share Posted November 30, 2012 Funny to relate I have just changed my printer mainly to get the Wifi connection. The old one is still going and I have regularly replaced the cartridges which I bought, in bulk, at 2006 Dortmund Model Show which ran concurrent with a Computer show in an adjacent hall. I paid 3 Euros per pack of six cartridges!!!! I invested about a year ago in a pack from a supplier here and paid £25 delivered. I have just dug into it for Yellow and Light Magenta. The new printer is Epson as was the last one and the new one, apart from the WiFi is also a three in one as well. What was equally impressive was the supplier, Staples. I ordered at 5:10pm online and received the printer at 10:00 am the following morning. The only thing you have to watch with Staples is that their prices online DON'T include VAT. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debs. Posted November 30, 2012 Share Posted November 30, 2012 Then again you could always look at converting the printer to a continuous ink system. http://www.cityinkex...stem-video.aspx Looks like there are a few versions out there for that model. Google is your friend. I`m running one of their 4-ink units on my Epson printer; easy to install and producing excellent quality prints and the ink-tanks are reassuringly huge (and full)! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JZ Posted December 2, 2012 Share Posted December 2, 2012 I had an HP printer. At the time I bought it, replacement cartridges could be bought for under £20 per pair. Roll on to earlier this year and HP cartridges would have been over £60 per pair and even remanufactured ones were around £30. I now have a Kodak. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DDolfelin Posted December 2, 2012 Share Posted December 2, 2012 I've yet to find 'replacement' cartridges which are as dense as the originals on my HP. For those that use bottled replacement ink I strongly recommend they be kept in a dark place. A bottle of black I inadvertently left out in normal room lighting 4 months ago is now brown. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium petethemole Posted December 2, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 2, 2012 It doesn't help that these "cheap" printers are (in my experience of 3 brands) set up to draw ink from the colour cartridge when printing black and greyscale, thereby increasing consumption so you buy more of their overpriced ink (they hope). Remembering to re-set the preferences every time is the problem. If I change the default setting (is it possible?) I'll forget when I print colour! Pete Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BG John Posted December 2, 2012 Share Posted December 2, 2012 It doesn't help that these "cheap" printers are (in my experience of 3 brands) set up to draw ink from the colour cartridge when printing black and greyscale, thereby increasing consumption so you buy more of their overpriced ink (they hope). Remembering to re-set the preferences every time is the problem. If I change the default setting (is it possible?) I'll forget when I print colour! Pete I print everything on my monochrome laser printer, unless I really want colour. It's quite cheap to keep going by refilling the toner cartridge. The only problem is that the inkjet sometimes plays up due to lack of use! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium kevinlms Posted December 2, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 2, 2012 If looking at a new printer examine the running costs before you start. they all tend to be pretty expensive to run and they only come with partly filled cartridges. You can get caught out . When I bought my shiny new £400 colour duplex laser printer I checked to cost of replacement ink, about £200 for a full set that should last me a year, a year later I went to buy some and it is now £400! A jolly nice printer, get one free with every pack of ink! Apparently the 'half filled cartridges' syndrome still applies to top of the range printers. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DDolfelin Posted December 2, 2012 Share Posted December 2, 2012 "the inkjet sometimes plays up due to lack of use!" I'm told that HP are the best in those circumstances. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BG John Posted December 2, 2012 Share Posted December 2, 2012 "the inkjet sometimes plays up due to lack of use!" I'm told that HP are the best in those circumstances. Yup. My HP is quite good at playing up! Last time I went through the cleaning cycle several times, but the test prints still had missing colours. In the end I gave up and just tried printing something, and it worked fine Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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