Hi,

I'm looking for an inkjet printer. Ideally with wireless network connectivity, but not an absolute necessity.

Budget £50 or very close to it. What can you recommend?

Get an Epson RX420 / RX425 / RX520 off E-Bay around £40 second hand.(Share all the same 4 colour inks).

The printers are all the 3 in one type printer (not wireless type).

Had a new RX 520 3 years ago never lets me down.

Compatible inks used, E-Bay, 24 inks for about £10/ £11 but worth a shop around.

I use both type printers with my Apple iMac and Windows XP without any problems of any kind.

Worthwhile checking how much compatible inks are from E-Bay before you buy your printer, the makers inks are

not cheap, and can be as economical to buy the whole new printer with inks already fitted, as opposed to just buying a new set of inks.

Had a Canon MP510 which had a less quality photo reproduction, than the Epson, when comparing the DPi thingy.

Only trouble was, for a while original inks cost a bomb to replace, until E-Bay sellers came up with the chip already fitted to compatible ink cartridge at more

than half the price of originals.

Edited 15 March, 201115 yr by giandougl

In-laws got a HP one with wireless for £35 from Tesco. Sure I've seen the same one in Staples for same price.

Depends what you're after - for quality Canon's usually come out best and the two I've had have been great at things like photos

PC World have 2 Epson models on special at the moment the SX425W and the SX515W both £59.99. The 425 can connect with USB or WiFi and has a 1200dpi scanner and a camera card reader. The 515 can connect via USB WiFi or wired ethernet (10/100), has a 2400dpi scanner and camera card reader (slightly bigger display than the 425). As well as a full set of ink the 515 has a USB cable and pack of photo paper in the box (425 just has the ink). The 425 can take 2 sizes/prices of ink and the 515 just one size of ink. Print quality on both is the same.

How do I know all this? I have been selling printers for Epson in PC World shops for the last 6 months. For the price there are not many other manufacturers that can beat this. I would ignore the Kodak/Advent ink saving claims unless all of your colours run out at exactly the same time, every time. Yellow runs out in a Kodak, costs £12.99 to replace (and you throw out ink you have paid for but not used), yellow runs out on the Epson 425 costs you £7.99 and you keep the other colours you have paid for.

If it was my money I would get the SX515W unless you must have AirPrint functionality for iOS 4 devices (iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch) then you need to buy a HP.

In my experience of printers in this sort of price range, the 6-colour (Claria) Epsons are capable of the best print quality but are the most expensive to run. For general use (i.e. not mainly printing photos) I'd probably recommend one of the mid-range HPs with individual cartridges. Canons are OK print quality and price-wise, but the ones I've known have been a bit flimsy and unreliable. Steer clear of anything to do with Lexmark (which may include some of the Kodak and Xerox branded inkjets, I believe).

Just checked reviews if the sx515w and there are a lot of people who have had problems with them. Think I'll steer clear.

Sainsburys are doing a few HP Print scan Copy for sub£30 , also a wirlessHP version for sub £45 , IF YOU WANT TO CHECJK THEM OUT .

I just got the HP Deskjet 3050 printer fron Tesco for £39.97. Got wireless built in and is easy to setup

In my experience of printers in this sort of price range, the 6-colour (Claria) Epsons are capable of the best print quality but are the most expensive to run. For general use (i.e. not mainly printing photos) I'd probably recommend one of the mid-range HPs with individual cartridges. Canons are OK print quality and price-wise, but the ones I've known have been a bit flimsy and unreliable. Steer clear of anything to do with Lexmark (which may include some of the Kodak and Xerox branded inkjets, I believe).

Agree avoid Lexmark, I believe they can also come badged as "Dell".

Epson are noisy, Cannon are flimsy, if you can afford it, go for a HP, I have been really happy with my last 2 HP printers, and not very happy with the Cannon and Epson printers I had before that.

Just checked reviews if the sx515w and there are a lot of people who have had problems with them. Think I'll steer clear.

Tech radar 4.5 out of 5 stars, user reviews 8.9 out of 10 (346 reviews)

http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/peripherals/printers-and-scanners/multi-function-mfd-/epson-stylus-sx515w-701256/review

Epson reviews 4.2 out of 5 stars from 409 reviews

http://reviews.epson.co.uk/8319-en_gb/prod2036309/epson-stylus-sx515w-reviews/reviews.htm?sort=rating&dir=asc

PC Pro 5 out of 6 stars

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/printers/350698/epson-stylus-sx515w

Trusted reviews 9 out of 10

http://www.trustedreviews.com/printers/review/2009/06/05/Epson-Stylus-SX515W---Wireless-All-In-One-Printer/p1

Ciao 4.5 out of 5 stars for user reviews

http://www.ciao.co.uk/Reviews/Epson_SX515W__7233856

Ciao 4.5 out of 5 stars for expert reviews

http://www.ciao.co.uk/ExpertReviews/Epson_SX515W__7233856

As with most things it really does depend how you look at things. If you read all the issues people on car forums report with their cars you would think there are not many good vehicles out there. Just bear in mind people who have had problems are more likely to post reviews than those who have not and all of the above sites are rating the printer at close to 90% satisfaction from close to 800 users.

I am not saying it is a perfect printer but it seems for the price most people are OK with it. If you want another perspective ask at the tech guys desk in any PC World which printers they see returned and replaced the most.

TBH we find it a lot cheaper over time to only have a cheap mono laser printer.

Photos cost too much to do at home, and inkjet ink is soo expensive (almost as dear as petrol ;-)).

You can get a mono laser for not much more than £50. Toner is expensive but you don't buy it very often.

http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/18532617/Samsung-ML-1665W-A4-Mono-Laser-Wireless-Printer-Ref-ML-1665W-SEE/Product.html?_%24ja=tsid:11518|cat:18532617|prd:18532617

TBH we find it a lot cheaper over time to only have a cheap mono laser printer.

Photos cost too much to do at home, and inkjet ink is soo expensive (almost as dear as petrol ;-)).

You can get a mono laser for not much more than £50. Toner is expensive but you don't buy it very often.

http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/18532617/Samsung-ML-1665W-A4-Mono-Laser-Wireless-Printer-Ref-ML-1665W-SEE/Product.html?_%24ja=tsid:11518|cat:18532617|prd:18532617

Would totally agree - I changed to laser (mono) about 6 years ago and only had to put new toner cart in last year after something in excess of 6000 pages on original.

So impressed went out and bought a colour laser about 3 yrs ago and still on original toner packs.

Now looking for a decent MFP laser machine!

Having said all that still have a A3 mono Cannon inkjet thats 17yrs old and still works ok.

Then again I still have a PC (CPM) of 1985 vintage - hand built with Cmos chips, serial interfaces 10mb Hard disc and 5 1/4 " floppies that still trundles along

Also have some 8" floppy disks somewhere

All good stuff

My parents have a colour laser printer, running costs in the few years they have used are a lot less than the previous inkjet printer. I think they have so far bought one toner of each colour since new, and this printer is quiet heavily used for photo printing.

Whatever you get try these guys for ink ...never had any problem with the "compatable" cartridges and they are much cheaper than makers own

Budget £50 or very close to it. What can you recommend?

All much of a muchness. Buy cheapest and make sure you can get cheap ink for it - whichever make you buy, there's a very high chance of it dying fairly soon out of warranty so bank on buying another one in a year and if you get lucky and don't have to, bonus.

If you're looking to print photos, wouldn't bother with an inkjet - you can get a lot professionally printed for the £50 you'd spend on a printer, and the quality/durability of the professional prints will be far better.