Hi good old Soviet here,

I would like to pick some of the brains of the tech shed men, as my son is wanting a printer as a present for Christmas. I want it to be an 'all in one', and capable of printing decent photographs, preferably direct from the memory card. The print cartridges also need to be reasonably priced.

My budget would be about £70 max. Would any Briskolian know of something decent and reliable for junior Soviet.

Thank you

Soviet(we launched sputnik)

Canon Pixma Mp220 22ppm A4 Photo Print, Scan, Copy, Direct Camera And Memory Card Direct Printing With Lcd Display. Features New Quick Start And Auto Image Fix Technology. - Ebuyer

I got an Epson R300 a few years back which is primarily a photo printer, but is still capable of printing monochrome pages. You can get oem-quality inks online so running costs aren't really very high.

Saying that, I recently bought myself an HP2500n for the princely sum of £26. It's an all-in-one laser printer and while photo's aren't as good as from the inkjet, it is much more of a work horse printer and handles normal documents like Word, PDF's, etc much more competently. I bought it off eBay from a company in Reading that sells on ex-lease stock in as-new condition to the public.

Chris

Canon Pixma Mp220 22ppm A4 Photo Print, Scan, Copy, Direct Camera And Memory Card Direct Printing With Lcd Display. Features New Quick Start And Auto Image Fix Technology. - Ebuyer

Hi,

Thanks mate, we use cannon ones at work, and I think that they are quite good and reliable.

Come to think of it my own All in one needs replacing, as I am fed up with fighting with it to get it to work properly, and also it is expensive and heavy with the ink. It is a Lexmark X5150 and it has always been absolute rubbish from day one. I feel like beating it with a birch twig like the famous John Cleese sketch with the Morris Minor. I sware at it in my sort of language.

I may buy two at the same time, and see if I can knock money off of them.

many thanks

Soviet:thumbup: :thumbup:

I got an Epson R300 a few years back which is primarily a photo printer, but is still capable of printing monochrome pages. You can get oem-quality inks online so running costs aren't really very high.

Saying that, I recently bought myself an HP2500n for the princely sum of £26. It's an all-in-one laser printer and while photo's aren't as good as from the inkjet, it is much more of a work horse printer and handles normal documents like Word, PDF's, etc much more competently. I bought it off eBay from a company in Reading that sells on ex-lease stock in as-new condition to the public.

Chris

Hi Chris, and thanks,

I started off with an Epson before the dreaded Lexmark heaps of crap. I recall it was quite good and reliable, but was an early model which just did the printing , and none of the all in one.

I can undrstand you having a laser one also, as your work horse, and I may do this as well. For £26 that is sounding like a give away.

Thanks for you help and I will bear this one in mind.

Soviet.

A definite to look out for (as you stated / hinted) is the cost of the cartridges.

I bought a similar one to Scooby (but the R200). To replace all 6 cartridges (Epson branded would be in the region of £60) - I get them for around £1.10 each.

BigPockets.co.uk: (BOGOF) Epson R200 / R220 / R300 / R320 / R340 / RX500 / RX600 / RX620 Ink Bundle (12 Cartridges In Total) £12.99 - Blank Media - Gadgets - Ink Cartridges - Free Delivery

These

SVP Communications HOME > Ink, Paper & Office > Ink & Toner Cartridges > Epson Ink

sometimes do the replacement cartridges very cheap - if not they do Jetec for around £3.50 a cartridge.

They also do an ink system - supposed to work out very cheap, but needs fitting - DIY job,

SVP Communications HOME > Ink, Paper & Office > Ink & Toner Cartridges > Epson Ink

CISS System for Epson R200/R300 With Prefilled Ink

Pre-Filled CISS £24.99

Hi good old soviet here,

has any one else used Lexmark machines, and not found them so good?

I find that if I do not use it for several days then either the colour cartridge will lose colours, or black cartridge dries up. I need to keep, doing head cleans, and very often this does not solve the problem.

I am now wanting to do serious damage to it.

Soviet

Lexmark are abysmal and very expensive on inks.

Canons cost a few quid for a set of third party inks and mine and all my friends' ones have been great.

I won't touch Epson as the heads are very prone to clogging if you don't use it for a couple of weeks

The Canon's always get the best reviews but I've had problems with colour rendition and cheaper inks on an i350. I get cartridges from 7dayshop.com which are dead cheap £2 instead of £12 but the colours on photos tend to come out a bit blue and I keep forgetting to change the profile to suit. Worth bearing in mind with any printer!

As and when I replace it I'll go for one of the newer Canons, preferably with multiple ink tanks for the different colours. The fath-in-law has a Pixma MP 600 which seems to be a very good all in one photo quality printer scanner but I think cost him aout £120.

Lexmark are abysmal and very expensive on inks.

Seconded.

Re the Epsons, had a friend who had head clogging problems - but he used his every 3-4 months.

Have had mine several years and no problems - and have not printed for weeks. Several other friends have also had no probs :confused:

Lexmark are abysmal and very expensive on inks.

Canons cost a few quid for a set of third party inks and mine and all my friends' ones have been great.

I won't touch Epson as the heads are very prone to clogging if you don't use it for a couple of weeks

Hi, and thanks again.

You have confirmed my thinking that I am sorry for buying Lexmark. I do like the sound of Canons, as we use them at work, but I think that they are older types. Any ways, most grateful.

Soviet:thumbup: :thumbup:

A definite to look out for (as you stated / hinted) is the cost of the cartridges.

I bought a similar one to Scooby (but the R200). To replace all 6 cartridges (Epson branded would be in the region of £60) - I get them for around £1.10 each.

BigPockets.co.uk: (BOGOF) Epson R200 / R220 / R300 / R320 / R340 / RX500 / RX600 / RX620 Ink Bundle (12 Cartridges In Total) £12.99 - Blank Media - Gadgets - Ink Cartridges - Free Delivery

These

SVP Communications HOME > Ink, Paper & Office > Ink & Toner Cartridges > Epson Ink

sometimes do the replacement cartridges very cheap - if not they do Jetec for around £3.50 a cartridge.

They also do an ink system - supposed to work out very cheap, but needs fitting - DIY job,

SVP Communications HOME > Ink, Paper & Office > Ink & Toner Cartridges > Epson Ink

CISS System for Epson R200/R300 With Prefilled Ink

Pre-Filled CISS £24.99

Hi and many thanks for these links. Soviet is always trying to save money, and do his things the cheapest way.

My Lexmark is more or less a toy one, and is dreadful.

Cheers

Soviet:thumbup: :thumbup:

I won't touch Epson as the heads are very prone to clogging if you don't use it for a couple of weeks

My R300 gets used about every 6 months. Never had any problems with the heads clogging up....

Chris

My R300 gets used about every 6 months. Never had any problems with the heads clogging up....

Chris

Thanks Chris,

Will certainly bear that in mind also, when I am deciding what to go for.

Cheers

Soviet:)

Got a Lexmark P4350 with scanner , gets occasional use in the workshop with no problems, brought that from Staples for around £60.

Got a Lexmark P4350 with scanner , gets occasional use in the workshop with no problems, brought that from Staples for around £60.

And how much will a pair of cartridges cost you?

£50?

And how much will a pair of cartridges cost you?

£50?

Quite possibly

Friend came over from Oman 2 -3 years ago - looked at Lexmark, price very reasonable. On further enquiry he discovered the cartridges in the machine were 'for 1st sale only' (i.e. the ones the manufacturers had installed in the machine) and were only around 20% capacity (forget the exact figure). So, very soon after buying you'd be stung with buying pretty expensive cartridges.

I'd recommend canon and would echo the comments on lexmark. I have an MP780 which is superb and seperate ink tanks. Genuine cartridges are around £7 each so £35 for a full set. I dont do enough printing to bother with aftermarket but I did look a while back and their are very good reviews for ones around £1.50 but you need to be a little careful.

I have not been impressed with HP as of late (used to love them), we have had two machines fail after little use, the ink is extoriniate (after market problematic) and build quality of the cheaper models poor.

No experience of epson or brother both of which I have heared good things about.

I've not got any first hand experience of Lexmark except that most of the Dell all in ones are just rebranded Lexmarks from what I can tell. I keep getting calls from the father in law of a colleague with text scanning issues on it.

My parents have just got a new HP C3180 from Amazon for £40. So far so good, but I know the inks will be pricey when the come to replace them. One a related note I have a HP printer (not sure which one as I'm away from home for a few days) which was in storage for over 6 months and printed without any problems as soon as it was connected back up.

I've always used HP and Canon printers. HP are great for in the office but home use go for a Canon, I've not had any problems with the amount of Canon printers I've sold plus you only have to replace the cartridge thats run out of ink.

I've always used HP and Canon printers. HP are great for in the office but home use go for a Canon, I've not had any problems with the amount of Canon printers I've sold plus you only have to replace the cartridge thats run out of ink.

Hi Matt,

Thank you for the info. and I think that you have now swayed me to wards a Canon, especially as you say, one only needs to replace the spent cartridge.

We do have Canon ones at work, but they are quite old, as my Tel co that I work for is very hard up, and down at heal, so it Say's.

Many thanks again, we are both having one.

Soviet (50 th birthday of Sputnik) :thumbup:

And how much will a pair of cartridges cost you?

£50?

Is that the retail price ? Always shop around, plus I refill mine.