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What printer to buy?


scouserl41

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I'm not sure this is the right place to post this but a search of the forum for Printer didn't bring up anything.

Getting close to going full time and we are going to update our laptop and printer so I was looking for suggestions on a printer that won't take up too much room, is fairly economic on replacement ink cartridges and will resist the bumping and banging it might receive in the Class A.

an All In One is what we're looking for so we can scan papers and pictures along the way.

Any suggestions??

Thanks

Brian and Barbara (BnB)

2009 Monaco Cayman DP 38'

bnbrv.blogspot.com/

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Check out the Epson line. I am using the XP 310 and it does all I need and is wireless. I like the way the ink is handled in Epsons and the quality is fine.

Roy

 

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I have carried an HP deskjet all-in-one since we hit the road in 2005. First one died in a lightning strike. I simply measured the space it had to fit in, then went to the store and measured printers on display until I found one that fit the space.

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We picked up and inexpensive Samsung B&W a few years ago, still working fine.

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We have used a Brother MFC 410 (printer, copier fax) wireless for many years. It is tied into our in coach router/Lan so our multiple computers can access it.

 

Get our ink Cartridges from "Ink Sell" every couple of years and our paper from Costco pretty often.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Dave O

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Personally, I really like my Canon PIXMA. It's a little more spendy, but the print quality is great.. it's very small, lightweight.. ink is easy to find, and with a 12v adapter it very easy on the batteries. One invaluable accessory, which you can pick up a generic on ebay for just a few dollars is the bluetooth adapter.

 

It's extremely travel friendly.

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We had a Lexmark mutli-function and I liked the supporting software over HP a lot.

 

We just replaced it with a Brother multi-function. The supporting software seems to be better than the Lexmark, way better than a HP. Brother gets a lot of features into a smaller space.

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Inexpensive HP 3520 wireless all in one. Works great. Don't need a router. It is loaded on the laptop and I can email it a document from my Nexus and phone or another computer if need be.

Ron & Linda

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I have an HP all in one. It works. Barely. That is the best I can say about it.

 

IF I was buying another ink jet I'd buy a Brother. Read the reviews. And Mark is right, the software is very good. The HP software is crippled, hard to use and obnoxious.

 

Personally, we print so little that I'm considering a laser. I don't care much about color, so a B&W laser would work well for our use. Larger form factor, but impervious to sitting and drying out the ink cartridge.

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...impervious to sitting and drying out the ink cartridge.

 

Excellent point! Or worst case.. dried ink in your print head. If you don't do much printing a $10 USB thumb drive is your friend. It's never difficult to run by a Kinko's, public library, or school for your printing needs.

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I have an HP all in one. It works. Barely. That is the best I can say about it.

 

IF I was buying another ink jet I'd buy a Brother. Read the reviews. And Mark is right, the software is very good. The HP software is crippled, hard to use and obnoxious.

 

Personally, we print so little that I'm considering a laser. I don't care much about color, so a B&W laser would work well for our use. Larger form factor, but impervious to sitting and drying out the ink cartridge.

We had the same problem. We don't print enough to keep the HP jets and cartidges from drying up. Ten years ago, or so, we bought an inexpensive Brother B&W laser, and it's still printing. The Brother has been the best printer we've ever had.

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Good point about the ink drying up.

I've had inkjet printers for years but never had a problem with them.

I have TWO right now a large (11 x 17) photo quality Canon that I use for printing AutoCAD drawings and to print large photo's to use in my artwork, and an Epson all in one that sat for 2 years unused but came back to life no problem as soon as I plugged it in.

I'm just thinking it might be good to replace them both with one new all in one that would last a few years.

I like the Canon because I can go to COSTCO or the local inkjet refill store and get the cartridges for it refilled, and the regular black ink cartridge is a high capacity one.

The Epson is OK but I have to buy new cartridges every time and the black cartridge is the same small size as the rest of them.

I appreciate everyone's input.

BnB

2009 Monaco Cayman DP 38'

bnbrv.blogspot.com/

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Keep in mind that some multi purpose units wont scan unless you have full ink tanks! Or ink tanks with ink in them. Listening Canon?

For the price of ink one can throw the cheap printer out and buy a new one for less than the cost of ink. Cheap ink tanks, non OME, may not have the chip in them so may not work.

 

regards

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I have always preferred laser printers. The first one we bought was the size of a coffee table and cost us $3500 (in 1988). Now they're much smaller and much, much cheaper. I seldom need color but in the office color was not much more money. In the motor home it will be B&W and be wireless-compatible (although there are cheap and easy ways around that, too).

 

One caveat about laser printers is that the toner cartridges seldom have much toner in them; typically 500 pages worth or so. What I would do is seal up the OEM cartridge and replace it with a new fully filled one (5,000 pages) and then use the OEM one as a temporary when the replacement finally runs out of toner.

 

Laser printers use a heat strip so they can draw quite a bit of power. Not sure what the new ones use in terms of power but check the specs.

 

They are selling some seriously small laser printers now.

 

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Like Ron & Linda here. Have the HP 3522 all in one wireless. Didn't buy it for the features or much else. Only had to meet 3 criteria (1) color for the granddaughter's pictures that we print and put on the mag board [that's critical when she is visiting] (2) wireless to mate up with the laptop, tablets, and phones and (3) it was on sale at Bi-Mart as a clearance - $35.

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I did use a couple of cheap non OEM big tanks in the Canon and they worked fine. The Inkjet store down the road wouldn't refill them however.

I agree with buying a new printer cheaper than the ink! I was given a Brother printer years ago when I purchased a new PC. When the ink ran out and I found out how much the catridges were I bought the Epson.

2009 Monaco Cayman DP 38'

bnbrv.blogspot.com/

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Do you really need a scanner. I use CamScanner on my smart phone to 'scan' docments. CamScanner can convert the images captured by the smart phone camera to pdf files. I upload the converted file to Dropbox and then retrieve them to my computer.

 

Using CamScanner I am able to eliminate the need for a multi-use printer which will allow the use of a smaller printer. I now use an HP100 printer that connects via bluetooth to my computer. The printer is about 4" X 13" X 8" and will operate off of the internal batteries. It is pretty nice to pull the printer out of an overhead cabinet, set it on the counter, and print without having to plug into a power outlet and run a cable from the computer. I do charge the batteries about once every 1 or 2 months.

 

The downside to the HP100 is cost. It is a pricey little printer. But, it does everything I need.

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We didn't need color so we went with a laser many years ago, a Brother with a WiFi connection. We found it great to not have to connect the printer to the device we wanted to print from with a wire. Still using it today and found that Google's Cloud Print is happy to connect our tablets to it so we can print from them too. Not sure how that would hook up to a phone / hotspot today but if it would it would be nice.

 

Also nice is with nothing but a power cable to hook up stuffing the printer way out of the way is a good option. If you can reach the printed sheets and get to the paper tray every 200 or so pages it is good enough.

 

Aside from the WiFi we like the automatic duplex (double sided printing) option, it does make the printer a couple inches taller though.

 

Only missing option was a loud beeper to shoo the cat off before printing, stupid furball discovered it was warm and made it into a nap spot.

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I would add to the discussion with the Canon PIXMA if you want top quality color prints. They consistently rank very high in all the ratings for the best color prints. I only buy the the refills off Ebay for 1/2 or less the cost of OEM and they have never failed to work. You can scan, copy, print and pretty much do whatever any ink jet does but with top quality color prints.

 

I should add that I have had several Epson and HP printers through a bunch of years that just give up the ghost. I bought the Canon around six years ago and it has been through years of full-timing bouncing around and now in our S&B.

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I'm curious about your comment about bumping and banging. My DP rides so smooth on its air bags there is no bumping and banging. Its the smoothest riding vehicle I have ever owned.

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Canon Pixma IP here as well, initially bought for travelling on planes. Small compact and worked well for several years travelling in the RV and overseas for trade shows several times a year. Been delighted with it on size, weight, print and overall quality for travel. When not used for several months/year, ink wasn't dry, has worked seamlessly for us.

 

If buying today, I'd first check cost of ink and nos pages per cartridge versus reliability to short list brands, then if all else equal and based on reviews, select on size to fit location in RV. Made the mistake years ago of buying cheaper printers that cost a fortune in ink replacements or failed rapidly in functions.

 

FWIW: Daughter has brother at Uni and loves it on cost to operate and quality of prints, scanning etc.

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Whatever you buy make sure its wireless. Makes printing much easier when you don't need to string cables everywhere.

Only if you have your own wifi network. If you use campground wifi, those printers are a pain to reconfigure when you change campgrounds.

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Some really good information there thanks everyone!

As for a DP having a smooth ride - super.

But I'm not going to spend 100K to keep a $100 printer from getting a jolt when we go over a speed bump!!

Love this forum and all it's inhabitants (Inmates?). Hope we'll meet some of you at Escapade.

Best Wishes

BnB

2009 Monaco Cayman DP 38'

bnbrv.blogspot.com/

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